The Year of IPTV and 1080P Televisions

Now that you know all about wiring for an IP home, let me tell about what I believe is one of the most exciting benefits of an IP home – IPTV, which will change our television experience forever.

2007 looks to be a very promising year for many new technologies, but two of these promise to change our lives forever. This is the year that IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) will begin to go mainstream. In 2005 many of the large TV manufacturers stuck their IPTV flag in the ground by announcing that they were planning on releasing their first IPTVs in 2007. In 2006 many of the other TV manufacturers announced their plans to introduce IPTVs in the near future as well. So this is the year that we get to see these arrive at a store near you.

What is IPTV? It is television programming distributed to us over the Internet. Yes…a broadband connection will be required. Stations will be offered across the Internet as stand alone stations, and some service providers may offer a ‘build your own bundle’. What does this mean for us? More choices. More service providers will offer us ‘on demand channels’, which allow us to select from a list of pre-scheduled programs. This means that we can watch these programs whenever we want and stop, rewind, or fast forward them, just like we do with our recorded programs on our PVR/DVRs (Digital Video Recorders or Personal Video Recorders). Many of the IPTV channels will allow you to watch programs that they have streamed that week, anytime after the original broadcast, just like the major networks are doing on the Internet with their prime shows.

IPTV also offers the small guys a chance to put their programs on the web, much like Internet Radio allows anyone with a computer and a microphone to broadcast on the web. And don’t forget that you will also be able to select short videos posted on sites like U-Tube and watch them as you wish, on your TV. Not only will you be able to view them, but you will be able to post your own videos on these types of sites for anyone in the world to see, or just those that you give permission to. Everyone now has a chance for fame.

New types of programming will become available and the TV will become more interactive. So that if you see a commercial and you want more information, with the click of a button, you will be able to request that information. If you are watching a cooking program and want the recipe, a click of a button and it’s on your printer. But if you are looking for a different or related recipe, you can do that too, while you watch your favorite cook on TV.

With technologies like NetStreams' IP Video, in the future you will be able to select 4 sport events and watch them simultaneously by splitting your display into four parts. But if the baby is asleep, you will be able to assign one of those quadrants to the IP camera in the baby’s room.

1080p High Definition – Of course, IPTV would not be complete without a better High Definition display. 2007 also promises to be the year where most TV manufacturers introduce their 1080p HD displays. Most High Definition TVs sold today are 1080i. The ‘i’ stands for interlaced, which means that in reality, you are only getting 540 lines of video, alternated faster than your eye can see, so that it gives you the illusion of 1,080 lines. 1080p is actually 1,080 lines of video, which gives you twice the resolution and a much better, crisper picture. All you need to know is that the higher the number, the better. And a ‘p’ is much better than an ‘i’.

Together, 1080p High Definition and IPTV will redefine how we enjoy and interact with our televisions and our homes. Maybe its time to replace the name ‘television’ with a new, cooler name like ‘ViewPort’ or ‘IPvision’.

Of course my house is wired and ready for IPTV and 1080p television. J For more information on how you can do the same, see my previous post. In fact, I am already enjoying my Marantz 1080p projector. All I can say is… WOW!!! Oh… and you can bet that NetStreams is working on IP Video products that will support up to 1080p video distribution.

If my blog has been helpful to you in any way, please drop me a note. I would love to hear from you: hermansblog@netstreams.com.


Herman Cardenas