What does IPTV mean?

IPTV, a.k.a Internet Protocol Television, first used in 1994 by the ABC's World News Now, allows digital television to be delivered to your TV through your internet connection rather than your traditional television cables.

So what makes this different to standard TV? Well for starters it has the ability to be interactive. This means, you could potentially watch the footy and look up player stats at the same time. You can also look through online movie catalogues, choose your favourite and watch it there and then, cool huh?

IPTV can generally be classified into two categories:

• Live: where you watch the action, as it happens by way of 'streaming' the broadcast
• On Demand: where the broadcast can be watched anytime and usually has the ability to be paused, rewinded, fast-forwarded etc just like a DVD

IPTV is still relatively new in Australia however current examples include the ABC's iView service and Joost.

Stay tuned to Geek Speak for more information on IPTV coming soon.