16VSB is an abbreviation

Abbreviation

An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase. Usually, but not always, it consists of a letter or group of letters taken from the word or phrase...

 for 16-level vestigial sideband modulation, capable of transmitting four bits (2⁴=16) at a time.

How it works

Other slower but more rugged forms of VSB include 2VSB

2VSB

In telecommunications, 2VSB is an abbreviation for 2-level vestigial sideband modulation, a transmission method capable of transmitting one bit at a time.Other faster but less rugged forms include 4VSB, 8VSB, and 16VSB....

, 4VSB

4VSB

4VSB is an abbreviation for 4-level vestigial sideband modulation, capable of transmitting two bits at a time. Other faster but less rugged forms include 8VSB and 16VSB. While 2VSB is more rugged, it is also slower....

, and 8VSB

8VSB

8VSB is the modulation method used for broadcast in the ATSC digital television standard. ATSC and 8VSB modulation is used primarily in North America; in contrast, the DVB-T standard uses COFDM....

. 16VSB is capable of twice the data capacity of 8VSB; while 8VSB delivers 19.39 Mbit/s (Megabits per second) in a 6-MHz television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 channel, 16VSB could deliver 38.78 Mbit/s, while making the sacrifice of being more prone to transmission error.

History

While 8VSB is the ATSC digital broadcast modulation format (used in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

), 16VSB was planned for cable

Cable

A cable is two or more wires running side by side and bonded, twisted or braided together to form a single assembly. In mechanics cables, otherwise known as wire ropes, are used for lifting, hauling and towing or conveying force through tension. In electrical engineering cables are used to carry...

 distribution. 16VSB is about twice as susceptible to noise, therefore less suitable than 8VSB for broadcast

Broadcasting

Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...

, but well suited to the signal-to-noise ratio

Signal-to-noise ratio

Signal-to-noise ratio is a measure used in science and engineering that compares the level of a desired signal to the level of background noise. It is defined as the ratio of signal power to the noise power. A ratio higher than 1:1 indicates more signal than noise...

 of hybrid fiber-coax distribution, allowing twice as much programming in a 6-MHz channel.

Technological obsolescence

However, , a majority of cable companies have chosen to extend their existing quadrature amplitude modulation

Quadrature amplitude modulation

Quadrature amplitude modulation is both an analog and a digital modulation scheme. It conveys two analog message signals, or two digital bit streams, by changing the amplitudes of two carrier waves, using the amplitude-shift keying digital modulation scheme or amplitude modulation analog...

-based systems to carry digital television

Digital television

Digital television is the transmission of audio and video by digital signals, in contrast to the analog signals used by analog TV...

rather than adopting any form of VSB. It is probable that 16VSB has been replaced by ANSI/SCTE 07 2006: Digital Transmission Standard For Cable Television, a cable standard that defines 64QAM and 256QAM transmission for digital cable.