Digital terrestrial television

Digital terrestrial television (DTTV, DTT, or DTTB) is a technology for terrestrial television, in which television stations broadcast television content in a digital format. Digital terrestrial television is a major technological advancement over analog television, and has largely replaced analog television broadcasting, which was previously in common use since the middle of the 20th century.

Test broadcasts began in 1998, and the changeover to digital television began in 2006 and is now complete in many countries. The advantages of digital terrestrial television are similar to those obtained by digitizing platforms such as cable TV, satellite, and telecommunications: more efficient use of radio spectrum bandwidth, the ability to broadcast more channels than analog, better quality images, and potentially lower operating costs for broadcasters.

Different countries have adopted different digital broadcasting standards. Some of the major ones are:[1]

  • ATSC DTV – Advanced Television Standards Committee (System A)
  • ATSC-M/H – Advanced Television Systems Committee Mobile and Handheld
  • DTMB, DMB-T/H
  • DVB-H – Digital Video Broadcasting Handheld
  • DVB-T/DVB-T2 – Digital Video Broadcasting Terrestrial (System B)
  • ISDB-TIntegrated Services Digital Broadcasting Terrestrial (System C)*
  • ISDB-Tsb – Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting-Terrestrial Sound Broadcasting – (System F)
  • FLO – Forward Link Only (System M)
  1. ^ "REPORT ITU-R BT.2140" (PDF). ITU. Retrieved 25 January 2017.