Digital TV

HDTV

The digital television age has begun, and it seems to be ready to take over the world. Digital TV is the sending and receiving of the sound and images of regular television, however, instead of using an analog signal it uses a digital one. Some nations have already made the switch to digital television, and most other western countries are well and truly on their way to digital broadcasting. The nature of digital information means that digital television is able to support many more picture formats, and is also able to provide a degree of user interaction into the television watching experience.

There will be a variety of ways that people can receive a digital TV signal, making the change over a confusing time for some of the population. You can use an antenna – known as Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) – for reception. You can also use a digital cable or a digital satellite to receive your information. One disadvantage of the DTT method is that you are potentially limited to the number of TV channels that your antenna can pick up. Cable and satellites have no such limitations. Another method of digital reception is via microwaves, and yet another is via the standard Internet protocol which is already in place. You can also pick up a digital TV signal on the open Internet, and watch TV on your computer through a combination of software running both on your computer and on the website that you are downloading from.

While the few years surrounding the change over to digital TV may be a little confusing, there are a number of benefits to using a digital television signal. Digital TV channels take up less bandwidth than analog channels do, and because of this you can get more channels in the same space – meaning less compression and a better quality picture. There is also less chance of interference and the ability of whole new experiences because of interactivity. Through a return path offered by a modem or other method, TV on demand and better channel selection are possible.

Most nations are implementing an analog switch off at a certain point over the next few years. This date varies and has happened in some countries already. In the United States it occurs in 2009, in Canada in 2001, and in the United Kingdom in 2012. The conversion over to digital TV is one of the biggest changes to television usage in the entire history of the medium, and will bring a new era of TV choice and quality to viewers around the globe.