Digital TV has a lot of
benefits. So many in fact that TV broadcasters, the consumer electronics
industry, and the Federal government have allied to make digital TV the sole
mode of over the air TV transmission in the United States starting on February
19, 2009. Of course who benefits most from this conversion remains to be
seen.
Excluding all of the potential economic and political benefits and
pitfalls, digital TV has a number of benefits when compared to the older analog
format that’s primarily in use right now. Digital TV uses computer equipment to
convert the images and sounds of TV into digital data (a bunch of ones and
zeros) before transmitting them to their viewers. Once the digital TV signals arrive at
their destination, other computer equipment cleans interference out of the
signal and reconstructs all of that computer data into the TV programming that
the viewer can watch on his or her TV screen. The fact that the interference can
be cleaned out means that the picture can be much clearer than it would ever be
from an analog signal. Digital TV also allows for the use of an on screen
program guide- even with over the air programming- and other similar features.
The fact that digital TV can also be subjected to video compression technology
means that it can take up a lot less bandwidth than analog TV and that leaves
more frequencies available to be used for other kinds of transmissions.
Of
course, like anything else digital TV has some drawbacks when compared to analog
TV. The biggest disadvantage is that analog TV can provide a more cohesive
signal over a greater distance than an equivalent digital signal. In other
words, as you get farther away from the transmission source of an analog TV
signal, the picture and sound get fuzzier but are still understandable. As you
get farther away from the source of a digital signal the transmission still
fades, but you won’t notice any degradation of the picture quality until it
suddenly becomes to weak and disappears all together. This means that many
people who put up with fuzzy over the air analog TV probably won’t be able to
receive a digital signal broadcast from the same location and at the same
strength. This alone might make those big rooftop antennas of the mid-twentieth
century much more popular again.
Another major problem with digital TV is
that a digital TV tuner is needed to watch it and this hardware isn’t built into
older TV sets (or a lot of newer
ones either, for that matter!). This means that in order to watch over the air
TV after February 19, 2009, anyone with an analog only TV set either has to buy
a new TV set or get a special set top box that contains a digital tuner and can
convert the digital signal into an analog signal that the TV set can
understand.
And that’s where the political and economic advantages and
disadvantages come into play! TV electronics manufacturers stand to make a lot
of money because of this conversion- all the more so because they continued to
sell analog only TV set even after they knew the conversion was
imminent.
Ultimately the American people will benefit from the conversion to
digital TV, but in the mean time some special interests will definitely come
into play as a lot of TV viewers will probably be understandably frustrated and
confused.

About the Author:

Nicole Evans writes articles for consumers who want to find the best Free
Directtv Dish offers currently available. She has written for many major
publications about the latest Satellite TV Access and promotions and how buyers
can find the best discounts.

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