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The Present of IPTV
By Larry Hendrick | January 30, 2006
IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) is an exciting technology that delivers what you want to watch, when you want to watch, where you want to watch. That’s a lot of watches, but the future of IPTV looks bright as bandwidth increases and more homes have larger pipes to the Internet. The present is not as shiny, but still holds promise.
Currently, there are many “television” shows available on the Internet for download with some being professionally produced. Digital Life TV with host Patrick Norton is produced by ZDNet and is all about technical gadgets. Others may be less seriously produced.
Right now television needs a bit of innovation, and I don’t have to bash what is on TV because it is done by professionals each fall and spring as the new shows are announced and the bashing is best left to professionals. But enough about television, let’s get back to the good stuff.
iTunes and the iPod videos can be purchased and downloaded, but I don’t count these in this category yet because they use a 2″ screen. However, it plays a role in our story, so stay tuned.
Google believes in the future of Internet video with the launch of Google Video that will do for video what it did for web pages. They allow videos of all types, both free and for sale, and the library is growing rapidly. They will even distribute your video without DRM (digital rights management) encryption built in. Your video, your way… and who wants to argue with Google?
The problem with IPTV now is the process to watch a show. I have to
Not at all like a DVD or Tivo in ease of use, and it doesn’t matter if you are watching with Windows Media Player, Quicktime, or Real Player … it takes patience.
This is not as easy as sitting down in my chair, picking up the remote, hitting the power button and surfing over one hundred channels at my leisure. The most difficult thing about television in the early years was adjusting the rabbit ears to get the best reception. Did your catch that…that was the hardest part. Fast forward to the current IPTV and look at the difference and you begin to understand the problem. It is hard to do right now, but the future is still bright.
Now let’s head back to the iTunes store for a different example. I sit down in my easy chair, open iTunes, click on the show, it downloads, and I watch it. See the difference when all I had to do was click on a button.
When some genius creates a consortium on the Internet and brings together all the channels for me to choose from, where I can click a button and watch it on my 60″ LCD TV, all will be right with the world. I think someone will have to step up and forge an iTunes-like interface for television before IPTV will explode, and the major networks can play or not.
Then we will have true video on demand to watch whatever we want, when we want. No more having to remember to set the Tivo, or having to be in your chair at 8:00 PM … just click and watch.
It will all be so easy on that Gigabit Ethernet (1000Mbs) pipe we all have to our houses , brought in on that beautiful fiber to the house (FTTH).
Topics: Technology |