IPTV or Internet television?

“While services such as iPlayer, 4OD and Youtube might provide ‘television’ you can watch over the internet, they’re not IPTV services in the strictest sense. This is where things can get confusing, even for the tech-savvy user.

But, as more companies seek to offer TV programmes online, it will become increasingly important to understand what’s on offer, and how it’s delivered, to ensure that you don’t fall foul of download caps, bandwidth limits, or simple incompatibilities.

So, what exactly is the difference, and does it matter? To some people, ‘IP television’ simply means TV delivered over the internet; and the BBC iPlayer or Youtube certainly fall into that category. But to many, it’s a more tightly defined set of protocols that make up a ‘true’ IP service.

The difference, perhaps, is similar to the way in which people will refer to internet telephony, and include Skype’s proprietary system within that, but when they talk about VoIP, many will tend to assume you’re discussing services that use open protocols such as SIP, that allow interoperability”…. <More>