UK Freeview TV Glossary 2023
| Reuben Howe
A Guide to terms Daffodil uses to describe Set Top Boxes, Freeview Technologies and Aerials. Understand what you are buying and make an informed decision by reading up on these handy definitions. Difference between DVB-T and DVB-T2? What a "High Gain" Aerial is? It's all here.
DVB-T - DVB-T Signals Are the Standard Definition Freeview Signals in the UK
DVB-T2 - DVB-T2 Signals Are the High-Definition Freeview Signals in the UK
Digital TV - In the UK, Analogue TV broadcasts were overruled in the early 2010’s. Digital TV doesn’t mean Netflix or Internet TV, it is simply a transmission method used for Terrestrial TV now
DTT - Digital Terrestrial TV refers to the whole spectrum of broadcast TV using digital signals
Terrestrial - A Terrestrial TV broadcast is sent out from transmitters and relays on earth, while a Satellite TV Broadcast is sent out from Orbiting Satellites
Aerial / Antenna - Both terms for signal reception devices that are either standalone, attached to a building, or in-built in devices
EPG - The EPG is your Electronic Program Guide that gives a 7-14 day look at the coming programming across every Freeview Channel
High-Gain - Gain is a statistic on Aerials that changes the way they pickup TV channels. A High-Gain digital aerial can scan further, and in a more directional area. This can result in better signal when the aerial is positioned correctly
Dual-Tuner - a Dual-Tuner Set Top Box is a device that can simultaneously tune two different channels. What this means in practice is you can record one TV channel and watch another in real time
SCART - A SCART connection is an older form of audio-visual cable that uses separate video, Left Audio and Right Audio channels connected into one large plug adapter
HDMI - HDMI Cables are the most common way to connect modern Freeview boxes, and can carry full 1080p HD data to make the most of DVB-T2 decoding
PVR - Standing for Personal Video Recorder, a PVR can record Live TV to a USB or Hard Drive for rewatching later
1080p - The term Full 1080p HD gets thrown around a lot. 1080p refers to the resolution of the channel, with the full resolution being 1920x1080 Pixels
Resolution - Resolution is a measure of how wide and tall a display is in pixels, and therefore how detailed it is depending on the size of the screen. 1920 x 1080 pixels is the HD threshold
Coaxial RF - RF stands for Radio Frequency and can denote an Aerial input on some Freeview devices. Another term is Coaxial Cable which also transfer Radio Frequency data via cable
NTFS - A Type of USB format which allows a PC, Laptop or other device such as a Set Top Box to easily add or remove data. An NTFS USB will be required to use PVR functions, for example
FAT32 - FAT32 is a type of USB Format which can handle smaller packets of data (Under 4GGB), so cannot work for PVR purposes as well as NTFS
Aspect Ratio - The Aspect ratio of a screen is the “squareness” of the display. The most common cinematic ratio is 16:9 which creates a rectangular display just over half as tall as it is wide. Other ratios include 4:3 which is far squarer and was suited to older CRT Television Sets
Think there's a term we missed? Email us at service@idaffodil.co and ask for a definition to help you make an informed purchase!
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