Short for
Digital Television, it is a digital
television standard that is fast replacing analog (or
NTSC
analog) television.
DTV enables broadcasters to offer television with movie-quality picture and
sound. It also offers greater multicasting and interactive capabilities. While many use the terms Digital Television (DTV) and High-definition Television (
HDTV) interchangeably, they are, in fact,
two different things. DTV refers to the actual TV signal being transmitted digitally (instead of
as an analog signal). DTV offers several broadcast options, two of which are
considered to be HDTV formats. Some of the more common DTV standards
include:
-
480i: -the digital
version of current analog signals.
-
480p: - provides a sharper image and looks closer to HDTV than regular television.
Today all DVDs can be played on EDTV.
-
720p: - provides an image close in quality to 1080i, but allows 480p signals to
be broadcast as well.
-
1080i: - the most detailed
HDTV image available from broadcast TV
The numbers above represent the vertical resolution,
while the letters represent interlaces or progressive scan (i) (p).
For example, 1080i represents 1080 vertical resolution, interlaced. For more
information on the complete list of current DTV standards, you can visit the ATSC
Web site listed in the links section below.
A U.S. Senate panel has set an April 7, 2009, as the deadline for television
stations to switch entirely from analog to digital broadcasts. Analog
televisions will work until all analog broadcasting ceases. Once the transition
to complete DTV has taken place, a converter will be required to receive DTV
signals and change them to the analog format of these older types of
televisions. However, these DTV-to-analog converters will not produce true DTV
quality.
