IPTV– Distributed TV Entertainment
One of the key requirements in every hospitality infrastructure (being it a hotel, gated villages or a man- camp for a remote oil and gas site) is to provide the guests with a selection of TV entertainment channels in each room.
These solutions usually consist of a “head end” system where satellite and/or terrestrial TV channels are captured and then distributed over the TV network to each TV installed in the rooms.
Up until only a few years ago, the only well-known solution was MATV (Master Antenna TV also known as SMATV – Satellite Master Antenna TV), where the TV channels were “modulated” at the head end over different TV channel frequencies and then distributed over a coaxial distribution network.
Recently however, there is a growing demand for IPTV solutions. As the name suggests, an IPTV system depends on LAN infrastructure (computer network) to fulfil the same function.
Benefits of IPTV over SMATVIP-based technologies are for sure the future of everything and the same is true here! There are many benefits of an IPTV system over an SMATV – some of the most important ones are:
1. Higher picture quality: an analog SMATV system is highly susceptible to poor image quality and distortions like ghost images and snowy pictures, while in a well-implemented IPTV system, there is zero downgrade of picture quality.
2. Unified communication medium: if there is a proper LAN infrastructure in place or if we’re talking about a complete new installation, IPTV would not need separate cabling apart from the LAN infrastructure while for SMATV, separate coaxial cabling would be required.
3. More channels: while in an analog SMATV the total number of channels that can be broadcasted is limited, in an IPTV system there is no such limitation as long as the proper LAN infrastructure is in place.
4. Interactivity: unlike analog SMATV which is a one-way system, IPTV solutions provide 2-way interaction giving access to great features such as internet browsing, Video on Demand (VoD) and customized hospitality features.
5. Wide distributions: as IPTV is based on IP technology, the solution can be distributed over wide areas in such a way that there are now many providers who offer IPTV services over the internet.
IPTV Overview: First a copper / fibre hybrid system is built. The coaxial cable satellite feed is split at the IPTV Server Appliance (SATIP, NETUP). From the IPTV Appliance, the satellite signal is then sent via fibre switch to the various blocks where a drop cable is then terminated into the termination box in the apartment where a media convert or a switch such as RB-HAPAC reconvert fibre back into copper. A fly lead from the media converter LAN port then connects to the decoder LAN port in each unit.
