digital TV Archives - The Philippine Beat

The TV is called the “idiot box” because viewers are fed TV and cable shows — a one-way experience for us who sit for hours watching the news, movies, or our favorite teleseryes. Not anymore! Digital TV opens up viewers’ experiences, allowing viewers and content creators to interact with those in the studios and immersing you virtually in whatever show you are watching. You can do so much more with digital TV than with analog TV!

ABS-CBN launched the Pinoy Interactive Entertainment (PIE) channel last May 23. PIE, the Philippines’ first multiscreen, real-time interactive TV channel, brings together BEAM, 917Ventures, tradigital entertainment company KROMA, and the country’s leading storyteller and content creator ABS-CBN. From 5 am to 2 am daily, PIE is accessible to 11 million digital TV households in Metro Manila, Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Zamboanga, Naga, Baguio, and nearby provinces through partner station BEAM.

Continue reading “Rescan your digital TV receivers! Interactive PIE channel brings fun and prizes to the digital TV experience” →

The age of digital TV is upon us and in the Philippines, the second largest and fastest-growing pay-TV provider, Cignal, is in the forefront of digital transmission via satellite, guaranteeing the widest coverage and the clearest TV signals for the best viewing experience available.

Analog vs Digital

Analog TV transmission was always a victim of the elements. Remember the days of snow-like interference on your TV sets? Well, I’m old enough to remember that. Over the decades, that improved with the introduction of cable TV. TV signals became so much clearer. Gone was the snowy look. But because the TV signals still traveled through the cables from the cable provider’s transmission center to homes, bad weather always meant intermittent disruptions of signal and not-so-clear reception.

Cignal showed us a diagram of how their transmission works, using the power of satellites. From the content providers, a satellite downloads the TV programs to Cignal’s Uplink Center. From there, it is beamed again to a satellite which then transmits the signals to the satellite dishes in subscribers’ homes.

What is the advantage of digital transmission?

* Coverage is nationwide, including remote locations – Unlike signals transmitted by cable, which limits the geographical accessibility by subscribers in very remote locations, Cignal’s transmission can penetrate non-cabled areas, coastal waters and mountain regions.

* Signal is not weather-dependent – Static interference and disruptions occur in cabled transmission. Water can seep in, cables can be downed, etc. But satellite transmission continues even in bad weather, ensuring continuing service to subscribers.

Here’s a slide that Cignal showed us illustrating more advantages.

So far, Cignal has the following High Definition (HD) channels out of about 64 channels (including Standard Definition or SD channels) currently listed on their flyer.