Digital Television: High Definitions

Michele Hilmes work "Digital Television: High Definitions" in the book Digital Cultures: Understanding New Media touches on the shift from coaxial cable TV to digital TV.

This is a shift that my generation has been able to witness while growing up. HDTV is a fairly new technology which seems to be taken for granted now. Cable TV took off in the early 1980's in the United States, and digital cable made its move into the market in the late 1990's.

Hilmes article breaks the Digital Television era into production and distribution.

Digital production dates back to the 1980's with the Sony Digital Betcam.

Soon, Apple burst onto the market with its Quick Time software. Apple helped shift digital production from the big movie studios to the household computer.

Easy to use software like Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premier have made video editing and digital production possible for the average computer person.

Distribution of digital television has changed since the 1980's as well. Satellite TV in the United States, however, took off in the mid-1990's with DirectTV and Dish Network. These digital television providers have satellites rotating at the same speed as the earth over 2,000 miles above earth's surface transmitting news information as well as entertainment to the world.

Another form of distribution of Digital television is through cable. Again, digital cable took off just before the turn of the century and added on-demand and additional pay per view channels covering events like boxing matches and concerts.

The internet is the newest form of distribution for digital television. Major TV network's (like NBC and CBS) websites have embedded videos of episodes aired earlier that week. Hulu is another website that brings viewers all their favorite shows.

TV DVD's as well as Blu Ray's are another form of digital television distribution. These disks and players along with devices like TiVo and DVR have made VHS tapes prehistoric objects.