What is cable TV? Difference with digital TV and Internet TV

Cable TV was born to meet the needs of people to watch TV better and better. However, few people know how cable TV is different from other types of television. Join Tnhelearning.edu.vn to find out what cable TV is? What is the difference between cable TV and digital TV and Internet TV?

What is cable TV? Types of signals of cable TV

Cable television, also known as community antenna television for short, CATV , is a place that provides television programs by coaxial cable combined with UHF and VHF bands.

Via cable, cable TV will provide TV programs to each home, especially those with poor connectivity or limited wireless reception. When using, consumers will pay a small fee to the TV service provider.

In addition, cable TV provides customers with hundreds of channels and high-speed Internet access. At the same time, this type of television also has a telephone service.

Cable television broadcasts two main types of signals as follows:

• Analog: Some noise and interference will affect the audio and video quality of the program
• Digital: Supports TV programming that delivers high-quality content.

The development history of cable television

In the years 1990 – 2000 , new technologies such as the Internet were gradually being developed, in order to give viewers a great experience with local events and top programs.

Since then, cable television, digital television , Internet and telephone were born and developed strongly in 2010 .

Prior to that, in the 1980s , the United States created the beginnings of live cable television programming, providing cable-only live broadcasts by service providers, cable television producing TV series and movies. short television.

Simultaneously , during the early 1980s , various live local programs were rapidly spawning across the United States. In Ohio, which was one of the first markets to develop this type of television, was directed by Richard Stallman at the age of 16.

In Vietnam, develop a number of popular cable TV channels such as Vietnam Television Station ( VTV for short), VTC Digital Television Station, Vinh Long Radio and Television Station, and Ho Chi Minh City Television Station. abbreviated as HTV ,…

Advantages and disadvantages of cable TV

In order to help users have a detailed assessment of cable TV, providing the best quality and experience, Tnhelearning.edu.vn will list some of the pros and cons of cable TV right below.

Advantages of cable TV:

• Users can connect cable transmission at the same time to multiple TVs in the house, using a common TV cable splitter.
• Using parallel to the Internet via ADSL copper cable based on the backbone cable, users can both watch television and connect to the Internet.
• Reasonable price, cheaper than other types of smart TV when registering to use the service.

Cons of cable TV:

• When operating, it must go through many splitters from radios, stations, and customers’ houses, so the signal is prone to interference and particles. You can overcome this situation by adding an HD receiver , but it costs more.
• Easily affected by weather such as heavy rain, thunder.
• Cable TV cable is of poor quality, easily broken after 2-3 years .
• In some localities, it is not possible to install the Internet in parallel with cable television, because there is no station connecting to the Internet signal.
• Using Internet speed of cable TV is poor, slower than other network providers.
• The number of channels depends on the receiver, without a receiver can see 50 channels, with a receiver, from 140 channels or more.

Types of cable TV transmission popular today

Currently, there are 4 popular forms of cable TV transmission:

• Cable TV:

Television in analog and digital formats (DVB-C, IPTV), broadcast through television and telecommunications network infrastructure. Television is equipped with a large frequency band, so it can provide many channels for users.

The highlight of this type of television is to provide two-way interactive services, not affected by weather or terrain, suitable for places with high population density.

Some network operators using cable TV are VTVCab, Viettel, SCTV, MyTV, FPT Television.

• Satellite cable TV:

This type of television belongs to the format by digital signal (DVB-S), broadcast via satellite, one-way service. Therefore, it is easy to cover in remote and sparsely populated areas.

However, the biggest disadvantage of satellite cable TV is that it is easily affected by weather. K+ and VTC are two big providers of this service.

• Terrestrial cable television:

Terrestrial cable formats both analog and digital (DVB-T), broadcast from an antenna mast on the VHF, UHF, unidirectional service bands. This form of television transmission is susceptible to interference by bad weather. The providers are Mobi TV, VTVCab.

• Television over the Internet (OTT):

Television over the Internet broadcasts over the Internet, so it depends on the quality of the network. However, it will not depend on weather, terrain and has a variety of channels and content for users to freely choose.

Internet TV providers such as VTVCab On, Onme TV, FPT Play Box, MyK+, MyTV.

The difference between cable TV and digital TV and Internet TV

Cable TV with digital TV

To find out the difference in cable TV and digital TV, refer to the detailed comparison table below:

Criteria	Cable television	Digital television
Signal	Works on analog signals.	Works on both analog and digital signals.
Media	Coaxial Cable.	Digital encoding is fed directly to the television.
Transmission capacity	Decay over long distances.	Distance does not affect broadcast quality.
Quality	Picture and sound quality is susceptible to noise.	For high quality picture and sound.
Consistency	Favorite channels cannot be added and deleted.	Can support more channels and more content through multicast
Multitasking	Low image quality, average sharpness and contrast.	Better resolution, vivid images, wider aspect ratio and higher pixel density.

Cable TV with Internet TV

Criteria	Cable television	Internet TV
Number of devices to use when installing	Much	Little
Number of channels	No receiver: 50 channels at home and abroad. With receiver: 140 channels or more.	100 – 200 free TV channels. Hundreds of extended domestic and foreign channels with Vietnamese subtitles.
Service charge	About 125,000 VND/month	Depends on the package you use.
Transmission speed	Slow due to the use of copper cable.	Depends on the package.
Factors affecting	If the cable is broken, the device cannot connect. The cable is easily damaged after 2-3 uses. Vulnerable to interference due to weather and terrain.	Affected by Internet transmission.

Hope the above article will help you understand more about what is cable TV? The difference between cable TV and digital TV and Internet TV. If you have any questions, don’t forget to leave a comment below!