HD sitellite service

 

The article explains the concept of high-definition satellite service. It tells about the equipments needed to make them work efficiently.

High-definition satellite service is one of the service options for high definition TV or HDTV. By subscribing to a satellite HD service and buying the required equipment, it is possible to watch an innumerable variety of programs with visuals that are extremely clear and video with surround sound effect. Most of the satellite television service providers offer HD programming as an inducement to attract customers. The two main satellite service providers in the United States are Dish Network and Direct TV. The packages offered by both companies are different and aims to meet the demands of viewers of all types. Apart from this they also provide the HDTV facility.

Both types of packages are continually being improved by their network to make it more attractive to the customers. While DIRECTV offers a package with more than 80 channels broadcast in HD, DISH Network offers more than 70 HD channels for subscribers. In many regions, satellite HD service providers provide more channels in high definition than cable. In some regions, the provider may have an office that gathers and broadcasts local HD channel signals to the suitable satellite. On the basis of the customer’s region and provider, one may be able to watch local channels in HD. Apart from this an antenna connected directly to the television set to pick up the broadcast signals, is the only way a satellite customer can view local HD.

The functioning of High Definition Television

The amount of bandwidth needed by uncompressed video signals is so high that the satellites can’t handle receiving and transmitting that much information at the same time. This is the reason for satellite service providers to compress video signals, particularly when they’re high-definition video. They use a compression system standardized by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG).

Till recent times satellite systems compressed video using the MPEG-2 standard, which diminishes video size by a factor of about 55:1. Currently, Dish network and Direct TV, the two chief satellite service providers in the United States, use the MPEG-4 compression standard. This format is more competent than MPEG-2 and is more appropriate for intricate, fast-moving images like those in sporting events and action movies. Before the change to MPEG-4 compression, satellite service providers were able to provide only a few HD channels owing to the demand on system bandwidth. But with the development of cable companies, satellite systems had to search for new ways to send HD signals to customers to keep with the competition. Both the satellite services have improved to the MPEG-4 format, which permits both the companies to provide more HD channels by streaming them more proficiently. Such advancements also necessitate the customers to upgrade their equipment in order to view that programming. Satellite companies had devised customer dishes and set-top boxes to receive and convert signals broadcast in the MPEG-2 format. The MPEG-4 format is significantly different from MPEG-2, so the existing equipment which the customers had couldn’t receive and decode the new signals. Thus the customers could either continue with the old service and equipment or spend to improve and access more HD content.