Introducing the Digital TV (DTV)

Frequently Asked Questions

What is digital TV (DTV)?

What are the benefits of DTV?

Digital television (or “DTV”) refers to the over-the-air television broadcast standards adopted by the Federal Communications Commission in 1996. Developed by the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC), a group of manufacturing companies, these standards define the specifications for 18 digital broadcast formats.

There are six formats in the ATSC DTV standard that are described as “High Definition Television.” The remaining 12 video formats are described as “Standard Definition Television.”

Although the technical aspects of these standards are transparent to television viewers, the benefits are as dramatic as those experienced when digital music on compact disk was introduced — probably even more so.

Your Sony DTV is capable of receiving all 18 formats of digital TV formats, including high-definition.

For the television viewer, digital TV represents one of the most significant advances in television since color television replaced black and white. Here are just a few of the benefits:

❑Dramatically superior picture quality, with up to six times the picture detail of today’s analog television.

❑Multichannel digital sound, including Dolby® Digital sound.

❑Widescreen. DTV can provide the same type of widescreen presentation as you see in movie theaters. The new screen size has a 16:9 width-to-height (or “aspect”) ratio, compared with a 4:3 aspect ratio of today’s conventional television. This means that digital broadcasts of movies no longer need to be “reformatted” for television.

Do I need a special antenna to receive digital television?

No. Initially, digital television will arrive through a standard, over- the-air VHF/UHF antenna, which means you can receive digital broadcasts using the same terrestrial (“rooftop”) antenna you currently use to receive conventional programming. However, if you currently receive your VHF/UHF programming via cable, you will need to install a VHF/UHF antenna in order to receive digital programming. Your Sony DTV, however, is also equipped with connectors that may allow you to connect DTV-compatible cable boxes when they become available.

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