Difference Between IPTV and OTT
By S. Kerstens CEO Mware Solutions | July 24, 2017 | IPTV OTT
As the digitization is booming all over the world with more then 3.8 billion people use the internet today, Internet penetration has increased exponentially across the globe towards digital.
Internet has radically changed a lot of things along with the television experience from now obsolete terrestrial television or presently viewed satellite television to OTT (Over the Top Technology) and IPTV (Internet Protocol TV). Gone are the days when there were low signals due to bad weather and you missed your favorite show. These are two growing technology mediums giving us treasure trove of options to view media being telecasted anywhere across the world with just a click away.
OTT
In OTT, the video streaming uses the publicly accessible Internet connection. Thus it can be picked up externally. The content transmission is from a third party sectors like Netflix and YouTube.
Pros
- Price: Monthly prices as lows as $5, with much free content on YouTube and Hulu.
- Installation: All you need is a laptop or phone. (Having a streaming TV box like the Roku or Apple TV enhances the experience, though.)
- Programming: Wide choice of providers, with Netflix and others now offering original programming similar to cable.
Cons
- Quality: Subject to Internet speed, with “buffering” and other wait-times common for slow connections and peak-hour viewing.
- Programming: While most shows can be found via major streaming services, some are cable-only and they generally don’t reach OTT streaming until the end of the season.
- Data caps: Many ISPs now have limits on how much data you can consume, putting a limit on how much you can watch each month, even with unlimited plans
IPTV
IP stands for Internet Protocol, the “language” used to transfer packets of data between computers attached to the Internet network. IPTV is a platform where videos are used as per protocol streaming. This makes it a private managed content delivery network.
Pros
- Quality: High-quality video with fewer interruptions than OTT streaming due to privately managed content delivery network.
- Programming: View-on-demand and get shows date of release.
- Installation: Requires no special installation aside from a set-top box, assuming you already have broadband Internet.
Cons:
- Price: Sold as a subscription at comparable rates to cable TV.
- Quality: Since it comes over the Internet, it can get slowed down during peak hours.
IPTV services can be classified into three main groups:
- Live television: With or without interactivity related to the current TV show.
- Time-shifted television: Catch-up TV (replays a TV show that was broadcast hours or days ago), Start-over TV (replays the current TV show from its beginning)
- Time-shifted television: Catch-up TV (replays a TV show that was broadcast hours or days ago), Start-over TV (replays the current TV show from its beginning)
Though in both cases, the consumer requests and receives content via Internet Protocol yet OTT and IPTV differ on various prospects like quality of service, content, ownership, cost and business model. Both technologies are good in their own way and efficiently deliver services to the viewers. The primary difference between IPTV and OTT streaming is that OTT streamed content comes over the same open, unmanaged network as your email and web browsing while IPTV uses a private, dedicated network to deliver more consistent service.
We, IPTV Middleware Solutions, provide the viewers with the best television experience. We offer our customers true turnkey end-to-end OTT IPTV Middleware solutions based on a modular design, delivering state of the art solutions that meet their needs as desired. We also offer custom development on all of our solutions. The coordination between the different modules such as Transcoding, Content Delivery, OTT IPTV Middleware and User Interfaces has become so fluent that we feel like one system. This makes us the most stable and perspicuous CloudTV Middleware platform in the world on the endeavor to be the best.
One can choose between IPTV and OTT or subscribe for the combination of both by going through the rudimentary differences given below:
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