Internet Protocol Television (IPTV)
Navil Fernandes,Noel Dsouza,Glynnis Dcruz
Department of Computer Engineering,
Don Bosco Institute of Technology
Kurla(W),Mumbai,India.
navil.fernandes@gmail.com
naughtyboynoel@gmail.com
Abstract— The traditional TV that we are used to comes to our
TV sets by cable , satellite or through the air ,as analogue or
digital signals .However in IPTV , video data is sent across the
internet as packets .It can be stored on a server and sent to
computers or straight to special STB’s ,over ADSL ,or cable
lines.
IPTV uses two way digital broadcast signal that’s sent through
either a switcher telephone or cable network .It uses a
broadband connection that terminates into an STB at the user
send .All the content is then delivered upon the viewers (users)
request. This means that although IPTV is another way of
showing live TV it is more of a stored video -also known as VOD.
On IPTV , the programs can be paused and rewound ,as they can
be with personal digital video recorders giving the viewer much
control .The set top box connected to the TV decodes the IP video
being transmitted and converts it into standard television signals.
There’s an SVS (switched video service ) system ,which lets the
viewer watch the broadcast network channels ,subscription
services and movies on demand.
Keywords— IPTV,VOD,SVS,STB,ADSL
I. INTRODUCTION
IPTV is the latest buzzword in the internet circles,
especially with the expanding broadband community .So what
exactly is IPTV? The traditional TV that we are used to comes
to our TV sets by cable , satellite or through the air ,as
analogue or digital signals .However in IPTV , video data is
sent across the internet as packets .It can be stored on a server
and sent to computers or straight to special STB’s ,over ADSL
,or cable lines.
IPTV uses two way digital broadcast signal that’s sent
through either a switcher telephone or cable network .It uses a
broadband connection that terminates into an STB at the user
send .All the content is then delivered upon the viewers
(users) request. This means that although IPTV is another way
of showing live TV it is more of a stored video -also known as
VOD. On IPTV , the programs can be paused and rewound ,as
they can be with personal digital video recorders giving the
viewer much control .The set top box connected to the TV
decodes the IP video being transmitted and converts it into
standard television signals. There’s an SVS (switched video
service ) system ,which lets the viewer watch the broadcast
network channels ,subscription services and movies on
demand.
IPTV should not be confused with P2P file sharing or
watching of a TV show on your PC .It does not even include
watching a low-resolution Quick Time or Windows Media
clip in a tiny Web window .It could be considered as similar
to some of the TV tuner cards available in the market today ,
which also let u pause ,rewind and record TV programs wit
the difference that you watch them on a bigger screen ,and
don’t need a pc to get this functionality .The second advantage
of using IPTV is that instead of broadcasting every channel
continuously like in regular TV service ,IPTV providers
would transmit only the channel or show that the subscribers
request for .This frees up large amount of bandwidth for
HDTV and high –speed broadband .
..
II. WORKING OF IPTV
A key first step in providing Internet Television service is
converting the analog audio voice signals into a digital form
(digitization) and then compressing the digitized information
into a more efficient form.
Digitization is the conversion of analog signals (continually
varying signals) into digital form (signals that have only two
levels). To convert analog signals to digital form, the analog
signal is sampled and digitized by using an analog-to-digital
(pronounced A to D) converter.
The A/D converter periodically senses (samples) the level of
the analog signal and creates a binary number or series of
digital pulses that represent the level of the signal.Because
digital signals can only have two levels, the signal can be
regenerated and during this regeneration process, the noise is
removed. Television signal digitization involves digitization
of both the audio and video signals.

Audio Digitization
Figure shows the basic audio digitization process. This
diagram shows that a person creates sound pressure waves
when they talk. These sound pressure waves are converted to
electrical signals by a microphone. When the microphone
senses a large sound pressure wave (loud audio), it produces a
large (higher voltage) analog signal. To convert the analog
signal to digital form, the analog signal is periodically
sampled and converted to a number of pulses. This example
also shows that when the digital information is transmitted, it
may acquire distortion during transmission. A digital receiver
that detects the high or low signal levels and uses these levels
to recreate new digital signals can eliminate this distortion.
This conversion process is called regeneration or repeating.
This regeneration progress allows digital signals to be sent at
great distances without losing the quality of the audio sound.
Video Digitization
This shows the basic process used to digitize images
for pictures from analog video. The image is scanned line by
line from the top to bottom. For color video, the image is
scanned into lines where each contains intensity (brightness)
and color information. This example shows that each line is
periodically sampled and converted into digital equivalent
levels. This example shows that analog signals can have 256
levels (0-255) and that this can be represented by 8 bits of
information (a byte). One byte of information represents the
intensity and one byte of information represents the color.
Digital Media Compression - Gaining Efficiency
Digital media compression is a process of analyzing a digital
signal (digitized video and/or audio) and using the analysis
information to convert the high-speed digital signals that
represent the actual signal shape into lower-speed digital
signals that represent the actual content (such as a moving
image or human voice). This process allows IP television
service to have lower data transmission rates than standard
digital video signals while providing for good quality video
and audio. Digital media compression for IP television
includes digital audio compression and digital video
compression.
.Digital Speech Compression shows the basic digital speech
compression process. In this example, the word "HELLO" is
digitized. The initial digitized bits represent every specific
shape of the digitized word HELLO. This digital information
is analyzed and it is determined that this entire word can be
represented by three sounds: "HeH" + "LeL" + "OH." Each of
these sounds only requires a few digital bits instead of the
many bits required to recreate the entire analog waveform.
It demonstrates the operation of the basic digital video
compression system. Each video frame is digitized and then
sent for digital compression. The digital compression process
creates a sequence of frames (images) that start with a key
frame. The key frame is digitized and used as reference points
for the compression process. Between the key frames, only the
differences in images are transmitted. This dramatically
reduces the data transmission rate to represent a digital video
signal as an uncompressed digital video signal requires over
50 Mbps compared to less than 4 Mbps for a typical digital
video disk (DVD) digital video signal.
Sending Packets
Sending packets through the Internet involves routing them
through the network and managing the loss of packets when
they can't reach their destination.
Packet Routing Methods
Packet routing involves the transmission of packets through
intelligent switches (called routers) that analyze the
destination address of the packet and determine a path that
will help the packet travel toward its destination. Routers learn
from each other about the best routes for them to select when
forwarding packets toward their destination (usually paths to
other routers). Routers regularly broadcast their connection
information to nearby routers and they listen for connection
information from connected routers. From this information,
routers build information tables (called routing tables) that
help them to determine the best path for them to forward each
packet to.
Routers may forward packets towards their destination simply
based on their destination address or they may look at some
descriptive information about the packet. This descriptive
information may include special handling instructions (called
a label or tag) or priority status (such as high priority for real
time voice or video signals).
 
Packet Transmission
It shows how blocks of data are divided into small packet
sizes that can be sent through the Internet. After the data is
divided into packets (envelopes shown in this example), a
destination address along with some description about the
contents is added to each packet (called in the packet header).
As the packet enters into the Internet (routing boxes shown in
this diagram), each router reviews the destination address in
its routing table and determines which paths it can send the
packet to so it will move further towards its destination. If a
current path is busy or unavailable (such as shown for packet
#3), the router can forward the packets to other routers that
can forward the packet towards its destination. This example
shows that because some packets will travel through different
paths, packets may arrive out of sequence at their destination.
When the packets arrive at their destination, they can be
reassembled into proper order using the packet sequence
number.
III. IPTV AND IPTV PROTOCOLS
Packet buffering is the process of temporarily storing
(buffering) packets during the transmission of information to
create a reserve of packets that can be used during packet
transmission delays or retransmission requests. While a packet
buffer is commonly located in the receiving device, a packet
buffer may also be used in the sending device to allow the
rapid selection and retransmission of packets when they are
requested by the receiving device. Packet buffering is
commonly used in IP television systems to overcome the
transmission delays and packet losses that occur when
viewing IP television signals.
A packet buffer receives and adds small amounts of delay to
packets so that all the packets appear to have been received
without varying delays. The amount of packet buffering for IP
television systems can vary from tenths of a second to tens of
seconds.
Packet Buffering
it shows how packet buffering can be used to reduce the
effects of packet delays and packet loss for streaming media
systems. This diagram shows that during the transmission of
packets from the media server to the viewer, some of the
packet transmission time varies (jitter) and some of the
packets are lost during transmission. The packet buffer
temporarily stores data before providing it to the media player.
This provides the time necessary to time synchronize the
packets and to request and replace packets that have been lost
during transmission.
1.Converting Packets to Television Service
IP Television data packets are converted back to television
signals via gateways. Gateways may interconnect IP television
service to a television network (such as a hotel television
system) or they may convert the signals directly to a television
signal format (such as a NTSC or PAL analog television
signals).
2.Gateways Connect the Internet to Standard Televisions
A television gateway is a communications device or assembly
that transforms audio and video that is received from a
television media server (IP television signal source) into a
format that can be used by a viewer or different network. A
television gateway usually has more intelligence (processing
function) than a data network bridge as it can select the video
and voice compression coders and adjust the protocols and
timing between two dissimilar computer systems or IP
Television network
.
3.Managing the Television Connections
Gatekeepers control the setup, connection, feature operation,
and disconnection of television channels connected through
the data network. Gatekeepers can be owned and operated by
private companies, or public service providers such as Internet
Television service provider (ITVSP). IP television systems
manage the downloading or streaming of IP television signals
to the consumer and may manage the selection (switching) of
the media source.
4.Downloading
Downloading is the process of transferring a program or a data
from computer server to another computer. Download
commonly refers to retrieving complete files from a web site
server to another computer. Downloading moves requires the
storage of the entire file on a hard disk or other type of
memory storage for playback at a later time.
One of the key advantages of downloading is the data
transmission rate can vary and operate at any speed. If the user
is willing to wait long enough, the entire file can be
downloaded for future playback on any connection. A key
disadvantage to downloading is the need to wait until the
entire file is transferred before being able to view and the need
to have enough storage room to hold the entire video (4 GB
for a 2 hour movie).
5. Streaming
Streaming is a process that provides a continuous stream of
information that is commonly used for the delivery of audio
and video content with minimal delay (e.g. real-time).
Streaming signals are usually compressed and error protected
to allow the receiver to buffer, decompress, and time sequence
information before it is displayed in its original format. .
Examples of shared-disk parallel DBMS include IBM’s
IMS/VS Data Sharing product and DEC’s VAX DBMS and
Rdb products. The implementation of ORACLE on DEC’s
VAXcluster and NCUBE computers also uses the shared-disk
approach since it requires minimal extensions of the RDBMS
kernel. Note that all these systems exploit inter-query
parallelism only.
A. Advantages of IPTV
Advantages of IPTV include two-way capability lacked by
traditional TV distribution technologies, as well as point to
point distribution allowing each viewer to view individual
broadcasts. This enables stream control (pause, wind/rewind
etc.) and a free selection of programming much like its
narrowband cousin, the web.
Tripleplay is an expression used by service operators
describing a consumer package including telephony, dataand
video. Offering tripleplay on a broadband connection requires
the use of IPTV and IP Telephony (Voice over IP, VoIP).
Because it uses the Internet and sends less information than
standard analog or digital television, IPTV promises lower
costs for operators and lower prices for consumers. Using set-
top boxes through broadband or Digital Subscriber Line(DSL)
Internet, video can be streamed to households more efficiently
than current coaxial cable.
IPTV is particularly good for the established media content
production business, including Hollywood and all of the major
television distribution networks on satellite and cable. IPTV
allows these organizations to have total control of the content
distributed and to greatly reduce opportunities for theft and
piracy, which last year cost the cable industry $4.76 billion in
unrealized revenue.
The way IPTV television is being conceived integrates
multiple ways to monitor and record user choices, preferences
and selections over time therefore appearing as an ideal
platform on which to add personalized e-commerce options
and more targeted advertising.
IP-TV is a carrier-led and controlled platform. There is a
physical carrier that has physical pipes and infrastructure that
it operates and controls. The consumer interacts directly with
that operator/carrier.
As such this is an end-to-end system or semi-closed network
(infrastructure is all within the carrier environment, and
cannot be normally accessed to the Internet as a whole.
Further to this, the deployment infrastructure and devices to
access it are all managed and operated by the IP-TV carrier).
IPTV is definitely a massive connectivity infrastructure
upgrade to be deployed over a number of years, and which
underlines major changes and upgrades to connectivity,
transport and delivery devices both on the operator
environment as well as on the consumer side.
IPTV approach is a fundamentally geographically-bound
approach. This is mainly due to the fact that the deployment
infrastructure is based in regions and in neighborhoods
connected to consumer premises (users homes). User
experience is also bound to their living rooms and set-top
boxes. Local regulations and policies further influence and
limit IP-TV to be a strongly geographically-bound model.
IPTV will offer essentially the same product and
programming offered by digital cable and satellite providers.
Similar on-demand and pay per view products probably with
some extra integration with voice, and different pricing.
.
B. Commercial aspect of IPTV
The sources of revenue and expenses for IPTV operators
are fairly straightforward.
Revenue sources
Although new services can generate substantial revenue, the
basic revenue
sources remain the same: subscribers and advertisers.
Subscribers
Each subscriber pays a monthly service charge. This service
charge can include Broadcast television, including national ,
local and/or premium channels; and incremental charges for
advanced services such as “non-premium” VoD or Video
conferencing. Set-top box rentals also generate some revenue.
The subscriber may also pay a one-time fee to watch content
such as recent. Movies , which may be available via Pay Per
View or VoD.
Advertisers
Advertisers can pay operators to have their commercials
shown. Some national. channels allow this local ad insertion ,
the operator gets to keep this revenue.
For the cable industry in 2003, ad insertion added $5 billion to
the top line.
Video on Demand revenue
VoD often generates additional revenue for the operator by
customizing television to meet the preferences and schedule
the subscriber. However , the business model for VoD
varies widely.
Variations include:
Free on Demand — VoD access and content is free, as
stimulus to buy the
overall service.
A la carte VoD — Pay for each item viewed (similar to Pay
Per View).
Typically the subscriber has one day to view the content.
Subscription VoD — Pay a monthly fee
for access to all content in the standard library.
Premium VoD — Pay an additional monthly fee for premium
content such as recent movies. VoD also provides advertising
and promotional opportunities. A warehouse home center may
pay to sponsor an instructional home improvement video with
a promotion code to get discounted product. You can provide
promo packages to increase revenue, such as “buy two, get
one free” or “if you liked this movie, you may want to also
view these other movies.”
IPTV costs In addition to the cost of operating the network,
there are several costs unique to offering television service.
Content acquisition and distribution
The operator must sign an agreement with each content
provider. Dozens of agreements1 are required to cover the
myriad of available channels and VoD content. This
agreement covers what the operator can offer, but does not
cover where the operator gets the content. A separate
agreement must be reached with one or more content
aggregators. Aggregators provide the content to the operator,
typically by allowing the operator to receive a satellite signal.
.
C. Summary
The primary difference between IPTV and existing cable
networks is that in IPTV control of programs is distributed
,whereas in cable network it is not so. One remarkable feature
of IPTV that is not present in residential television network is
VoD. Broadband IPTV means better bandwidth intensive
services such as television content and VoD ,with a better
quality than DVD , delivered to the living room via IP.
The underlying enabling technology of IPTV is
broadband DSL or cable modem and fiber - to the home
(FTTH).the companies use DSL as the access platform and as
such ,every telecom company in the world is viewing the
IPTV opportunity rather seriously .This is because telecom
companies across the globe are losing their traditional
business to Internet telephony ,mobile phones and cable
phones. They have to offer something aggressive to maintain
their market share and IPTV offers value added service under
one umbrella.
.
REFERENCES
[1] .
www.ctieware.eng.monash.edu.au/twiki/bin/view/know/
webchanges
[2] . en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPTV
[3] Electronics for you (IEEE Reference, Vol: 35, February
2004)