Zenith VSB Translators Extend DTV Coverage To Rural, Hard-To-Reach Areas

24-Apr-01

There will be no urban-rural ìdigital divideî in the delivery of digital television (DTV) service, thanks in large part to ATSC VSB translators from Zenith Electronics Corporation.Terrestrial translators - often required to extend the range of DTV signals and maximize a broadcasterís coverage area - represent a top priority at Zenith, which in recent months has forged alliances with a broad range of agricultural and other predominately rural interests to ensure that these Americans are an integral part of the digital television revolution. Partnering with a group of Utah TV broadcasters, for example, Zenith is helping to test and implement a strategy of linking a number of rural, and in some cases geographically remote stations with their more urban counterparts. This in turn should help guarantee that viewers living beyond the range of major media markets receive a robust signal and enjoy the full benefits of both DTV and digital HDTV. Zenithís ATSC PSIP Enhanced VSB Translator offers the ability to coexist with adjacent channels present in the current FCC channel allotment. By using a high quality VSB front-end processor, the translator can be turned to any terrestrial broadcast channel. Adjacent channels are rejected and in-band noise is removed by the translator, producing a clean baseband MPEG stream. Baseband processing enables the manipulation of the PSIP information to reflect the new channel assignment transmitted by the terrestrial translator system. The PSIP enhanced signal is then modulated for retransmission through digital low power terrestrial transmitters.Zenithís PSIP enhanced process alters the Virtual Channel Table to reflect the new physical channels for both the DTV signal and the analog signal when available in the PSIP stream. This means that consumersí televisions are able to navigate properly using PSIP and that broadcasters have the ability to retain their branding and original channel identity.For more information about Zenith Electronics Corporation, visit www.zenith.com.

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