A meta-analysis of channel switching approaches for reducing zapping delay in internet protocol television

Abstract

Channel zapping delays are inconveniences that are often experienced by the subscribers of Internet protocol television (IPTV). It is a major bottleneck in the IPTV channels switching system that affect the quality of experience of users. Consequently, numerous channels switching approaches to minimize zapping delay in IPTV have been suggested. However, there is little knowledge reported in the literature on the determination of the strength of the evidence presented on the approaches of reducing zapping delay in IPTV, which is the prime purpose of this study. The extraction of the relevant articles was designed following the technique of preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA). All the included research articles were searched from the widely used databases of Google Scholar, and Web of Science. All statistical analyses were performed with the aid of the random-effects model implementation in Stata version 15. The overall pooled estimated delay component was presented in forest plots. Overall, thirteen studies were included in the meta-analysis and the overall pooled estimate was 10% (95% CI: 7%, 30%)). Experimental studies have shown that virtual elimination of IPTV zapping delay is possible for a relevant chunk of channel switching requests.