(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

IPTV covers both live TV (multicasting) as well as stored video (Video on Demand VOD). The playback of IPTV requires either a personal computer or a set-top box connected to a TV. Video content is typically compressed using either a MPEG-2 or a MPEG-4 codec and then sent in an MPEG transport stream delivered via IP Multicast in case of live TV or via IP Unicast in case of Video on Demand. IP Multicast is a method in which information can be sent to multiple computers at the same time. The newly released (MPEG-4) H.264 codec is increasingly used to replace the older MPEG-2 codec.