How Internet TV Works

Researchers:
Mohamed Hassan Ali
Hisham Hassan Ali

Supervisor:
Dr. Sayed Abdel Wahab

October, 2009
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Topics
1. History.
2. Internet TV.
3. Internet TV Types and Cost.

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Topics
5. Internet Bandwidth and Streaming.
5.1 Bandwidth
5.1.1 How to Calculate Download Time (Method 1)
5.1.2 How to Calculate Download Time (Method 2)
5.2 Streaming audio and video
5.2.1 Video formats
5.2.2 Flash Video has big advantages
5.2. 3 Flash, King of the Impossible
5.2.4 Lossy compression
5.2.5 Why lossy compression in streaming media

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1) History
For most of the 20th century, the only two
ways to watch television were through:
 Over-the-air broadcasts.
An antenna picks up radio waves to transmit pictures
and sound to your television set
 With cable TV (Wired - Wireless).
Wires connect to your TV itself. These wires run from
your house to the nearest cable TV station, which acts
as one big antenna.

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2) Internet TV
 It's also known as Internet protocol
television, or IPTV.
 "IPTV is defined as multimedia services such as
television/video/audio/text/graphics/data delivered
over IP based networks managed to provide the
required level of quality of service and experience,
security, interactivity and reliability."
 You can watch Internet TV on a computer
screen, a television screen (through a set-top
box) or a mobile device like a cell phone or an
iPod.

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Set--Top Box
Set

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Set--Top Box
Set
 the set-top box is a small computer
providing two-way communications on an
IP network and decoding the video
streaming media.
 A device that connects to a television and
an external source of signal, turning the
signal into content which is then displayed
on the television screen

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4.1) Internet TV Types
 IPTV services may be classified into three
main groups:
1. Live broadcasts (real-time streaming
video).
http://www.wwitv.com/
2. Time-shifted programming.
3. Video on demand.
http://www.joost.com/

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Cost
 Cost estimation for deploying an Internet TV
service depends on the following factors:
1. Are you doing "Audio Only" or "Audio and
Video" streaming?
2. Number of days per week [1:7].
3. Number of hours per broadcast session
[1:24].
4. Number of viewers for each bit rate:
◦ Low (dial up = 34 Kbps)
◦ Medium (Low broadband = 150 Kbps)
◦ High (High broadband = 350 Kbps)

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Cost Items
 PC with high performance Hardware.
 Input devices ()
 Server for publishing media stream.
 Internet Bandwidth for web publishing.
 Networking Device.
 Load Balancer for load distribution.
 Hardware Maintenance.

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5) Internet Bandwidth and
Streaming
 There are two major things that make
Internet TV possible:
1. Bandwidth.
2. Streaming audio and video.

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5.1) Bandwidth
 Internet likes highways and information
likes cars.
 One car on the highway
Travels quickly and easily.
 Many cars on the highway
Travels slowly with delay.

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5.1.1) How to Calculate
Download Time (Method 1)
1. Both file size and connection speed
should be converted to bits.
2. Divide the file size by the connection
speed.

Note:
 File size measured by kilobytes
 Connection speed measured by kilobits per second
[kbps]

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How to Calculate Download
Time (example)
 Assume we need to transfer 84 KB file
using 56 Kbps connection speed.
1. File size by bits = 84 * 1000 * 8
= 672,000 bits.
2. Connection speed by bits
= 56 * 1000
= 56,000 bits per second
3. Time required to transfer
= 672,000 / 56,000
= 12 seconds
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5.1.2) How to Calculate
Download Time (Method 2)
1. Both file size and connection speed
should be converted to kilobytes.
2. Calculate transfer rate by converting
connection speed to (kilobytes per
second)
3. Divide the file size by the transfer rate.

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How to Calculate Download
Time (example)
 Assume we need to transfer 84 KB file
using 56 Kbps connection speed.
1. Transfer rate = 56 / 8
= 7 kilobyte per second
2. Time required to transfer
= 84 / 7
= 12 seconds

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5.2) Streaming audio and video
 A stream is a sequence of data of undetermined
length.
 Watch live or on-demand video without
downloading a copy directly to a computer.
 Multimedia server uses real-time streaming
media protocols to make sure the data arrives
in good condition and with all the pieces in the
right order.
 A plug-in or player on your computer is
required to show media -- Windows Media Player
and RealPlayer are two popular examples --
decodes and plays the video signal.
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5.2.1) Video formats
 QuickTime, from Apple, plays files that
end in .mov
 RealNetworks RealMedia plays .rm files
 Microsoft Windows Media can play a few
streaming file types: Windows Media
Audio (.wma), Windows Media Video
(.wmv) and Advanced Streaming Format
(.asf)
 Adobe Flash player plays .flv files and .swf
animation files
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5.2.2) Flash Video has big
advantages
 It has high compression ratios, which
means .flv files tend to be smaller than
other formats.
 Flash Video requires a flash player applet
rather than a stand-alone video player.
 Simple coding.
 Includes playback and sizing controls.
 It uses lossy compression.

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5.2.3) Flash, King of the
Impossible
 Imagine a video as a series of still images
played in sequence.
 Flash Video designates certain images,
called frames, as key frames.
 Flash only records any changes from the
previous key frame.
 Storing only the changes reduces file size,
but it also reduces the quality of the
video image
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5.2.4) Lossy compression
 Compressing data and then
decompressing it while retrieving data
that is different from the original.
 Lossy compression is most commonly
used to compress multimedia data (audio,
video, still images), especially in
applications such as streaming media and
internet telephony.
 Video can be compressed immensely (e.g.
100:1) with little visible quality loss;
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5.2.5) Why lossy compression
in streaming media
 Lossy methods are most often used for
compressing sound, images or videos. This
is because these types of data are
intended for human interpretation where
the mind can easily "fill in the blanks”.

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Internet TV System Architecture

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Internet TV System Architecture
1. Media Content
 A media content is a video input device
that connects to the encoding station.
 A media content suitable for capturing
live broadcasting is:
◦ Video card for a PC that connects to a
satellite reciever .
◦ Satellite PC card.

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Internet TV System Architecture
2. Encoding Station
 PC with high storage capacity, memory
and fast processor for reliable capturing.
 An encoding software uses a method to
represent and compress video (often
referred to as a CODEC) like:
◦ RealNetworks: RealProducer Basic (Free)
and Real Producer Pro
◦ Apple: QuickTime Pro (minor cost of $35)
◦ Windows Media: Windows Media Tools
(Free)

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Internet TV System Architecture
3. Content Delivery Servers
 Deliver the media stream in one of two
ways:
◦ Push: where servers are continuously sent a
stream from the encoder.
◦ Pull: makes a connection and "pulls" the
stream when a player connects to it.
 Content Delivery Servers could be:
◦ Windows Media Server [Pull]
◦ Helix server for RealNetworks [Push]
◦ Darwin Server for QuickTime [Push]

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Thank you

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