IPTV Solutions for Cable Operators and ISPs

Business Opportunity

Since its birth, IPTV technology quickly gained acceptance among small to midsize service providers who were the first to capitalize on its benefits. For such providers, IPTV technology offers a cost effective method to deliver niche content to end-users utilizing existing broadband infrastructure. While large Cable operators and ISP providers were not among the early adopters of that technology, nowadays many of them have realized its benefits and are looking to deploy it. IPTV technology benefits Cable operators and ISP providers by enabling them to expand their content offerings, roll out new niche offerings and fend off competitive threats.

A major concern for Cable operators and ISP providers with regard to IPTV technology is how they can deploy it with minimum changes to existing infrastructure. Fortunately, IPTV technology is agnostic with regard to the underlying infrastructure as long as it meets certain bandwidth requirements. Depending on utilized compression technology and desired picture quality and size, IPTV technology requires from as low as 700Kbps to over 10 Gbps bandwidth per channel which allows it to be deployed in both Internet and closed network environments.

Business Solution

SysMaster, a leading vendor of IPTV equipment, offers a comprehensive suite of IPTV products suitable for deployment in any broadband infrastructure. SysMaster IPTV equipment typically operates in two types of infrastructure – Internet and closed network.

IPTV over Internet (IPTV for ISPs)
In IPTV over Internet deployments, SysMaster IPTV equipment streams content to remote end-users utilizing Unicast TCP or UDP connections. Because the last mile infrastructure to end-users typically has bandwidth limitations, SysMaster comboSwitch encoders are utilized to convert content streams to bandwidth saving MPEG4 or H.264 format with requirements of about 1 Mbps per stream. Because converting video signals requires heavy CPU usage, the SysMaster encoder can capture and convert up to 2 streams. Typical applications utilizing public IP infrastructure include IPTV over Internet, Remote Learning and Video-on-Demand.

IPTV over Closed Network (IPTV for Cable Operators)
In IPTV deployments in closed network infrastructure, providers can utilize a small number of SysMaster Broadcasters to capture DVB signals from satellite, cable or terrestrial systems and convert them to IP signal. Typically, the DVB signal comes in MPEG2 format with standard content encryption. The Broadcaster captures the encrypted signal, decrypts it via a hardware decryption card, and converts it, without transcoding, to IP Transport Stream (TS) signal. The IP TS signal is then distributed via Multicast in a closed network infrastructure, processed by IGMP switches/routers and sent to the Set-Top-Boxes (STB) of end-users utilizing IGMP multicast subscription mechanism. In such implementations, the end-users’ STBs (e.g. Tornado M55) should support MPEG2/TS streaming and the IGMP protocol. Because in such setup the incoming video signal is not transcoded, the Broadcaster can support up to 30 channels which reduces the overall deployment cost. Typical applications utilizing closed network infrastructure include IPTV over fiber optic local loop, IPTV over cable and IPTV for Hotels.

How do the solutions work?

IPTV over Internet

• The SysMaster comboSwitch encoder receives TV channels from Satellite, Cable or Terrestrial systems
• The encoder decodes the signals from their native format, encodes them to MPEG4 or H.264, and sends them to the SysMaster Time-Shifter over IP
• The SysMaster Time-Shifter acts as a content buffer, temporarily storing content for up to 24 hours. Such time-shifted content is then sent to the SysMaster iptvSwitch streaming server over IP
• The iptvSwitch receives IPTV channels from the SysMaster Time-Shifter and re-streams them to the set-top-box (e.g. Tornado M53/M55) of the end-user over the Internet
• The Tornado M53/M55 STB decodes the received IPTV streams and display them content on the attached TV
• The IPTV system is managed by the VoiceMaster^® Content Management and Billing server

IPTV over Closed Networks

• The SysMaster Broadcaster receives encrypted TV channels from Satellite, Cable or Terrestrial systems
• TVGate decrypts such signals, utilizing specialized hardware decryption card(s). It then converts the signals from DVB to IP Transport Stream (TS) format while preserving the original content encoding (e.g. MPEG2)
• The Broadcaster sends IP TS stream via Multicast in the closed network
• The Multicast IP TS signal is processed by network IGMP switches/routers and sent to the set-top-box (e.g. Tornado M55) of the end-user
• The Tornado M55 decodes the received IPTV streams and display its content on the attached TV
• The IPTV system is managed by the VoiceMaster^® Content Management and Billing server

Solution components and requirements

Core elements of SysMaster's IPTV Solutions for Cable Operators and ISPs include:

• VoiceMaster^® Content Management and Billing, a robust and feature rich server that manages and bills for content streams, including IPTV, Video-on-Demand, Pay-per-View, Online Radio, Audio-on-Demand etc.
• comboSwitch Media Concentrator, a robust and scalable audio and video encoder which compresses input streams into MPEG4/MP3 format and sends them to iptvSwitch for streaming.
• SysMaster Broadcaster, a robust and multi-functional digital video gateway designed to capture DVB-C/S/T streams and convert them to IP TS signal.
• iptvStreaming Server, an universal TV, video, audio and content streaming server which delivers audio/video content to multiple Tornado M55 devices using TCP or UDP streaming.
• Tornado M55 IPTV Set-Top-Box, an advanced customer premises equipment device supporting MPEG4 and H.264 video compression.

Interested to learn more about that solution? Call Us today or email us at service@sysmaster.com.