How is digital television indicated on a TV?

According to the government decision, from 2019 Russia will switch to digital broadcasting. Analog TV on your TV will disappear. Let's look at the advantages of the upcoming changes for millions of TV viewers in our article.

Advantages of digital television

The digital signal form is a broadcast of data in the form of sequences of “0” and “1” and in MPEG 4 video format. Advantages of digital broadcasting:

1. High quality picture and surround sound.
2. Possibility of viewing three-dimensional format 3D-TV.
3. Complete absence of interference.
4. Archive and record TV programs, pause and rewind.
5. Subtitle support.
6. Information about the schedule and time of transmissions.

One frequency range supports up to 10 channels, thanks to the small signal spectrum. For comparison, each analog frequency includes only 1 TV channel.

The number of frequencies remains the same, despite the increase in the number of programs.

While covering an area identical to an analog device, the digital transmitter consumes minimal power.

ON A NOTE. Analogue broadcasting made it possible to broadcast from 1 to 2 channels, for example in rural areas. The new television will broadcast throughout the country a package of 20 programs with high quality picture and sound, and three radio stations.

How to find out if your TV supports digital TV

Television models of different years also have different TV tuners (built-in device for receiving signals).There are several ways to find out what kind of broadcast you are receiving.

Check the parameters of your device in the operating instructions. If the manual is lost, look at the letters located on the panel next to the tuner. The inscription “digital input” means receiving a digital signal.

IMPORTANT. The ability to receive a broadcast is not enough, see the next section.

Use the Internet and enter the brand and series into a search engine. It is easy to find the information you need on specialized websites.

Check your device settings. For this:

• in the TV menu, activate automatic channel search,
• or try manual tuning by specifying frequencies 546 (the first ten channels) and 498 (the second ten).

So that the consumer can easily figure out what signal his TV is receiving directly, in many Russian regions large analogue channels (“Russia 1”, “NTV” and others) placed the letter “A” next to the program icon. If you see it on the screen, it means you have the appropriate broadcast mode.

Models released since 2013 are guaranteed to support the new form of broadcasting.

ON A NOTE. If you have an analog device, there is no need to invest in an expensive TV to watch digital. You can purchase an external tuner; its market price ranges from 800 to 1200 rubles.

How is it designated?

There are international standards according to which the designations of digital signal forms are accepted, there are only three of them:

1. European – DVB,
2. Asian – ISDB,
3. American ATSC.

The European DVB protocol operates directly in Russia. Depending on the method of broadcast transmission, formats are distinguished:

1. DVB-T(T2), provides terrestrial TV reception;
2. DVB-S(S2), receives satellite TV;
3. DVB-C(C2) – cable TV;
4. DVB-H(SH) – mobile TV.

The number 2 denotes the second, improved modification of the standard.

For our situation, the DVB-T2 format is important, since according to the new broadcasting scheme it was chosen as the national one. Its previous version DVB-T is hopelessly outdated and will not be used. The updated standard has a high signal level.

IMPORTANT. In addition to having a digital tuner, you will need an appropriate external antenna. It must accept the decimeter range (UHF). It will need to be precisely aimed to produce a quality broadcast.

We hope that our article helped you understand the features of digital broadcasting. Good luck!