If our new to IPTV, you may be wondering and asking the question how does IPTV work? and what is an IPTV provider, Well you have come to the right place we will answer exactly what IPTV is.
What Is IPTV (Internet Protocol Television)?
IPTV stands for internet protocol television and it’s a way of being able to watch TV channels and other content over an internet connection without needing to use a satellite or cable box.
IPTV is a shortened version of the name internet protocol television and it’s a service that streams over the Internet so you can watch media such as live TV broadcasts, live sporting events, movie content, and all other video-on-demand type services.
There are many different IPTV services and providers such as Strong IPTV who provide live TV as well as other streaming providers such as HBO, Hulu, and Disney+.
A bonus with IPTV is that it lets you stream content from many different types of IPTV providers using just the power of your internet and also allows you to use many different types of devices from Android Smartphones, Apple iPhones, Laptops, Smart TVs, Tablets, Amazon firesticks, and many more devices you may have in you home.
The growth of the IPTV market back in 2021 was 50.9 billion USD and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 17.8% to reach a size of 115.2 billion USD by the year 2026. Source: MarketsandMarkets
IPTV is the leading cutting-edge technology when it comes to streaming content online and is still in its infancy stage with a lot of room to grow.
Who Can Use IPTV?
IPTV can be used by a range of different people for their online streaming content needs and is targeted at the general population:
- Families: IPTV is a fantastic way to spend time watching the latest TV shows and live sports with your family as well as live kids TV.
- Sports Fans: With IPTV any sports fan can follow their favorite sports person or sports group due to the thousands of worldwide channels available on IPTV.
- International Viewers: Where IPTV shines is its availability worldwide to be watched from any country as well as catch your local TV channels from wherever you are on the globe.
- Technology Euthursists: If you are tech savvy then IPTV is a great way to try out new and different ways to stream your favorite content.
See How To Fix No Surround Sound, Headphones, TV Sound From Your Firestick.
How Does IPTV Work?
IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) works by content providers supplying their content over the internet protocol (IP packets) which then your IPTV-enabled device can decode the IP packets and you can watch a stream or video-on-demand movie.
A more in-depth way to look at how IPTV works is it decrypts many popular streamed packets such as MPEG2 and MPEG4 file formats to your IPTV device so it can decrypt then package and deliver IPTV content right to your device.
Whenever you are using an IPTV provider you are connecting to their server which is sending packets to your IPTV device and allowing you to watch content from around the world quickly and easily.
The benefit to using IPTV is that you do not need any clumpy satellite or cable boxes with cables routed throughout your house, you can just use any home entertainment device you have and then download an IPTV app on it and connect straight to your best IPTV provider to receive many channels and Video on demand.
Different IPTV Protocols
When using IPTV, it also works by using different IPTV protocols which, to be honest, this all works in the background anyway so it is nothing you really need to care about for the more tech-minded than IPTV uses HTTP, RTP (Real-Time Protocol), and RTSP (Real-Time Streaming Protocol) and more rarely IGMP (IP Group Management Protocol).
These all allow groups of users to connect to one server and simultaneously download streaming packets from their IPTV provider.
Content Delivery Networks
Some IPTV providers may choose to use a content delivery network such as Cloudflare which mirrors a copy of the packets and delivers them from servers closer to your home country if not within your own country which can make IPTV even faster for you.
Viewing IPTV Streams
Now you have a good idea of how does IPTV work you will need to use an IPTV device to be able to watch your IPTV streams from your choosen provider.
Now as we said before the benefit of using IPTV is that there is a wide range of devices you can use to view IPTV. Here is just a small list below of the different devices you can load an IPTV app on.
- Smart TV
- Amazon Firestick
- PlayStation
- Xbox
- Android TV Box
- Android Smartphone
- iPhone
- iPad
- Macbook
- Windows PC
- Windows Laptop
- and the list goes on
If you check our Strong IPTV blog or Strong IPTV Tutorials page you will see we have covered many guides on how to set up IPTV on devices you may own.
What Is An IPTV Box?
You may hear IPTV boxes also named set-top boxes and what an IPTV box does is it decodes and converts the IP packets sent by your IPTV content provider so the signal can then be turned into live TV on the fly.
It’s a clever device that does or the heavy lifting behind the scenes with its receiving and decoding packets so you don’t have to worry about any of the technical aspects of getting this to work manually.
How To Connect A IPTV Box To Your TV
Whichever IPTV box you choose which can be devices such as Amazon Firesticks, FireTV Cube, game consoles, Mag boxes, and a host more devices, then you will need these items below to connect to your TV.
- AV Cables: If you have external speakers such as a home theater or surround sound you will want to make sure you have some AV cables to hand.
- HDMI: You will normally get an HDMI cable with your IPTV box, if not purchase one and plug it from your IPTV box to your TV.
- Wi-Fi or Ethernet Connection: Yes IPTV only works via the internet so you will need a solid internet connection whether that’s using Wifi or an ethernet cable directly from your router.
- An Android Smartphone: OK we lied, this is not a necessity but it will allow you to screen mirror your IPTV device or anything from your Android smartphone.
The Future Of IPTV
IPTV has been around since early 1995 and was not in good use it was used just for establishments such as hotels or universities to allow them to share content from inside their own ad hoc network.
But fast forward to around 2016 this is where IPTV has taken off and moving into 2023 some of the biggest cable providers such as Sky, BT, Virgin Media, and DirectTV have moved into bringing their own IPTV boxes out to their customers to enjoy.
Check a more in-depth guide on Why IPTV Is The Future Of Television.
IPTV has a bright future in many ways from residential and commercial and over the next decade will continue growing and be here to stay.
What Exactly Is IPTV
IPTV stands for internet protocol television and it allows you to stream tv channels and even movies on an IPTV enabled device that most devices are now or have apps that allow you to stream IPTV.
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IPTV allows what is called cutting the cord which means to get rid of satellite boxes and cable boxes to have many more channels from across the globe and even to catch up or watch any past content and movies at your fingertips, but this will need a good iptv provider such as ourselves or other IPTV suppliers that produce quality streams.
You will find all the big media giants such as Sky and BBC have now adapted to IPTV with sky bringing out the sky mini box which allows you to stream their channels instead of needing a satellite dish and can be watched from anywhere in the UK and even play from other rooms by linking the boxes together.
BBC also has BBC iPlayer which allows you to stream the BBC channels and also watch any previous show that you have missed just by searching and clicking on it as easy as that.
Other services that you can class as being IPTV is big apps such as Netflix, Now TV, HBO, and many more big streaming apps even Youtube can be passed off as IPTV.
See how to unblock BBC iPlayer when living abroad and outside the UK
How IPTV Works
IPTV works solely off an internet connection so you don’t need no satellite or cable connection to run.
We covered a more in-depth article on How Exactly IPTV Works
Instead of needing to send out radio waves such as a satellite does or pulses along a fibre-optic line such as cable it just works off your home broadband using the power of the internet.
IPTV uses special protocols that are made to send data packets across the internet by servers with special platforms that help to process and transcode streams which then gets passed on to you and are decoded by what you call set-top boxes all instantly without any lag. Yes, technology is great.
That was a very brief description of how IPTV works but here is a full diagram below so you can really see the workings being how it works.
The Different Types Of IPTV
You will find there any many different areas of IPTV but some IPTV providers will have a lof of these areas all in one.
Live TV Streams
This is not much different from watching your favorite tv show or live sports through a satellite box or cable box.
It has live channels for you to watch but with the added benefit of using it on almost any device you own from firesticks, android devices, smart TVs, smartphones, PC’s and a host of other devices you will own.
The added benefit is the live tv streams is that it can be watched from anywhere in the world at any time on any device even your android or iPhone while you are away from home and don’t want to miss that big football match you have been patiently waiting to see.
Catch-Up TV
What catch up tv allows you to do is say you have missed a tv program or sports event it allows you to go back in time and watch the show or event as if it was playing live so you don’t have to mess around trying to record the event or tv show
See The Simple Steps To Start Streaming IPTV in 2024.
Catch-Up TV is great as you can watch almost anything that has been on TV but the only negative is, it’s only saved on the server of your provider for a short time this could be days, weeks, months depending on the provider of your catch up tv.
See Whether You Can Put IPTV On A Now TV Stick.
VOD (Video On Demand)
What VOD allows you to do or video on demand whichever way you want to say it is this features allows you to watch movies or any other content your provider has saved on the server.
This can range from movies, TV shows, sporting events past and presence and much other content.
A good example would be services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video as they have already stored movies and tv shows you can pick and choose to watch rather than the content being broadcasted live at some stage.
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You may also see VOD content being played in hotels where its a company video that loops and tells you about the features of the hotel and more. Yes, not the best type of Video On Demand to be watching we agree.
Starting Your Own IPTV Provider Business
If you are interested in running your own IPTV provider business and providing clients with live TV channels and videos on demand you are best using an IPTV provider who has all the expensive systems in place already so you can focus on getting the clients for your business.
You can see our IPTV reseller section for more information about starting your own IPTV business and the costs.
You can use a host of platforms to run your IPTV provider business from, and even providers such as ourselves have a great platform you can use yourself or even tie the platform into your own website you have made for IPTV.
Devices You Can Use For IPTV
As mentioned previously IPTV works on almost every device you can think of, this is what makes IPTV so great as you do not need special type boxes and can watch it whenever and wherever you may be.
See How To Install iHeart Radio On Firestick
You will find it works great with set-top boxes, smartphones, smart TVs, computers and many more.
We have compiled a small list of devices that IPTV works on:
- Amazon Firestick
- Amazon Cube
- LG Smart TV
- Samsung Smart TV
- Android TV Boxes
- Android Smartphone
- Android Tablets
- iPhone
- iPad
- Mag 322
- Windows PC
- Windows Laptop
- iMac
- Now TV Box
- Roku Media Stick
- Formuler Box
- + Many More
If your device is not listed there is still a high chance you can get IPTV on the media device so it’s worth checking Google for the instructions on how to play IPTV on the device.
Where Will IPTV Be In The Future
Well IPTV is a powerhouse and it continues to grow it already has over 200 million people worldwide using different forms of IPTV with old and new broadcasting providers making the jump to make IPTV a big staple of their business.
See Is IPTV The Future Of Television.
A company called Grand View Research did some number crunching and predicted that the IPTV market will grow to over a whopping $117 billion by the year 2025 so this is not a small market.
With the likes of all the big providers like BBC already running a smooth IPTV service, there is also more independent IPTV providers that are coming into the market with unique and great content and live streaming to add to this already great market and to give us the users the best online streaming of content and live tv channels we need and allows us to get the very best out of all our devices we have at home or anywhere else.
Final Thoughts
We have covered the popular question of what IPTV is and explained many more benefits and features around the popular rising IPTV market.
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