Paper examines IP video transport in the home

How high-definition signals delivered via IPTV can get from the point of entry to the right rooms in the house is one of several issues examined in a new white paper from broadband provider Actiontec Electronics.

The paper, “Creating the Connected Home: The Debate over Home Networking Standards,” examines the options for distributing IPTV and other high-bandwidth content in the home. It offers a brief overview of the market factors that are fueling the debate and an in-depth look at solutions that are being considered, including MoCA, HomePlug AV, HPNA and the emerging 802.11n/e home-networking standards.

The paper finds that whichever method is selected must provide at least 100Mb/s of throughput, including 60Mb/s for three HDTV streams (at 20Mb/s each), 10Mb/s for two standard TV streams (at 5Mb/s each), and the balance for services such as data, voice over IP, audio, computer-based video and placeshifting solutions that feed digital video files from home to remote sites across a broadband connection.

The need to support three HDTV streams reflects the fact that there are 3.5 televisions in the average U.S. household.

According to the paper, WiFi offers only a quarter of the bandwidth required as envisioned, and only 1 percent of U.S. homes are wired with Cat 5 Ethernet cable.

The white paper is available for download from: www.actiontec.com/company_info/press/index.php.