HD and digital are two different beasts
The move by the SABC to go to digital signals by 2011 has caused some confusion in the marketplace, with many consumers who believe it will be HD broadcasting and they will need to buy HD-capable televisions in future.
“The SABC’s digital move makes no difference to the picture quality,” said Brad Buchanan, group buyer at Game. “Broadcasters benefit because digital signals make better use of their bandwidth, enabling more channels to be viewed.”
All people will have to do after the analogue-to-digital migration is add a digital set-top box. And this will not be necessary for a few years, because broadcasts will still be made via both analogue and digital signals for some time.
The digital signal comes via a conversion in the set-top box and not, at present, from the television itself.
“Even the fanciest flat-panel screen is analogue, not digital,” Buchanan said.
“There are digital sets available in the US and Europe, but there are none in South Africa and it will probably be two or three years before they become available here.”
Buchanan said people would have to buy the digital set-top box, which would allow them to watch the digital signal on their standard-resolution screens, once the switch was fully implemented. The normal digital signal will have the same resolution, whether it is shown on a full- HD or a standard-definition set.
The move to digital signals will have significant benefits for South African viewers, because it will be possible for the SABC to offer more channels.
There is no word yet on whether any of the new channels will be HD, but it is a possibility, in particular for the World Cup broadcast in 2010.
Andre Coetzee, national trainer and customer care consultant at Philips South Africa, said SA’s terrestrial broadcaster will switch off analogue broadcasts and switch on digital broadcasts by November 1 2011. “At that stage, all analogue televisions will require set-top boxes that will convert the digital signal to an analogue one the TV can process,” Coetzee said.
HDTV and Digital TV discussion
Loading ...