Glossary
- Aerial
- An electrical item that sends or receives radio or television signals.
- Analogue
- The broadcast signal which has been delivering the current four TV channels to your television and recorder through the aerial. These signals are transmitted in waves.
- Analogue Switch-Off
- Analogue Switch Off (ASO) is the date when Ireland will stop broadcasting the existing analogue television signal. This will happen on the 24th October 2012.
- Broadcasting
- The word for what happens when companies that make TV or radio, make signals that send TV programmes to people’s televisions and recorders.
- Digital signal
- The new kind of TV signal that Ireland is switching over to. It will deliver more channels, more programmes, and may be able to give you a better picture and sound. These signals are transmitted in binary code.
- Digital Tuner
- The digital tuner is the decoder required to receive and display digital broadcasts. It can be included inside a TV or set top box.
- Digital TV switchover
- Ireland's old television broadcast signal (known as "analogue") is being switched off and replaced with a "digital" signal. Any TV set that's not converted to digital when the switchover takes place will no longer receive TV programmes.
- High definition (HD)
- HD TV has up to four times as many pixels (dots on the screen) as standard-definition TV. The pixels make up the lines on a screen – standard screens have 625 lines, HD screens have 720 or 1080 lines. This gives a clearer, sharper picture with much more detail.
- iDTV
- Stands for "integrated digital television" - this is a television set that can receive SAORVIEW without the need for a set-top-box. Many new TV sets have this facility.
- Presenter
- Someone who introduces the different parts of a TV or radio programme. They can also be known as a broadcaster.
- Radio
- An electrical item that receives digital or analogue radio signals and changes them into sound.
- Receiver
- Equipment that receives signals from a transmitter and allows you to see and/or hear TV or radio broadcasts. TV sets (both analogue and digital), digital TV set-top boxes, and radio sets are all examples of receivers.
- Satellite dish
- A satellite dish is a round electrical item that receives television signals and sends them to a TV or recorder. It is usually hung on the side of the house or flat.
- Set-top-box
- Everybody will need to make sure they are ready for the digital switchover by getting either one of these or a TV with a decoder inside it. It turns digital signals into sound and pictures.
- Standard Definition (SD)
- A level of screen resolution (number of pixels on the screen) that produces a picture quality comparable with good quality traditional analogue TV reception. Standard Definition screens have 625 lines of pixels on the screen.
- Television
- An electrical item that receives digital or analogue signals and changes them into sound and pictures.
- Time capsule
- A container for holding historical items to be hidden or buried and discovered in the future.
- Widescreen
- TV pictures with an aspect ratio of 16:9 that gives shape like that of a cinema screen. The programmes on most of the major TV channels are now in widescreen format