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Introducing the Digital TV (DTV)
7
Frequently Asked Questions
What is digital TV
(DTV)?
Digital television (or “DTV”) refers to the over-the-air television
broadcast standards adopted by the Federal Communications
Commission in 1996. Developed by the Advanced Television Systems
Committee (ATSC), a group of manufacturing companies, these
standards define the specifications for 18 digital broadcast formats.
There are six formats in the ATSC DTV standard that are described as
“High Definition Television.” The remaining 12 video formats are
described as “Standard Definition Television.”
Although the technical aspects of these standards are transparent to
television viewers, the benefits are as dramatic as those experienced
when digital music on compact disk was introduced — probably
even more so.
Your Sony DTV is capable of receiving all 18 formats of digital TV
formats, including high-definition.
What are the
benefits of DTV?
For the television viewer, digital TV represents one of the most
significant advances in television since color television replaced black
and white. Here are just a few of the benefits:
❑
Dramatically superior picture quality, with up to six times the
picture detail of today’s analog television.
❑
Multichannel digital sound, including Dolby
®
Digital sound.
❑
Widescreen. DTV can provide the same type of widescreen
presentation as you see in movie theaters. The new screen size
has a 16:9 width-to-height (or “aspect”) ratio, compared with a
4:3 aspect ratio of today’s conventional television. This means
that digital broadcasts of movies no longer need to be
“reformatted” for television.
Do I need a special
antenna to receive
digital television?
No. Initially, digital television will arrive through a standard, over-
the-air VHF/UHF antenna, which means you can receive digital
broadcasts using the same terrestrial (“rooftop”) antenna you
currently use to receive conventional programming. However, if you
currently receive your VHF/UHF programming via cable, you will
need to install a VHF/UHF antenna in order to receive digital
programming. Your Sony DTV, however, is also equipped with
connectors that may allow you to connect DTV-compatible cable
boxes when they become available.