Cable television did a 360 degree flip, the day direct to home satellite services were introduced. DTH or direct to home, made it possible for people to receive home entertainment direct to there television sets, no cable breakages, no complicated cable installation. Just a simple dish and a digital satellite receiver, offered you everything that cable should have offered; not to mention at reduced rates and with crystal clear images. Satellite receivers are capable offering stereo quality, hi fidelity audio and offer numerous interactive features that cable television struggles to offer even today.

Satellite receivers are often used as a name for the various types of subscribers that use DTH. There are two basic direct to home subscribers.

a) Free to air

Free to air satellite subscribers, can access only free to air channels, usually free to air satellite receivers do not require access cards or access codes, since the purpose of such receivers is to pretty much display any thing on satellite television that is free to air. Free to air channels are becoming increasingly popular as almost all DTH subscribers have access to them, and therefore boast of having a wider audience.

b) Encrypted or paid access

Such subscribers require specialised satellite receivers that either support encryption by access card, or require users to feed in an access code. Newer satellite receivers are a combination of both. With state of the art technologies like HDTV (High definition television), these newer receivers have taken the market by storm and they even support USB based access to link up with computers easily. Paid access users have the added flexibility of choosing what channels they want access to, and they can pretty much chop and change their access conditions at will.

No matter what kind of satellite receiver you are using there are few things that set them apart from traditional cable access, the first is there capability to effortlessly display high quality digital video and audio streaming. Since these receivers are digital all transmission can carry greater amount of information when compared to traditional analog receivers. With the advent of High definition television, digital receivers are now offering DVD quality programs. Such programs are as good as buying a DVD of the market. In addition to the clarity that satellite receivers offer, they boast of offering interactive television, just choose the camera angle you want, or pick up on any running movie by going through a quick synopsis.