While it's well known that Direct TV provides a wide variety of high quality programming on hundreds of television and satellite radio channels, not many people know about the impressive space age satellite technology that goes into delivering that programming to over fifteen and a half million subscribers.

While there are some types of technology that are available on special order, Direct TV also provides some pretty impressive technology to all of its subscribers regardless of which programming package they sign up for. The most basic technology is digital television. Television programming in digital format provides a vividly crystal clear picture in all but the worst weather conditions. That's because digital television is easily cleansed of any interference that it picks up during transmission by Direct TV's sophisticated satellite receiver equipment.

Direct TV also provides great user friendly software to all of its subscribers. User friendly software like the on screen program guide and Parental Locks make it much easier to handle the hundreds of channels that you could have available to you if you sign up for one of the larger programming packages. The on screen program guide is probably the piece of software that you'll use the most. It displays a listing of all of the television shows and movies that you can choose among right on your TV screen. Along with each program, the on screen program guide will also provide you with information about the program- like who stars in it and what the plot consists of- in order to help you decide whether or not it's something you might want to watch. While the on screen program guide is on the screen, the picture from the channel that the system is tuned to will continue to be displayed in a small window in the corner of the screen and the audio will continue to play over the speakers. That way you won't have to miss anything while you're looking around.

Direct TV's Parental Controls help you to manage all of the channels, by providing you with tools to prevent your children from watching inappropriate programming. You can enact blanket rules, like blocking access to all movies with certain MPAA ratings, or you can block out specific programs and channels. Parental Controls are extremely flexible tools that can provide you with all the peace of mind you need to leave your kids alone with the TV.

One of the optional technologies you can get from Direct TV is a Digital Video Recorder. Digital Video Recorders are built into some satellite receivers and provide a great way to record the TV shows and movies that you want to watch, but wouldn't otherwise be able to see because of other obligations like work, family, and community. This practice of recording programming so that it can be watched later is called "time shifting" and a Digital Video Recorder is extremely useful for "time shifting" because it's easy to program, can store a huge amount of video on its hard disk, and even record video from two separate channels at the same time! As an added bonus, all of the video that it records is stored and played back with the same high quality picture and sound of Direct TV's original broadcast.

Another optional technology supplied by Direct TV is HDTV. HDTV is a next generation television format that features a high resolution picture and wide screen along with a sophisticated sound format. All of these differences mean that you need a special TV set, a special receiver, and special programming to watch HDTV. Direct TV can provide everything that you need to enjoy this technology right now, except for the HDTV set.

Direct TV provides a lot of great technology that will enhance your television experience.