Internet TV is basically defined as the ability to view video streams over the Internet. The primary models for Internet television are streaming Internet TV or selectable video on an Internet location typically a website.
While in the past reduced bandwidth has confined the images to small windows and grainy resolutions, newer codecs like DivX and increased speeds of broadband have created extremely high quality images in sizes around 320 by
200. As the size of the images increases, the size of the picture points also increases creating a less defined picture. To a great degree, this reflects more of an attempt to save the costs of streaming bandwidth than the technical ability of generating a clear picture streamed full screen over the Internet.
Today - with the increase in Internet connection speeds, advances in technology, the increase of total number of people online, and the decrease in connection costs - it has become increasingly common to find traditional television content over the Internet. In addition to this, new Internet-only television content has appeared. Very few cable and satellite television stations stream the same content over the Internet, thus protecting the cable systems' contracted "right of first use" for the content.
Some of the ways in which Internet delivered television is used include watching on a regular TV (via a direct connection from a computer or a Set- top box), or on a computer, or on a portable device (such as a mobile phone) show a channel 'live' (like regular TV), or allow the viewer to select a show to watch on demand ("Video-on-Demand" or VOD). The viewing model for Internet TV includes interactive pages with embedded video streams or passive or streaming medium that is representative of broadcast television.
The technology of Internet television is no longer as limited by the previous barriers of technology as it once was. Increasing the bandwidth for the stream being broadcast resulted in a high cost to the providers. Many sites that stream Internet broadcasts have moved to using Flash for videos since it employs vector graphic technology as opposed to turning every bit on and off. Many sites utilize the built-in media player to display the streamed video.
Companies are also developing transmission of existing pay-TV channels to regular TV sets over the net while protecting the existing subscription and pay-per-view business models. There is also a concern over copyright associated with the digital distribution video. There will also be a substantial challenge to the protected delivery of television by cable as they face challenges from a wide variety of content providers. The models for broad internet television adoption are still on the cutting edge.
There are still limitations in knowing what is being streamed at non-VOD sites, so tuning into those sites is truly a hit or miss proposition. Video on Demand or VOD offers a different approach and it is interactive; requiring the viewer to select specific videos to watch. This model is physical easier to do sitting at the terminal you are watching on than to watch on the family television. Few televisions are directly connected to the computer or Internet as a television source. Some sites are working to improve the Internet television model by centralizing access to myriad of existing resources in a single site.
FTV is an example of a site that integrates web tv resources into a single source resource for finding streaming internet TV and VOD. The requirement of remembering hundreds of web ids is reduced to a single site with links to the sites providing Internet TV
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