We have a listener review of the DLO Homedock Deluxe for iPod Video,  we go into detail on IPTV, and we discuss  power and how much a typical Home Theater uses.

 

IPTV

What exactly is IPTV?  The acronym stands for Internet Protocol Television, which isnt' necessarily the same thing as watching TV over the Internet.  Internet Protocol is actually one of the underlying technologies that makes most networks, including the Internet (or World Wide Web) work.  So what we're really talking about is watching TV over some sort of computer network.  Although IPTV isn't coming to you via the World Wide Web, it is using the same underlying technologies.  And because of the way the digital networks typically operate, trying to reliably stream HDTV content over long distances as proven to be somewhat challenging. 

What, exactly, does it take to make IPTV work?  Bandwidth.  Lots and lots of Bandwidth.  If you're interested in trying out IPTV, you'll have to upgrade your dial-up modem for some sort of broadband connection, like a cable modem or DSL.  It takes quite a bit of data to watch live TV in high definition quality, so hopefully your IPTV provider doesn't charge you by the megabyte.

We've been asked several times about Verizon's FiOS product and whether or not it is really IPTV.  The short answer is, sometimes.  FiOS TV delivers television over a direct fiber connection to the home, instead of a standard Cable or Satellite, or a Cable Model or DSL connection like other IPTV providers.  FiOS uses a broadcast mechanism for regular TV viewing and an IPTV mechanism for video on demand.  They also use IP for the program guide.  The direct fiber connection provides Verizon more control over the delivery pipe and also gives the viewer more bandwidth for a better experience.

But the big question is, why do we even care?  Choice.  Currently, most people get TV from their choice of one Cable company or two Satellite companies.  What if your options were expanded?  That may have a significant impact on price, features, and customer service.  Competition is always a good thing for the consumer.

A great resource for IPTV related news and information is: http://www.iptvnews.net/

 

 

 

A little while back my (Ara's) wife and I sat down to watch TV and as the home theater came to life my wife asked how much more electricity does our home theater use compared to our old analog TV set. This got me wondering too. The following is an analysis of how much it costs to run a typical home theater set up. The components we chose are as follows:

The setup
SONY SXRD 50 inch LCoS TV $2600 Online
Harman Kardon CP 35 Home Theater System $1100 Online
DirecTV Tivo  (about $500 if you can find them)

Total cost of the system $4200 (Just $200 more than Ara's original 50 inch DLP that I bought 3 years ago!)

Power usage and cost
Cost at my home for 1 KW hour is about 12.5 cents (Southern California Edison)

The following is max power. Most of these products did not have a typical power consumption specification. So the cost will be max cost and your cost will be slightly less.

SONY SXRD 50 inch LCoS TV 240 Watts
Harman Kardon CP 35 Home Theater System
DVD 31 20 watts
AVR 335 890 watts maximum 120 idle
DirecTV Tivo  40 watts

The Max it would cost to run the SONY for one hour is 3 cents
For the DVD player it would cost .25 cents
For the receiver at max volume 11 cents
For the Tivo .5 cents

Summary
If you watch your home theater at max volume for 5 hours a day on average it would cost you  73.75 cents a day or $22.125 a month. Realistically  your receiver would never be run that loud continuously (or ever for that matter). It is more likely to be about 165 watts under normal viewing. That brings the hourly cost down to 2 cents an hour. The total hourly cost would be 28.75 cents a day or $8.625 a month.

Just for comparison. A 36 inch tube TV would use 160w and cost 10 cents a day. Based on 5 hours a day of viewing it would cost $3 a month. Your home theater costs you $5.63 more a month to operate than your old TV only setup. You can adjust the cost for your viewing habits but as you can see it does cost more than double to enjoy your home theater. The good news is that at $8 a month its not going to break the bank.