Created: 12/28/2006 3:08 PM KSTP.com | Print Story

KSTP-DTV, Digital Ch. 50

KSTP-TV Flips the Switch for Digital TV.
KSTP-TV began digital transmission (DTV) from the Telefarm television tower site located in Shoreview, Minnesota on December 14th, 2001. The KSTP DTV Channel 5.1 signal, when at full power, covers an area approximately 65 miles centered at Shoreview.

What are the advantages and future of digital TV?

Digital TV is a totally separate broadcast signal that encodes television signals as digital data streams. Consequently, through compression technology, there is much greater capacity with which to send information. The digital TV receiver in a store or home decompresses the broadcast data and translates it back into viewable TV signals. The digital signal greatly improves reception, eliminating ‘ghosting" and "fade". The extra bandwidth that DTV generates can be used in a variety of ways. Most importantly, it allows television stations to broadcast a HDTV (High Definition Television) signal which has much higher resolution and a wider aspect ratio (16:9) than current analog television. Also, the new digital signal can be used for other purposes such as alternate channels of programming, digital data services, and electronic program guides (EPG’s). The DTV signal can also support new higher quality audio standards such as Dolby Digital (surround sound).

Television stations, like KSTP-TV, will broadcast in both the current format (NTSC) and the digital format for the foreseeable future. At some future date, depending on the penetration of digital TV sets, the old analog system will disappear. Then, without a special set-top box that will allow them to receive the new digital signal, current TV sets will become obsolete.

New, digital-only sets are now available at most major electronic retailers. Prices range from about $2,000 + , depending on size and features. Some companies are   marketing   "downconverters", or set-top boxes, which receive the digital signal and convert it to an NTSC analog signal for viewing on a regular TV set. Some computer manufacturers are marketing digital TV plug-in cards that allow digital TV signals to be viewed on a home computer. The digital broadcast world is in its’ infancy, and prices, programming and compression methods will evolve. Be prepared, as in the computer world, for continuous change.