TV Broadcast Distribution

Terrestrial
o TV Programming is distributed by terrestrial microwave systems.
o The principal advantage is its infrastructure that provided many routing alternatives.
o Its primary disadvantage was the poor performance of long repeater cascades (coastto-coast) as compared to satellite transmission circuits.
Satellite Program Distribution
o Space stations in the Domestic Satellite Service are being used extensively for
distribution of TV programming.
o It has vastly improved performance over terrestrial networks provided that carrier-tonoise limitations can be overcome.
o Allotted bands are 3.7 to 4.2 GHz (downlink) and 5.925 to 6.425 GHz (uplink) for C
Band and 11/14 GHz in the Ku band.
DBS (Direct Broadcast Satellite)
o Broadcasting direct to the public (direct home reception)
o Allotted bands are 12.2 to 12.7 GHz (DL) and 17.3 to 17.8 GHz (UL).

TV Principles and Concepts

TV Picture
Scanning
Synchronization
Video Bandwidth

TV Picture

Picture Element
-The smallest area of light or shade in an image is a picture element called PIXEL or PEL.
-Picture elements are converted to a electrical signal by a camera tube at the studio. This
signal becomes the video signal to be broadcast to receivers.
-The picture tube in the receiver converts the video back to visual information.
Picture Qualities

Brightness
It is the overall or average intensity of illumination. It determines the background level in the
reproduced picture.

Contrast
It is the difference in intensity between black parts and white parts of the reproduced picture.

Detail
It is described by the resolution of definition of an image. The more picture elements, the
higher the resolution, the clearer the picture.

Color Level
The color information superimposed on a monochrome picture. It is dependent on the
amplitude of the chrominance signal in a color TV.

Hue or Tint
The color of an object. It is dependent on the phase angle of the chrominance signal in a color
TV.

Aspect Ratio
Width-to-Height ratio of the picture frame. The standard aspect ratio is 4:3.

Picture Definition

Number of Active Lines (nv)

nv = N NS

where:
N = no. of lines per frame
Ns = no. of lines suppressed during retrace.

Width of Line (w)

w=V/ nv
Aspect Ratio (a)

a=H/V = nh/ nv H=horizontal dimension of CRT

nh = no. of active pixel in a line.
Maximum No. of Pixel per line (NL)

V=vertical dimension of the CRT

NL = nh/ 0.835
Example

In an NTSC system, if the no. of lines per frame is 525 and the number of suppresed lines is 40
per frame, find the picture height and width. Also find the number of pixel in a line.
Solving for the height:
nv=N Ns = 525 40 = 485 lines
Solving for the width:
nh= a x nv = (4/3) x 485 = 647 lines
Solving for the no. of pixels in a line:
NL = nh / 0.835 = 647/0.835 = 775 pixels

Scanning

Horizontal Scanning
o The sawtooth current in the horizontal
deflection coils deflect the beam across the
screen with a continuous motion from left to
right.
o At the peak of the rise, the sawtooth wave
reverses direction and decreases rapidly to its
initial value. This fast reversal produces the
retrace/flyback.

Horizontal Line-Scanning Frequency (fh)

fh = N x P
N = no. of lines per

frame

P = no. of frames per second

Horizontal Line-Scanning Time (Th)
Th = 1/fh
Horizontal Flyback or Retrace Time (Trh)
Trh = 0.10 (Th)

Vertical Scanning
o The sawtooth current in the verticall
deflection coils deflect the beam to move
from top to bottom of the raster.
o The trace part deflects the beam to the
bottom of the raster then the retrace
returns the beam to the top.

Vertical Line-Scanning Frequency

fv = 2 x P
P = no. of frames
per second

Vertical Line-Scanning Time (Tv)

Tv = 1/fv

Vertical Flyback or Retrace Time (Trv)

Trv = 0.10 (Tv)

Interlaced Scanning

Synchronization

Synchronizing Pulses

Video Bandwidth
BWv = 0.35 (fhNL)
o

Where: fh = horizontal line scanning frequency

NL = maximum no. of pixels per line

Example:

In an NTSC System, (1) find the horizontal and vertical synchronization frequencies, and the
time required to scan one line, and (2) if the number of pixels per line is 775, find the video
bandwidth.

Solving for the horizontal sync frequency:

fh = NxP = 525 x 30 = 15,750 Hz

Solving for the horizontal sync frequency:

fv = 2xP = 2 x 30 = 60 Hz

Solving for the time required to scan one line

Th = 1/fh = 1/15,750 = 63.5 microsec

Solving for the video bandwidth

BWv = 0.35 (fhNL) = 0.35 (15,750)(775) = 4.27 MHz