ABSTRACT
Up to this point in the book, we have only briefly mentioned a number of hardware components, without any significant explanation of their functionality. This is because the basic functions of hardware devices such as servers and set-top boxes are well known. In this chapter we will probe deeper into IPTV hardware components, examining their functionality in an IPTV environment. For example, we will examine the differences between a cable TV set-top box and an IPTV set-top box as well as the functions performed by a media center and media center extender, content managers, broadcast servers, and archive servers.
