A lot of people these days have some sort of MP3 player but there are still many people who have not yet experienced the capabilities that MP3 players possess nor the accessibility to music and other functions that they have brought to our society. Many people are still wondering why everyone is so fascinated by …
The DirecTV Single Wire Multiswitch (SWM) is a specially designed piece of hardware that allows a DirecTV satellite dish signal to be split and used with many different tuners/receivers. The usual configurations allow 5, 8, 16, or 32 connections to a single satellite dish. DirecTV SWM is useful because of the satellite dish’s previous configurations, …
An IIR (Infinite Impulse Response) filter is a foundation element in Digital Signal Processing (DSP). It is one of two types of digital filters used in DSP applications and is an alternative to Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filters. The response in IIRs is considered infinite since there is feedback in the filter and they may …
TVRO stands for "TV Receive Only", but that really does not give you a good sense of what TVRO is. The term TVRO is used to describe both Free To Air satellite and paid programming over similar equipment. Free To Air satellite is unencrypted. TVRO premium analog channels are encrypted using VideoCipher II RS. TVRO …
A High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) signal is sent through an HDMI cable. It is designed to be used with extra high resolution video feeds coming from DVD, Bluray, etc., which are then routed to a compatible viewing screen such as a television or computer monitor. HDMI cables are capable of different speeds based on …
ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee) is a group which defines the standards for digital television transmission in the United States and many other counties. ATSC is the digital replacement for the earlier analog standard, NTSC. The ATSC standards are created by the Advanced Television Steering Committee, whose charter members are the Electronic Industries Association (EIA), …
An HDTV receiver is essentially a device that receives and decodes high definition TV signals. HDTV receivers are needed along with a High Definition Ready TV set to view high definition programming. Sometimes an HDTV receiver is also referred to as an HDTV tuner or HDTV decoder. One of the first questions that should be …
Picture quality is a general term used by the viewer to rate the inherent quality of the image. It is mainly subjective, meaning that each viewer rates the picture quality differently. Some people may think that an image is high enough quality, but you may have an individual with higher standards that may say the …
Macrovision is a company that sells copy protection products. The company's first product was a copy protection system for VHS tapes, which was also known as Macrovision. For a detailed look at that system, read Antti Paarlahti's Macrovision FAQ. The Macrovision copy protection system was later extended to DVDs. Macrovision is designed to prevent DVDs …
A common dilemma that arises for satellite television users is choosing a DirectTV HD LNB dish that will provide the appropriate range of HD channels for the consumer. Depending on the geographic area the dish is installed, legacy models may not be able to provide the full offering of HD channels to the end user. …