What does the letter A mean on the TV, the transition to digital broadcasting

Recently, there has been a tendency that television broadcasting is gradually shifting from analogue broadcasting to “digital”. Recently, many viewers began to notice that on the TV screen, sometimes the letter A appears.

The fact is that it was decided to mark the channels operating in the analog format. The letter A is displayed next to the logo of the channel, which broadcasts in the analog version. If broadcasting is in digital form, then this marking is missing.

If you observe this designation, it means that you have an outdated model of the TV, or the new TV is not configured to work with a new type of signal.

The concept

The analogue broadcast format assumes that the data can take any value, within the acceptable range. It turns out that if we take L as a maximum, then the indicator can be absolutely anything, but not more than L.

U. Here's what it looks like on a chart:

The digital format does not allow such liberties. Its signal has clearly defined values:

Digital broadcasting has undeniable advantages over analogue. Most importantly, there is the ability to filter interference and restore the original signal. Erroneous data does not accumulate in the channel. "Digit", unlike the analogue, does not carry unnecessary data. It turns out that on one channel, you can transmit several digital signals, instead of one analog.

An analogue television from “digital” is excellent in that the signal is pre-digitized.

Once the data has been prepared for transmission, it is sent to the end consumer via the available transmission lines. The transmission medium itself can be any, both on-air, and cable or fiber.

To be able to view digital broadcasts, a television receiver must be able to understand this signal.

How to check the availability of digital broadcasting

To make sure your TV is receiving digital signals, just consult the user manual. In addition, for all models there is enough information on the Internet. You can also determine the presence of a decoder visually. If you carefully look at the communication panel, then it should have a connector labeled “digital input”, which means “digital input”.

If you have an old TV model, then it obviously does not have such an opportunity. However, this does not mean that you need to break away and run to the store for a new TV. It is enough to buy a set-top box for the TV, which will provide such an opportunity.