Photos: Is IPTV software ready for prime time?

TV is moving beyond satellite and cable to so-called IPTV--television distributed using Internet Protocol technology, usually by telephone companies. That technology shift may have cracked open the door that Microsoft has been knocking on all these years. On Monday, Microsoft is introducing the latest version of its IPTV software.

Here, a demo of Microsoft's IPTV software shows some of the benefits of TV over the Internet, such as the ability to not only find out what's playing on other channels, but see a thumbnail version before switching.

Photo by Ina Fried/CNET News.com