Sunday, May 27, 2007

What is IPTV?

http://live.pirillo.com/ - Neclimdul in the chat room wanted to know: what is IPTV and will it be worth it?

When geeks talk about IPTV, they're not talking about the Iowa Public Television program. They're talking about Internet Protocol Television:

IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) is a system where a digital television service is delivered using the Internet Protocol over a network infrastructure, which may include delivery by a broadband connection. For residential users, IPTV is often provided in conjunction with Video on Demand and may be bundled with Internet services such as Web access and VoIP. The commercial bundling of IPTV, VoIP and Internet access is referred to as a Triple Play. Adding the mobile voice service leads to the Quadruple Play denomination. IPTV is typically supplied by a broadband operator using a closed network infrastructure.

In a way your television will be connected to the Internet.

Imagine a day when you don't have to rely on your local service provider: like on demand, but with all of the programs served in a similar fashion.

The promise of IPTV is that you'll be able to get the content you want when you want it. Of course, the problem with IPTV is that people generally don't have enough bandwidth to push the high quality high definition video that people are demanding.

According to Chris, the best IPTV platform out there so far isn't the AppleTV or your local cable companies on demand service. No, it's the Xbox Marketplace, which delivers a much better IPTV-like experience than other systems currently in place.

So, will IPTV be worth it? In a word: yes.

Check out the IPTV video on YouTube and subscribe to our channel!


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