Digital Television (DTV) is the new advanced broadcasting technology that is the replacement for analog broadcasting technology. This new broadcasting format has transformed television viewing. As a result of DTV you now receive superior picture and sound quality. In addition, you now have multicasting (i.e. multiple programme choices), and interactive TV.

In the United States of America the transition from analog to digital, Digital TV (DTV) Transition came into effect from June 13, 2009, with all the major U.S. stations broadcasting in digital only.

In the UK, where the transition from analog to digital broadcasting is known as the digital TV switchover, this change extends from 2008 to 2012. It will also proceed by TV region to TV region.During this period UK viewers are required to upgrade or convert their televisions, before their area's switchover date, to receive digital broadcast signals.

Benefits of DTV

The major reason and benefit for the switch is that DTV uses less of the broadcast spectrum than analog. In fact for the same amount of spectrum that one analog broadcast uses, DTV broadcasts can offer "multicasting" (multi-broadcasting).

With multicasting the broadcasting station can now broadcast High Definition Television (HDTV), Standard Definition (SD) digital television, local TV, and wireless broadband, simultaneously.

Benefits of Digital broadcasting include:

• frees up crucial broadcast spectrum for emergency services use
• multicasting offers greater programming choices of TV channels
• greatly improved picture and sound quality over analog TV
• DTV offers interactive video and media data services which did not exist with analog technology
• Offers new features for people with visual and hearing impairments, e.g. interactive video, on-screen listings, and enhanced subtitles.

Enjoying DTV

In order to enjoy DTV you would need to upgrade your analog television to one that can receive digital broadcasts.

You now have a wide choice of digital TVs available on the market today. There are different types of formats of DTV with the two most popular being Plasma High-Definition TV (HDTV) and LCD TV (HDTV).

With the demand for HDTV sets growing rapidly, 2008 became the first time that sales of high-definition TVs surpassed sales of standard-definition TVs.

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