the-advantages-of-digital-television
21:12
In 2001, a number
of the larger cities in Australia began transitioning to digital television. By
2010 some analogue TV networks were ending, and the full digital switchover was
mostly completed by December of 2013. Most people understood this changeover would
mean they would need to get digital TV antennas but few understood much more
than that. Why is digital television considered to be superior to analogue, and
is it really that much better?
High-Definition Television
The biggest
advantage to digital television is that it’s broadcast in high definition. That
means that the image is made up of many more pixels, the tiny points of colour
that make up the image you see on your television. High-definition TV is often
broadcast in one of several different pixel formats. The highest of these is
1080p, which actually has more than 2 million pixels per frame, and some are
done in the lower resolution 720p. While it may sound smaller, it’s actually a
much clearer picture that you would get with standard definition television,
which usually is broadcast in 576i.
It’s More Like the Movies
Most digital TV
programs and movies are broadcast in letterbox format because that more closely
matches the aspect ratio of today’s flat screens. This is done because most
movies are shot in this style, which uses a 16:9 length to height ratio. This
means that watching modern TV shows and movies on television will be similar to
how they would look if you were watching them in a movie theatre.
There Is No Static
Digital television
signals are received through digital tuners. These devices remove all the
static and other interference with the image and sound so that they are
incredibly clear. If you don’t have a digital antenna and tuner, however, you
will have to have one installed before you can watch these channels.
Fortunately, it’s easy to find a company that installs
these antennas in Rockingham. They are also
easy to install and you can be watching digital television immediately after
installation. In most cases, it only takes a few hours to get an antenna
installed.
Signal Size
Another advantage
digital television has over analogue television is that the signals are
actually more compact. While that may not mean much to you as an average TV
viewer, it does mean a lot to television stations. With more compact signals,
it’s actually possible for there to be more stations in the same region. You
may have noticed that when you got your digital antenna hooked up that you
suddenly had many more channels than what you once did. That’s because of the
smaller signal size.
Additional Features
Digital TV signals
also allow for channels to broadcast additional features when used with digital
TV sets. For example, you may be able to preview what’s on other TV channels
using the picture-in-a-picture type format that cable or satellite TV offers.
These capabilities are included for free so you don’t have to worry about
subscribing or paying any additional fees.
0 comments