Digital television is rapidly gaining popularity in our country, but many people still do not know how it fundamentally differs from the good old analog TV.

Description

It is not difficult to guess that the basis of analog and digital television lie accordingly. The analog signal is continuous, which means that in the event of any external influence it becomes vulnerable, which leads to worse picture and sound quality. An undoubted advantage of an analog signal is the ability to receive it using a simple terrestrial antenna. You can also use the services of a cable TV provider. We can say that the analog signal today is already outdated, since it is significantly inferior to the digital signal in a number of important parameters - quality, safety, etc.

Modern TVs are designed primarily to work with digital signals, although they also have an analog connector. The whole point is that an analog signal is not capable of revealing the full potential of modern plasma and LCD TVs; only a digital signal can provide better picture quality. Unlike analog, it arrives in compact “portions” that are separated by pauses, and therefore it is very difficult to influence such a signal. Even when transmitting a digital signal over a very long distance, the quality of picture and sound remains at the highest level. Among other things, a digital signal allows you to transmit much more channels than an analogue one, so subscribers who connect to digital television receive more than a hundred TV channels on a wide variety of topics.

Comparison

Alas, analog television today, in fact, it has no obvious advantages over digital broadcasting, except perhaps the ability to “catch” the signal using a conventional antenna. However, digital television can also be mobile using a digital signal receiver. Considering that, regardless of the distance, the digital signal remains protected from hacking and interference and guarantees high level qualities and advantages of digital television become completely obvious.

Conclusions website

1. Digital television provides a higher level of signal quality and protection. The analog signal was and remains vulnerable to external influences and cannot provide such high-quality images.
2. Digital television is more mobile - today you can receive a digital signal while on the road or far from home.
3. Analog television is not capable of providing as many channels as digital television. Due to the peculiarities of the digital signal, when connecting to digital TV, the subscriber can gain access to several hundred different TV channels.

Modernity bestows humanity with such a variety of different benefits that people have a desire to receive more and more new ones. Today instead of usual mobile phone many of us are increasingly choosing a device with Internet chats being replaced by communication with a video image, and the familiar terrestrial television seems to be an outdated rarity, when enormous opportunities have appeared digital broadcasting. A wide range of programs, the highest quality, all this gives rise to the desire to get rid of outdated terrestrial television in favor of such innovations as digital and analogue television.

Cable television entered the lives of Russians about fifteen years ago. The first subscribers were, first of all, attracted by the chance to add at least some variety to the broadcast network. After all, at that time even one additional television channel was already a big advantage. Soon viewers began to be offered dozens of different channels. Then it seemed that the capacity of the cable should someday be limited, but soon digital and analogue television came to replace the now familiar cable TV.

In digital format, subscribers are already offered about 60 channels in the basic package and about 14 TV channels in test mode, while the cable that provided analogue broadcasting had no more than 60 TV channels.

If we consider digital and analogue television from a technical point of view, then the volume of its broadcasting can be expanded almost endlessly. Subscribers' capabilities can constantly increase, and even the most demanding viewer will find what he needs. If you want to know more about Egyptian pyramids or wild ones, turn on the adventure channel. Are you more interested in scientific discoveries and the mysteries of the unknown? You can choose a science channel. Music, films, culture, cartoons - just have time to switch channels.

If a subscriber wants to rid himself of channels that are not of particular interest to him, today it is possible to create a “List of Favorite Channels”. This option allows you to select about ten programs and watch them to your heart's content. For example, the following menu: movie classics, music, travel and cartoons. By the way! Some viewers are especially scrupulous in matters related to quality. Of course, it’s always nice to be able to look at a picture without straining your eyes. the smallest details. Thanks to the fact that analogue TV is now replacing broadcasting and is becoming quite possible.

There is also very good news for fans of huge screens. They know very well that the quality of the television “picture” noticeably decreases as the screen gets larger. In principle, this effect is comparable to photography: the more you enlarge the photo on a computer monitor, the more noticeable all the imperfections become. So here are the companies involved in promotion digital technologies are already beginning to provide their subscribers with high-definition TV channels. At this resolution it does not affect the image quality at all.

Analogue television and digital broadcasting provide subscribers with another advantage - the ability to change the broadcast language of the TV channel. If foreign guests suddenly come to your place, they will be able to choose their native Italian or French channel to watch TV programs and program it to broadcast in their language.

Today, specialists working in areas such as digital and analog television take into account the smallest needs of television viewers, which allow them to provide maximum comfort to subscribers. For example, let’s take such a detail as a program guide displayed on a television screen. Now there is no need to buy newspapers with announcements and periodically look for crumpled newspaper pages under the sofa. The broadcast menu is displayed on the screen with just one click of a button.

The changes are obvious: everything that millions of viewers could only dream of just recently has become accessible!

With the development of digital technologies, there is gradually a smooth migration of television viewers from analogue to digital television.

This happens not only due to large-scale advertising campaigns, deployed by Internet providers to popularize and sell IPTV, but also because users certainly like such television.

Why? Let's figure it out.

Differences between digital TV and analogue

I won’t spoil things here about digital and analog signals, who cares? No one. Let's take a closer look at the practical difference in use.

Equipment

So, to watch analog television you need a regular terrestrial antenna (in an apartment, on the roof) or a connected one, in some company, cable TV. Due to the specifics of how an analog signal works (after all, I had to write about signals), the image can be distorted in every possible way under the influence of external sources of interference.

In turn, to watch digital television, a regular antenna is not enough. You will have to install a receiver (encrypted digital signal decoder) near the TV, which will convert the received data into an image and display the picture on the TV screen.

A good example is Interactive TV from Rostelecom, which I wrote about in great detail in the article.

Digital satellite TV is a little different from the previous example. And if you want to watch satellite television, you will have to install a satellite dish (“dish”) on the wall of your private or apartment building. This time, the Tricolor TV company can be cited as an example.

Naturally, the satellite TV provider will provide you with all the necessary equipment and install an antenna. But the number of channels will depend on the selected service package.

Image quality

Without a doubt, digital television is the leader in this regard in all respects. Here are some obvious advantages of digital:

• Does not lose signal quality if transmitted over very long distances;
• The image cannot contain glare, “snow”, picture distortion and other common defects when watching analog television;
• Possibility of connecting channels in HD quality. One could safely put this item first on the list, since a high-definition image is the dream of any TV viewer who has a large diagonal TV screen.

Other options

Undoubtedly, in addition to image quality, IPTV has many other advantages:

Somehow I’ve gotten really into trouble with my writing, it’s time to finish.

Digital TV is better and higher quality than analogue

Summarizing all of the above, we can conclude that analog television has practically become obsolete, since it is inferior to digital television in almost everything except cost (“analogue” can be watched for free).

Some of the readers may have thought: “I’ll buy a TV with a built-in TV tuner, set it up to receive satellite TV and watch digital for free.” No, my dears, it’s not that simple. Firstly, there will be free (unencrypted) channels “one, two and gone,” and secondly, you still need to be able to find the right satellite and configure the equipment.

In general, Russia will not have a complete transition to digital TV for a very long time. 10-20 years, or even more. Although, many countries are striving for this, including our great Motherland. In the meantime, there is only one way out - to buy good digital television from Internet providers and highly specialized companies.

That's all, thanks for your attention.

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What is Analog and Digital broadcasting?

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(basic concepts of analogue and digital broadcasting)

Recently, more and more information has begun to appear on the information network about the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting, in connection with this, many questions arise on this topic, giving rise to all sorts of rumors and assumptions. In this article, I want to explain the difference between “analog” and “digital” broadcasting, in a language that is accessible and understandable to the common user (at least as far as possible).
First, let's figure out what an “analog” signal is.

Analog signal

As always, I will explain simple example. As an example, let's take the transfer of voice information from one person to another.
During a conversation, our vocal cords emit a certain vibration of varying tonality (frequency) and volume (sound signal level). This vibration, having traveled a certain distance, enters the human ear, affecting there the so-called auditory membrane. This membrane begins to vibrate with the same frequency and strength of vibration that our sound cords emitted, with the only difference that the strength of vibration weakens somewhat due to overcoming the distance.
So, the transmission of voice speech from one person to another can easily be called analog signal transmission, and here’s why.
The point here is that our vocal cords emit the same sound vibration that the human ear itself perceives (we hear what we say), that is, the transmitted and received sound signal has a similar pulse shape and the same frequency spectrum sound vibrations, or in other words, “analogous” sound vibration.
Here, I think it’s clear.

Now, let's look at a more complex example. And for this example, let’s take a simplified diagram of a telephone, that is, the telephone that people used long before the advent of cellular communications.
During a conversation, speech sound vibrations are transmitted to the sensitive membrane of the handset (microphone). Then, in the microphone, the sound signal is converted into electrical impulses, and then travels through wires to the second handset, in which, using an electromagnetic transducer (speaker or earphone), the electrical signal is converted back into a sound signal.
In the example above, again, “analog” signal conversion is used. That is, sound vibration has the same frequency as the frequency of the electrical impulse in the communication line, and also, sound and electrical impulses have a similar shape (that is, similar).
In the transmission of a television signal, the analogue radio-television signal itself has a rather complex pulse shape, as well as a fairly high frequency of this pulse, because it transmits both audio information and video over long distances.

I think we've sorted it out with the "analog signal".

Over time, the number of TV channels increased, the number of subscribers at telephone exchanges increased, and the Internet appeared. As a result, the bandwidth of analog information transmission no longer meets modern requirements. This applies to both terrestrial, wired and broadcast signal transmission and reception lines, and, of course, satellite communication lines.

Now, let's figure out what a “digital” signal is.

Digital signal

As an example of a “digital signal”, let’s take the principle of transmitting information using the fairly well-known “Morse code”. For those who are not familiar with this type of transmission of text information, below I will briefly explain the basic principle.
Previously, when signal transmission over the air (using a radio signal) was just developing, the technical capabilities of transmitting and receiving equipment did not allow transmitting a speech signal over long distances. Therefore, instead of speech information, text information was used. Since the text consists of letters, these letters were transmitted using short and long pulses of a tonal electrical signal.
This transfer of text information was called transfer of information using Morse code.
The tone signal, due to its electrical properties, had a greater throughput than the speech signal, and as a result, the range of the transmitting and receiving equipment increased.
The units of information in such signal transmission were conventionally called “dot” and “dash”. A short tone meant a dot, and a long tone meant a dash. Here, each letter of the alphabet consisted of a specific set of dots and dashes. So, for example, the letter A was designated by the combination ".-" (dot-dash), and the letter B "- ..." (dash-dot-dot-dot), and so on.
That is, the transmitted text was encoded using dots and dashes in the form of short and long segments of a tone signal. If the words "MORSE CODE" are expressed using dots and dashes, it will look like this: (deleted)

Digital signal versus Morse code

The digital signal is based on a very similar principle of encoding information, only the units of information themselves are different.
Any digital signal consists of so-called "binary code". Here, logical 0 (zero) and logical 1 (one) are used as units of information.
If we take an ordinary pocket flashlight as an example, then if you turn it on, it will seem to mean a logical one, and if you turn it off, it will mean a logical zero.
In digital electronic circuits, logical units of 1 and 0 are taken to be a certain level of electrical voltage in volts. So, for example, a logical one will mean 4.5 volts, and a logical zero will mean 0.5 volts. Naturally, for each type of digital microcircuit, the voltage values ​​of logical zero and one are different.
Any letter of the alphabet, as in the example with the Morse code described above, in digital form, will consist of a certain number of zeros and ones, arranged in a certain sequence, which in turn are included in packets of logical pulses. So, for example, the letter A will be one packet of impulses, and the letter B will be another packet, but in the letter B the sequence of zeros and ones will be different than in the letter A (that is, a different combination of the arrangement of zeros and ones).
In digital code, you can encode almost any type of transmitted electrical signal (including analog), and it doesn’t matter whether it is a picture, video signal, audio signal, or text information, and you can transmit these types of signals almost simultaneously (in a single digital stream ).
A digital signal, due to its electrical properties (as in the example with a tone signal), has a greater information transmission capacity than an analog signal. Also, a digital signal can be transmitted over a greater distance than an analogue one, without reducing the quality of the transmitted signal.

Which antenna to choose?

What antenna is needed to receive digital terrestrial television?

To receive terrestrial digital television, you need a UHF antenna.

Is an indoor antenna sufficient for high-quality reception?
The quality of signal reception depends on the distance of the transmitter and its power. The closer you are to it, the better the reception.

What antenna models allow you to receive digital terrestrial television? How much do these antennas cost?
As an example:

Alpha H 311 DVB-T




ASP 8 SUPER DVB-T

Is it possible to get a high-quality TV signal without a special antenna?
Yes, it is possible, only if you are in close proximity to the signal source. In this case, of course, you won’t need an antenna, but you still need to screw a small piece of wire to the antenna input on the TV for more accurate signal reception.

Where and how is it possible to install the antenna?
You can choose the installation location: paint, wall, window frame, balcony. Most often, in multi-storey buildings, antennas are installed on the roof of the building; if we consider private houses, then they often use masts with a diameter of 40-50 mm, a height of about 5-6 meters, maybe less, but it all depends on the location of the antenna relative to the signal transmitter. The better the installation, the better the signal reception, you should avoid it for now.

Where to buy an antenna for an over-the-air digital television signal?
You can buy the antenna in hypermarkets household appliances, as well as in any store that sells on-air equipment on the radio market. But, before making a purchase, check with the seller whether this antenna receives the UHF range.
What is the difference between an active and passive antenna? Which one to choose?
The difference is that the active antenna has a signal reception amplifier operating from the network. An active antenna receives better at a distance from the transmitter, while a passive antenna, on the contrary, works better in close proximity to it. The effectiveness of an active antenna decreases if you are located near a TV tower; it begins to “choke.” Therefore, in such situations, it is better to use a passive antenna.

What is the difference between the MV and UHF bands?
Terrestrial television signals are transmitted using ultra-short radio waves, abbreviated as VHF, in the frequency range from 48 to 862 MHz. This frequency band is conventionally divided into 5 ranges, combined into two groups:
- meter or HF (VHF), bands I, II, III; (47-160 MHz)
- UHF or UHF (UHF), bands IV, V. (470-862 MHz)
IN different countries There are some differences in the distribution of television channels between terrestrial television bands. In the standard used in the CIS countries, the meter range includes 1-12 channels, the decimeter range 21-60 channels.

TV channels included in the RTRS-1 package

The composition of the RTRS-1 digital TV channel package complies with the decrees of the President of Russia on all-Russian mandatory public television channels: No. 715 of June 24, 2009, No. 456 of April 17, 2012, No. 167 of April 24, 2013.

TV channels included in the RTRS-2 package

The advisory support center is located on the ground floor of a 2-story building in the central part of the city near the Glinka City Garden, the Heroes' Memorial Square and Lenin Square in close proximity to public transport stops located on the street. Dzerzhinsky.

Objects of test digital broadcasting of the RTRS-1 package

Objects of test digital broadcasting of the RTRS-2 package