Digital Broadcast Television Conversion

If your wondering what digital over the air broadcast television is all about, it's basically the transition from analog signals which we currently receive to digital signals.

If your concerned about having to upgrade all your equipment to receive these new signals, you really don't have to worry. In fact, all you need is a digital converter box to turn these digital signals back into ordinary analog signals that your TV can understand. If you want to spend a little extra money, today many multimedia centers such as blue-ray disc players, satellite television receivers and other devices can receive these digital signals and convert them as well. Just make sure your device is equipped with an ATSC digital antenna tuner and your ready to go. All your other equipment does not need to be upgraded at all.

Even if you currently receive analog signals through an old antenna on a TV antenna mast you don't have to worry, even those bunny ears will receive these digital signals. That's because the radio waves have not changed, they are still the same, all that is different is instead of the radio waves carrying analog pictures your TV understands, they now carry virtual ones and zeros. Your digital tuner receives these signals through any antenna and turns them into a picture your TV can once again understand.

The benefit of digital signals is that they are not prone to the same type of effects that analog signals are. White noise, lines, fuzzy pictures, poor sound and even a lack of color are all problems that occur with analog signals. In urban and rural areas poorly insulated power lines, leaky transformers and many other factors contribute to signal degradation through interference resulting in a poor analog picture. With digital signals, special error correction algorithms inside the digital ATSC tuner eliminate these problems and produce a crystal clear image, even with poor reception. Ultimately, every channel you see now will look even better when in digital and new formats such as HDTV will also be available through over the air broadcasts.

Remember, the analog signals will be turned off and the change over to all digital occurs Feb 17th 2009 in the U.S and 2012 in Canada, but these digital signals are already being broadcast so you don't have to wait! Pickup a digital converter box or other device with an ATSC tuner today!

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• DTV
• broadcast
• TV
• digital
• HDTV
• ATSC
• tuner
• transition
• analog
• converter
• box