DVB
Encyclopedia
Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) is a suite of internationally accepted open standard
s for digital television
. DVB standards are maintained by the DVB Project, an international industry consortium with more than 270 members, and they are published by a Joint Technical Committee (JTC) of European Telecommunications Standards Institute
(ETSI), European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization
(CENELEC) and European Broadcasting Union
(EBU). The interaction of the DVB sub-standards is described in the DVB Cookbook. Many aspects of DVB are patent
ed, including elements of the MPEG video coding and audio coding.
These standards define the physical layer
and data link layer
of the distribution system. Devices interact with the physical layer via a synchronous parallel interface (SPI), synchronous serial interface (SSI), or asynchronous serial interface (ASI). All data is transmitted in MPEG transport streams with some additional constraints (DVB-MPEG). A standard for temporally-compressed distribution to mobile devices (DVB-H) was published in November 2004.
These distribution systems differ mainly in the modulation
schemes used and error correcting codes used, due to the different technical constraints. DVB-S (SHF
) uses QPSK, 8PSK or 16-QAM
. DVB-S2 uses QPSK, 8PSK, 16APSK or 32APSK, at the broadcasters decision. QPSK and 8PSK are the only versions regularly used. DVB-C (VHF
/UHF
) uses QAM
: 16-QAM, 32-QAM, 64-QAM, 128-QAM or 256-QAM. Lastly, DVB-T (VHF/UHF) uses 16-QAM or 64-QAM (or QPSK) in combination with COFDM and can support hierarchical modulation
.
The DVB-T2 specification was approved by the DVB Steering Board in June 2008 and sent to ETSI for adoption as a formal standard. ETSI adopted the standard on September 9, 2009.
The DVB-T2 standard gives more robust TV reception and increases the possible bit rate by over 30% for single transmitters (as in the UK) and should increase the max. bit rate by over 50% in large single-frequency network
s (as in Germany, Sweden).
DVB has established a 3D TV group (CM-3DTV) to identify "what kind of 3D-TV solution does the market want and need, and how can DVB play an active part in the creation of that solution?". The CM-3DTV group held a DVB 3D-TV Kick-off Workshop in Geneva on January 25, 2010, followed by the first CM-3DTV meeting the next day.
DVB now defines a new standard for 3D video broadcast: DVB 3D-TV
.
and digital video
transmission, DVB also defines data connections (DVB-DATA - EN
301 192) with return channel
s (DVB-RC) for several media (DECT
, GSM
, PSTN
/ISDN
, satellite
etc.) and protocols (DVB-IPTV: Internet Protocol
; DVB-NPI: network protocol independent).
Older technologies such as teletext
(DVB-TXT) and vertical blanking interval
data (DVB-VBI) are also supported by the standards to ease conversion. However, for many applications more advanced alternatives like DVB-SUB for subtitling are available.
system (DVB-CA) defines a Common Scrambling Algorithm
(DVB-CSA) and a physical Common Interface
(DVB-CI) for accessing scrambled
content. DVB-CA providers develop their wholly proprietary conditional access systems with reference to these specifications. Multiple simultaneous CA systems can be assigned to a scrambled DVB program stream providing operational and commercial flexibility for the service provider.
DVB is also developing a Content Protection and Copy Management system for protecting content after it has been received (DVB-CPCM
), which is intended to allow flexible use of recorded content on a home network or beyond, while preventing unconstrained sharing on the Internet. DVB-CPCM has been the source of much controversy in the popular press and
It is said that CPCM is the DVB's answer to the failed American Broadcast Flag
.
DVB transports include metadata
called Service Information (DVB-SI, ETSI EN 300 468, ETSI TR 101 211) that links the various elementary streams into coherent programs and provides human-readable
descriptions for electronic program guide
s as well as for automatic searching and filtering.
Recently, DVB has adopted a profile of the metadata defined by the TV-Anytime
Forum (DVB-TVA, ETSI TS 102323). This is an XML Schema based technology and the DVB profile is tailored for enhanced Personal Digital Recorders
. DVB lately also started an activity to develop a service for IPTV
(DVB-IPI, ETSI TR 102033, ETSI TS 102034, ETSI TS 102814) which also includes metadata definitions for a broadband content guide (DVB-BCG, ETSI TS 102 539).
(DVB-MHP) defines a Java
-based platform for the development of consumer video system applications. In addition to providing abstractions for many DVB and MPEG-2 concepts, it provides interfaces for other features like network card control, application download, and layered graphics.
communication. RCS is short for Return Channel Satellite, and specifies return channels in C
, Ku
and Ka
frequency bands with return bandwidth of up to 2 Mbit/s. DVB-RCT is short for Return Channel Terrestrial, specified by ETSI EN 301958.
's Digital TV Group
in late 1998. In 2003 Berlin
, Germany
was the first area to completely stop broadcasting analog TV signals. Many European countries aim to be fully covered with digital television by 2010 and switch off PAL
/SECAM
services by then.
As of 2005, DVB-T television sets are not significantly more expensive than analog television sets. Most popular in Europe are the set-top boxes that enable DVB-T to be received through an ordinary analogue television, with the price dropping remarkably in 2007.
In its origin Europe
, in Australia
, South Africa
and India
DVB is used throughout the areas it covers or is at least decided to be. This also holds true for cable and satellite in most Asia
n, Africa
n and many South America
n countries. Many of these have not yet selected a format for digital terrestrial broadcasts (DTTV) and a few (Canada, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, South Korea
and the United States) chose ATSC instead of DVB-T.
on the 9th of December 2009. Broadcasts are using H.264
, with the University of Nairobi
supplying the decoders. Kenya
has also been broadcasting DVB-H since July 2009, available on selected Nokia
and ZTE
handsets on the Safaricom
network.
(SADEC) task team to adopt the DVB-T2 standard.
In Hong Kong
, several cable TV operators such as TVB Pay Vision
and Cable TV
have already started using DVB-S or DVB-C. The government however has adopted the DMB-T/H
standard, developed in mainland China
, for its digital terrestrial broadcasting services which has started since 31 December 2007.
.
DVB-T broadcasting now available in other cities like : " Isfahan , Mashhad , Shiraz , Qom , Tabriz
and ... "
commenced in Israel in July 2009. Analog broadcasts will be turned off 18 months after the start of DVB-T transmission.
On 1 June 2009 the broadcast trial started and the launch will be on 1 August 2009.
During 2010, DVB-T broadcasts have become widely available in most of Israel and an EPG was added to the broadcasts.
, Japan
uses different formats in all areas (ISDB), which are however quite similar to their DVB counterparts. SkyPerfect is a satellite provider using DVB on their 124 and 128 degrees east satellites. Their satellite at 110 degrees east does not use DVB, however.
began service in September 2005 using DVB-IPTV technology while lone satellite programming provider ASTRO has been transmitting in DVB-S since its inception in 1996. Free-to-air DVB-T trials began in late 2006 with a simulcast of both TV1 and TV2 plus a new channel called RTM3/RTMi. In April 2007, RTM announced that the outcome of the test is favourable and expects DVB-T to go public by the end of 2007. However, the system did not go public as planned. As of 2008, the trial digital line-up has expanded to include a Music Television channel called Muzik Aktif
, and a Sports channel called Arena, with a news channel called Berita Aktif planned for inclusion in the extended trials soon. Also, High Definition trials were performed during the Beijing Olympics and the outcome was also favourable. It has been announced that the system will go public sometime in 2009.
As of 2009, MiTV has closed down, changed its name to U-Television, and announced that they are changing to use scrambled DVB-T upon relaunch instead of the DVB-IPTV system used prior to shutting down.
Analogue shut-off date is also announced to be sometime in 2015.
, DVB-S and DVB-S2 are the two broadcast standards currently used by satellite companies, while DVB-C is also used by some cable companies.
The government adopted DVB-T on November 2006 for digital terrestrial broadcasting but a year later, they will consider other standards to
replace DVB-T. The country has chosen the ISDB-T system instead of DVB-T.
, some digital cable television systems use DVB-C, though most customers still use analog NTSC cable television. The government also adopted DVB-T for its digital terrestrial broadcasting services.
Public Television Service (PTS) and Formosan TV now provided High-definition television. The former one has a channel called HiHD; the later one use its HD channel for broadcasting MLB baseball.
, DVB-T replaced the analog transmission system for TV on November 1, 2009. Danish national digital TV transmission has been outsourced to the company Boxer TV A/S (Boxer TV), acting as gatekeeper organization for terrestrial TV transmission in Denmark. However, there are still several free channels from DR, and a few from TV 2
.
, DVB broadcasting started April 2003, and analog broadcasting was switched off December 2006. It was initially marketed by Digitenne but later by KPN
. Bouquet 1 contains the following unencrypted national tv-channels: Nederland 1, 2, 3 and a regional channel. Bouquets 2~5 have the other encrypted commercial and international channels. Bouquet 1 also broadcasts the radio channels: Radio 1, Radio 2, 3 FM, Radio 4, Radio 5, Radio 6, Concertzender, FunX and also a regional channel. As of June 2011 the Dutch DVB-T service has 29 TV channels and 20 radio channels (including free to air channels)
, DVB-T broadcasting is marketed under RiksTV (encrypted pay channels) and NRK (unencrypted public channels). DVB-T broadcasting via the terrestrial network began in November 2007, and has subsequently been rolled out one part of the country at a time.
The Norwegian implementation of DVB-T is different from most others, as it uses H.264 with HE-AAC
audio encoding, while most other countries have adapted the less recent MPEG-2
standard. Notably most DVB software for PC has problems with this, though in late 2007 compatible software was released, like DVBViewer using the libfaad2 library. Sony
has released several HDTVs (Bravia W3000, X3000, X3500, E4000, V4500, W4000, W4500, X4500) that support Norway's DVB-T implementation without use of a separate set-top box
, and Sagem ITD91 HD, Grundig DTR 8720 STBs are others.
, DVB-S
is often used in encoding and video compression of digital satellite communications alongside Hughes DSS. Unlike Motorola
's DigiCipher 2
standard, DVB has a wider adoption in terms of the number of manufacturers of receivers. Cable operators either use DVB-C
or OpenCable
. Terrestrial HDTV broadcasts use ATSC
digital encoding with 8VSB
modulation instead of DVB-T
's COFDM.
Canada, Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and the United States have chosen ATSC
instead of DVB-T.
, DVB broadcasting is marketed under the Freeview brand name. SD MPEG-2 DVB-S broadcasts via satellite began on 2 May 2007 and DVB-T (terrestrial) broadcasts began April 2008 broadcasting in HD H.264 video with HE-AAC audio.
Open standard
An open standard is a standard that is publicly available and has various rights to use associated with it, and may also have various properties of how it was designed . There is no single definition and interpretations vary with usage....
s for 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...
. DVB standards are maintained by the DVB Project, an international industry consortium with more than 270 members, and they are published by a Joint Technical Committee (JTC) of European Telecommunications Standards Institute
European Telecommunications Standards Institute
The European Telecommunications Standards Institute is an independent, non-profit, standardization organization in the telecommunications industry in Europe, with worldwide projection...
(ETSI), European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization
European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization
CENELEC is the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization.CENELEC is responsible for European Standardization in the area of electrical engineering...
(CENELEC) and European Broadcasting Union
European Broadcasting Union
The European Broadcasting Union is a confederation of 74 broadcasting organisations from 56 countries, and 49 associate broadcasters from a further 25...
(EBU). The interaction of the DVB sub-standards is described in the DVB Cookbook. Many aspects of DVB are patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
ed, including elements of the MPEG video coding and audio coding.
Transmission
DVB systems distribute data using a variety of approaches, including:- satelliteSatellite televisionSatellite television is television programming delivered by the means of communications satellite and received by an outdoor antenna, usually a parabolic mirror generally referred to as a satellite dish, and as far as household usage is concerned, a satellite receiver either in the form of an...
: DVB-SDVB-SDVB-S is an abbreviation for Digital Video Broadcasting — Satellite; it is the original Digital Video Broadcasting forward error coding and demodulation standard for satellite television and dates from 1994, in its first release, while development lasted from 1993 to 1997...
, DVB-S2DVB-S2Digital Video Broadcasting - Satellite - Second Generation is a digital television broadcast standard that has been designed as a successor for the popular DVB-S system. It was developed in 2003 by the , an international industry consortium, and ratified by ETSI in March 2005...
and DVB-SHDVB-SHDVB-SH, Digital Video Broadcasting - Satellite services to Handhelds, is a physical layer standard for delivering IP based media content and data to handheld terminals such as mobile phones or PDAs, based on a hybrid satellite/terrestrial downlink and for example a GPRS uplink...
- DVB-SMATV for distribution via SMATV
- cableCable televisionCable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
: DVB-CDVB-CDVB-C stands for Digital Video Broadcasting - Cable and it is the DVB European consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital television over cable...
, DVB-C2DVB-C2DVB-C2 is a digital cable transmission system developed by the DVB Project. It uses the latest modulation and coding techniques to enable highly efficient use of cable networks where, up to now, in many cases downstream transmission capacity is already being used to its limit... - terrestrial televisionDigital terrestrial televisionDigital terrestrial television is the technological evolution of broadcast television and advance from analog television, which broadcasts land-based signals...
: DVB-TDVB-TDVB-T is an abbreviation for Digital Video Broadcasting — Terrestrial; it is the DVB European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first published in 1997 and first broadcast in the UK in 1998...
, DVB-T2DVB-T2DVB-T2 is an abbreviation for Digital Video Broadcasting – Second Generation Terrestrial; it is the extension of the television standard DVB-T, issued by the consortium DVB, devised for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television....
- digital terrestrial television for handhelds: DVB-HDVB-HDVB-H is one of three prevalent mobile TV formats. It is a technical specification for bringing broadcast services to mobile handsets. DVB-H was formally adopted as ETSI standard EN 302 304 in November 2004. The DVB-H specification can be downloaded from the official DVB-H website...
, DVB-SHDVB-SHDVB-SH, Digital Video Broadcasting - Satellite services to Handhelds, is a physical layer standard for delivering IP based media content and data to handheld terminals such as mobile phones or PDAs, based on a hybrid satellite/terrestrial downlink and for example a GPRS uplink...
- digital terrestrial television for handhelds: DVB-H
- microwaveMicrowaveMicrowaves, a subset of radio waves, have wavelengths ranging from as long as one meter to as short as one millimeter, or equivalently, with frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz. This broad definition includes both UHF and EHF , and various sources use different boundaries...
: using DTTDigital terrestrial televisionDigital terrestrial television is the technological evolution of broadcast television and advance from analog television, which broadcasts land-based signals...
(DVB-MT), the MMDS (DVB-MC), and/or MVDSMVDSMVDS is an acronym for terrestrial Multipoint Video Distribution System.MVDS currently is a part of broader MWS standards.In European Union MWS works in 10.7 - 13.5 and 40.5 - 43.5 GHz frequency bands....
standards (DVB-MS)
These standards define the physical layer
Physical layer
The physical layer or layer 1 is the first and lowest layer in the seven-layer OSI model of computer networking. The implementation of this layer is often termed PHY....
and data link layer
Data link layer
The data link layer is layer 2 of the seven-layer OSI model of computer networking. It corresponds to, or is part of the link layer of the TCP/IP reference model....
of the distribution system. Devices interact with the physical layer via a synchronous parallel interface (SPI), synchronous serial interface (SSI), or asynchronous serial interface (ASI). All data is transmitted in MPEG transport streams with some additional constraints (DVB-MPEG). A standard for temporally-compressed distribution to mobile devices (DVB-H) was published in November 2004.
These distribution systems differ mainly in the modulation
Modulation
In electronics and telecommunications, modulation is the process of varying one or more properties of a high-frequency periodic waveform, called the carrier signal, with a modulating signal which typically contains information to be transmitted...
schemes used and error correcting codes used, due to the different technical constraints. DVB-S (SHF
Super high frequency
Super high frequency refers to radio frequencies in the range of 3 GHz and 30 GHz. This band of frequencies is also known as the centimetre band or centimetre wave as the wavelengths range from ten to one centimetres....
) uses QPSK, 8PSK or 16-QAM
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...
. DVB-S2 uses QPSK, 8PSK, 16APSK or 32APSK, at the broadcasters decision. QPSK and 8PSK are the only versions regularly used. DVB-C (VHF
Very high frequency
Very high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency...
/UHF
Ultra high frequency
Ultra-High Frequency designates the ITU Radio frequency range of electromagnetic waves between 300 MHz and 3 GHz , also known as the decimetre band or decimetre wave as the wavelengths range from one to ten decimetres...
) uses QAM
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...
: 16-QAM, 32-QAM, 64-QAM, 128-QAM or 256-QAM. Lastly, DVB-T (VHF/UHF) uses 16-QAM or 64-QAM (or QPSK) in combination with COFDM and can support hierarchical modulation
Hierarchical modulation
Hierarchical modulation, also called layered modulation, is one of the signal processing techniques for multiplexing and modulating multiple data streams into one single symbol stream, where base-layer symbols and enhancement-layer symbols are synchronously overplayed before...
.
The DVB-T2 specification was approved by the DVB Steering Board in June 2008 and sent to ETSI for adoption as a formal standard. ETSI adopted the standard on September 9, 2009.
The DVB-T2 standard gives more robust TV reception and increases the possible bit rate by over 30% for single transmitters (as in the UK) and should increase the max. bit rate by over 50% in large single-frequency network
Single-frequency network
A single-frequency network or SFN is a broadcast network where several transmitters simultaneously send the same signal over the same frequency channel.-Overview:...
s (as in Germany, Sweden).
DVB has established a 3D TV group (CM-3DTV) to identify "what kind of 3D-TV solution does the market want and need, and how can DVB play an active part in the creation of that solution?". The CM-3DTV group held a DVB 3D-TV Kick-off Workshop in Geneva on January 25, 2010, followed by the first CM-3DTV meeting the next day.
DVB now defines a new standard for 3D video broadcast: DVB 3D-TV
DVB 3D-TV
DVB 3D-TV will be a new standard coming partially out at the end of 2010 which will include techniques and procedures to send a three dimensional video signal through actual DVB transmission standards...
.
Content
Besides digital audioDigital audio
Digital audio is sound reproduction using pulse-code modulation and digital signals. Digital audio systems include analog-to-digital conversion , digital-to-analog conversion , digital storage, processing and transmission components...
and digital video
Digital video
Digital video is a type of digital recording system that works by using a digital rather than an analog video signal.The terms camera, video camera, and camcorder are used interchangeably in this article.- History :...
transmission, DVB also defines data connections (DVB-DATA - EN
EN
-Script:* En or N, the fourteenth letter of the Roman alphabet* EN , the mark in Sumerian cuneiform script for High Priestess "lord" or "lord priest"* En , a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet, equivalent to the Roman letter "n"...
301 192) with return channel
Return channel
In communications systems that use star topologies, the return channel is the transmission link from a user terminal to the central hub....
s (DVB-RC) for several media (DECT
Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications
Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications , usually known by the acronym DECT, is a digital communication standard, which is primarily used for creating cordless phone systems...
, GSM
Global System for Mobile Communications
GSM , is a standard set developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute to describe technologies for second generation digital cellular networks...
, PSTN
Public switched telephone network
The public switched telephone network is the network of the world's public circuit-switched telephone networks. It consists of telephone lines, fiber optic cables, microwave transmission links, cellular networks, communications satellites, and undersea telephone cables, all inter-connected by...
/ISDN
Integrated Services Digital Network
Integrated Services Digital Network is a set of communications standards for simultaneous digital transmission of voice, video, data, and other network services over the traditional circuits of the public switched telephone network...
, satellite
Satellite
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
etc.) and protocols (DVB-IPTV: Internet Protocol
Internet Protocol
The Internet Protocol is the principal communications protocol used for relaying datagrams across an internetwork using the Internet Protocol Suite...
; DVB-NPI: network protocol independent).
Older technologies such as teletext
Teletext
Teletext is a television information retrieval service developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s. It offers a range of text-based information, typically including national, international and sporting news, weather and TV schedules...
(DVB-TXT) and vertical blanking interval
Vertical blanking interval
The vertical blanking interval , also known as the vertical interval or VBLANK, is the time difference between the last line of one frame or field of a raster display, and the beginning of the first line of the next frame. It is present in analog television, VGA, DVI and other signals. During the...
data (DVB-VBI) are also supported by the standards to ease conversion. However, for many applications more advanced alternatives like DVB-SUB for subtitling are available.
Encryption and metadata
The conditional accessConditional access
Conditional Access is the protection of content by requiring certain criteria to be met before granting access to this content...
system (DVB-CA) defines a Common Scrambling Algorithm
Common Scrambling Algorithm
The Common Scrambling Algorithm is the encryption algorithm used in the DVB digital television broadcasting for encrypting video streams.CSA was specified by ETSI and adopted by the DVB consortium in May 1994.-History:...
(DVB-CSA) and a physical Common Interface
Common Interface
In Digital Video Broadcasting, the Common Interface is an extensible digital interconnect found in the digital TV market. It is also known as DVB-CI for Digital Video Broadcast Common Interface....
(DVB-CI) for accessing scrambled
Scrambler
In telecommunications, a scrambler is a device that transposes or inverts signals or otherwise encodes a message at the transmitter to make the message unintelligible at a receiver not equipped with an appropriately set descrambling device...
content. DVB-CA providers develop their wholly proprietary conditional access systems with reference to these specifications. Multiple simultaneous CA systems can be assigned to a scrambled DVB program stream providing operational and commercial flexibility for the service provider.
DVB is also developing a Content Protection and Copy Management system for protecting content after it has been received (DVB-CPCM
DVB-CPCM
DVB Content Protection & Copy Management often abbreviated to DVB-CPCM or CPCM is a digital rights management standard being developed by the DVB Project...
), which is intended to allow flexible use of recorded content on a home network or beyond, while preventing unconstrained sharing on the Internet. DVB-CPCM has been the source of much controversy in the popular press and
It is said that CPCM is the DVB's answer to the failed American Broadcast Flag
Broadcast flag
A broadcast flag is a set of status bits sent in the data stream of a digital television program that indicates whether or not the data stream can be recorded, or if there are any restrictions on recorded content...
.
DVB transports include metadata
Metadata
The term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at...
called Service Information (DVB-SI, ETSI EN 300 468, ETSI TR 101 211) that links the various elementary streams into coherent programs and provides human-readable
Human-readable
A human-readable medium or human-readable format is a representation of data or information that can be naturally read by humans.In computing, human-readable data is often encoded as ASCII or Unicode text, rather than presented in a binary representation...
descriptions for electronic program guide
Electronic program guide
Electronic program guides and interactive program guides provide users of television, radio, and other media applications with continuously updated menus displaying broadcast programming or scheduling information for current and upcoming programming...
s as well as for automatic searching and filtering.
Recently, DVB has adopted a profile of the metadata defined by the TV-Anytime
TV-Anytime
TV-Anytime is a set of specifications for the controlled delivery of multimedia content to a user's digital video recorder . It seeks to exploit the evolution in convenient, high capacity storage of digital information to provide consumers with a highly personalized TV experience...
Forum (DVB-TVA, ETSI TS 102323). This is an XML Schema based technology and the DVB profile is tailored for enhanced Personal Digital Recorders
Digital video recorder
A digital video recorder , sometimes referred to by the merchandising term personal video recorder , is a consumer electronics device or application software that records video in a digital format to a disk drive, USB flash drive, SD memory card or other local or networked mass storage device...
. DVB lately also started an activity to develop a service for IPTV
IPTV
Internet Protocol television is a system through which television services are delivered using the Internet protocol suite over a packet-switched network such as the Internet, instead of being delivered through traditional terrestrial, satellite signal, and cable television formats.IPTV services...
(DVB-IPI, ETSI TR 102033, ETSI TS 102034, ETSI TS 102814) which also includes metadata definitions for a broadband content guide (DVB-BCG, ETSI TS 102 539).
Software platform
The DVB Multimedia Home PlatformMultimedia Home Platform
Multimedia Home Platform is an open middleware system standard designed by the DVB project for interactive digital television. The MHP enables the reception and execution of interactive, Java-based applications on a TV-set. Interactive TV applications can be delivered over the broadcast channel,...
(DVB-MHP) defines a Java
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
-based platform for the development of consumer video system applications. In addition to providing abstractions for many DVB and MPEG-2 concepts, it provides interfaces for other features like network card control, application download, and layered graphics.
Return channel
DVB has standardised a number of return channels that work together with DVB(-S/T/C) to create bi-directionalBi-directional
Bi-directional may refer to:* Bi-directional text* Two-way communication* Bi-directional railway signalling* Controls at each end of a tram or railcar...
communication. RCS is short for Return Channel Satellite, and specifies return channels in C
C band
The C band is a name given to certain portions of the electromagnetic spectrum, including wavelengths of microwaves that are used for long-distance radio telecommunications. The IEEE C-band - and its slight variations - contains frequency ranges that are used for many satellite communications...
, Ku
Ku band
The Kμ band is a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in the microwave range of frequencies. This symbol refers to —in other words, the band directly below the K-band...
and Ka
Ka band
The Ka band covers the frequencies of 26.5–40 GHz. The Ka band is part of the K band of the microwave band of the electromagnetic spectrum. This symbol refers to "K-above" — in other words, the band directly above the K-band...
frequency bands with return bandwidth of up to 2 Mbit/s. DVB-RCT is short for Return Channel Terrestrial, specified by ETSI EN 301958.
Adoption
DVB-S and DVB-C were ratified in 1994. DVB-T was ratified in early 1997. The first commercial DVB-T broadcasts were performed by the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
's Digital TV Group
Digital TV Group
The Digital TV Group is the industry association for Digital Television in the United Kingdom : The Group was formed in 1995 to set technical standards for the implementation of digital terrestrial television in the UK and now encompasses all digital TV platforms and convergence issues...
in late 1998. In 2003 Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
was the first area to completely stop broadcasting analog TV signals. Many European countries aim to be fully covered with digital television by 2010 and switch off PAL
PAL
PAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system...
/SECAM
SECAM
SECAM, also written SÉCAM , is an analog color television system first used in France....
services by then.
As of 2005, DVB-T television sets are not significantly more expensive than analog television sets. Most popular in Europe are the set-top boxes that enable DVB-T to be received through an ordinary analogue television, with the price dropping remarkably in 2007.
In its origin Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
and India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
DVB is used throughout the areas it covers or is at least decided to be. This also holds true for cable and satellite in most Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
n, Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n and many South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
n countries. Many of these have not yet selected a format for digital terrestrial broadcasts (DTTV) and a few (Canada, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
and the United States) chose ATSC instead of DVB-T.
Kenya
DVB-T broadcasts were launched by the President of Kenya, Mwai KibakiMwai Kibaki
Mwai Kibaki is the current and third President of the republic of Kenya.Kibaki was previously Vice President of Kenya for ten years from 1978–1988 and also held cabinet ministerial positions, including a widely acclaimed stint as Minister for Finance , Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for...
on the 9th of December 2009. Broadcasts are using H.264
H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
H.264/MPEG-4 Part 10 or AVC is a standard for video compression, and is currently one of the most commonly used formats for the recording, compression, and distribution of high definition video...
, with the University of Nairobi
University of Nairobi
The University of Nairobi is the largest university in Kenya. Although its history as an educational institution goes back to 1956, it did not become an independent university until 1970 when the University of East Africa was split into three independent universities: Makerere University in...
supplying the decoders. Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
has also been broadcasting DVB-H since July 2009, available on selected Nokia
Nokia
Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications corporation that is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki...
and ZTE
ZTE
ZTE Corporation formerly Zhongxing Telecommunication Equipment Corporation is a Chinese multinational telecommunications equipment and systems company headquartered in Shenzhen, China...
handsets on the Safaricom
Safaricom
Safaricom, Ltd is a leading mobile network operator in Kenya. It was formed in 1997 as a fully owned subsidiary of Telkom Kenya. In May 2000, Vodafone group Plc of the United Kingdom, the world's largest telecommunication company, acquired a 40% stake and management responsibility for the...
network.
South Africa
In late 2010 the South African cabinet endorsed a decision by a Southern African Development CommunitySouthern African Development Community
The Southern African Development Community is an inter-governmental organization headquartered in Gaborone, Botswana. Its goal is to further socio-economic cooperation and integration as well as political and security cooperation among 15 southern African states...
(SADEC) task team to adopt the DVB-T2 standard.
Hong Kong
In Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, several cable TV operators such as TVB Pay Vision
TVB Pay Vision
TVB Pay Vision is a 24 hours Cantonese channel by TVB....
and Cable TV
Cable TV Hong Kong
Cable TV Hong Kong , previously known as Wharf Cable before October 1998, is owned and operated by i-CABLE Communications Limited...
have already started using DVB-S or DVB-C. The government however has adopted the DMB-T/H
DMB-T/H
DTMB is the TV standard for mobile and fixed terminals used in the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong and Macau. Although at first this standard was called DMB-T/H , the official name is DTMB.DTT broadcasting systems...
standard, developed in mainland China
Mainland China
Mainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...
, for its digital terrestrial broadcasting services which has started since 31 December 2007.
Iran
In 17 March 2009 DVB-H and DVB-T H.264/AAC broadcasting Started in TehranTehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
.
DVB-T broadcasting now available in other cities like : " Isfahan , Mashhad , Shiraz , Qom , Tabriz
Tabriz
Tabriz is the fourth largest city and one of the historical capitals of Iran and the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. Situated at an altitude of 1,350 meters at the junction of the Quri River and Aji River, it was the second largest city in Iran until the late 1960s, one of its former...
and ... "
Israel
DVB-T broadcasts using H.264H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
H.264/MPEG-4 Part 10 or AVC is a standard for video compression, and is currently one of the most commonly used formats for the recording, compression, and distribution of high definition video...
commenced in Israel in July 2009. Analog broadcasts will be turned off 18 months after the start of DVB-T transmission.
On 1 June 2009 the broadcast trial started and the launch will be on 1 August 2009.
During 2010, DVB-T broadcasts have become widely available in most of Israel and an EPG was added to the broadcasts.
Japan
With the exception of SKY PerfecTV!SKY PerfecTV!
SKY PerfecTV! is a direct broadcast satellite service that provides satellite television, audio programming, and interactive television services to households in Japan, owned by parent company SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation....
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
uses different formats in all areas (ISDB), which are however quite similar to their DVB counterparts. SkyPerfect is a satellite provider using DVB on their 124 and 128 degrees east satellites. Their satellite at 110 degrees east does not use DVB, however.
Malaysia
In Malaysia, a new Pay-TV station MiTVMiTV
U Television Sdn. Bhd. is Malaysia's third pay television operator. It was launched in September 2005 after having obtained all the necessary approvals from the censorship board on its broadcast contents...
began service in September 2005 using DVB-IPTV technology while lone satellite programming provider ASTRO has been transmitting in DVB-S since its inception in 1996. Free-to-air DVB-T trials began in late 2006 with a simulcast of both TV1 and TV2 plus a new channel called RTM3/RTMi. In April 2007, RTM announced that the outcome of the test is favourable and expects DVB-T to go public by the end of 2007. However, the system did not go public as planned. As of 2008, the trial digital line-up has expanded to include a Music Television channel called Muzik Aktif
Muzik Aktif
RTM Muzik Aktif was a music channel in Malaysia. It is the first Malaysian music channel, and one of the first Malaysian digital channels. It launched on the Astro platform in 16 March 2009...
, and a Sports channel called Arena, with a news channel called Berita Aktif planned for inclusion in the extended trials soon. Also, High Definition trials were performed during the Beijing Olympics and the outcome was also favourable. It has been announced that the system will go public sometime in 2009.
As of 2009, MiTV has closed down, changed its name to U-Television, and announced that they are changing to use scrambled DVB-T upon relaunch instead of the DVB-IPTV system used prior to shutting down.
Analogue shut-off date is also announced to be sometime in 2015.
Philippines
In the PhilippinesPhilippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, DVB-S and DVB-S2 are the two broadcast standards currently used by satellite companies, while DVB-C is also used by some cable companies.
The government adopted DVB-T on November 2006 for digital terrestrial broadcasting but a year later, they will consider other standards to
replace DVB-T. The country has chosen the ISDB-T system instead of DVB-T.
Taiwan
In TaiwanTaiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, some digital cable television systems use DVB-C, though most customers still use analog NTSC cable television. The government also adopted DVB-T for its digital terrestrial broadcasting services.
Public Television Service (PTS) and Formosan TV now provided High-definition television. The former one has a channel called HiHD; the later one use its HD channel for broadcasting MLB baseball.
Denmark
In DenmarkDenmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, DVB-T replaced the analog transmission system for TV on November 1, 2009. Danish national digital TV transmission has been outsourced to the company Boxer TV A/S (Boxer TV), acting as gatekeeper organization for terrestrial TV transmission in Denmark. However, there are still several free channels from DR, and a few from TV 2
TV 2 (Denmark)
TV 2 is a publicly owned television station in Denmark based in Odense. The station began broadcasting on 1 October 1988, thereby ending the television monopoly previously exercised by the Danmarks Radio ....
.
Netherlands
In the NetherlandsNetherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, DVB broadcasting started April 2003, and analog broadcasting was switched off December 2006. It was initially marketed by Digitenne but later by KPN
KPN
KPN is a Dutch landline and mobile telecommunications company, including both 2G and 3G mobile operations...
. Bouquet 1 contains the following unencrypted national tv-channels: Nederland 1, 2, 3 and a regional channel. Bouquets 2~5 have the other encrypted commercial and international channels. Bouquet 1 also broadcasts the radio channels: Radio 1, Radio 2, 3 FM, Radio 4, Radio 5, Radio 6, Concertzender, FunX and also a regional channel. As of June 2011 the Dutch DVB-T service has 29 TV channels and 20 radio channels (including free to air channels)
Norway
In NorwayNorway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, DVB-T broadcasting is marketed under RiksTV (encrypted pay channels) and NRK (unencrypted public channels). DVB-T broadcasting via the terrestrial network began in November 2007, and has subsequently been rolled out one part of the country at a time.
The Norwegian implementation of DVB-T is different from most others, as it uses H.264 with HE-AAC
HE-AAC
High-Efficiency Advanced Audio Coding is a lossy data compression scheme for digital audio defined as a MPEG-4 Audio profile in ISO/IEC 14496-3. It is an extension of Low Complexity AAC optimized for low-bitrate applications such as streaming audio...
audio encoding, while most other countries have adapted the less recent MPEG-2
MPEG-2
MPEG-2 is a standard for "the generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information". It describes a combination of lossy video compression and lossy audio data compression methods which permit storage and transmission of movies using currently available storage media and transmission...
standard. Notably most DVB software for PC has problems with this, though in late 2007 compatible software was released, like DVBViewer using the libfaad2 library. Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
has released several HDTVs (Bravia W3000, X3000, X3500, E4000, V4500, W4000, W4500, X4500) that support Norway's DVB-T implementation without use of a separate set-top box
Set-top box
A set-top box or set-top unit is an information appliance device that generally contains a tuner and connects to a television set and an external source of signal, turning the signal into content which is then displayed on the television screen or other display device.-History:Before the...
, and Sagem ITD91 HD, Grundig DTR 8720 STBs are others.
Portugal
Portugal follows the DVB-T implementation, using H.264 with AAC audio encoding. It is live since April 29, 2009 and the switch-off date for all analog signals is April 26, 2012.North America
In North AmericaNorth America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, DVB-S
DVB-S
DVB-S is an abbreviation for Digital Video Broadcasting — Satellite; it is the original Digital Video Broadcasting forward error coding and demodulation standard for satellite television and dates from 1994, in its first release, while development lasted from 1993 to 1997...
is often used in encoding and video compression of digital satellite communications alongside Hughes DSS. Unlike Motorola
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
's DigiCipher 2
DigiCipher 2
DigiCipher 2, or simply DCII, is a proprietary standard format of digital signal transmission and encryption with MPEG-2 signal video compression used on many communications satellite television and audio signals...
standard, DVB has a wider adoption in terms of the number of manufacturers of receivers. Cable operators either use DVB-C
DVB-C
DVB-C stands for Digital Video Broadcasting - Cable and it is the DVB European consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital television over cable...
or OpenCable
OpenCable
OpenCable is a set of hardware and software specifications under development in the United States by CableLabs to "define the next-generation digital consumer device" for the cable television industry...
. Terrestrial HDTV broadcasts use ATSC
ATSC
ATSC standards are a set of standards developed by the Advanced Television Systems Committee for digital television transmission over terrestrial, cable, and satellite networks....
digital encoding with 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....
modulation instead of DVB-T
DVB-T
DVB-T is an abbreviation for Digital Video Broadcasting — Terrestrial; it is the DVB European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first published in 1997 and first broadcast in the UK in 1998...
's COFDM.
Canada, Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and the United States have chosen ATSC
ATSC
ATSC standards are a set of standards developed by the Advanced Television Systems Committee for digital television transmission over terrestrial, cable, and satellite networks....
instead of DVB-T.
New Zealand
In New ZealandNew Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, DVB broadcasting is marketed under the Freeview brand name. SD MPEG-2 DVB-S broadcasts via satellite began on 2 May 2007 and DVB-T (terrestrial) broadcasts began April 2008 broadcasting in HD H.264 video with HE-AAC audio.
DVB compliant products
Companies that manufacture a product which is compliant to one or more DVB standards have the option of registering a Declaration of Conformity for that product. Wherever the DVB trademark is used in relation to a product – be it a broadcast, a service, an application or equipment – the product must be registered with the DVB Project Office.See also
- ATSC Standards - Advanced Television Systems Committee Standard
- CI+ Common Interface Plus
- DVB-CDVB-CDVB-C stands for Digital Video Broadcasting - Cable and it is the DVB European consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital television over cable...
(Digital Video Broadcasting - Cable) - DVB 3D-TVDVB 3D-TVDVB 3D-TV will be a new standard coming partially out at the end of 2010 which will include techniques and procedures to send a three dimensional video signal through actual DVB transmission standards...
3D video broadcast - Digital terrestrial televisionDigital terrestrial televisionDigital terrestrial television is the technological evolution of broadcast television and advance from analog television, which broadcasts land-based signals...
(DTT or DTTV) - Digital Audio BroadcastingDigital audio broadcastingDigital Audio Broadcasting is a digital radio technology for broadcasting radio stations, used in several countries, particularly in Europe. As of 2006, approximately 1,000 stations worldwide broadcast in the DAB format....
(DAB) - Digital Radio MondialeDigital Radio MondialeDigital Radio Mondiale is a set of digital audio broadcasting technologies designed to work over the bands currently used for AM broadcasting, particularly shortwave...
(DRM) - Digital Multimedia BroadcastingDigital Multimedia BroadcastingDigital Multimedia Broadcasting is a digital radio transmission technology developed in South Korea as part of the national IT project for sending multimedia such as TV, radio and datacasting to mobile devices such as mobile phones...
(DMB) - DVB-CPCMDVB-CPCMDVB Content Protection & Copy Management often abbreviated to DVB-CPCM or CPCM is a digital rights management standard being developed by the DVB Project...
- Content Protection and Content Management - DVB-TDVB-TDVB-T is an abbreviation for Digital Video Broadcasting — Terrestrial; it is the DVB European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first published in 1997 and first broadcast in the UK in 1998...
- Digital Video Broadcast-Terrestrial - ETSI Satellite Digital RadioETSI Satellite Digital RadioETSI Satellite Digital Radio describes a standard of satellite digital radio. It is an activity of the european standardisation organisation ETSI....
(SDR) - FTA ReceiverFTA ReceiverA free-to-air or FTA Receiver is a satellite television receiver designed to receive unencrypted broadcasts. Modern decoders are typically compliant with the MPEG-2/DVB-S and more recently the MPEG-4/DVB-S2 standard for digital television, while older FTA receivers relied on analog satellite...
- Generic Stream EncapsulationGeneric Stream EncapsulationGeneric Stream Encapsulation, or GSE for short, is a Data link layer protocol defined by DVB. GSE provides means to carry packet oriented protocols, like for example IP, on top of uni-directional physical layers like e.g. DVB-S2, DVB-T2 and DVB-C2....
(DVB-GSE) - ISDBISDBIntegrated Services Digital Broadcasting is a Japanese standard for digital television and digital radio used by the country's radio and television stations. ISDB replaced the previously used MUSE "Hi-vision" analogue HDTV system...
- Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting - IPTVIPTVInternet Protocol television is a system through which television services are delivered using the Internet protocol suite over a packet-switched network such as the Internet, instead of being delivered through traditional terrestrial, satellite signal, and cable television formats.IPTV services...
- List of digital television deployments by country
- Redesign project, project set up by cable operators, equipment manufacturers, and research organisations