Digital Video Broadcasting

The term Digital Video Broadcasting (short DVB) is originally a synonym for Digital TV (short DTV), and refers to telecommunication systems that send TV signals by way of digital transmission schemes, in contrast to the older, traditional, methods of signal transmission employed by Analog TV systems.

In general, Digital TV, or if you prefer Digital Video Broadcasting, consists of the transmission of data packets which carry encoded video/audio, and other payload data (such as EPG information), that has been combined and encapsulated within MPEG-2 Transport Streams. Digital TV signals will adhere to a particular standard which will, suiting to the type of transmission pathway involved, define the specific way the digital video streams used in transmissions are encoded. Specifically, for each standard, the Modulation Scheme, frequencies, transmission parameters and other factors are outlined and optimized for different transmission networks and target devices.

On the technical side, the acronym "DVB" is a synonym for the suite of DVB Standards developed and maintained by the DVB Project. Key standards from that aggregate include:

• DVB-S - Digital Video Broadcasting - Satellite -- the DVB standard for satellite based digital television transmission
• DVB-S2 -Digital Video Broadcasting - Satellite - Second Generation
• DVB-C - Digital Video Broadcasting - Cable -- the DVB standard for digital television transmissions over Cable Networks ... also see ITU-T J.83 Annex A
• DVB-T - Digital Video Broadcasting - Terrestrial -- the DVB standard for digital television transmission over terrestrial airwaves ... i.e. Over/off-the-air ("OTA") signals received with a normal TV antenna
  • DVB-H - Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld -- the DVB standard for digital television transmission over terrestrial airwaves ... i.e. Over/off-the-air ("OTA") signals received with a handheld mobile device
• DVB-T2 - Digital Video Broadcasting - Terrestrial -- Second Generation

While much of the world utilises the above mentioned DVB Standards, other regions have opted for other Digital TV systems instead. For example:

• ATSC - The standard used in North America and S.Korea for digital television broadcast over terrestrial airwaves (OTA)
  • ATSC-M/H - the ATSC standard for digital television transmission over terrestrial airwaves received with a mobile device
  • ITU-T J.83, Annex B [1] / ANSI/SCTE 07 (formerly SCTE DVS-031) [2] / OpenCable™ / DOCSISTM -- defining the standard for digital television transmission over cable networks in North America
• DMB-T/H - The standard used in China and Hong Kong for digital television broadcast over terrestrial airwaves (OTA)
• ISDB (Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting) - The standards used in Japan and many South American countries, for digital television broadcasting. Key standards from that aggregate include:
  • ISDB-T -- the ISDB standard for digital television transmission over terrestrial airwaves ... i.e. Over/off-the-air ("OTA") signals received with a normal TV antenna
    • 1seg -- the ISDB standard for digital television transmission over terrestrial airwaves received with a handheld mobile device
  • ISDB-S
  • ISDB-C

External Links

• Digital Television Article on Wikipedia, includes some nice historical Facts
• The DVB Consortium
• Wikipedia's DVB article
• DVB information site in Australia
• The Advanced Television Systems Committee, specifies the ATSC standards
• SCTE homepage
• wikipedia's SCTE article
• ITU-T homepage
• wikipedia's ITU-T article
• wikipedia's ISDB article