Satellite television: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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{{main|Television receive-only}}

[[File:Satellite dish 1 C-Band.jpg|190px|thumbnail|left|A C-band satellite dish used by TVRO systems.]]

The term [[Television receive-only]], or TVRO, arose during the early days of satellite television reception to differentiate it from commercial satellite television uplink and downlink operations (transmit and receive). This was the primary method of satellite television transmissions before the satellite television industry shifted, with the launch of higher powered DBS satellites in the early 1990s which transmitted their signals on the K_u band frequencies.<ref name=fcc/><ref name="latimes">James, Meg. [http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/business/la-fi-gaspin26jul26,1,4482109.story?coll=la-headlines-business-enter NBC tacks on Telemundo oversight to Gaspin's tasks]. Los Angeles Times, July 26, 2007. Retrieved on May 14, 2010.</ref> Satellite television channels at that time were intended to be used by [[cable television]] networks rather than received by home viewers.<ref>{{cite journal|last=|first=|date=February 1986|title=Satellite Communications Training from NRI!|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=113OPTBSLVkC&dq=tvro&source=gbs_navlinks_s|journal=Popular Science|volume=228|location=|publisher=Bonnier Corporation|accessdate=16 December 2014}}</ref> Early satellite television receiver systems were largely constructed by hobbyists and engineers. These early TVRO systems operated mainly on the C-band frequencies and the dishes required were large; typically over 3 meters (10&nbsp;ft) in diameter.{{sfn|Prentiss|1989|p=274}} Consequently TVRO is often referred to as "big dish" or "BUD" (Big Ugly/Useful/Utilitarian Dish" (BUD) satellite television.

TVRO systems were designed to receive analog and digital [[Communications satellite|satellite]] feeds of both television or audio from both C-band and K_u-band [[transponder]]s on [[Fixed Service Satellite|FSS]]-type satellites.{{sfn|Prentiss|1989|p=246}}{{sfn|Prentiss|1989|p=1}} The higher frequency K_u-band systems tend to resemble DBS systems and can use a smaller dish antenna because of the higher power transmissions and greater antenna gain. TVRO systems tend to use larger rather than smaller satellite dish antennas, since it is more likely that the owner of a TVRO system would have a C-band-only setup rather than a K_u band-only setup. Additional receiver boxes allow for different types of digital satellite signal reception, such as DVB/MPEG-2 and [[4DTV]].