IPTV Vs Analog SMATV-What’s the correct choice?

There is a variety of different TV systems available on the market today. We mainly have Satellite TV, IPTV, Cable TV and Over the top (OTT) streaming. Which option is the best for your situation?

One of the main requirements in every hospitality infrastructure (say hotels etc.), 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 recently, the well-known solution was SMATV (Satellite Master Antenna TV) or MATV (Master Antenna TV), where the TV channels were “modulated” at the head over different TV channel frequencies and then distributed over a coaxial distribution network.

Before we go deeper into IPTV, here are the basics of TV.

The ways to play television programming on the TV screen have been:

• Connecting to a broadcast network (been the traditional route).
• Streaming on the desired content over the internet.
• A dedicated IPTV system that combines aspects of both the 1^st and 2^nd

Broadcast Networks:

• Satellite TV
• Cable TV

Broadcast networks broadcast television programming from a distribution centre and let you “tune in” to channels, which the broadcast signal carries. To achieve that, cable TV providers utilize a dedicated physical network that is interconnected with a coaxial cable.

Satellite TV relies on radio waves, which travel by air from a communications satellite directly to the consumer’s location where they are picked up by a satellite dish.

Internet networks:

• IPTV
• OTT Streaming

Internet Protocol (IP) networks operate by transferring packets of data from the server to the end user’s device only upon request. This principle is known as the Internet protocol and also delivers your email, serves your websites, and enables you to use various other cloud services.

Both IPTV and OTT services provide content by utilizing the same Internet Protocol, so they are very similar in that regard. However, they differ in the way they distribute content. OTT basically streams over the Internet, while IPTV requires a private, dedicated network.

Primarily IPTV and OTT services stream content that is stored on the server, allowing users to request the content over the Internet at any time

In simple terms, IPTV refers to a means of distributing both live TV and stored video (on-demand or pay-per-view) to the end-user in the same fashion in which internet content is sent, and over the exact same network. Due to its attractive features and future-proof technology, IPTV has reached a point where it is now a very attractive alternative to cable or digital broadcast satellite.

Why IPTV?

IP-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 MATV/SMATV – some of the most important ones are:

1. Higher picture quality: an analogue MATV 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 MATV, separate coaxial cabling would be required.
3. More channels: while in an analogue MATV the total number of channels that can be broadcasted is limited to 80, in an IPTV system there is no such limitation as long as the proper LAN infrastructure is in place.
4. Interactivity: unlike analogue MATV 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.
6. Simplicity: A typical IPTV headend is a very small and unsophisticated piece of hardware, which translates to easy maintenance. In addition, it consumes less power, is produces less noise, it produces less heat, and it uses up less space than traditional analogue solutions.
7. Solution Management: Because all devices in the IPTV TV system communicate with one another using the IP protocol, it is possible to control all aspects of the system very quickly and efficiently using a web browser and a user-friendly interface.
8. Diagnostics and Alarms: An IPTV headend can immediately notify you about potential issues throughout the system. Let’s say the signal level from the dishes is getting too low, or the TV signal went black in one of the guest’s rooms. The system will tell you exactly where and why the issue occurred, so you can quickly intervene to prevent channel downtime and unhappy guests.
9. High Definition (HD) Channels: IPTV can handle as many HD TV channel broadcasts as needed. The IPTV headend decrypts the incoming signal and distributes the content to all connected devices. This is a big advantage over analogue solutions, where HD format is out of reach due to the use of central analogue decoders and modulators.
10. Power Consumption: Even the most up-to-date analogue head ends can consume about 20W per channel, which translates to 2000 watts of power for 100 channels. That is a big contrast to an IPTV headend that consumes 300 watts while being able to handle 200 TV channels. Consequently, the electricity costs will be significantly lower with an IPTV TV system

Making the transition from an analogue TV system to an IPTV TV system is often referred to as “going digital”. And more often than not, the main concern is the image quality on the TV screen. In reality, it is very hard to notice a difference when comparing an image that’s provided by premium analogue equipment and a “digital” image on the TV screen. But image quality shouldn’t be the main reason for switching to an IPTV TV system as there are a number of other benefits, which might not be apparent right away, as shown above.

Large establishments like hotels where there are hundreds of guests with different preferences will benefit from the fact that the fibre network allows for an IPTV TV system with practically an infinite number of channels.

Just about any existing Hotel TV system can be upgraded with IPTV technology. Ideally, CAT5/CAT6 or fibre cables are installed because they allow easy connectivity of IPTV equipment. However, an existing Coax network can be used as well because it is also suited for IP data transmission.

Challenges of IPTV

1. Need for a good LAN infrastructure: IPTV systems can’t be implemented just over ANY existing data network. You need to make sure the existing network can actually support the required bandwidth for the IPTV multicast packets and that the network switches do support features such as IGMP Snooping. If not, you end up with a flooded data network and totally unusable, jittered TV images.
2. High Equipment Costs: Although like all such new technologies, the price of IPTV equipment is sharply dropping every year, the extra costs can still be a decisive factor here.

Few more points on Satellite:

Satellite TV providers, on the other hand, broadcasts a wireless signal from the satellite to the end user’s receiving satellite dish. Nowadays, satellite TV comes in two forms: TVRO (television receive-only) and DBS (direct broadcast satellite, or “direct to home” DBSTV).

TVRO technology is a bit older than DBS. This is evident by the significantly smaller dish DBS needs to receive a 100% high-frequency digital signal, as opposed to the much larger dish that’s needed to catch the low-frequency, digital/analogue TVRO broadcasts. Satellite TV shares the satellite radio bandwidth with cell phone signal and radar systems within 3-30 GHz.

From the satellite dish, the signal travels either to a dedicated IPTV system headend or directly to the end user’s Set-Top Box, which decodes and displays the content. Much like cable TV, channels are encrypted to prevent uncontrolled access.

For satellite TV due to the use of high-frequency radio waves, the signal is more susceptive to interference.

The other alternative: DVB MATV

In cases where there is a lack of a strong LAN infrastructure, replacing poor quality SMATV systems with IPTV would not seem cost-effective. However, there is still another alternative to consider: DVB MATV (Digital Video Broadcast). These systems also work over the same coaxial network used by MATV but broadcast the channels in DVB (digital) format so they would be a mid-way but cost-effective solution to considerably enhance the picture quality of an old MATV system without the need to change the cabling structure. (This is considerable for the renovation of entertainment systems for large hotels where the re-cabling of the whole building would be too much trouble).