For months now television stations have been running scrolls during popular television shows and playing commercials about the transition to digital television. I've seen them, as I'm sure many of you have, and thought, "What is digital television and why do we need it?" Since the focus of this blog spot is about the DTV transition, I figured I needed to answer those questions sooner than later.
So what is digital television? I believe my instructor for Communication 442 said it best when she described digital television as a bunch of 1s and 0s being sent through a cable, which are then processed by the television set to bring high quality picture and sound to its viewers. This differs from current broadcast television, which is an analog signal being sent through the airwaves to your television and can be received using an antenna. Analog signals lose quality when transmitted causing static, distortion of color and can be affected by the weather. Digital television is also a more condensed signal, which allows television stations to multicast, or broadcast several different signals, giving the consumer a greater variety of programming.
Although the quality alone seems like a good reason for the transition, it isn't a good enough reason for congress to mandate a change nationwide. So why do we need to switch to digital television? According to information found at http://www.dtv.gov/, the transition will free up broadcast airwaves for emergency services and allow more wireless broadband towers into certain areas. I am not completely sure these reasons mandate an act of congress, but I guess in the long run it will pay off in some form or another.
On a personal note, I am curious to see how the signal and picture quality will change. I currently have an HDTV hooked up to basic cable and am already seeing the how multicasting works. I bought this television less than a year ago and know it has the built in digital tuner. I may end up trying a few experiments in the near future and will report back with any findings I have.
4 comments:
DTV is definitely changing soon and you picked a good field to study.
Nice layout on how you have the picture to caption your audience about DTV. I would assume more people will read about DTV from your blog to learn what is happening in Television
Land.
I would love to hear a blog ranting about how awful Cable One is in providing HD channels. I think the worst was the KVLY/Cable One mess and how channel 4 and 11 are no longer available in HD. I wonder if this has happened anywhere else? I know I personally would switch to satellite if it weren't for Internet. And I know when we buy a house some day, Cable One won't be providing my TV anymore!
LOL, I am not expecting a blog on that. ;) I just had to throw it out there.
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