DVB: The Family of International Standards for Digital Video Broadcasting

Digital Television ("Digital TeleVision Broadcasting" [DTVB] or "Digital Video Broadcasting" [DVB]) has become one of the most exciting develop­ ments in the area of consumer electronics at the end of the twentieth century. The term digital television is not typically used either to describe the digitisa­ tion of the production studio or to indicate the advent of digital signal proc­ essing in the integrated circuits used in television receivers. Rather, digital television refers to the source coding of audio, data and video signals, the channel coding and the methods for the transport of DVB signals via all kinds of transmission media. The term normally also embraces the technologies used for the return path from the consumer back to the programme provider, techniques for scrambling and conditional access, the concepts of data broad­ casting, the software platforms used in the terminal devices, as well as the user interfaces providing easy access to DVB services. The aim of this book is to describe the technologies of digital television.