The Transition from Analog Television to Digital Television

The Transition from Analog Television to Digital Television

The transition from analog television to digital television is an issue that is becoming more and more prevalent today. In 1996 the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) ruled that until 2006 or when digital television reaches 85 percent of all American households (whichever comes later) broadcasters can keep their analog spectrum free-of-charge. They decided that after that all television broadcasts must be made digital(Leopold). While this seemed like a great plan in 1996, it was later realized that it would take much longer for the transition to be complete due to many factors.

The digital evolution began to transpire on November 1, 1998. Since then there have been many other forms of digital technology adopted by our society and digital television quite possibly is next. “The speedy conversion to digital technology will have profound interest benefits, permitting efficient spectrum use, optimizing the development of new technologies and services to consumers, and fostering diversity and competition(FCC).

What are the advantages of Digital Television?

Overall there are many advantages to digital television. The point to creating digital television is to receive digitally encoded broadcasts. These digital broadcasts are more picture perfect and have more lifelike sound than analog television. In an analog system the waves are modulated into mechanical form and transmitted through air or over cable. In a digital system sound and images are analyzed first then converted into a stream of numbers. Digitized information is transmitted in this system, not mechanical waves(Johnson).

Comparing Resolutions:

Analog TV Resolution: 480 interlaced lines, which means that half the screen is refreshed at a time.

Digital Television Resolution: 480 progressive-scan lines, which means that the entire screen is refreshed at the same time.

Digital signals convert regular signals into strings of ones and zeros, which is much more efficient than analog signals. Broadcasters can maximize their use of channel space because digital signals carry significantly more information than analog signals. Several digital programs and services can be sent in the space occupied by a single analog channel. The result of this is that the consumer is provided with more channel choices(FCC).