Digital television adapter

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A digital TV converter box

A digital television adapter (DTA), commonly known as a converter box or decoder box, is a

direct-broadcast satellites
(DBS).

In

bandplans
, there are many other combinations specific to other countries.

United States

On June 12, 2009, all full-power

low-power TV stations continued to broadcast in analog for a while, consumers who watch low-power stations needed an adapter with an analog passthrough
feature that allows the viewer to watch both digital and analog signals. Viewers who receive their television signals through cable or satellite were not affected by this change and did not need a digital television adapter (however, see the cable TV exception below). Additionally, viewers who have newer televisions with built-in digital ATSC tuners will not need an external digital television adapter.

The United States government had set up a program to offer consumers a $40 "coupon" which could be used toward the purchase of a coupon-eligible converter box; that program ended in July 2009.

History

At the

television programming as an incentive to do that.[1]

VCR.[2]

Differences for cable customers

Cable TV systems are under no deadline to convert to digital TV. However, many Comcast (and some other cable TV) customers are finding all of their non-local and non-shopping networks eliminated on various dates, even though only a few are needed for additional digital cable channels. CECBs (Coupon-eligible converter boxes) will not work on these systems because cable ATSC uses 256QAM modulation instead of 8VSB, and so a separate but similar DTA with a QAM tuner is necessary. If the cable company takes away analog channels, at least two of these adapters must be provided for free by the cable company for at least three years so that customers can continue to watch the same channels with existing equipment.[citation needed] Cable companies were required to provide some analog service until December 2015.[3] After that, taking away analog channels allowed faster Internet and more HD channels. An adapter from the cable provider was needed even for digital TVs if the company scrambled its digital signals to prevent piracy.[4]

A

digital transport adapter will allow viewing of basic channels, often as many as 99, but not premium channels. It will also not allow video on demand or pay-per-view. DTAs also allow analog sets to receive digital signals using RF output on channel 3 or 4, using coaxial cable. Other versions of the DTA (including with an HDMI output) are available.[5]

Pace plc developed the XiD-P digital transport adapter for Comcast, allowing 4K service and offering the potential to expand the DTA from one-way to two-way. This would involve adding IP capability.[6]

European Union

Most countries that have switched to digital TV use DVB-T broadcasting with MPEG-2 MP@ML or H.264 encoding. However, some have considered switching to DVB-T2 such as the UK, being the first to test DVB-T2. This results in a number of different combinations for external digital receivers with the MPEG-2s sold at about €15 to €35 and the MPEG-4 ones reaching €25 to €150. Currently, all set top boxes sold in the EU cannot exceed 0.5 W in standby mode.

Russia and Indonesia

Russia and Indonesia also introduced digital television and ended analog over-the-air transmissions. Most new TVs feature a DVB-T2 tuner which allows reception of digital over-the-air TV without need of an external device such a converter box. If using a TV set without a DVB-T2 tuner, an external converter box must be purchased and used. A converter box takes the digital signal from the antenna and outputs composite video (for SD TVs) or HDMI (for HD TVs). A RF/antenna output, if present on a converter box, is usually just a passthrough ("LOOP OUT" which does not provide the box's output signal, but only provides the raw antenna input signal to watch analog channels via a TV set's tuner if analog broadcasts have not ended yet or to connect another DVB-T2 capable device to the same antenna feed) because even older TVs usually have at least composite input; this removes a need for an RF modulator in a converter box.

See also

References

  1. ^ Dickson, Glen (2006-03-19). "High Hurdles in Digital-TV Race". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved 2009-08-12.
  2. ^ Dickson, Glen (2006-04-30). "Old TVs Steal Show at NAB". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved 2021-07-12.
  3. Kansas City Star
    . Retrieved 2015-08-27.
  4. ^ Lazarus, David (2014-10-24). "Can you go to Best Buy for Time Warner Cable's new box?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2015-08-27.
  5. ^ "What is a DTA? What channels can I get with a DTA? What about those new HD-DTA?". dslreports.com. Retrieved 2015-08-27.
  6. ^ Baumgartner, Jeff (2015-06-01). "New Device Could Speed Comcast's IP-Video Migration". Broadcasting & Cable. p. 9.
  • Request for Comment and Notice of Proposed Rules to Implement and Administer a Coupon Program for Digital-to-Analog Converter Boxes, Docket Number 060512129-6129-01 (Jul. 25, 2006).
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