Analog vs. Digital: Two Different Worlds
A lot of people wonder what is the difference between the analog and digital TV? The answer is the way the signal is transmitted. The signal of analog television resembles very much to radio signal transmission, with one difference: the video signal of analog television is AM and the audio is FM. There are many negative aspects of analog signals, and one of those is that there can be annoying interferences in bad weather, and signal quality depends very much on the location of the TV.
The resolution and image quality are also restricted, because there are certain bandwidths assigned to analog TV channels. The analog signal is the United States follows the NTSC standard. This had been adopted in the 1940’s, and served well since then, but nobody thought at that time that about color television. One major weakness of the NTSC standard is color implementation, so it is no wonder a lot of people call “Never Twice The Same Color” the NTSC standard.
On the other hand digital TV signal is transmitted very similar to computer data: there are two kinds of signal, “on” or “off”. This way, the user either sees an image, or not. Gradual signal loss is an unknown term in the era of digital TV: it has no difference how close or how far away the transmitter is from the television, the viewer either sees the exact image, or sees nothing.
Digital format was thought with all the main factors of present-day television signals in mind: B/W, color and audio can be transmitted as interlaced or progressive signal. This means the signal content has greater integrity and flexibility.
Another advantage is that because digital TV signal consists of “bits”, the same bandwidth one analog TV signal requires can host not only higher quality digital image, but there will be extra space left, which can be used for extra video, audio or text signals.
Because of this, broadcasters can add a lot of extra features to their digital signals like surround sound, multiple language audio and text on the same bandwidth an analog TV signal requires. And there is one more difference to standard analog TV: digital television can transmit High Definition (HDTV) signal.
With this technology, programs using true wide screen format (16×9) can be broadcasted. The 16×9 format means the shape of the picture corresponds to a movie screen. Viewers can forget about the black bars on the top and the bottom of the wide screen image, being able to watch movies the same way filmmakers wanted to be seen. Sports fans can also see more action, and with 16×9 format it is possible to view the entire football field, without the sensation that it is far away.
In the United State, the date of the digital transition was June 12, 2009. This day all analog TV signals went black. Analog televisions became useless, unless there was an analog-to-digital converter connected to them. The transition was originally scheduled to 2006, but authorities postponed the transition with 3 years because they realized the consumers were not ready.
Edward is an electronics expert who writes HD TV reviews. To read more philips hdtv reviews, visit HDTVReviewLab.com
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