Page 1 of 1

IPTV how it works?

Posted: 12 Apr 2006 11:29
by vrm1
firstly i apologize if this question is off topic.
i'm very new to all this, I hope someone can enlightenme on how an IPTV actually works.
my current understanding is as follows:
an IPTV provider streams a MPEG-2 TS/H.264 media to a multicast address. an STB has an RJ45 connector that connects through a broadband connection and joins the multicast address to view the TV content.
i'm wondering abt the quality of the TV reception on the STB side. what bit rate, bandwidth etc from the provider should be provided to guarantee the quality of the signal that is still acceptable by the STB.
is 128kbps acceptable? 1Mbps? (in the case of MPEG2), does this also mean that i have to have an ADSL connection? do delays intermittently occur when i watch the tv programme?
and when an STB has both RJ45 and input F-type connector, doest it mean it supposed to be able to receive both IPTV and TV over trstrial/cable/sat?
and btw, what factors constitute bandwidth, for example in a movie 400Kbps? (i'm thinking: bit rate, frame size, compression ratio/method, others?).

thanks for all attention and help in advance.
vr