by Edward Matthews

Created on: August 12, 2010   Last Updated: August 26, 2010

There is always some resistance to change, and the debate over digital television is no different.  Anything that is new can also be a little scary, and the problem is that many people don’t understand what digital television is all about.  After understanding this concept, it will feel a lot more like “allowed” and much less like “forced.”

What is Digital TV?

Historically television was transmitted as an analog signal.  Analog signals are susceptible to interference and provide a degraded picture when there is something obstructing the transmission.  When a signal is encoded digitally error correction is allowed, and this means that small problems in transmission can be fixed on the receiving end, leaving you with a pristine image on your television.

Increased Bandwidth = More Channels

Shifting to digital television has some very important practical implications.  With the increased connectivity of the world there is more information to send than areas to send it through.  This area for transmission is bandwidth.  Analog signals take up drastically more bandwidth than digital signals because digital is just so much more efficient.  For every one channel that is transmitted in analog, several can be transmitted digitally.  Also, the newly opened bandwidth can be used for other beneficial purposes, such as wireless internet access.  This is why the digital transition is so important.

Ease of Transition

The FCC, which is the organization that really controls all of these transmissions, is highly focused on this transition to digital and has actually been doing a stellar job of smoothing the conversion.  Much work has been done to make the process easy from the perspective of the consumer, and the positive benefits far outweigh the negative consequences.  More channels with better picture quality will be available, and the only cost is that of a relatively inexpensive digital tuner.  Thrifty consumers had many opportunities to use government provided vouchers to offset even this minor cost, and this technology is being built-in to every new television that is being produced.

Once consumers begin to see the benefits of digital television, including more channels with better picture quality, the whole process will be seen in a different light.  Switching to digital television is one of those rare situations in life where a new way of doing things truly results in benefit to all those involved.

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