Enterprise IPTV systems
IPTV or Internet Protocol Television, is the means to distribute television channels over an area network – the same kind of network people use to surf the internet and exchange emails.
The signals from the terrestrial, cable or satellite transmissions are encoded to become IP streams – each stream will be one channel with its own IP address.
This technology enables an organisation to use an existing IP network to carry much more than just television. You can easily distribute terrestrial and satellite television as well as radio, video, DVD, Video on Demand (VoD), digital signage, information boards and web content throughout your facility. All of this multimedia content can be viewed on standard and high-definition TVs and various kinds of AV display equipment, as well as PCs on every desktop.
The receiver device needs to be able to browse to that stream and have a suitable video codec, either through software (VLC, MediaPlayer etc.) or hardware (Digital Signage or SetTop box) in order to decode the stream into the required video and audio signals.
One of the other uses of IPTV is to distribute corporate or institutional ‘TV’ to staff, students, patients etc. Usually, this is in the form of a computer presentation, which is encoded in a similar fashion to a TV channel.
