In the beginning… :
In the beginning… In 1926, John Logie Baird transmitted the very first television picture from one room to another. By 1927, he used telephone wires to successfully send a moving image from London to Glasgow and in 1928, he made the first trans-Atlantic television broadcast.
The old-fashioned way… :
The old-fashioned way… Early television signals were converted to radio-waves and broadcast “over the air” to the user’s home.
Reception of the old-fashioned broadcast signal was dependant on several factors such as:
transmitter power
distance to the user
the user’s antenna
an old-fashioned tv-set
The new way… :
The new way… Fast-forward to today, just as the television set has evolved, so have the technologies of the signals provided to it, in
What was once “over-the-air” (and free) is now predominantly on CATV coax or Telco’s fiber “FTTP” networks and costs money, in the form of a monthly service fee.
Modern methods… :
Modern methods… Modern day television is now video service and modern methods of delivering it require more than the old antenna.
IPTV-video is the television signal but is now:
Digitized into IP-data-packets and addressed for routing through digital network nodes
Encrypted for security from unintended reception
Compressed for reduced network resource consumption
Transported over a high-speed digital network
Already on the Internet… :
Already on the Internet… IPTV is no-longer considered something in the future, but actually a modern version of old analog radio broadcast technology.
IPTV may be sent over public or private networks to one or many users
Each user will be individually identifiable for the purposes of provisioning, security and the ever-important monthly-billing.
What’s next ? :
What’s next ? Obviously the video service providers will continue to seek ways to increase revenue and reduce operating costs.
Wireless operability increases complexity, but greatly reduces physical plant and its related operating costs.
How long will it be before we don’t even need portable handheld devices for media reception ?