Satellite TV has revolutionized the way we consume television over the past few years. Whether it’s for the good or not is up to you, but is has fundamentally changed the entertainment medium.

Satellite TV uses DVB-S signals to project high quality signals into your TV. Digital Video Broadcasting-Satellite signals are the highest quality broadcast signals available right now. They are superior to cable and antenna broadcasts and offer distinct quality advantages over them.

For a start a DVB-S signal is of a far higher quality than standard cable channels. That gap is negated when receiving HD cable, but for the standard channels remains true. A satellite is capable of a much higher bit rate than cable which means not only better video and sound, but more channels too. There are literally hundreds of satellite channels to choose from, some good, most bad, but the choice is there.

The downside of satellite is the dish. The reception will only be acceptable if the dish has unrestricted access to the satellite. That means placing it in line of sight, often on the side of buildings or in the garden. They can be unsightly, and many areas have specific rules about where they can be placed. Rental properties are often prohibited from affixing dish aerials so satellite isn’t always an option.

Most satellite providers will insist you use their receivers for their services. While it’s possible to use third party hardware it is often against the satellite providers terms of service. A good provider will supply a decent receiver with at least DVB-S compatibility as analog is not only old technology, but won’t be able to make the most of the digital signal.

HDMI enabled receivers will allow you to receive and view the best possible picture quality on an HDMI capable TV. A good satellite service will give you the option to receive HD content, so an HD ready satellite receiver is an obvious essential. Depending on the provider, the range of HD channels may be limited, but it is growing all the time.

The ability to control a broadcast is something that is relatively new but has taken off massively where it’s available. Receivers with built in hard disks and multiple tuners allow viewers to stop, pause and rewind live TV as well as record multiple channels at once. This is a real bonus to viewers and allows us to have full control over what we watch.

The downside to this control is that TV advertising revenue is being hit by this. Advertisers know that given the choice most viewers will fast forward commercial breaks, negating the usefulness of them. Therefore they are looking at other ways of advertising, lowering the revenue of the television company. This in turn lowers the money available to produce good programming.

Satellite technology has changed our viewing habits forever. It give us so much choice in the number and variety of channels but is also taking away by removing advertising revenue from TV makers. There is a balance that needs to be struck between freedom and exposure otherwise we are going to have hundreds of channels of re-runs and no quality new programming.