science

Web-to-TV

Web-to-TV is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Web-to-TV rather than just read about it. In short: A Web-to-TV installation provides a way to show streaming television or other over-the-top content from the Internet, to a television set. Various technologies to do this include Home theater PCs (desktop computers running more user-friendly software for TV viewing), digital media receivers (also known as "media extenders", replaying content from a local area network), and Smart TVs (television sets and set-top boxe…

Key takeaways

Web-to-TV belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Web-to-TV to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Web-to-TV from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

A Web-to-TV installation provides a way to show streaming television or other over-the-top content from the Internet, to a television set. Various technologies to do this include Home theater PCs (desktop computers running more user-friendly software for TV viewing), digital media receivers (also known as "media extenders", replaying content from a local area network), and Smart TVs (television sets and set-top boxes with Internet capabilities).

Media extenders Several companies provide media extenders including Netgear and Dlink. Advanced game consoles - Xbox 360 from Microsoft, PS3 from Sony, and the Nintendo Wii - can be configured to stream or view content delivered from a PC on the user's home network.

LocalCasting A new entry from HDMI to Coax connects to the VGA output of a home PC/server and LocalCasts (transmits) it throughout the users house over the existing coax wiring as a normal HD Dolby 5.1 channel that is directly tunable by all connected HDTV's. A unique benefit of this approach is that no additional boxes are required at each TV because only single LocalCast device is required to insert a private channel on the homes coax distribution system. In order to do this the monitor output of the PC is digitized, MPEG2 compressed, and QAM encoded all at HD resolution and in real-time. The LocalCasting PC is controlled with an RF remote or RF keyboard that includes a pointing device to provide normal interactivity with any PC application within a range suitable for the normal home. Another important benefit of this over-the-top approach is that it provides the broadest access to internet content because it supports any content or application that can be viewed on a PC.

Video on demand HD Encodulators are a new class of device in Digital Video Broadcast (DVB). Encodulators are devices that bundle a digital encoder and an RF agile modulator into one package. Encodulators accept uncompressed video as either HD or SD and encode the source to an MPEG transport stream. This transport stream can be based on either MPEG-2 or MPEG-4(H.264) broadcasting codecs. Once the video is encoded it is passed on to the modulator component of the device. The agile modulator overlays the MPEG transport stream onto a high frequency carrier wave for DTV broadcast. In the US this is typically in the 50 - 900 MHz range for terrestrial television, and 900 - 2600 MHz for satellite distribution. Standards used for terrestrial broadcast are 8-level Vestigial Sideband Modulation (8VSB) for over the air, and Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) for cable TV. A typical example of an encodulator are the units from Thor Broadcast. These units include both a high definition encoder and a frequency agile modulator for all major DVB modulation types. Many more manufacturers are moving to this sort of consolidated hardware platform. In the last year other manufacturers such as Comlan have released similar units. In the future we will see more and more broadcasting companies moving to consolidated equipment, both to save on rackspace and on cost.

Content subscription KylinTV provides a "box" that serves a number of Chinese language web channels. The service is sold on a monthly subscription basis. Time Warner cable announced plans to offer a web to TV solution.

Internet-ready TV Sony Bravia Internet Link provides Web to TV without a PC. Sony has also announced plans to integrate this functionality into future TVs. Several major TV suppliers have made similar claims. The advent of high performance, low cost processors from ARM and Intel will ultimately bring the Web to (every) TV.

See also Cord-cutting Over-the-top media service

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Web-to-TV

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Web-to-TV claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Web-to-TV before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Web-to-TV ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Web-to-TV

In research: Web-to-TV appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Web-to-TV in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Web-to-TV is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Appropriate technology, Streaming television, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Web-to-TV outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Web-to-TV in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Web-to-TV means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Web-to-TV out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Web-to-TV in simple terms?

Why does Web-to-TV matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Web-to-TV?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Web-to-TV.