Picture Perfect Aerial Installations

What is Digital TV?

Digital Television is an advanced broadcasting technology that refers to the sending and receiving of video and audio information by means of digitally modulated signals. It replaces analog TV broadcasting and allows stations to offer better picture and sound quality. Digital TV can also provide a host of additional video and data services not possible in analog broadcasting. Examples are the offering of on-air electronic program guides (EPG), multiple programs, and interactive services that can be used for TV shopping and on-air polls, to name a few.

There are several digital TV standards deployed around the world - ATSC in the US, the rest of North America and South Korea; ISDB-T in Japan, Brazil and most of South America; and DVB-T in Australia, New Zealand and most of Europe and Asia. China has its own standard known as DMB-T. ATSC is based on 8VSB modulation, which is suited for fixed reception while DVB-T, ISDB-T and DMB-T are all based on COFDM, which is not only suited for fixed reception but also for mobile broadcast as well.

Early deployments of digital TV in Europe offered multiple Standard Definition (SD) programs in channel bandwidths formerly meant only for single analog programs. The US, Japan and Australia from the onset started their digital TV broadcasts in High Definition (HD). SD and HD are digital TV formats based on picture resolution. For SD, it is either 480i or 576i. It has almost the same picture quality as the older NTSC or PAL analog TV. For HD, it can be 720p, 1080i or 1080p. The letter "i" stands for interlaced scanning while "p" stands for progressive scanning. 1080p has the highest quality and is better known as "Full HD."

Most of the standards use MPEG-2 video compression, similar to what is used being in DVD, for the transport of video and audio information. However, demand for more channels and HD content required the use of MPEG-4, which is a more bandwidth efficient compression technology. This is what is being used in Blu-ray and in most consumer-type cameras and portable video players.

Now that the transition to Digital TV is ongoing, the question among many is if they can still use their old analog TV sets to receive digital TV broadcast. The answer is a big yes and all they need is a digital-to-analog converter better known as a set top box. It will allow the reception of digital broadcast, which however will not be displayed in high definition format. In addition, analog TV sets can still work with DVD players and your gaming consoles. To be able to view Full HD programs that digital TV has to offer, new HDTV displays with built-in digital tuners are required.

Digital TV is on the air and it will be a pity if you will not enjoy the high-quality viewing experience it has to offer. Analog TV will soon be a thing of the past so you should make the switch to digital now.

Digital free-to-air TV consists of the same TV channels you currently receive through analog television, as well as some additional channels ( See here for a complete list ) are expected to be progressively adding new digital channels and content over the next few years.

The switching off of Analog will take place between 2010 and 2013 in a phasing in approach aroung Australia.
Brisbane, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast are all planned for between 1st January 2013 to 30th June 2013.


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