There is much buzz around the topic of IPTV and streaming services nowadays, with the two battling it out for the top spot of household entertainment services.
Chances are, however, that you’ve heard none of these. Streaming services became popular a few years back, with the main providers being Netflix, Hulu, HBO, and others. IPTV, on the other hand, is something that currently growing but predicts to completely overcome streaming services.
IPTV stands for Internet Protocol Television and it essentially means that you’re getting your TV from the internet. However, this term is somewhat new, but the concept has been around for a long time, and chances are you’ve been using it but have no idea about it.
The main point of this service is for various providers and services to work alongside traditional television and make up a package that you will use it for years and years. And as it seems, currently, it has a lot of features that most people can get behind.
But what exactly is the difference between traditional cable or satellite TV and IPTV? Well, cable and satellite TV let you watch only what is being broadcasted. You cannot change it and cannot decide which show runs when. You have to sit there and watch what’s been given to you.
IPTV, on the other hand, works completely different. Traditional cable and satellite TV send signals via cable or satellite, while the service sends it straight through your internet. To connect your TV box to the internet you would need eighter a LAN cable or to connect through Wi-Fi.
Video on Demand
The main feature of IPTV is a service called Video-on-Demand. VOD, for short, is a new form of entertainment service that lets you watch whatever you want, whenever you want. While the actual science behind it is somewhat tricky for the ordinary person to understand, what you need to know is that you don’t have to sit and watch what is being given to you.
The VOD service is usually accompanied by a library where you can browse the various movies, TV shows, and TV series to watch. To best explain video on demand, think just like streaming services such as HBO, Netflix, and Hulu, but in a more sophisticated matter and accompanied by traditional TV and various other services.
We briefly mentioned TV boxes and this will be the device that translates everything you receive via the internet. Since our TV’s aren’t built for this type of technology, a TV box set is a must when choosing this service. The box set is the device that you need to connect on the internet, to receive the service.
On the other hand, your desktop computer or laptop is fully equipped for this service, since it possesses all the necessary hardware, software, and framework settings to use it. If you want to watch IPTV straight from your desktop or laptop, then all you need is to simply sign up to the service in question.
One such subscription service that offers thousands of HD TV channels, as well as services such as VOD, and is fully optimized for any device, is IPTVGrand.
The Rise of Hybrid IPTV
Since traditional IPTV does come with its problems, television providers have come up with a brilliant idea of combining the services with traditional TV to greatly expand on what they can offer their customers. Some of the biggest problems associated are related to bandwidth. Namely, the service requires a lot of bandwidth to be transmitted for everything to function.
This can be a problem for some places in the world where there are bandwidth limitations. So, traditional TV providers have combined IP based services with TV services and have created a new-Hybrid form. The best thing about the Hybrid is that everything is transmitted through the box sets we talked about earlier. These TV box sets are so powerful that TV providers can easily update the libraries with new products without overhauling anything.
So, that begs the question, what makes it better than streaming services? Well, we will answer that in a moment.
More Options
The biggest benefit to this type of service compared to streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, HBO, and Amazon is down to the fact that it offers you entertainment options. Yeah, these services do have a lot of shows and movies, however, more and more of these streaming services are pairing up with traditional TV companies. This not only does give you the full range of HBO’s shows and movies but other services that the TV provider also offers you.
High Functionality
It’s safe to say that IPTV functions more than well. Since the service is IP-based, that means that integrating with other IP-based services such as VOIP and high internet speed isn’t a problem. If used on a computer, the service required nothing then to simply subscribe to it. In a sense, it operates exactly like streaming services, but the quality isn’t interrupted since the protocol doesn’t allow it. When used with a TV box set, you can watch as much as you like and your internet can be as bad as it is but the quality of the picture won’t change, unlike streaming services.
Electronic Program Guide
EPG is a menu-based system that every provider has. EPG is a great way for the users to browse and see everything scheduled for a specific TV program. It is a major part of it that has made watching content much easier and more convenient for the user.
EPG is essentially a TV guide, but on that, you can find with a simple push of a button.
Personal Video Recorder
PVR has been revolutionary for IPTV since it lets the consumer interact with traditional TV the way he likes. In the past, there was no real way for us to view TV content if missed. There was no way for you to watch your favorite show unless there was a rerun. However, PRV is a fully functional feature of IPTV that lets the user record a specific TV show and watch it later.
Compatible on All Devices
And another great thing about this service is that it is fully compatible with other devices. Streaming services, on the other hand, are somewhat compatible since a TV needs to be smart to have them. On the other hand, IPTV doesn’t require the TV to be smart, since the TV box set translates everything.a