The internet revolution changed the way we are interacting with digital devices. On your old TV or radio, there is only one way of communication possible, you can just watch the pre-programmed content on your TV or radio. There is no possibility to watch the content that you like. Then comes an age of channel competition, a number of players arrived with different tastes of contents. The benefit, users get the choice to select what they want to see by rolling through different channels. Now you have another option Over-the-top (OTT) video streaming service. Thanks to the rise of online video services and fast internet, a number of on-demand video platforms are now available like Amazon prime videos, Netflix, BBC IPlayer, YouTube, Freeview, free sports.tv, Quibi, etc.

Smart TV

In your old TV connection, there is your TV, a cable TV provider device, or a direct to home device to access the TV content. You have to pay a monthly subscription to enjoy TV shows and movies on your TV. In OTT or VOD platforms you can watch TV using a fast internet connection, a streaming device and streaming service is required. These days all of us have a fast internet connection in our home, at least for the work from home. The streaming device is a device that you need to attach to your HDTV. The purpose of the streaming device is to connect and interact with TV and the internet. There are a lot of streaming devices available on the market, Amazon Fire TV, Google Chromecast, Roku box, or stick, Apple TV, are some of them. You can also stream using a streaming-capable gaming device like PS4 or Xbox. If you have a smart TV in your home you don’t want a separate streaming device. Smart TV or Connected TV, is a television set with an integrated internet access feature that allows you to stream video and music, browse the internet, view photos on your TV. There are a number of frameworks that are used in smart TV technology to access the content. Android TV, Firefox OS, Kodi, Plex, Roku, Boxee, Ubuntu TV, MeeGo, etc are some of them. This makes your TV an audiovisual entertainment device and also a personal computer. Here is our guide to install a Google Chromecast on your TV.

Now how to access the OTT video contents on your TV. So you have a smart TV or a streaming device attached to your TV, it is the time to turn on your internet Wi-Fi connection. The device automatically discovered your Wi-Fi connection and it asks for the login credentials. After the initial setup, you can access the apps available on your TV or device to access the video content. Some of the popular over the top (OTT) video service providers are Netflix, Amazon prime video, Youtube Premium, Hulu, SlingTV, Philo, At&T TV, Tubi, etc. Some services provide streaming services all over the world but some others restrict to only some countries. You can bypass these restrictions using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection. You can unblock websites and internet restrictions using a VPN.

There are different types of Video-on-demand services available. Advertising-based-video-on-demand (AVOD) in which you can watch free video content but advertising is displayed on the video, just like YouTube videos. Subscription video-on-demand (SVOD)-here you have to pay a monthly subscription to access the video content. Transaction based video content (TVOD) in which you have to pay for accessing certain content through a pay-per-view (PPV) purchase model.

Netflix offers TV shows, movies, and some good original series. You can set up separate profiles for you, your family, and for your kid. So people can watch shows at their own pace. Hulu also offers movies and originals, but the new episodes usually come out after the original air date. Amazon prime offers to download video content on your device for offline viewing. YouTube is a pretty cool streaming service, the best part of YouTube is the channels or the content creators are the real people around you. You can subscribe to the channel that you are interested in. So you will get notifications if they uploaded new content on their channel. The best part is, now everyone started to learn something by just watching the YouTube videos, from cooking to making airplanes.

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