Knowing your satellite TV systems
By Teddy LC.
Even if you watch your satellite television 5 hours a day, I bet you can't
tell what a satellite TV system really is.
Satellite television is TV broadcast delivered by way of orbiting communications
satellites located 22,300 miles above the earth's surface. Satellite TV system,
like other communications relayed by satellite, starts with a transmitting satellite
antenna located at an uplink facility. Uplink satellite dishes are directed
toward the satellite that its signals will be transmitted to, and are very large,
as much as 9 to 12 meters (30 to 40 feet) in diameter.
There are mainly two types of satellite TV systems: TVRO and DBS. TVRO system,
aka Television Receive Only, is the first satellite system available for home
satellite viewing system. While the DBS system, Direct Broadcast Satellite is
available later. These two satellite systems work in different band (C-band
and Ku-band) and their working system specifications are quite a different.
Television Receive Only (TVRO) systems
TVRO systems in United States are often referred as Big Dish TV, C-Band Satellite
TV or BUD (Big Ugly Dish). It was the first satellite TV system being commercialized
and brought into the U.S. families.
Viewing TVRO broadcast requires a big and movable dish - which is why it is
well known as big dish TV. The TVRO dish's diameter ranged from 3 to 6 feet.
It works in C-Band with frequencies of around 4 GHz. As news companies normally
transmit their materials to their headquarters using a C-Band satellite; and
as many of these types of feeds are not scrambled, chances to unedited news
are great. Besides with TVRO systems, you can also receive free channels and
independent feeds from for instance news companies.
Ever wonder why do we need such a big dish to receive TVRO signals? It's because
of TVRO's wave length of these frequencies is longer than in Ku-Band which requires
a much smaller dish of about 18 inches. Ku-Band, which is used by DBS, is at
12 to 14 G Hertz.
Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) system
Satellite TV services were popular only after Direct Broadcast Satellite system
is introduced. DBS is meant for everyone with a simple, low cost installation
of the system. Small dish, maintenance-free, and stable signals receptions --
all these makes the satellite TV system a good commercial product.
Satellite broadcast via DBS system is done in the Ku-Band. These satellites
work on higher frequencies and can transmit higher power signals. This is why
smaller dishes can be used to receive satellite signal for DBS systems.
As you might know, a small TV dish of 18 inches is already good enough to receive
all satellite TV signals by Satellite companies. This makes it possible to have
satellite TV from an apartment on the 10th floor, if you have a clear line of
sight to the south. Once installed the dish needs no maintenance since it is
aimed at just one satellite. Some dishes actually have 2 or more feeds, which
makes it possible to receive the signals from more than 1 satellite.
Unfortunately, there are no free channels available on DBS satellites broadcast.
DBS broadcasting are often owned and used by the satellite TV provider (for
example, Dish Network and DirecTV) it self. Often the installation is for free
as it really is very easy to do. The only thing that is needed is a bit of knowledge
of where to find the satellite thus a qualified installer will find the satellite
and point it to maximum reception within minutes.
Currently in United States, Dish Network and DirecTV are the major DBS systems
provides. As satellite TV services are the latecomer in home TV broadcasting
services, they are now fighting hard to win the market segments with extremely
low prices. Free satellite TV systems, free DVR systems, free DVD players, free
shipping, free installations, free HD upgrades, free home protection plans …they
give free things as much as possible! All you need to be to qualify the deals
condition is you must commit on the satellite TV deals for one year and you
must be a first-time customer. With extremely low start up cost, online satellite
TV retailers are now offering some very lucrative offers. To review more about
these online satellite TV retailers: Recommended
satellite TV providers and if you would like to compare Dish Network and
DirecTV, this page is suggested: Dish
Network vs DirecTV
About the Author Teddy LC.-- experienced writter on consumer products reviews. Check out his latest satellite TV related website and get recommendations on DirecTV or Dish Network deals.
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