DTH Full Form

The invention of cable television in the 20th century revolutionised television consumption. Many campaigns have been waged among the tech companies to offer their consumers the most convenient way to receive their favourite TV channels. This is without compromising on quality, sound, etc., and hence many broadcast methods have been developed since cable TV was introduced. There are basically five types of television services in India, among which is DTH (direct-to-home). This article will provide us with a deeper understanding of DTH and how it has become such a popular way to broadcast.

What is DTH?

A direct-to-home (DTH) service relays television signals directly from direct-broadcast satellites to a receiver placed at the subscriber’s home without using any cables; in other television channels, the cables were connected to the setup box from the transmitter, but in DTH the signals are beamed directly from direct broadcast satellites to the receiver.

This service is also known as direct broadcast satellite, or DBS, instead of direct-to-home. Essentially, the purpose of this technology was to compete with cable TV. This was done by providing subscribers with more quantity and quality TV channels without the hassle and cumbersome process required to set up cable TV.

Is DTH Worth It?

In comparison to cable TV, DTH has proven to be a significant leap forward. Cable TV requires a lot of wires to be set up in every home; therefore, if the wires are cut or damaged due to the wind or rain, or if it happens to be an accidental damage, the consumer has to wait for a prolonged period of time until the provider of the cable repairs the cable. With DTH, most problems faced in the cable TV industry have been eliminated since it uses fewer cables except for the one that connects the receiver to the DTH box of the subscriber. The bad weather has been the main reason why DTH has had some difficulty since it uses satellite signals to transmit the TV channels. When the weather is bad, the signals cannot be sent through to the receiver. However, even in that case, DTH is worth it if you can afford it.

How Does DTH Work?

As discussed previously, DTH uses signals instead of cables for transmitting TV channels to subscribers. But, what is the actual process involved? Let us see the entire process by which DTH and TV channels are eventually delivered to the DTH box and displayed on the TV as follows:

• Broadcasting centre: The broadcast centre can be called the heart of the whole system as it is the most fundamental part of it. From the broadcast centre or broadcast station, all the signals that we discussed so far are sent to the satellites. They are not produced at these broadcast centres, but receive the signals from various television channels that make those programs

• Satellites: Furthermore, the signals are received by satellites and then compressed to retransmit them to the Earth’s receivers. Since the signals contain high-quality data, they cannot be retransmitted without compression

• Encoders: It is encoders that play a crucial role in the quality of satellite TV channels. This is because they convert analog or digital video to a format that can be transmitted to the decoder for further decoding. TV channel encoders usually input SDI (Serial digital interface) as a signal that is uncompressed and then compressed to H.264 or HEVC

• Multiplexers: Just In the same way that multiple telephone calls are carried out concurrently over a single cable in telecommunications, multiplexing is a method for combining or aggregating multiple analog or digital signals into a single signal that is shared over a single medium

• Modulators: Multiplexers combine multiple signals into one signal. Therefore, it is crucial that signals that come from different transmitters are prevented from mixing together. By doing so, subscribers can tune into their favourite TV channels

• DTH receivers: A receiver is placed at the subscriber’s home to receive satellite signals after a long journey. The receiver is referred to as a dish that receives signals from one or more satellites. Signals are received by the receiver and sent via wire to the Set-Top Box [STB]. A dish not only receives signals, but also converts them into a form suitable for the television, and finally displays the channels on the TV

Conclusion

When we compare DTH with cable TV, it has been really impressive due to the increase in competition among the different means of broadcasting. DTH uses a wireless process for broadcasting television channels. Therefore, there are no middlemen or third parties in between making this a very cost-effective and effective service for everyone whether they live in cities or villages. Digitalization has affected the means of broadcasting worldwide, including in India. The cable TV market is declining at an alarming rate. Consumers are shifting to other broadcasting methods like D2H, OTT, and DTH. By discussing all the parts that are involved in the process of broadcasting in a DTH system, we learned about the DTH technology of television broadcasting and how it works.