A digital TV broadcast is a television signal that is distributed in digital format rather than analog. The use of computer code to compress picture and sound information into bits that can be transmitted over the airwaves distinguishes a digital TV broadcast. Digital images are usually cleaner and crisper.
The term “discrete” refers to the fact that digital signals are not continuous but occur in discrete units. Despite this, the transmission of each unit of information is consistent, or at least less susceptible to fluctuations. Because sound and video are compressed into computer bits, channels can carry a lot more information. Many local network affiliates, for example, have been able to broadcast multiple sub-channels, each with different programming.
The digital format has more storage capacity than the analog format. In fact, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and broadcasters frequently tout the digital system’s vastly increased number of Standard Definition (SD) channels. In addition, digital allows for the transmission of High Definition (HD) programming, which would otherwise take up a lot of space in the broadcast spectrum if transmitted via analog signals.
Analog signals, in contrast to digital signals, are continuous electrical signals. The signal can travel further because of the continuity, but it is susceptible to “noise.” Any electrical or magnetic interference created by the environment or the devices that send and receive analog signals is referred to as “noise” in this context.
The amount of space that is freed on the broadcast spectrum, leaving more channels open for police, fire, and rescue officials, is one compelling reason for the digital TV broadcast switchover. The US government has also been able to sell off newly freed spectrum space as a result of the switchover. There have been plenty of buyers, especially among telecommunications firms.
In its early stages, digital television broadcasting was not without flaws. Digital signal reception has been known to be hampered by physical obstacles such as hills, buildings, trees, and even the positions of viewers in their living rooms.
The US government had planned for all high-power stations to abandon analog transmission and begin digital TV broadcasting on February 17, 2009, but decided that the American public would not have enough time to prepare. Viewers with cable connections would be unaffected, but those who still use antennas would require converter boxes in order to view digital TV broadcasts on their television sets.
The official conversion date has been postponed by several months. On July 23, 1996, CBS affiliate WRAL in Raleigh, North Carolina became the first television station in the United States to broadcast a digital television broadcast. Luxembourg was the first country in the world to switch completely from analog to digital, with the transition taking place on September 1, 2006.