A lesson on digital TV

A lesson on digital TV
Digital TV or DTV is the newest introduction in communication infrastructure. It is the new way of sending and receiving audio and video through digital signals. Introduced in the late 1990s, this technology aims to free up the broadcast spectrum so it can be used for more important services such as emergency rescue. This is possible through multicasting wherein one channel can now have several variations, for example channel 7 for an analog TV can become 7-1, 7-2, 7-3 and so on when in comes to digital broadcasting. Because of the better technology, viewers can now experience lesser interference causing better reception, clearer sound and image quality, new channels and features.
Several countries in the developed world have already started the transition to DTV. In the United States, the Federal Communication Commission intends to complete the migration by February 2009. As of March 2007, all TVs manufactured in the country were required to have digital tuners. Unfortunately, there were still some analog TVs are still in the inventory of retailers and many consumers are unaware that these might no longer work next year. To remedy this, the Commission released information on the different equipments that households can use for their analog TVs to receive digital signal.
On the other hand, in the United Kingdom, there are about 22.2 million homes using digital TV. According to the October-December 2007 Digital Television Progress Report, there are about 87.6% of households reached by multi channel broadcast, about a point increase from the previous quarter of the same year. This is attributed to the British Government’s move of switching off analog transmitters in each region.
In the UK, several Digital TV providers have emerged, the three most popular are Freeview, Sky Digital and BT Vision. Freeview is more commonly known as Digital Terrestial TV or DTT. It offers 60 channels of TV and radio which are broadcasted free without any installation necessary. There might be a need to buy a special Freeview receiver or probably a new TV.
Sky Digital, on the other hand offers more channels such as Sky One, Paramount Comedy, and a range of about 200 channels. Unlike Freeview, you need an engineer to install the satellite dish. Also, a digibox and your phone line needs to be attached to your TV as a policy of subscription. This will allow the subscriber to access the interactive services and to verify payment for pay per view channels. At present, Sky Digital is also offering broadband internet access.
BT Vision subscribers get a special box that allows them to view Freeview and the internet. Basic subscription comes free but users have the option to watch internet TV and this is the only time they will pay an additional charge for the content. It will also allow you to pause live TV shows, and catch up with shows you might have missed from the last seven days. Subscribers also have 80 hours of recording time. Change the way you view your favorite TV shows now, go digital!

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Angus Findlay is author of this article on Digital tv. Find more information about Freeview here.

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