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A Look at IPTV

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the more-consumer-control-never-a-bad-thing dept.

Q-Tip writes "Ars Technica has posted an introduction to IPTV, which is the TV programming technology AT&T (and formerly BellSouth) will be using to provide TV service over its next-gen optical network. The article covers how IPTV works and how AT&T and other providers will be able to provide more interactive services once their networks are up and running."

27 of 155 comments (clear)

  1. Interactive services? by 91degrees · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't want an interactive service. I want to passively sit on my butt and watch TV!

    1. Re:Interactive services? by LordSnooty · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Mod him up. Interactive services are the great white (red?) elephants of modern TV. Content providers only push them as a revenue stream. They rarely offer anything insightful - in the UK, I can only think of the BBC's sport coverage, offering eg actions from many courts at Wimbledon. In the commercial sector, just ask Andy Duncan of Channel 4 whether interactive services are worthwhile. In the US, do we see much interactive penetration? Has Fox convinced idiots to part with money to vote via the TV on American Idol? For this is surely the only useful application, in their eyes.

    2. Re:Interactive services? by tapo · · Score: 2, Interesting

      What about the examples provided, such as a notification when you get a new email, or caller ID information shown on your TV?

      While I may not be one to care for interactive TV, I must say that event notification is a pretty nifty feature. When I'm watching a DVD on my Xbox 360, and a friend comes online, a small bubble appears to notify me of the fact. It's unobtrusive and useful, though it isn't the best idea when I'm in the middle of a movie.

      However, if this was television, and I was channel surfing, the idea suddenly becomes brilliant. Caller ID info, or the subject line of a new email while I'm watching the news or commercials come on? Brilliantly cool.

      --
      "Joy is contagious," he said, peering into the microscope.
    3. Re:Interactive services? by BecomingLumberg · · Score: 2, Interesting
      There is only one arena where quasi-interactive items are good: sports.

      As an example I offer up the multi-screen view that many satellite providers are offering- a screen for 3 games, with live scores/tickers for the other games around the league in an easy to read format. This made for an incredible Sunday experience at my buddy Chris' this past football season. We used the big screen to watch the best game at the time (last 10 minutes of a close game, etc.) and pulled the 32" screen out of the bedroom to keep an eye on the rest.

      Oddly, this made keeping up with the various games more of a social event, as one person couldn't watch all at once. Ultimately, this became a much more social event, to the point where the wives and girlfriends would attend. Oops, I digress.

      Ultimately, this was a neat combination of traditional live feed and internet feeds that made for a really pleasant experience. Most implementations are not so great. The 'learn more' bubbles that pop up in tv/movies should be only allowed on Discovery type channels, where the viewer obviously wants to learn about a subject and isnt trying to gain an 'experience'. Just MHO.

      --
      If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.-TJ
    4. Re:Interactive services? by pete-classic · · Score: 2, Informative
      In the US, do we see much interactive penetration?


      A single operator serves over half of the ITV enabled set tops in the US. Echostar (Dish Network) is the only operator in the position to have significant interactive penetration as the market stands today.

      Echostar held their ITV summit Friday. CNN just launched their Enhanced TV service on Echostar. The representative from CNN was very clear that launching on Echostar was the obvious choice because they had the set tops deployed to make it worthwhile.

      There is a real chicken-or-the-egg problem with ITV. Because of the infrastructure involved it can't grow organically like the Internet. First the ITV enabled boxes have to be in the field. Then the content has to be there. Then, and only then, the operator has to make the users aware that there is all this additional value in the service they already have. Echostar is really only now entering the third stage. (With the new portal and their "trigger" functionality.) I expect big things in the next couple of years. The other US providers are really all in the first stage. On the other hand, several providers have ITV capable STBs, but no middleware. (My employer, OpenTV, would love to help all comers remedy that situation!)

      To sort of bring this back on topic, Echostar has launched its first generation of IPTV enabled set tops. (With MPEG-4 and Ethernet.)

      -Peter
    5. Re:Interactive services? by hhawk · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The reality is that interactive TV is here today.

      Video on Demand is really the crown jewel of that. The parts that haven't yet made it including being able to
      vote on American Idol WITHOUT getting off your ass.

      The rest, as we always say waits for a "killer app." Who know what that will be, a few suggestions:

      1) being able to turn OFF the text Scroll at the bottom of
      news stations like CNN or control what does scroll.

      2) On a sports broadcast controlling what stats are displayed, picking camera angles, etc.

      3) Besides voting, all manner of interaction for reality TV shows.

      --
      http://www.hawknest.com/
  2. Yes, but when? by matr0x_x · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Saying it will work on the "next-gen optical network" doesn't provide a time line for someone as uneducated as myself. Could someone please put a rough time line on this?

    --
    LINUX ONLINE POKER: Linux Poker
    1. Re:Yes, but when? by CaymanIslandCarpedie · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The timeline would be roughtly never. You need to understand the history of the US telcos corruption. The most glaring example of this in relation to broadband was they 1996 Telecommunications Reform Act where the telecos lobbied for and recieved more than $200 Billion (yes billion) in tax breaks and other benefits in exchange for thier promise to build out "next gen" internet access with at least 45 Mbps.

      Or course once they got the money they decided DSL would be much cheaper to build out and they could still charge customers a lot for it (even though its only a fraction of the speed promised). So this little "bait and switch" is why the US is still sitting at our measily DSL speeds while Japan, Korea, and much of Europe are now in the 45-100 Mbps ranges.

      My guess is all this talk is because its been a decade and they see a president who LOVES giving away hundreds of billions of dollars away to huge corporations via tax cuts so it might be a good time to hit up the tax payers for another few hundred billion on more empty promises.

      I find it just amazing the congress never even tried to hold the telecos to thier promises. I guess they had some pretty good lobbiests or congress just really is that inept (or both).

      --
      "reality has a well-known liberal bias" - Steven Colbert
  3. Hmm HDTV Still Cripled... by Xserv · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This doesn't seem like a good idea. The bandwidth is STILL an issue and it's crippling HDTV signals still. Isn't this kind of a waste of time? Xserv

    --
    "I love lamp."
    1. Re:Hmm HDTV Still Cripled... by Goth+Biker+Babe · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The thing about IPTV is that, unlike cable/satellite where you have to broadcast all of the channels all of the time, you only need broadcast those channels that are needed. This means that at worst each home only needs enough bandwidth for four channels (assuming PVRs and multiple STBs). With an appropriately designed network you can get away with far less bandwidth. Yes HD is not possible with current ADSL speeds (although SD IPTV is more than possible) but they are talking about 20Mb for next gen. ADSL which is plenty.

    2. Re:Hmm HDTV Still Cripled... by Xserv · · Score: 4, Interesting
      I see what you're saying here but look at it from a central office perspective. They have bottleneck issues now, what's adding a few TB of video from 500 customers per region going to do to the CO? I have a pretty solid feeling it's going to stifle the abilities of all services. You only have as much bandwidth as the central office's pipe to the rest of the network.

      FTFA:
      ". . .MPEG-2 streams will require almost twice the space (3.5 Mbps for SDTV, 18-20 Mbps for HDTV). . ."
      That leaves you 0-2MB for anything else per subscriber based on the 20MB next gen ADSL estimates. So an HD customer is going to get degraded quality which defeats the purpose of HD signals or you'll get only one stream which eliminates the ability to use PVR. Am I wrong here and just not seeing something?

      Xserv
      --
      "I love lamp."
  4. next-gen optical network. by quakeroatz · · Score: 3, Funny

    next-gen optical nework.
    Nice! I was waiting for them to find something faster than slow old......light

  5. Television is changing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    No, Television is dying on its ass. Its got nothing to do with technology and everything to do with content.
    Not wanting to throw the usual Slashdot cynicism about here, but 'TV is DEAD!!'
    Even the dullest couch potatoes I know are turning off their TVs and finding more interesting things to do with life.
    I must have heard it 20 times a week, "Wow there's nothing but shite on TV isn't there?". Maybe its the war and the depressing Orwellian propaganda? Maybe its the new depths advertising has sunk to blatently insulting the viewers self esteem? Maybe its that cheap reality TV has exhausted everyones patience?

    What do kids talk about? Funny video clips they got off Flickr or YouTube, and more and more I hear adults talk about what they heard on the radio. Maybe radio is going to have a revival?

    Personally I havent watched TV in over 4 months, not even casually, by accident. I haven't owned a TV in more than 6 years.

    1. Re:Television is changing by Bazzalisk · · Score: 2, Funny
      I haven't owned a TV in four years, but when I catch something on someone else's box there's usualy something good on the BBC.

      ...

      Oh, you meant american TV.

      --
      James P. Barrett
  6. Wait times by od05 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Instead of channels instantly changing it's going to be *buffering* for a couple of seconds every channel I flip. No thanks.

    1. Re:Wait times by sootman · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You change channels? Huh. Interesting. The only delay I experience while watching TV is waiting for my TiVo's 'now playing' list to populate.

      --
      Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
  7. Yup by matthew.thompson · · Score: 3, Informative

    I've been using TVoIP for a year an a half now.

    I get Video on Demand, Radio, Broadcast TV and Internet over the ADSL with 2Mbps Internet while watching TV and 5Mbp while it's off (8Mbps is possible on the best lines right now)

    All this and free off-peak and weekend calls and lower line rental from http://www.homechoice.co.uk/

    But it's not that popular yet - the monopolistic Murdoch satellite provider we're stuck with wont flog the channels people want to Homechoice so the channels we can get are fairly limited. The only reason I have it is because I'd have to pay £220 for the first year and £80 a year after that for the priviledge of renting a satellite feed as I'm in a condo and cable haven't gone down our road yet.

    IPTV is frightening Sky so they're buying into it big time right now.

    --
    Matt Thompson - Actuality - Insert product here.
  8. More competition is good, lag is bad by digitaldc · · Score: 2, Insightful

    When the local office receives this request, it checks to make sure that the user is authorized to view the new channel, then directs the routers in the local office to add that particular user to the channel's distribution list. In this way, only signals that are currently being watched are actually being sent from the local office to the DSLAM and on to the user.

    Sounds like if you change the 'channel' you will have to wait for it to load a few packets to get it started first, I don't see how it could be instantaneous or even quicker than a few seconds. But if most things were 'on-demand' it may not matter that much.

    More competition will hopefully mean that our cable bills will go down. Wait and see...

    --
    He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
  9. WOW, there is nothing but shite on TV isn't there. by Shivetya · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Hate to break it to ya but this line is nearly as old as TV itself.

    There is never anything on TV to watch but many will still watch something anyway. Face it, people like to complain but do nothing about it. They will still turn the same old shite on and just be content to bitch about it.

    With hundreds of channels there is bound to be something on that is appealing enough to prevent most from turning the set off. With video on demand services and TIVO devices there are even more opportunities for TV to be part of people's lives.

    The only way TV is going away is when we manage to convince people to call it something else. It will still have nothing for us to watch or do that we "want" to watch or do but we still will.

    go figure

    --
    * Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
  10. ...Said the guy in 1979 by Big_Al_B · · Score: 2, Insightful

    when coax cable got strung to his door.

  11. I've had this for a few years by Colin-W-Holywell · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is old news to Canadians. I have had IPTV for a few years now and I like it. It is more than just TV it's got video on demand, internet, email and games. Other nice thing are interactive weather forecasts and local news. And there is no "buffering". The only thing that is annoying is that the menus load kind of like a website. All the text appears and the graphics follow a few seconds later. My provider Sasktel came and installed a free wireless router and wired every room with CAT5 jacks for free. What more could you ask for?

    1. Re:I've had this for a few years by wraezor · · Score: 2, Funny

      Benefit offset entirely by the fact that you have to live in Saskatchewan.

  12. Coming at ya like a (slow) freight train ... by notpaul · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Without taking the time to elaborate on all of the parameters (this is a complex situation and it's too early in the AM here ...) all folks really need to know is that "broadband TV" is coming, and it is a *VERY* good thing.

    The confluence of technology development, trends in the entertainment industry (all kinds of trends: economic, demographic, etc.), government & regulatory evolution, and other forces are (admittedly) slowly but surely creating a vacuum that can only be filled by a "fourth provider" of television service. (In addition to OTA (over-the-air), DBS (direct-broadcast satellite), and cable.)

    The cable television industry shares a good portion of the blame (or credit) for this situation, which will ultimately dig the grave for much of their own profits. Their stranglehold on most "in-home" entertainment - including the WWW - coupled with their buccaneer behavior trying to eat the telco's lunch (with IP phone service) have brought competitors out of the woodwork. And some of these competitors (like SBC/AT&T) come to play. Add to the mix the upward-spiraling cost of cable TV, and you have what business-people like to call "low-hanging fruit."

    Before y'all get started ... OF COURSE there are bugs in the current crop of offerings ... none of it is going to seriously damage the cablecos bottom-line ... YET. But you don't have to be Warren Buffett to see indicators are appearing like the hand writing on the wall. The stage of the game where small innovators test the market (Akimbo, etc.) has already past. The big boys with lots of cash are now wading into the pool. The train has left the station. Need a few more metaphors?

    And of course, this is all "A Good Thing" (TM) because it will mean a good ol' fashioned PRICE WAR. How long since we've seen *that* happen in TV? Ever? When AT&T (or some other player with deep pockets) steps up to offer a viable TV service for $19.95 a month (a permanent, not a "promotional" price) ... or bundled services (voice/data/TV) for $49.95 a month ... you will hear the cableco executives screaming halfway around the globe. Yippee!

    One more prediction: Watch for a la carte TV to become a reality in the next 2-3 years. The reason being that as all of this competition heats up, networks (think Turner or Discovery) will start to wake-up to the fact that there is a niche of viewers out there who would like to pay them directly for delivery of a reasonable-quality stream over the broadband connection they already have ... and that they can deliver that product without giving the cable company (or the telco) a sniff of the fee. The status quo of the recent (and distant) past created a detente where no one was willing to cross this line. We are about to enter a "wild and wooly" phase wherein all bets are off.

    Okay ... enough rambling ... I'm off to refill my coffee cup.

    --
    See you space cowboy ...
    1. Re:Coming at ya like a (slow) freight train ... by Whiteox · · Score: 2, Interesting

      "Watch for a la carte TV to become a reality in the next 2-3 years. The reason being that as all of this competition heats up, networks (think Turner or Discovery) will start to wake-up to the fact that there is a niche of viewers out there who would like to pay them directly for delivery of a reasonable-quality stream over the broadband connection they already have .."

      I most certainly hope so. Currently, sat and cable packages are a waste of money and channel space.
      Many of us would like to customise content which is not possible to do now. I don't want to pay for channel content I don't watch. But why do providers sell packages rather than individual channels? I too would like al la carte to happen soon.
      But will IPTV or other provide that?

      What about DRM? If I pay for content, then I want to back it up and watch it wherever and on whatever I want to watch it on.
      In fact, the whole media development is regressing to the early 60's when there was no consumer recording available. DRM will do that in the sense that it is pay-per-view and then view again (if your lucky and if it is not streamed) using DRM licences. If your HD crashes then you've lost it all. The technology to provide a backup of content and licences is expensive to buy and maintain. Not a very clear and easy future by any means.
      Methinks that the golden age is passing before our eyes.

      --
      Don't be apathetic. Procrastinate!
    2. Re:Coming at ya like a (slow) freight train ... by KiroDude · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Sorry if I sound a little be too "piratious", but "A LA CARTE TV" is already present on the internet, some call it emule, others BitTorrent. Quite honestly, as long as I do not have an acceptable service with really reasonable prices I'll continue to use any of those "oh, because of you the industry is dead" services. I have no conscience problem at all in doing what I do, or at least I have as much as TV producers have when they treat viewrs like dumb fat ass couch potates that need to be told what to watch.

    3. Re:Coming at ya like a (slow) freight train ... by Lord_Dweomer · · Score: 2, Insightful
      "One more prediction: Watch for a la carte TV to become a reality in the next 2-3 years. The reason being that as all of this competition heats up, networks (think Turner or Discovery) will start to wake-up to the fact that there is a niche of viewers out there who would like to pay them directly for delivery of a reasonable-quality stream over the broadband connection they already have ... and that they can deliver that product without giving the cable company (or the telco) a sniff of the fee."

      Unfortunately, I think this is the one innovation that all providers (including AT&T) will be fighting tooth and nail. The majority of idiots who they hope will migrate to this won't be begging for a la carte tv, so they will have proof that "people want bundles!" which they will continue to ram down our throats because they make more money off of them right now than they supposedly would off of a la carte. Of course, since none of them have ventured to try this nobody can be sure. The only example they have is premium channels like Showtime and HBO who....well....who have done quite well for themselves because of their EXCELLENT content that people willing to pay a premium for.

      --
      Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
  13. Great, now they can see what I watch by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    With IPTV, it will be possible for the cable companies to log exactly what channels I watch when. What about privacy?