While watching your favorite series or movie, comfortably tucked in an armchair in front of the TV, you certainly don’t think about the path that the TV signal travels from its source to your TV set. However, if you want to buy a new-fangled TV, the type of TV signal you receive has to match TV that your future TV will be equipped with.
In the succeeding text, we will explain and bring you closer to how it works, starting from the antennas and receivers to the image transmitted in your home while you carelessly drink coffee and watch your favorite series.
In the modern era of television today, everyone is talking about HDTV (high-definition video). HDTV handlers a much-higher resolution and better picture and color. Of course, this is all likened to average analog television. Analog television, which practices CRT technology, is the oldest type of television which is well known to everybody. The standard station can broadcast 480 lines of pixels, which have been pinched in 1/60 seconds, and we are talking to every single line.
CRT technology is the type of technology on which massive screen TVs had to depend on. Big-screen TVs that can use digital presentation technology are now accessible. Rather than depend on the interweaving technique, digital displays make their pictures using a secure network of tiny, precise pixels, offering 720 to 1080-pixel lines. With advanced scanning, where the whole image is moved to each 1 / 60 seconds.
Therefore, we will introduce you to the types of the digital signal, and the types of receivers (TV tuners) built into modern TV sets. In the following text, we will talk exclusively about the digital signal and its brands, and TVs with appropriate receivers. Depending on the transmission method (from its source to your TV), the digital television signal can be terrestrial, cable, or satellite.
How do you recognize what kind of digital signal is coming to your home? Very simple:
– If you receive a TV signal via a room or roof TV antenna, it is a so-called terrestrial signal;
– If you do not have an antenna, but you receive a cable operator’s TV signal, it is a cable signal;
– If you have a satellite dish on the roof, your TV uses a satellite signal.
Although in almost 100% of cases, it is a terrestrial or cable mode of signal transmission, that does not explicitly mean that you will not follow the satellite program. On the contrary, with modern TVs, it is easier than ever. In addition to a regular TV signal (terrestrial or cable), you can use a satellite signal in parallel with the appropriate TV model – without much hassle.
If you don’t want to bother and deal with this and want to have both cable and internet, call a company that offers cable TV and internet services, who can help you make the right choice. One of the best company for that business is tayloraerials.co.uk. Many people leave this to professionals because they do not want to bother with it.
Types of digital receivers
A corresponding receiver must be constructed into the TV for the TV set to “understand” the message it receives for each of these types of signals.
For the names of these technologies not to differ from manufacturer to manufacturer and for everything to be clear and easy for end-users to understand, an organization called DVB (abbreviated as Digital Video Broadcasting) got its fingers way. This organization deals with the standardization of knowledge and standings used in it.
According to the values prescribed by the DVB organization, digital signal receivers are divided into:
DVB-T (Digital Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial): used to receive the first-generation terrestrial signal;
DVB-T2 (Digital Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial 2): used to obtain a second-generation terrestrial signal;
DVB-C (Digital Video Broadcasting – Cable): used to receive a first-generation cable signal;
DVB-C2 (Digital Video Broadcasting – Cable 2): used to get a second-generation cable signal;
DVB-S (Digital Video Broadcasting – Satellite): used to receive first-generation satellite signals;
DVB-S2 (Digital Video Broadcasting – Satellite 2): used to obtain a second-generation satellite signal.
DVB-T2 and DVB-C standards are often used. Therefore, if you are using a terrestrial digital TV signal, your new TV must be equipped with a DVB-T2 receiver. If you use a digital cable television signal, your future TV should have a DVB-C receiver. Modern TVs often have both types of receivers, which will make your choice even more comfortable. But how do you know what the TV you’re interested in is equipped with? Simple – look at its technical specification or ask the seller, and the manufacturers often highlight this information as an illustration.
If your future TV and a regular digital receiver (DVB-T2 or DVB-C), also has a DVB-S2 receiver, you are halfway to enjoying the charms of satellite television.
You probably remember how we watched satellite TV – we had a plate-shaped satellite dish on the roof, equipped with an LNB device (short for Low-Noise Block Downconverter). All this was connected with the so-called receiver, which, in turn, was connected to a television.
The DVB-S2 receiver is a complete satellite receiver. If you choose a TV with a built-in DVB-S2 receiver, all you need to watch satellite TV is an antenna (plate) and the mentioned LNB device. You plug the cable coming from the LNB device directly into the TV, and that’s it – you can find channels and enjoy.
Please note that individual satellites or channels require an additional subscription. After subscribing, you will receive a suitable Smart Card from the satellite operator, inserted into the slot provided on the TV.
You can also recognize a DVB-S2 receiver by the specific port that is usually located next to the coaxial RF port, and it looks like the picture that follows. Although not all TVs are equipped with a satellite receiver, there are also those models that have all the types of receivers listed so far, including the DVB-S2 satellite signal receiver.
