Television became deeply grounded in US popular culture starting in the 1940s. Analog television has been the standard since those earliest of days. However, not many people understand what "analog television" is. Or "digital television" for that matter. And why are we facing this digital transition in the United States anyway?

Analog Television

Analog Television (also spelled Analogue) is comprised of the SECAM, PAL, and NTSC analog encoding standards. NTSC - the National Television Systems Committee - being used primarily in the United States. Each analog standard uses the same basic process for broadcasting analog television; the signal is encoded using one of the standards by broadcasters, then the signal is modulated, either to a VHF or a UHF carrier. On the other side of the broadcast tower, an antenna receives the analog broadcast, and then "draws" a picture on a television screen.

For over 90 years, the NTSC analog standard has served the United States well. However, change is on the horizon. Digital television is becoming the new standard in broadcaste television; the digital transition has officially begun.

Digital Television Broadcasts

A single digital transmission system is used by digital television broadcasts . While the US broadcast stanard for analog television is NTSC, the new boradcast standard for US digital television is ATSC (an acronym for the Advanced Television Systems Committee). The ATSC digital standard is based on a data stream composed of MPEG-2 multiplexed data. ATSC, therefore, uses the well-known (at least to digital video enthusiasts) MPEG-2 codec. It is interesting to note that Zenith developed the foundation of ATSC, based on a modulation called "8-VSB".

Transitioning to Digital From Analog Television:

Digital Converter Boxes

The end result of the move from analog (NTSC) to digital (ATSC) broadcasts is you will need an ATSC receiver to pick up digital signals. This is true if you relay on free, over-the-air broadcast television; if you pay for cable or satellite, then you do not need a ATSC receiver. Also, if you have a modern television (made in the past few years), you probably already have an integrated ATSC tuner.

However, if your television is more than a few years old, you'll need a digital converter box to continue to watch broadcast television. A digital converter box takes the ATSC signal (remember, that's a digital signal) and converts it to an NTSC signal (the analog signal) your television is capable of displaying. A digital converter box, therefore, converts the digital broadcast signal to an analog signal, so your existing analog television can watch the digital broadcast.

Remember, the digital transition officially occurs on 2/17/0; by this date, you must have a digital converter box to continue using your existing analog television!

Interested in learning more about digital cnoverter boxes and the digital television transition? If so, take a look at Digital Converter Boxes.

The digital television transition is coming.

Are you ready?