Satelite TV Glossary

Buying a new satelite tv system can be a new and confusing experience. We put together this glossary to hopefully reduce the confusion of buying a satelite tv system. Even making it more confusing is all the misspellings for satellite tv such as satelite tv, satellite tv, satellitte tv, satelitte tv, and many more.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

• Access Control System - The mechanism which takes care of the conditional access.

• Actuator - A motor system that drives a motorized multi-satellite dish antenna.

• Antenna - Device which picks up and delivers satellite signals to a receiver; most commonly a dish antenna.

• Apogee - The point in a satellite’s orbit when it is at its furthest distance from the Earth.

B

• Bandwidth - Range of frequencies occupied by a signal or allowed by receiving equipment (basically, what a receiver is capable of receiving).

• Baseband - The raw satellite TV signal before it is remodulated to become a signal that is suitable for a TV.

• Beam - A satellite transmission pattern. It may be wide, narrow or spot.

• Bird - An alternate name for a satellite.

C

• C-band - Signal frequency range (3.70-4.20ghz) used for satellite TV in America and Africa.

• Clarke Belt - Named after its founder Arthur C. Clarke, the Clarke Belt is an orbit used by satellites at a height of 22,250 miles, in which satellites make an orbit in 24 hours, yet remain in a fixed position relative to the Earth’s surface.

• Conditional Access - A method which ensures the program provider gets paid for its services by the user.

• Conditional Access Module - The (detachable) conditional access interface.

D

• DBS band - Signal frequency range (11.70-12.40ghz) intended for direct TV broadcast by satellite channels. Not all TV satellites use this band.

• Decoder - Unit that is connected to a satellite receiver in order to unscramble a picture that is protected by encryption.

• Digital Audio Broadcasting - Standard which describes the method of transmitting digital audio.

• Downlink - A signal’s path from satellite to dish antenna.

• DVB - Broadcast standard for digital radio and television, using MPEG-2 compression. DVB is being supported by all European manufacturers and broadcasters.

E

• Electronics Program Guide (EPG) - Part of the transport stream which contains the database and/or user interface for the electronic TV guide.

F

• Feedhorn - A device which collects the signals at the focus of the satellite dish antenna and channels them to the LNBF.

• Fixed Dish System - Satellite TV system in which the dish antenna is targeted at one particular satellite.

• Footprint - An area of the Earth that is able to receive a particular satellite’s signals.

• FSS Band - Portion of the KU-band (10.95-11.70ghz) which is the main satellite TV band.

H

• HTDV - High Definition Television is a digital television format, which combines high-resolution video and theater like sound to create a movie theater quality TV viewing experience.

I

• Impulse Pay-Per-View - Conditional access service where the user is able to buy a particular program on a last-minute decision.

• IRD (Integrated Receiver Decoder) - A satellite receiver with a built-in decoder for unscrambling subscription channels.

K

• KU-band - Signal frequency range (10.70-18.00ghz) used for most European TV satellites.

L

• LNBF (Low Noise Block Converter with Integrated Feed) - Amplifies received signals and converts them from microwaves to lower frequency signals which are then sent along a cable to the satellite receiver.

M

• Magnetic Polarizer - Polarizer controlled by an electrical current from a satellite receiver.

• Mechanical Polarizer - A polarizer that is controlled by electrical pulses from the receiver.

• Moving Pictures Experts Group (MPEG) - The organization which defined the standards for moving pictures, like movies.

• MPEG-1/-2 Compression - Method to compress digital signals. This way, the volume of information that has to be sent decreases. MPEG is not a broadcast standard, but a compression method, which is also used for CD-I and Multi Media CD. Thanks to this compression, it is possible to combine several programs into one satellite transponder.

• Multi-Satellite System (Motorized System) - System in which a specialized receiver, in conjunction with a motorized dish antenna, receives signals from the series of satellites in the Clarke Belt.

N

• Near Video-On-Demand - Multichannel system broadcasting many copies of a film with staggered start times so a complete film is always available to a viewer with a short waiting period.

• Noise Figure - A measure of the performance (noise contribution) of an LNBF in decibels. The lower this figure, the better.

O

• Offset - Type of dish antenna with the focus and feedhorn below the center of the dish antenna.

• Open TV - Makes a receiver compatible for all kinds of future multimedia applications.

• Orbit - The path a satellite takes around the Earth.

P

• Pay-Per-Channel - With this form of pay TV, the viewer has to pay a certain price per month (or other period) to receive all programs of a certain channel.

• Pay-Per-View (PPV) - Conditional access service where the user is able to buy one particular program.

• Pay TV - With Pay TV, the consumer has to pay for the available programs or services, when used.

• Polarmount - Multi-satellite dish antenna mount which enables a satellite dish antenna to track the whole of the Clarke Belt.

• Positioner - Unit which either accompanies a multi-satellite receiver or is built-in and controls the movement of motorized dish antennas.

R

• Receiver - Unit which takes signals from a satellite dish antenna and converts them so they can appear on TV.

S

• Smart Card - A card used to descramble encrypted broadcasts when placed in a decoder or receiver with a built-in decoder.

T

• Threshold - The measure of sensitivity of a satellite receiver measured in decibels (dB).

• Transponder - Equipment inside a satellite responsible for receiving a single uplinked channel and rebroadcasting it back to Earth.

U

• Uplink - A signal’s path from the Earth to a satellite.

V

• Videocrypt - Encryption system which requires a decoder and Smart Card to be descrambled. Used by Sky and several other UK channels.

• Video-On-Demand (VOD) - Multichannel system allowing a film to be broadcasted immediately if it is requested by an individual viewer.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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