How Does Satellite TV Work

Why pay more than $90 a month for Satelite TV, when you can get 1000's of channels on your PC. Find out how here.

Channels from a satellite TV are broadcasted wirelessly from a base station to TV satellites that orbit the earth. These artificial satellites, known as Clarke Belt, all stay in their specific areas in space relative to the Earth.

When you subscribe for a satellite TV, channel signals will be re-transmitted by the artificial satellites back to the Earth. Your satellite dish (or antenna) captures these signals, while a satellite receiver decodes and processes the signal to send it to your television.

Understanding Signals, The Dish And Satellite Receivers

Satellite signals are just like radio waves that transmits various analog or digital programming of channels. These waves are then reflected to the satellite dish to capture concentrated signals, sending them off to your receiver via your satellite cable network. The main job of your satellite receiver is to convert these signals (of hundreds of different frequencies) into viewable satellite TV channels.

A satellite dish comes in two forms – oval or parabolic. While you may choose a dish based on its appearance, be aware that each type of dish receives different amounts of signals. Oval dishes can unite signals to multiple areas in the sky, which enables them to receive satellite TV channels from numerous satellites. On the other hand, a parabolic dish can only collect signals from one source in the sky, making it receive channels from only one satellite at a time.

Satellite receivers are similar to cable boxes, with the exception that they have different functions. A satellite receiver, as its name suggests, receives signals and transforms it into a readable or viewable signal for your television to display various channels.

The standard format of satellite signals are MPEG2, which allow base stations to transfer more channels to various satellites. Because your satellite TV cannot read MPEG2, your receiver will do the job for you by decompressing and decoding the MPEG2 format into any standard television formats.

Once these signals are decoded, you will be able to watch various TV shows on different channels. However, you can receive two types of channels from your satellite TV – scrambled and unscrambled channels. While scrambled channels are those that need subscription (from Dish Network or Direct TV), unscrambled channels are viewable without any kind of charge.

Most providers of satellite networks provide both the equipments and installation. Although you will be paying monthly for their services, you will only receive limited channels that you are paying for. If you want to receive more channels for your satellite TV, you could buy your own equipments and install them yourself.

Why pay more than $90 a month for Satelite TV, when you can get 1000's of channels on your PC. Find out how here.