For the first time, producers will be able to combine the story-telling power of video and film with the enormous data capacity of a digital television signal. Viewers will be able to simultaneously watch an enhanced TV production and, in the background, receive hundreds of megabytes of additional video, audio, text and images related to the program. Because DTV is digital, curriculum materials, full interview transcripts, children's games and still photographs can be delivered to your television while you are watching a program. DTV's broader bandwidth channel provides a digital pipeline into the home with a transmission rate many times that of a PC modem. The key is compression.
Compression allows a vast amount of data to be transmitted in a relatively small amount of spectrum.
A high-definition television signal requires 1.5 gigabits of data. Only if they obtain a digital converter box. DTV information is encoded in a different way from the analog television signal and therefore will require a different kind of receiver. Manufacturers are developing converter boxes that will allow viewers to receive programs broadcast on DTV channels on their analog TV sets. However, in order to experience the full benefits of digital television, including HDTV, viewers will need new digital television sets.