IP for IPTV

Internet Protocol, or IP, is a general protocol that provides a data transmission mechanism for controlling the flow of packets between devices connected to the Internet. It is also the standard method for formatting data packets over a large network such as the Internet. A packet, which is defined as a collection of information, can be sent in a well-defined format over an IP network. In an IPTV system, the video signal will be split into multiple IP packets and then the packets will be sent over the IP network.

Internet Protocol is widely used in various networks such as LAN, wireless Wi-Fi and telephony networks.

Packet forwarding is a process in which a packet of information is sent to a user through an IP network.

There are three different processes for sending packets: unicast, multicast, and broadcast.

Unicast is a type of transmission in which one sender and one receiver communicate with each other over the network. Thus, a packet of information is sent from one sender to only one receiver involving only two nodes.

In IPTV technology, VOD (video on demand) is a prime example of unicast where the user can stop, pause and play the video content. Therefore, with unicast, the user can control the data without disrupting other users on the Internet.

Multicast: Information can be sent from a single source to a selected group of recipients. A multicast process is usually used to establish a connection between one sender and several receivers. Therefore, one device sends data packets to a group of devices at the same time.

In IPTV, each broadcast TV channel must have a single IP multicast network group in order to send data packets to a selected group of receivers. This means that hundreds of viewers will be able to watch a single TV broadcast simultaneously. Broadcast packets will be sent to a group of clients, and clients can include a broadcast stream route on their network device.

Using multicast is much more efficient when the same packet of information is sent to many users at the same time. Multicast is more difficult to implement than unicast because it requires more effort to add and remove users from multicast groups. In unicast, three streams from the same source are sent to three different recipients, but in multicast, only one stream is sent to the recipient group.