Analog Television

Digital Satellite TV - End of Analog Television

That is not to say that there are not any other online retailers of digital satellite TV services; it is just that there is very little choice in type of services being offered and most of these providers only differ from one another in their marketing and promotional offers, and nothing else. This is certainly a big constraint given the fact that watching digital satellite TV will only be enjoyable if there are more than a few options to choose from.

Digital satellite TV represents a quantum leap in quality over the traditional analog TVs that for long were the only types of television sets available on the market. However, even if you have bought a satellite TV you will still need to ensure that the set that you purchased must be able to handle the kind of resolution required to get the most out of your service.

In addition, you will also require buying a satellite television system that consists of a receiver as well as satellite dish and which is essential to enjoying your channels. Besides improvement in quality of pictures that a digital TV provides you, you are also sure to get more choice in regard to larger selection of television channels as compared to what is available with analog television sets.

However, not everything about watching satellite TV is hunky-dory as there is a minor downside to contend with, especially in that bad weather conditions which will cause severe disturbance to your viewing because strong winds or even storms can sever your television connection and then all that you will see on your television screen would be fuzzy pictures or no pictures at all.

Other than this minor hiccup, a digital satellite TV outpoints the analog television set on all counts and that is why people have given up buying analog television sets. Furthermore, if you are keen on watching premium or even pay-per-view television broadcasts you will also need to buy a digital TV descrambler.

The current popularity of the digital satellite TV makes it almost impossible not to also buy one for your television viewing; and, if you have teenagers in your home you would have no option but to accede to their demands for a digital satellite TV without which they would not be able to their favorite television channels.

Broadband TV

In the last issue of Ariadne I explored available streaming video on the web (Tiny TV, Ariadne issue 22, December 1999), looking at the phenomenon particularly according to the geographic and subject distribution of resources.

Things are moving very fast: by the time the article was published the version of RealPlayer (G2) had been replaced, and my written map of available resources was much narrower than the range of materials which I knew to exist. Many more films and TV shows are available, mostly at cable modem speeds of transmission, and a number of servers appear to have stopped broadcasting, at least from the addresses which were valid and active in December 1999.

Most of what I explored was lowband: video streams arriving at rates between 8 kilobits per second, up to 60 kilobits per second. These are services which (by and large, with occasional pauses to replenish the buffer) can be received and played adequately via a 56k modem on a computer with a greater than 100khz chip. Some items listed in the article however, particularly the film resources, come in at up to 250 kilobits per second. I included these because they were available resources, though not every reader of the article would be able to play the streams.

The Tiny TV article was written in November, and before it was completed I became aware of a number of servers which were distributing broadband streaming video, at speeds in excess of 300 kilobits per second, and sometimes well over 400 kilobits per second. These were not included in the article, partly because of pressure of time, and partly due to a delay caused by some of the streams arriving on port 554, which is one which, here at least, was closed by default. If you have a machine and a network connection capable of handling these higher rate bitstreams (ISDN, cable modem access, T3 connection, etc), but get an error message saying that the port is closed, you will have to ask your system administrator to open the port.

The quality of these transmissions is very high. The default window size is around twice what was enjoyed in the Tiny TV experience, and the window size can often be doubled again without the image becoming unpleasant to watch. Full screen display is just a bit too much, and your computer is not likely to handle the screen redraws necessary, unless it is top of the line. I used a two year old 233 mhz Pentium II, which worked fine with the fastest streams, with the screen window set at 200 per cent.


For the purposes of this article, broadband is defined as anything streaming at a rate in excess of 56kbs. The fastest available I have seen so far is 700kbs. Everything above 56kbs is broadband, since ordinary modem users will not be able to see the streams as intended. So 56kbs is a reasonable definition of where broadband starts. Some items are available at various speeds from 20kbs up to 250kbs, so users interested in broadband should not neglect the lowband listing, since what you are looking for might be there. No items listed arrive faster than 420kbs. I've listed only items which seem reliable and which come up fairly fast. Anything which is intermittent or slow I've omitted from the lists.

Most of what is available at these higher speeds is either commercial film and television (of a certain vintage), or music video (usually modern). There is also some academic material of very high quality. It doesn't make much sense to make news programming available in broadband (not at the moment at any rate), so there isn't much of that around. But there is some. Most of the material comes from a handful of servers, mostly based in the United States. The categories used are as follows: Broadband : Europe; North America; South America; Asia; Middle East; Africa; Drama; Archive Television; Other Educational Resources; Financial Services; Religious Broadcasting; Sport; Commercial Film; Art Film; Music. Lowband follows the same arrangement, with the addition of a 'miscellaneous' section. The coverage in this article is uneven, since I don't have unlimited amounts of time to survey available content and to check the reliability of links. I haven't included as many commercial films as I did in the last article, but by following up the addresses of the main listings you should be able to find these easily enough. Where I haven't found anything worth mentioning in a particular category, I've linked back to the Tiny TV article in issue 22, and/or to the Broadband/Lowband section of this article, as appropriate.

Broadband TV Origin

Broadband TV involves accessing multimedia content via an unmanaged broadband connection and viewing it on a PC or sometimes a normal TV. Broadband TV differs from IPTV as the network bandwidth is unmanaged and the system is inherently open. Broadband TV is the same as Internet TV which is usually referred to as accessing TV video streams over general purpose broadband internet. IPTV differs from Broadband and Internet TV, as it is a closed system for the delivery of PayTV services with an assured Quality of Service underpinned by an operator's investment in network infrastructure, content rights and consumer equipment.

The current commercial focus is around developing video on demand services to the home. Multimedia content can be personalised for individual users and can be called personalised TV.

In 1999 most people did not watch video online. A company called Teveo used a high speed Internet connection to connect thousands of dial up users using player less video technology. The evolution of Broadband connections made it possible for Internet users to become real time video broadcasters using Teveo. Teveo produced technology that was ahead of its time and did not survive the Internet bubble burst of 2000, as a result Teveo software can still be downloaded free on the Internet. You got Broadband? became common question around year the 2000, many Broadband TV pioneers began streaming music videos online using a Broadband Internet connection. In 2003 a little known Internet Pioneer named Enas E. Ragland launched one of America's first Broadband Broadcasting Networks and called the technology Broadband TV (BE TV) in part because of the platforms ability to emulate old style Television via Broadband Internet connection.

Currently Broadband pioneers use the explict generic mark "Broadband TV" to define evolving video Technologies. Unlike Internet TV or IPTV, advanced Broadband TV technologies like "Broadband Messaging" allow users to engage in real time using cams, pictures, voice, video, text and more. When the Broadband Broadcasting market mature in a few years, Internet TV will be defined as it is exist now, Broadband TV is expected to be defined as an interactive Broadband Broadcasting format. Advanced Broadband Broadcasting formats allow users to access Broadband TV, Radio with images, Voice, Video, cams, text, record, pictures and media downloading in a user controlled Broadband Messaging environment. Broadband TV is without question competing with traditional Television and Internet TV. Broadband media programming is one of the fasting growing sources of revenue online. The word Broadband allow search engines to identify the underlying product as Broadband Media. "Broadband" identification help provide more accurate search results when compared to the search phrase Internet TV. On behalf on the Internet pioneers who are developing the generic term Broadband TV, it is our opinion that Broadband TV should not be merged with Internet TV.

Analog Television Technology

Analog television like all other motion picture systems, exploits the properties of the human eye to create the illusion of moving images. The human eye retains an image for a fraction of a second, which is called "persistence of vision". Due to the persistence of vision effect, a rapid sequence of images will be perceived as an integrated moving image. If the rate of frames is too low, the sequence of images is not intuitively linked by the brain, causing the illusion of animation to be lost. The common frame rate of 24 frames per second, (which superseded more experimental frame rates during the sound revolution of the late 1920's) is used for motion pictures to create a smooth moving image. When the American television standards were developed, 30 Hz was chosen as the frame rate, modified to 29.97 Hz when color was introduced. Systems used in Europe have a frame rate of 25 frames per second.

When on screen images are bright, the persistence of vision effect does not last as long, which means that more frames have to be projected per second. Motion picture projectors resolve this problem by using shutters. Since shutters cannot be used for televisions, television engineers increased the repetition rate to two "flashes" per frame by interlacing and scanning a single frame twice. These interlacing repeated frames do come at a cost, and in some cases, the repeated frames cause aberrations such as serrations on the edge of moving objects, misalignment, interline flicker, or a shimmering effect.

In black and white television based on a cathode ray tube (CRT), a single electron beam scans a phosphor screen from left to right and then returns to the top. The electron beam is brightness-modulated to create intensity changes which cause the different shades of grey. Analog television equipment has been manufactured using alternative forms of display, such as LCD, but the picture display is still updated a frame at a time in the same manner as the flying-spot CRT.

To support color signals contained in the broadcast, a color synchronization signal called a "color burst" is added to the basic black and white information. When color television was introduced, engineers ensured that black and white televisions would still be able to display signals that were broadcast in color. To do this, the original monochrome information is still transmitted in the color signal, and then the color difference information is added on top.

Analog broadcast television systems comes in a variety of frame rates and resolutions. Further differences exist in the frequency and modulation of the audio carrier. The monochrome combinations still existing in the 1950s are standardized by the ITU as capital letters A through N. When color television was introduced, the hue and saturation information was added to the monochrome signals in a way that black & white televisions ignore. This way backwards compatibility was achieved. That concept is true for all analog television standards.

However there are three standards for the way the additional color information can be encoded and transmitted. The first was the American NTSC (National Television Systems Committee) color television system. The European PAL (Phase Alternation Line rate) and the French-Former Soviet Union SECAM (Séquentiel Couleur Avec Mémoire) standard were developed later and attempt to cure certain defects of the NTSC system. PAL's color encoding is similar to the NTSC systems. SECAM, though, uses a different modulation approach than PAL or NTSC.

In principle all three color encoding systems can be combined with any of the scan line/frame rate combinations. Therefore, in order to describe a given signal completely, it's necessary to quote the color system and the broadcast standard as capital letter. For example the United States uses NTSC-M, the UK uses PAL-I, France uses SECAM-L, much of Western Europe uses PAL-B/G, most of Eastern Europe uses PAL-D/K or SECAM-D/K and so on.

However not all of these possible combinations actually exist. NTSC is currently only used with system M, even though there were experiments with NTSC-A (405 line) and NTSC-I (625 line) in the UK. PAL is used with a variety of 625-line standards (B,G,D,K,I) but also with the North American 525-line standard, accordingly named PAL-M. Likewise, SECAM is used with a variety of 625-line standards.

For this reason many people refer to any 625/25 type signal as "PAL" and to any 525/30 signal as "NTSC", even when referring to digital signals, e.g. on DVD-Video which don't contain any analog color encoding, thus no PAL or NTSC signals at all. Even though this usage is common, it's misleading as that is not the original meaning of the terms PAL/SECAM/NTSC.

National Television System Committee

The National Television System Committee was established in 1940 by the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to resolve the conflicts that arose between companies over the introduction of a nationwide analog television system in the United States. In March 1941, the committee issued a technical standard for black-and-white television that built upon a 1936 recommendation made by the Radio Manufacturers Association (RMA). Technical advancements of the vestigial sideband technique allowed for the opportunity to increase the image resolution broadcast to consumer televisions. The NTSC compromised between RCA's desire to keep a 441–scan line standard (which was already being used by RCA's NBC TV network) and Philco's desire to increase the number of scan lines to between 605 and 800: A 525-line transmission standard was selected. Other technical standards in the final recommendation were a frame rate (image rate) of 30 frames per second consisting of two interlaced fields per frame (2:1 interlacing) at 262.5 lines per field or 60 fields per second, along with an aspect ratio of 4:3, and frequency modulation (FM) for the sound signal (which was quite new at the time).

In January 1950 the Committee was reconstituted to standardize color television. In December 1953, it unanimously approved what is now called simply the NTSC color television standard (later defined as RS-170a). The updated standard retained full backwards compatibility ("compatible color") with older black-and-white television sets. Color information was added to the black-and-white image by adding a color subcarrier of 4.5 × 455/572 MHz (approximately 3.58 MHz) to the video signal. In order to minimize interference between the chrominance signal and FM sound carrier, the addition of the color subcarrier also required a slight reduction of the frame rate from 30 frames per second to 30/1.001 (very close to 29.97) frames per second, and changing the line frequency from 15,750 Hz to 15,734.26 Hz.

The FCC had briefly approved a different color television standard, starting in October 1950, which was developed by CBS.[2] However, this standard was incompatible with black-and-white broadcasts. It used a rotating color wheel (a technique re-used in the first DLP projectors developed in the late 1980s), reduced the number of scan lines from 525 to 405, and increased the field rate from 60 to 144 (but had an effective frame rate of only 24 frames a second). Legal action by rival RCA kept commercial use of the system off the air until June 1951, and regular broadcasts only lasted a few months before manufacture of all color television sets was banned by the Office of Defense Mobilization (ODM) in October, ostensibly due to the Korean War.[3] CBS rescinded its system in March 1953,[4] and the FCC replaced it on December 17, 1953 with the NTSC color standard, which was cooperatively developed by several companies (including RCA and Philco).[5] The first publicly announced network TV broadcast of a program using the NTSC "compatible color" system was an episode of NBC's Kukla, Fran and Ollie on August 30, 1953, although it was viewable in color only at the network's headquarters.[6] The first nationwide view of NTSC color came on the following January 1 with the coast-to-coast broadcast of the Tournament of Roses Parade, viewable on prototype color receivers at special presentations across the country.

The first color NTSC television camera was the RCA TK-40, used for experimental broadcasts in 1953; an improved version, the TK-40A, introduced in March 1954, was the first commercially available color TV camera. It was replaced later that year by an improved version, the TK-41, which became the standard camera used throughout much of the 1960s.

The NTSC standard has been adopted by other countries, including most of the Americas and Japan. With the advent of digital television, analog broadcasts are being phased out. Most NTSC broadcasters are mandated by the FCC to shut down in the United States on February 17, 2009 (low power, class A and translators are not immediately affected. A cut-off date for those stations is to be determined).

Satellite TV

Satellite television or satellite TV is television delivered by way of orbiting communications satellites located 37,000 km above the earth's surface.

The first satellite TV signal was relayed from Europe to the Telstar satellite over North America in 1962. The first domestic North American satellite to carry television was Canada's Anik 1, which was launched in 1973.

Satellite TV, like other communications relayed by satellite, starts with a transmitting satellite antenna located at an uplink facility. Uplink satellite dishes are directed toward the satellite that its signals will be transmitted to, and are very large, as much as 9 to 12 meters (30 to 40 feet) in diameter. The larger the satellite dish, the more accurate positioning and improved signal reception at the satellite. The satellite TV signals is transmitted to devices located on-board the satellite called transponders, which retransmit the satellite signal back towards the Earth at a different frequency.

The satellite signal, quite weak after traveling through space, is collected by a parabolic receiving dish, which reflects the weak signal to the dish's focal point and is received, down-converted to a lower frequency band and amplified by a device called a low-noise block down converter, or LNB.

A new form of satellite antenna, which does not use a directed parabolic dish and can be used on a mobile platform such as a vehicle, was recently announced by the University of Waterloo. On commonly known as car satellite system.

The satellite TV signal, now amplified, travels to a satellite TV receiver box through coaxial cable (RG-6 or RG-10; cannot be standard RG-59) and is converted by a local oscillator to the L-band range of frequencies (approximately). Special on-board electronics in the receiver box help tune the signal and then convert it to a frequency that a standard television can use.

As you known, satellite TV business in United States are mainly dominated by two companies, Dish Network and DirecTV. If you would like to have a satellite TV in your home, your choices are mostly limited to the free satellite TV packages that offered by either one Dish Network or DirecTV.

Here's a quick view on United States satellite TV industry: Hughes's DirecTV, the first high-powered DBS system, went online in 1994 and was the first North American DBS service. In 1996, Echostar's Dish Network went online in the United States and has gone on to similar success.

Astro (Satellite TV)

Astro is a subscription-based direct broadcast satellite (DBS) or direct-to-home satellite television and radio service initially in Malaysia, but has expanded to Brunei and Indonesia. The service is broadcast from the All Asia Broadcast Centre (ABC) located in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Astro is owned by MEASAT Broadcast Network Systems, a subsidiary of Astro All Asia Networks plc.

Cable television

Cable television is a system of providing television to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through fixed optical fibers or coaxial cables as opposed to the over-the-air method used in traditional television broadcasting (via radio waves) in which a television antenna is required. FM radio programming, high-speed Internet, telephony and similar non television services may also be provided.

The abbreviation CATV is often used to mean "Cable TV". It originally stood for Community Antenna Television, from cable television's origins in 1948: in areas where over-the-air reception was limited by mountainous terrain, large "community antennas" were constructed, and cable was run from them to individual homes.

It is most commonplace in North America, Europe, Australia and East Asia, though it is present in many other countries, mainly in South America and the Middle East. Cable TV has had little success in Africa, as it is not cost-effective to lay cables in sparsely populated areas. So-called "wireless cable" or microwave-based systems are used instead.

Television

TV redirects here. For other uses of "TV" or "television", see TV (disambiguation).

Braun HF 1, Germany, 1959
A Philips LCD TV (2006)

Television (TV) is a widely used telecommunication medium for sending (broadcasting) and receiving moving images, either monochromatic ("black and white") or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission. The word is derived from mixed Latin and Greek roots, meaning "far sight": Greek tele (τῆλε), far, and Latin visio, sight (from video, vis- to see, or to view in the first person).

Commercially available since the late 1930s, the television set has become a common communications receiver in homes, businesses and institutions, particularly as a source of entertainment and news. Since the 1970s, recordings on video cassettes, and later, digital media such as DVDs, have resulted in the television frequently being used for viewing recorded as well as broadcast material.

A standard television set comprises multiple internal electronic circuits, including those for tuning and decoding broadcast signals. A display device which lacks these internal circuits is therefore properly called a monitor, rather than a television. A television set may be designed to handle other than traditional broadcast or recorded signals and formats, such as closed-circuit television (CCTV), digital television (DTV) and high-definition television (HDTV).

How to Take Part in a Reality TV Show

The impact of reality TV shows on the television industry is simply amazing. Involving real people rather than actors, these shows have managed to attract millions of viewers. Even though almost every channel is flourishing with these reality TV shows, the general public is still very interested in taking part in them.

Most reality TV shows do want to convince the public (who are also potential viewers) that the contestants are chosen randomly from people just like us. They promote their upcoming shows in various ways. The most common and predictable way is the television where the upcoming shows are advertised heavily. Usually, they mention the prize money (which is usually a pretty big amount) a number of times to grab attention. Local newspapers, leaflets, flyers etc. also serve the purpose of this kind of promotion. The contact address and deadline for application is generally mentioned. Several websites also provide this information for free. Therefore, if you are eager to be a part of a reality TV show, you should look out for the promotions which usually take place some time before the actual competition.

You should actually prepare before-hand if you are dead serious about becoming a part of a reality TV show. The first thing to do is take some really good photos and make a professional looking resume. It is highly probable that the organisers will ask for these things before anything else. Also, make copies of your passport or identification documents in case you are not a citizen of the country where the show is originating from. You have to be a legal resident if you are to take part in a reality TV show. Signing up for these shows usually require you to fill up an application with relevant documents (eg : age proof) which I suggest, you do very carefully. Most reality TV shows involve a lot of outdoor physical activities. Therefore, it is probably a wise idea to hone your swimming, cycling, hiking or mountain climbing skills beforehand. However, this is totally needless if the TV show is about music or business.

Reality TV is most of the time very exciting to watch. Hence, it is beyond doubt that actually participating in one would be a great experience for a lot of people. In order to participate in a reality TV show, one needs to be aware of any upcoming events which are usually advertised heavily. Upon providing relevant documents along with the properly submitted application, one can certainly hope to get accepted for the competition, at least the qualifying rounds! And for those, who could not avail this opportunity despite sincere efforts – Do not lose heart, reality TV shows are always happening. You just have to wait for the right moment.

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