hi all,
i have been requested by ashishgoel and viralbug to post reviews for IPTV.so I am posting it.

IPTV was advertised as "LIFE IS NOT IN YOUR CONTROL BUT ATLEAST YOUR TV WILL”
This very fact that there would some sort of child lock feature made my dad go for iptv.
I had applied for iptv connection about 6 weeks back; finally i got it on 24TH August. The waiting time is so long coz of the fact that MTNL has to first check Feasibility of the connection and then IOL will finally do the installation work.

In IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) signal instead of being Tx over cable it is received by the viewer through TRIBAND.

Cost:
1000 for installation. Which is non refudable
80 bucks as modem rent
200 bucks rental + service tax.

HARDWARE ACESSORIES REQUIRED:
==>ADSL modem with min of 2 LAN ports .one for IPTV and other for TRIBAND.
I already had UTSTRACOM UT304R2U, so had no problem on this front.

==>STB box provided my amino

==>UTP cable length of the cable depends on whether u want iptv in TV or COMPUTER.


FEATURES:
==> IPTV is provided in conjunction with Video on Demand and may be bundled with Internet services in the near future (net surfing).

==> Right now there are 160 channels. Sports channel like ESPN, STAR SPORTS, STAR CRICKET are not available. So cricket fans having IPTV are goanna miss T20 world cup. Still u will be able to watch matches that India will be playing on DD.

==> Now about video quality .As IPTV buffers digital signal in STB; due to crc errors and lack of BW some minor glitches may occur. But this is very rare. As mentioned earlier a lot depends on how much BW you have been allotted.

==>The IPTV STB connects to the LAN port of modem. It then buffers and encodes and finally decodes them. so I think u can not have IPTV WITHOUT A STB.

==> STb loads like OS “os :-------”Whatever firmware updates need to be done.They will be done automatically.

==> THere is no download limit concept associated with IPTV.

==> About CUSTOMER SERVICE IOL service works fine .They are quite prompt in attending to customers problem.Call them @ 126000 .they willl answer all your queries.

==> In case u go for IPTV what I suggest is Register yourself at IOL site also.

==> Registration link:http://www.iolbroadband.com/index.ph...istration.html
final comments:
I sincerely believe that IPTV is still in its nascent stage.Many features which are supposed to be there will be provided later.

Those who want to play the waiting game may wait till new features are introduced.

NISH LAL has compared IPTV with DTH (post no 21).Due credits to him for theb post.

advantages of iptv over dth...

its a little cheaper

less chances of it trying to capitalize on the monopoly on market (like tatasky does)

its a new technology so lots of room for experimenting...

and how cool is it to have telephone internet and tv signal come down a single line

doesn'tget affected by rains

u might be able to watch tv on ur pc without a tv tuner or set top box

and if ur lucky and mtnl screw up in a certain way u might get extra bandwidth to download stuff without them knowing it

time-shift tv is a feature u can only get on iptv

and the disadvantages---

does not have a big user base so u don't really know if it will be worth it

mtnl is involved so a huge probability of goof-ups on their end

and if the telephone line goes down(doesn't happen very often now) then u will be pretty much cut off