Digital TV channels are broadcast on a specific position in the radio spectrum, using multiplexes to compress several channels into one frequency. Old TVs and antennas cannot understand this new language, requiring a digital decoder. Satellite TV works similarly, using a dish to pick up the signal.
Digital TV frequency is the specific position in the radio spectrum on which digital TV channels are broadcast. Normal analogue TV channels are received by an antenna which searches for a single frequency within the ultra high frequency (UHF) range. The difference between analog TV frequency and digital TV frequency is that digital signals are compressed into “multiplexes”. These multiplexes each contain numerous television channels, usually around eight, all on a single frequency. That is why the digital frequency requires a special decoder for a television to reproduce the picture and sound from the original signal.
Television is transmitted through radio waves, which are picked up by antennas and then sent to a television, which reproduces the received signal as an audio and visual display. Radio waves are basically made up of fluctuations within the electromagnetic field. The specific properties of each fluctuation encode different information. Static occurs on a television because the residual radiation from the big bang is all around us, and when it’s not aimed at a particular frequency, the radiation from the big bang is picked up by antennas. TVs try to display this as a TV channel, but incomprehensible static is all it produces.
The main difference between digital TV frequency and analog TV frequency is that digital TV channels are compressed into multiplexes. Digital TV antennas still pick up signals from the radio spectrum in the same way as analog TV antennas, but the information is encoded. These new multiplexes contain the broadcast information for several TV channels, all compressed into a more efficient signal. This means that when people cannot receive one channel on a digital TV, they are likely to have problems receiving several channels. These are the channels in the same multiplex as the problematic channel.
Old TVs and antennas do not understand the new digital TV frequency signals, due to multiplexes. They will try to understand the signal the same way the old analog signals were transmitted, but the information is essentially in a different language. This is essentially like a 12th century time traveler trying to converse with modern people. Digital TV boxes and televisions with built-in digital receivers are able to understand this new language and translate it into television channels.
The modern digital satellite TV frequency works basically the same way as the digital TV frequency, except that the information is transmitted by a satellite rather than a terrestrial transmitter. The signal is picked up by a dish, which has the shape of a parabola to concentrate all the information received on one point. Satellite boxes decode this information in the same way as digital set-top boxes.
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