Recommended Posts

Most of you have probebly opened this thread to find out wtf IPTV is... I was right, wasn't I? ;)

What is IPTV?

IPTV stands for Internet Protocol Television. As it sounds it is basicly TV channels being broadcasted over the internet. Though no provider will broadcast it over the internet but they will broadcast it from their servers to your house of course. Technicaly you could do this with any internet connection, I read that one operator offers this through ADSL. But I wouldnt get it through ADSL, read below with the problems I am having for more info why. I got mine through my new 10mbit LAN connection. I am getting it for a cost of $35 per month ($15 for the TV and $20 for the internet).

How can I get it?

If you havnt been offered it you probebly cant get it. It is a very rare service, I think it is only used in Sweden, Japan, Germany and maybe in the USA. But I am talking about just one or two cities in each country so I dont expect anyone here will be able to get it now.

What is needed?

To be able to translate the digital signals coming through the TP cable you will need a set top box (supplied with the service provider) to choose channels with and to send the signals to the TV. The box I got with my IPTV was a amino aminet 110 box, check it out here. The box works well, the only thing I can complain about is the lack of support for regular usb keyboards and the lack of a display to show which channel you are currently watching and something to show if the box is off or on. Other then that it has the same features as a regular digital box, but it misses one feature I am fond of, the info button. No EPG or other program guide comes with it.

The box came preloaded with a custermized linux OS from my service provider, unfortuntly my provider had removed the support to surf the internet so I wasnt able to test that feature.

Does it work well?

No! I cant express this clearly. I dont know if it is just my operator but I dont think it is due to them. First of if not using the internet it works great. But if you transfer data (downstream) any higher than 10kb/s you will get a disorted picture on the tv and terrible sound! I have no idea how they thought this would work. IPTV should "only" need 6mbit to operator but it is using 96% of my internet speed! Stay away from this technology until they have 1. Fixed it or 2. Offering much higher internet speeds!

Summery:

Pros:

* Is there any?

* I guess that it is cheap

* Enables surfing in the living room (if supported by your operator)

* Small

Cons:

* Cant be used at the same time as your internet connection!

* Poor USB support

* Lacking interface on the front

Score:

I'll give it (Y)(Y) out of 5. The reason why I gave it two is because that the avrage user doesnt download things 24/7 as most of us here do and some users just use the internet to surf and this is a ideal solution for them. But for most of us on this forum this is a terrible solution!

More info:

Microsofts TV homepage

edit:

I have called there support hotline and they have been very helpful. They have sent a guy over who has checked everything. Turns out the box (which converts optical fiber to regular ethernet) has support problems with certain hardware/software... The reason I assumed nothing was wrong on my side was because I have a friend with the same problem (he is also running linux)... I will be replacing my firewall with a regular router to solve this problem... There I have rewrite some parts below...

Does it work well?

Yes and no... At first I was judgemental and critizied this product but it has come to my understanding that this is due to a compatiblity problem and not with the service itself. If there is no compatibility problems this product works great most of the time. And if you are having problems its not to expensive to purchase a new router or simular. The only problems otherwise I have experience is that the digital receiver sometimes hangs, this requires the power cord to be disconnected and connected again.. But this is probebly due to the Aminet 110 box and not the service itself. I spoke a lot to the service guy and it seems that you get to optical lines, on capped to 10mbit for internet and one uncapped 100mbit (though only to the IPTV server not to the internet).. So it should be impossible for them to effect each other... The problems discribed originaly was due to the compatibility problem which ment that packets where dropped and the eriksson gateway got over loaded...

New Summery:

Pros:

* Cheap, cuts your internet and tv bill in half

* Enables surfing in the living room (if supported by your operator)

* Small

Cons:

* Poor USB support

* Lacking interface on the front

* Hangs time to time

* Only specilised boxes works, meaning that you can only buy them from your operator (at a high fee)

Score:

I'll give it (Y)(Y)(Y)(Y) out of 5. The reason why I gave it four now is because if fixing the problems I accured it works quiet well.. Its defently worth having (saves us $40 per month) and when you concider the few problems you may have it is well worth it.

Edited by Fredde87
Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/197739-a-guide-to-iptv/
Share on other sites

sorry meant review..

I think you missunderstood.. iptv is for the TV not for a laptop.. it requires a ethernet cable to a digital receiver and then a video cable (in my case a scart cable) to the tv... Though I have read that you can sometimes use a video program to watch it if you know the ip of the iptv server.. I havent tried this yet, I might set up a ip scanner tonight...

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.