IPTV and Internet Video, Second Edition: Expanding the Reach of Television Broadcasting (NAB Executive Technology Briefi

Stephan A. Mezak said
IPTV and Internet Video explains what is happening today in the converging world of TV, Internet and communications. It turns out IPTV is really the ability to deliver programming using the IP over a private network rather than the public Internet. And those private networks are the cable, DSL and satellite networks constructed by the large companies providing these services today.

If you are like me you look forward to the day when you can interact with your TV instead of just sitting there and passively watching it. Tivo and other brands of DVRs are a start. They let you record programs and watch them when you want to, and of course you can skip the commercials. I even skip the lulls and often lame commentary between baseball pitches and football plays.

But when will we be able to watch a show and look up other information on the Internet related to what we are watching? What is that batter's average again? What other movie was this actor in? Where can I blog about that news item?

Today I can do that with a laptop while watching TV but I have to type everything in to do a search. That's not the integrated environment that is possible if I could interact with the TV program directly on my computer or computer-based TV. IPTV is what I want!

Or is it?

The book covers the differences between IPTV programming, delivered over a private network and viewed on a TV through a set-top box, and Internet Video which is usually small clips delivered on-demand through the public Internet.

The authors do an excellent job of explaining the technical and business reasons for what is happening now and in the near future of IPTV. Technical details including the various MPEG standards, multicasting and network layer reference model are discussed in this context. Business aspects are also discussed and include business models, subscription costs and "Corner Office View" sidebars that quote industry leaders on the impact of IPTV and Internet video developments.

This is an excellent book if you are in the business and want an overview of IPTV with a good balance of technical and business detail. I rate the book at 5 stars in this case. If you want a description of the gory details of UDP vs. TCP and how multicasting on IP works then this book probably doesn't have enough of those details for you.

You will also have to look elsewhere if you want to know what the next Web 2.0 or YouTube-like video craze will be. OTOH, you might just detect an opportunity not adequately addressed by the IPTV services offered by the powers-that-be and soon-to-be that are discussed in this book.