Introduction IPTV

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WHITE PAPER: An Introduction to IPTV

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IN THIS WHITE PAPER...

Wh at is IPTV?

How do es IPTV com pare to tradit ion al aud io/ visual (AV)

solu tions? And w hat are th e benefits?

Why org anisation s are ado pt ing IPTV

Markets where IPTV is already b eing used

How i t w orks

WHITE PAPER:An Introduction to IPTVJanuary 2009


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WHAT IS IPTV?

Internet Prot ocol Television , or IPTV, refers to television th at is distrib ut ed o ver anIP netw ork th e same kind of netw ork we use to surf the internet and exchangeemails.

In reality, m uch m ore th an television can be sent o ver a net w ork. Using IPTVtechn olog y, an org anisation can easily distribu te t errestrial and satellite televisionand radio, videos/DVDs, digital videos on-demand (VoDs), digital signage,inform ation boards, and web cont ent throug hou t their facil i ty. All of th ism ultim edia cont ent can be viewed on standard and h igh d efinition TVs as w ell as

PCs on every deskto p .

Types of IPTV

Whet her or n ot th ey are aw are of it, m any peop le encoun ter IPTV in t heir daily lives.There are fou r b asics form s of IPTV.

Internet IPTV is delivered over th e int ernet to and from anywh ere in the w orld. An

example of this would be home videos on YouTube.com or TV programmes onZatto o. As th is typ e of IPTV travels over th e pub lic int ernet, there is no effo rt t o

op tim ise ban dw idt h or cont ent delivery. Videos are easily displayed in a w eb

brow ser but usually at low quality and w ith delays in t ransm ission.

Telco IPTV is delivered b y your p ho ne/ int ernet/ cable p rovid er, also referred to as a

Telecomm unications provider. Often the television pro grams you w atch at ho m ehave travelled across an IP net w ork in th e same fashio n as you r int ernet (and no w


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quality of service mechanisms that ensure reliable delivery of live and on-demandcontent . Ever won der how you are able to w atch on-dem and TV show s? Those w il l

be storedIPTV in t he Un ited King dom are BT Vision and Tiscali TV.

Broadcast IPTV is w hen t elevision b roadcasters transm it t heir prog ramm ing ont o

the int ernet for pub lic consum pt ion via personal comp uters. Many channels arebro adcast for free; ot hers w ill charge a fee for sub scribing t o th eir service. Oneexample of Broadcast IPTV is BBC iPlayer. Unfortunately, broadcasters have nocontrol o ver bandw idth or qu ality of service.

Local IPTV also known as Building IPTV is designed to distribute television and

video across building and campus networks over a local area network (LAN),

replacing limited traditional analogue distribution systems with a flexible, scalableand cost-effective altern ative. Local IPTV do es no t consum e any int ernetbandw idth as the cont ent is injected d irectly onto t he building LAN.

This wh ite paper focuses specifically on t he grow ing dem and an d benefit s of lo cal IPTV.


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HOW DOES LOCAL IPTV COMPARE TO TRADITIONAL

AUDIO/VISUAL (AV) SOLUTIONS? AND WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?

Recent eviden ce sug gests that t he im plem ent ation o f IPTV is up to 78% m ore cost -effective than that of traditional coaxial TV distribution 1. Below is a com parison o f

current m eth od s for d istrib ut ing m edia via a traditio nal coaxial TV system versus anIPTV solu tio n.

Traditi onal AV Using IPTV Benefi ts of IPTV

Video is distribu ted v ia

individual videot apes orDVDs

Video is sto red d igit ally

for on-demand viewing;sim ult aneously available

for m ultip le users

archiving

m anage and transportvideot apes or DVDs

-dem and access helpsincrease use of resou rces

from d egradation of thevideotape or DVD med ium

Coaxial cable is runthrough out a bui lding tosend live TV and recorded

video; coaxial solutio nssub ject to prob lems of

electrical n oise, sign alw eakening, l imitedchann el capacity

DVD qu ality video andaudio is stream ed overyou r existin g lo cal area

network(LAN)infrastructure

infrastructure

video netw ork

-based solutio n

and video qu ality

simu ltaneously with no

l imi t to the numb er ofchannels

In-hou se new s sent bym emo s or email.

Person nel gath er to w atchbro adcast n ew s on sharedtelevisions

Live and stored v ideofrom inside and out side

an organisatio n isstream ed to everydesktop

-t ime informationinformation

1Data based on recent cost comparison of coaxial TV network versus IPTV implementation by

Eurosatellites


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Additional Benefits

Using IPTV promotes a rapid rollout of new TV, video and broadband services

across th e wh ole org anisation Costs are significantly reduced through not having to buy separate TV units or

pro vide a separate satellite/aerial sign al distribu tion system w ith in th e build ing

The equipment deployed can uti l ise the existing network infrastructure, so

th ere is no need fo r addit ion al cabling to d eliver TV at PC term inals; In addit ion ,

any PC can be convert ed easily int o a TV wit h IPTV soft w are that recogn ises th e

content on the network

The system provides access to live news, entertainment and information

chann els to any PC, TV or audio/ visual device att ached t o t he lo cal IP net w ork

Digital terrestrial (DVB-T) and digital satellite (DVB-S) services can be pluggeddirectly into the local area network (LAN) to distribute real-time TV and radio

across th e wh ole building or cam pu s netw ork

Replacemen t o f analogu e Cat5 TV distribu tio n is straigh tfo rw ard

Picture and soun d q uality is sup erior

Com patibil i ty w ith inh erent custom er system s

Interruption of crit ical networks can be avoided by uti l ising a separate video

VLAN


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WHY ORGANISATIONS ARE ADOPTING IPTV

Mo st org anisation s already have an IP net w ork covering a bu ilding or camp us th atis capable of supporting a video distribution system. This reduces both the initialcost of implementation and the cost of extending the IPTV network over time.Many org anisation s are adop tin g IPTV because:

Television and video can easily be supplied to all com pu ters on a net wo rk,

increasing staff access to n ew s and com pany in form ation

The same infrastructure can be used no matter how many channels orviewing devices are attached to the network. No special wiring or video

distribu tion design is required

Consistent ly high video qu ality is maintained regardless of the n um ber of

peop le using devices to view a channel

Costs can be reduced by converging IPTV with existing data networks to

pro vide services over a single cable in frastru cture

Leading org anisation s regard live and recorded video as essent ial. It im pro ves th eirabil i ty to make better-informed decisions and to communicate more effectively

w ith their int ernal and external stakeholders.


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MARKETS WHERE IPTV IS ALREADY BEING USED

All sort s of o rganisatio ns can b enefit b y using an IPTV solut ion as th e p latform to

deliver quality cont ent over th eir netw ork.

Construction

Skip t he installation of a coaxial netw ork altogeth er by int egrating AVand broadcast media into the IP network with an IPTV solution.

Increase flexibility and scalability for the client while decreasing thecost of t he build.

Corporate

IPTV in bu sinesses large and sm all enables delivery of real-tim e n ew s

to inform decision makers, broadcasts to staff desktops, distribution

of com pany inform ation in p ub lic areas, simp le and unified delivery oftraining, and staff entertainment .

Education

Educational IPTV provides instant classroom access to a virtuallyun lim ited glo bal archive of instru ctive m aterial. Teachers no lon gerhave to w ait for tapes and discs to b e return ed to resou rce cent res.

Finance

Watch current events unfold from around the globe by distributinginternational and country-specific news channels for content that

m ay affect share dealing s and financial markets.

Healthcare

Patients can receive television, radio and video at their bedsides.Simultaneously, information can be displayed in reception andw aiting areas. Record pro cedures/op erations for trainin g and toprot ect against l i t igation .

Hospitality & Leisure

Provide guests with w orld class in-room entertainm ent w ith t he latestTV, new s, m usic, f i lms and spo rt from not only th e count ry wh ere the

conference facilities, hotel bars and restaurants. Promote revenuegen eration by advertising ro om service, bars and spa/ leisure facilities.

Manufacturing

Use live video feeds from the factory floor for staff supervision andremot e quality contro l inspection. Mo nito r l ive w orkflow toimmediately highlight breakdowns and bottlenecks in the

m anufacturing process.


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Transport

Provide airline, train and bus passengers with departure and arrival

times, announcements and information, security procedures, livenew s and entertainment t hroug hou t th e transport facil i ty.

Venues/Stadiums

Stream live coverage directly from th e event stage or g ame pit ch toTV screens around th e facility so att end ees never m iss a second of t he

event . Display th ird part y advertisement s, m atch dates andmerchandise information to generate future ticket sales andaddit ional revenue. Provid e live TV int o ho spit ality suit es.


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HOW IT WORKS

As you read this section, Figure 1 below will help you visually understand how IPTV

works. Words coloured in blue below are items you m ay like to t ake note of, and m anyof w hich you w ill find represented in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Example of an end-to-end building IPTV solution

An existing netw ork can b e turned into a com plete IPTV solut ion and adapt ed to fi tany size organization fro m a sing le schoo l, office bu ilding or ho spit al; righ t up to a

geographically dispersed enterprise or college campus with global connections.

Within an organization, almost any device with a screen can be turned into anet w orked t elevision using IPTV techn olo gy.

Sources of mu head-en d -end is a collective term for d evices th at m ake cont ent available for

distribu tion . It m igh t con sist of b roadcast m edia sou rces such as a digital satellite(DVB-S) or terrestrial (DVB-T) service. These bro adcast m edia are conn ected t o a TV

gateway w hich splits the bro adcast signal into separate channels th e netw ork canunderstand.


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Also on the head-end are the non-broadcast AV sources such as a video camera,video conferencing system, a video player, or DVD player . The non-broadcast

sources will be connected to an encoder which wi l l convert the content intonetw ork-friendly data for transpo rt t o various locations.

Additionally, organisations can use an IPTV server to deliver Video On-Demand(VoD) services, an Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) and a customisable user

int erface for accessing all the con ten t.

Encoders, TV gateways and IPTV servers are simply connected to the network tomake the broadcast media and the non-broadcast AV sources available forconsumption.

For t hose curious abou t t he types of encoding used for IPTV, th e comm on form ats forstream ing b roadcast q ualit y cont ent are: MPEG-2, th e predom inan t standar d glob allyfor TV tran sm ission and DVDs; and M PEG-4 H.264 w hich is design ed to deliver th e sam e

qua lity at low er bitra tes. MPEG-4 H.264 is findin g part icular application in High

Definition (HD) TV broadcasts and High D efinition content encoding .

Once all this IPTV con tent is available on th e netw ork, it can b e received b y various

IPTV software is usedreceivers, also kno w n as set-

top boxes (STBs), are used to decode the cont ent t hat w as sent over the n etw ork

by the head-end. They convert th e encoded data into a form at which can beun derstoo d b y th e receiving AV devices. Where a facility requ ires IPTV, p ho ne, and

internet in one place, a - -top box w ou ld be used. It requires on lyone netw ork connection. The TV, ph one, and PC w ould all then be connected tothe t riple-play set-top box.

IPTV

Management software. This typ e of soft w are package facilitates th e efficientadministration of the IPTV system and utilises tools for discovering, configuring,

and managing all the IPTV devices such as encoders, TV gateways, and set-top

boxes; this includes the ability to filter viewing permissions and track who iswatching what cont ent.

Many IPTV solu tio ns will int egrate w ith existin g AV and IT system s. Examp lesinclude cont rol system s th at allow channels to be selected from a control p anel inan auditorium or int egration w ith an in tranet system w hich requires access rightsto varied cont ent.


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For smaller organizations with an existing network, an end-to-end 2 IPTV solutioncan be installed and pu t int o use, in a sing le day. Larger imp lem ent ation s could

require weeks or mo nt hs. How ever, so long as th e custo m er config ures th e

installation tim e shou ld NOT be length y.

2

End

-to-end refers to an IPTV solution that includes all the hardware and software needed to run

IPTV. Not all IPTV solution providers sell an end-to-end solution. Some will sell only part of a solution

such as IPTV set-top boxes.
http://www.exterity.co.uk/

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