Digital television offers various advantages and additional services. But what do digital televise-related abbreviations such as SD, HD, 3D and Ultra HD stand for? Below we’ll try to figure out their essence and differences among them.

First and foremost we are to define the difference between digital and analogue televisions since both of them are available in Georgia. 

Technically analog (or analogue) transmission is a transmission method of conveying voice, data, image, signal or video information using a continuous signal. While digital transmission represents a coded stream of digital data. Practically data digitalization enables you to get more information transmitted to your TV receiver. Consequently you receive a more precise image, high quality sound and a more channels. Accordingly if you have a modern TV set and receive signal through satellite, digital cable and digital terrestrial transmitter you can be sure you receive top quality.

 New digital TV formats require larger capacity and the satellite is indispensable here. Satellite is the most reliable and effective mean to transmit TV programs across the continent and especially in the mountainous regions. Hence satellite can cover the whole world population.

Satellite signal is delivered through a special dish Direct to home (DTH) - the direct reception of satellite transmissions by households via a dish. Satellite television offers viewers a great larger choice of channels and experience compared with other forms of TV transmission. 

SD and HD Television

When speaking about SD and HD the term resolution is that matters. Simply speaking it represents size and quality that your TV set may show. 

Term SD TV became popular when high dimension television was introduced – previously any television was of standard type (analog as well as digital). SD format used to be rather proper for 24 inch TV sets but afterwards the population started buying LCD TV sets with 2-2,5 bigger screens and the difference between SD and HD resolutions was clear. For example when watching a football match with SD you can see a ball, player and green background but with HD you can see grass and the faces of supporters. 

Shortly speaking High-definition television (HDTV) provides a resolution that is substantially higher than that of standard-definition television. HD channels offer images in richer colors, it’s more attractive and interesting. In numbers HD TV provides around 2 mln (1080x1920) pixels, whish is about five times as many pixels as SD (720x576).

Along with sporting events nature images was another incentive to create HD TV – having ever watched BBC and Discovery programs about nature you can be sure how high quality they are. Either sports events or documentaries or movies, any you choose, are of better quality in HD.

HD transmission of course requires more capacity than SD. Satellite offers more capacity therefore satellite is unbeatable for HD broadcasting. According to SES annual satellite monitoring results nowadays satellite is the biggest HD platform. The number of its subscribers in Europe topped 29 mln households and 80 percent of them use SES satellites.

A step forward – 3d Television  

3D television (3DTV) is television that conveys depth perception to the viewer by employing techniques such as stereoscopic display, multi-view display, 2D-plus-depth, or any other form of 3D display. 3D TV offers you a possibility to get more vivid images. Along with the technological advancement 3D TV has become available at home.

Most modern 3D television sets use an active shutter 3D system or a polarized 3D system. Viewers use special eye glasses like at the move theatres. Shops offer a wide choice of 3D TV sets but for full pleasure it’s recommended to subscribe to a TV Broadcaster with 3D service package. Satellite is the best mean for 3D TV transmission. In terms of reliability and quality satellite equipment is the leader with no competitor in terms of programs, quality and popularity of channels.

Higher level – Ultra HD

Evolution continues – Ultra HD is anew word in consumer TV technologies. It was first demonstrated in 2005 and in the upcoming years the first commercial channels of the aforementioned format will be launched. Ultra high definition television (also known as Ultra HD television or UHDTV) includes 4K UHD (2160p) has a resolution of 3840 × 2160 (8.3 megapixels), and 8K UHD (4320p) has a resolution of 7680 × 4320 (33.2 megapixels) which are two digital video formats proposed by NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories and defined and approved by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

The Consumer Electronics Association announced on October 17, 2012, that "Ultra High-Definition", or "Ultra HD", would be used for displays that have an aspect ratio of at least 16:9 and at least one digital input capable of carrying and presenting native video at a minimum resolution of 3,840 × 2,160 pixels.

Markets are full of new HD televisions. Ultra HD TV sets were presented by all of the leading producers at the trade fairs. The events to take place worldwide from 2014 including FIFA World Cup in Brazil, Rugby World Cup in England 2015, UEFA European Championship 2016 and Olympic Games in Rio 2016 and many more will be transmitted through Ultra HD.   

Sooner than we can imagine technologies will be offering us new means of entertainment and it’s unquestionable that satellite is the only technology that has the capacity to transmit SD, HD, 3D or Ultra HD TV formats.

Material prepared by SES satellite operator