Introduction to IPTV and IP Set-Top Box

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Introduction to IPTV and IP Set-Top Box [Copy link]

With the continuous development of broadband, television services provided through high-speed Internet are becoming a reality.
IPTV, or interactive Internet TV, is a new technology that uses broadband cable TV networks and integrates multiple technologies such as the Internet, multimedia, and communications to provide home users with a variety of interactive services including digital TV.

　　IPTV is the result of the integration of the Internet and traditional television. The video stream is broadcasted on the IP network after efficient compression encoding. IPTV services such as live TV, on-demand video and personal video are delivered to users through the head-end equipment at the edge of the broadband network. Users can enjoy IPTV services at home in two ways:

　　(1) Personal computer

　　(2) Internet set-top box + ordinary TV.

　　An IP set-top box is a dedicated computing device that acts as an interface between a TV set and a broadband network. In addition to decoding TV signals and presenting their content, an IP set-top box can also provide multimedia services including video on demand (VOD), electronic program guide (EPG), digital rights management (DRM), etc.

　　IP set-top boxes are a home platform for interactive digital content services such as Web browsing, email and attachment browsing, advanced multimedia codecs, home networking, personal computer connectivity, gateway functions, instant messaging (IM) and real-time voice over IP (VoIP) communications.

　　All these make IP set-top boxes expected to become a must-have for home TV use. From basic or mid-level interactive services to high-end full-featured media centers, there are many functions to support these services, from basic IP set-top boxes or network-based personal video recorders (PVR or nPVR) to online commerce, music or video streaming, Internet games, and so on.