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Satellite TV works by broadcasting video and audio signals from geo stationary satellites to satellite dishes on the Earth's surface. These geo stationary satellites orbit the earth in a region of space known as the Clarke Belt, which is approximately 22,300 miles above the equator. Satellites only "appear to be stationary because of their location in the Clarke Belt, in reality they
are whirring about the planet, and their orbits become eccentric if left alone.
Each of these satellites carries a number of transponders. These transponders each carry a signal back to the Earth. Each of these carry various stations such as your local channels. The most commonly used signals are on C Band, Ku Band, or Ka Band. The band of a signal describes, in broad terms, the frequency of the signal.
After traveling over twenty thousand miles, these signals are received by a satellite dish. This dish can be as small as 18" across, or it can be 10' or larger across. The purpose of the satellite dish is to act as a collector and a reflector. The dish collects the signal and reflects it towards what they call the feed horn.
The feed horn receives the reflected signal and sends it to the LNB. The LNB amplifies the signal (makes it stronger) and converts it to a frequency more suitable for transmission over a cable. In satellite terminology, that cable is known as the IFL.
The LNB transmits the signal over the cable to the satellite receiver. The satellite receiver then unscrambles it and sends the signal to your television set.
Digital Satellite TV
Almost all satellite TV is now encoded digitally. This enables satellite broadcasters to offer more television channels at a better quality using the same amount of satellite bandwidth.
Satellite TV is available in both standard resolution and in the new ATSC High Definition (HDTV) format. The digital data is usually compressed with MPEG-2 or a variation thereof. MPEG-4 is beginning to replace MPEG-2 in some satellite networks.
Satellite TV Options
Dozens of vendors operate satellite television networks across the globe. Your options for satellite TV will differ depending upon what country you live in. In addition, some "spot beam" services will only serve specific large cities.
In the United States, the largest satellite TV vendors are Dish Network and DirecTV. Both DirecTV and Dish Network offer programming on the Ku and Ka bands.
In addition, National Programming Service and Superstar offer programming on C Band. Some free-to-air satellite TV channels are even available at no cost if you have a Free-to-Air receiver.
Alternative Satellite TV
Until just recently if you wanted to enjoy watching satellite TV you had to have a satellite dish installed and a receiver for each of your television sets. Many people enjoy the wide variety of stations that a satellite provider like Direct TV or Dish Network have to offer.
Some people however don't like the idea of having the dish mounted onto their home or like the way it looks sitting in their yard. Not to mention the high prices that are associated with a full package deal. A full package deal may offer you several movie, sports, and music channels but it also comes with a hefty price tag.
In 2006 a great new service was made available to the public. People from anywhere in the world can now get access to over 2800 channels from all over the world. This is astonishing considering that getting the full package usually only gets you around 400 channels.
You no longer need to mount an ugly looking satellite dish on your home or in your yard to enjoy the privilege of satellite TV. You can now get it wherever an internet connection is available. One such service that offers this software is Satellite TV On PC Pro. Visit this articles authors BIO to get more information on this great service.