Recall the important news: from January 1, 2019, digital television will begin to operate on the territory instead of analogue. This is a new format, which will be discussed in more detail in the article. We will reveal its advantages and disadvantages. Let's figure out how to switch to digital TV, how much it will cost for the Russians.
What it is?
Digital television is a technology for transmitting television sounds and images by encoding audio and video using digital signals. As for the basis for modern television, it is MPEG (one of the standards for data compression).
Let's draw a parallel with analog television. One channel here occupies one frequency. As for digital television, the frequency here is transmitted a whole package of television channels. Its more popular name is multiplex.
The digital signal is completely not afraid of interference on the air. An additional interest is that it allows you to connect additional services for viewers - teletext, voting during a live broadcast, and more. The main difficulty of digital cable television is that sometimes it requires the purchase of additional equipment for its functioning.
Some statistics: digital television is a format that reached 90% of the population of Russia in October 2018. Today, less than 10% of the population is watching TV in an outdated analog format.
Benefits
Which TV is better - digital or analog? We offer a small comparison. The visible advantages of digital television over the outdated format are as follows:
- Increased noise immunity of both recording and transmission of television signals.
- Improving the quality of both image and sound in television receivers.
- Reducing transmitter power.
- A significant increase in television channels for transmission in the same frequency range.
- Creation of new television systems using innovative technology for image decomposition, that is, HD-channels with high-definition picture.
- Creation of interactive television systems. The viewer will have the opportunity to influence the transmitted data. For example, he can watch this or that video only at his request.
- Rewind function. If the viewer did not have time to start the long-awaited match, he has the opportunity to rewind the TV program to its beginning.
- Archive. You can put your favorite shows in a special folder so that you can return to watching them again later.
- Record. The viewer will also be able to record any programs and videos that interest him.
- In the TV signal, it will be possible to transmit additional data. For example, an electronic television program.
- Ability to switch between multiple tracks of sound. Why is this convenient? You will have the opportunity to watch the movie in voice acting in different languages, for example, in Russian or original English.
- Possibility to add radio multiplexes.
- Significant expansion of the capabilities of studio equipment.
disadvantages
Today, a considerable part of Russian television viewers were able to get acquainted with the capabilities of the new digital television. Users revealed its annoying shortcomings:
- Fading and scattering of the image into separate pixel squares. The picture splits into single-color pixels in case of insufficient signal received by the TV receiver. There are two options: the data is either not received high enough for the built-in recovery schemes to work (when a scattering picture is visible), or they are received so poorly that there is no possibility of recovery at all.
- In a thunderstorm, an almost complete fading of what is happening on the screen is observed.
- A standard transmitter with a power of 10 kW and a suspension height of transmitting antennas of more than 350 meters can provide reliable signal reception at a distance of only 50 km. Compared to analogue TVs, these are much lesser possibilities. Therefore, the construction of additional transmission centers is required.
The history of digital TV in Russia
We will follow the development of new TV technology in the Russian Federation:
- 1999 year. The Russian Ministry of Communications adopted the “Strategy for the transition from analogue to digital TV broadcasting."
- 2004 year. An order of the Government of the Russian Federation on the transfer of Russian television to the DVB-T format by the end of 2015 was signed.
- 2008 year. The first TVs with DVB-T support appeared in Russia. But the difficulty was that the built-in receivers only supported MPEG-2, while the test operation of DVB-T involved broadcasting in MPEG-4 format. Therefore, many faced a problem: the TV found a channel, reproduced sound, but there was no image on the screen. CAM-correcting modules were advertised. But their testing showed that they help only occasionally.
- 2010 year. Russian Television and Radio Network (RTRS) has launched the construction of digital terrestrial broadcasting networks in the DVB-T standard. Then the first digital sensors were successfully tested in the Far East. In 2012, the first 9 channels from the First Multiplex earned in one of the rural settlements of the Khabarovsk Territory.
- year 2012. On-air test digital broadcasting has been converted to DVB-T2 format. In the same year, the first multiplex in DVB-T format continued broadcasting. Private companies providing paid services in the field of digital broadcasting in DVB-T have begun work. However, from this year, digital television in Russia is only in the DVB-T2 format.
- 2019 year. Complete shutdown of analog broadcasting in the Russian Federation, the transition to digital. According to preliminary plans, this was supposed to happen a little earlier - in June 2018.
What is needed for the transition?
This question causes a lot of controversy. Many are sure that a digital set-top box is a must for a digital television. But this is not so.
Take the user manual for your TV. Most modern devices support digital television by default. How to determine this? In the characteristics of the TV, the following must certainly be indicated:
- support for DVB-T2 standard;
- MPEG video format support.
Solution
If your TV meets these requirements, you don’t have to purchase anything else. In a nasty situation, there are two solutions:
- The acquisition of a new digital TV (the cost of the most budgetary models in stores today starts on average from 5 thousand rubles).
- Purchase of a digital television set-top box (they are called tuners, decoders in a different way). This device connects to a TV. The cost of such decoders starts from 700 rubles.
How to set up digital television on TV? With digital TV receivers, everything is clear - you just need to connect the antenna to the TV and enjoy watching your favorite channels.
As for the tuner, it must first be connected. But this process is absolutely not complicated - often a detailed instruction is already applied to the device. The main thing is to follow it exactly and not mix up the necessary cables.
Choosing the Right Tuner
Recall that digital television is a TV format for which, in certain cases, it is necessary to purchase a special set-top box. But only for older TVs.
You can choose a tuner for every taste and color, but the main thing is that it meets the following minimum requirements:
- Support for DVB-T2 standard. And this is a very important point, since there are many devices on sale that support the DVB-T format similar in name. What is the difference? This format, like DVB-T2, also means supporting digital television. But today it is already obsolete. Hence, it is likely that they will soon abandon it. Therefore, you should immediately buy a tuner that supports DVB-T2, so as not to spend extra money to purchase a new set-top box in connection with this update.
- Support MPEG4 video format.
How to connect the console to the TV?
So, the decoder has already been purchased. The next question: how to set up digital television on the TV?
You need to connect the prefix to it first of all. By default, there are two ways:
- Via RCA cable. More commonly known as a "tulip", consisting of multi-colored connectors.
- Via HDMI cable.
As for television set-top boxes, there are no problems with them in this regard. Even the most budget models are equipped with connectors for the cables of the two types presented.
Difficulties can be with the TV itself. The fact is that in obsolete models there can only be an input through a SCART connector. You will not confuse it with any other - it is oblong and has 20 contacts. It’s easy to get out of the situation: you just have to buy an adapter of your choice - SCART-RCA or SCART-HDMI.
Is the tuner a multimedia console?
Why is digital television better? In fact, when you purchase a tuner, you buy a multimedia set-top box. Many encoders have a USB connector. Through it, you can easily connect a hard drive or flash drive to the device. And that means watching pre-downloaded movies on TV, music downloaded to the drive.
But there is one caveat. If you want to use the tuner as such a multimedia console, check if it supports Dolby Digital audio. Otherwise, some movies will play without sound.
What equipment do you need more?
For modern TVs, and for devices with an additional set-top box, a UHF antenna will also be required. As a rule, you already have it (the device is included with the TV).
If you live in an apartment building, then an existing common house antenna will be enough to access digital television.
An important point for those viewers who need to buy a set-top box: critically evaluate the remote control that is included. Indeed, in the future, you can switch channels and control what is happening on the screen only with its help. Therefore, it should be convenient for you: from shockproof material, with large, easy-to-press buttons. As for the remote control from the TV, in this case you can only turn on / off the device with it.
Free channels
A definite plus of digital television is its free channels. As for the Russian Federation, it makes sense to talk about the first multiplex. The digital television area here is the whole country.
The first multiplex is a dozen free channels:
- "First";
- "Russia 1";
- "Culture";
- NTV;
- "Russia 24";
- "TVC";
- "Match";
- Channel Five;
- "Public Television of Russia";
- "Carousel".
Next in line is the second multiplex. That is, the second dozen free channels. The coverage area of digital television is not yet the entire territory of the Russian Federation, but certain regions. But this is a temporary situation. Until the end of 2018, the second multiplex will be available throughout the Russian Federation.
It includes the following television channels:
- "Star";
- Ren-TV;
- TNT;
- "Muz TV";
- "Friday";
- "Home";
- "STS";
- "Spas";
- "World";
- "TV-3."
Thus, very soon, digital television broadcasting will cover the entire Russian Federation. Analog TV is a thing of the past. Most modern TVs support the DVB-T format, so their owners only need to purchase an antenna. But if you have an outdated TV receiver, you can’t do without buying a decoder, which can also become a multimedia set-top box for your TV.