UNDERSTAND

DEVELOPING

TECHNOLOGIES

IN THE

TELEVISION AND

FILM INDUSTRIES

By Jack Bennett

Cab

le a

nd S

atel

lite

  Cable and Satellite are two

technologies that are used in the

television industry to broadcast their

shows. Cable is becoming

progressively obsolete, as Satellite

technology becomes more available.

Satellite technology is the more

dominant of the two technologies and

usually fills the gap in areas that do not

use cable television.

Satellite TV works by receiving signals

from a communications satellite in

space to a ‘satellite dish’ outside of the

house. Cable TV works by sending

programs to the consumer by way of

radio frequency transmitted through

optical fiber cables. Optical fiber

cables use thin glass threads that

transmit information at extremely high

speed, with extreme efficiency.

Ana

log

ue a

nd

Dig

ital

  Digital is now taking over

Analogue with the new ‘Digital

Switchover’ that will be

sweeping the UK soon. During

this Switchover, all Analogue

transmitters will be deactivated

and replaced with more

efficient Digital ones. Before

this switchover, Local Relay

Emitters could only send out

Analogue signals, only giving

five available channels,

upgrading to Digital would

increase this five to fifteen

available channels, increase

signal strength and send out a

Digital signal as opposed to an

Analogue one.

Hig

h D

efin

ition

  High Definition Television is a

fairly recent technology starting

with the BBC’s first use of a High

Definition channel in 2006, ITV

and many Sky channels soon

followed suit in 2007. High

Definition Televisions and

Channels have proved so

popular because it allows the

viewers to watch programming

with high quality picture

resolution. HD Televisions are in

high demand today and sell

extremely fast because of the

steadily growing availability of

HD technology.

Inte

rnet

and

St

ream

ing

  Internet Streaming is also fairly recent,

but is slowly overtaking conventional

Television due to its increasing

availability and efficiency. Websites

such as LOVEFILM.com and NetFlix

offer deals where, for a certain amount

of money a month, the viewer can

watch their favorite shows online and

on-demand, even allowing the viewing

of shows that may not be shown on

conventional Television anymore. The

problem with such readily available

Programming online lies with Piracy.

Piracy is very easy over the Internet

and it costs the TV business money.

Instead of paying to see a newly

released film, anyone can go online

and find a free pirated version to

watch, which means that film

companies lose out on potential profits

for their work.

On

Dem

and

, Pay

per

vi

ew a

nd D

igita

l Re

cord

ers

  On Demand allows the viewer to watch

Television Programing when ever they

want. Websites such as 4OD, BBC

Iplayer and even Youtube.com host On

Demand services for viewers to watch

whatever they want.

Pay-per-View is rather self

explanatory, for a one time payment,

you can view a show. Pay-per-View is

often used for Sporting events such as

Boxing, where you can pay to view a

single match. Sky Box Office offer a

Pay-per-View service, in which you

pay to view a film. Digital Recording is

also a useful service offered by Sky,

allowing you to record a program or a

series of programs for later viewing,

allowing the viewer to watch the

recorded program as many times as

the viewer wants.

Film

-Bas

ed

  Before 1990, a Television Show

would be shot using film and

video. Film was easier to edit

compared to video, involving

physically cutting the film into

pieces and sticking them together.

Video on the other hand can be

‘Vision Mixed’ to create cuts, and

can be edited digitally, allowing for

more precise editing. With Digital

Editing allowing for more efficient,

faster and easier editing, film

became obsolete. Digital Editing

allowed reality shows such as Big

Brother to thrive, because footage

could now be easily found and

quickly edited together, with good

results.