Digital switchover inaccuracy

I found this little problem on the BBC Trust's website here:



Digital is slower than analogue, not faster. Analogue is almost instantaneous, while with digital you have to encode the signal, transmit it, decode it at the other end and then send it through the computer to the output port. Does this mean the brand-spanking-new BBC Trust forgot to employ a technician?

computer are digital, Humans are analogue

We got it right First time with TV!

I would say humans are digital. We rely on yes/no decisions produced by electrical signals from our brain. We convert light and sound waves into coherent images and auditory receptions (the eyes and ears are like modems).

Intriguing point

Though don't humans have an infinate of intermediates, with the amount of chemicals in organs? Perhaps the best isn't analogue/digital, perhaps it is analogue and digital working ogether!

Shouldn't we ask Joe Harvard?

Surely an eminent senior surgeon like him ought to know the answer.

Back onto point, it could be debated digital is instantaneous, it's just the compression and multiplexing delays the signal. Still, the BBC Trust website is wrong, and whoever wrote it deserves a good boot up the backside.

It says faster distribution, not transmission - that would include stuff like using the internet to get pictures in instead of biking tapes around, though "easier" might be a better word.

David

I think the majority of people will not notice, therefore it does not really matter.

If you don't look into it, it is more persuasive than not mentioning it at all.

Nah, distribution means the transmitter networks in Beeb-speak. For example the network of transmitters on 88-91MHz is the Radio 2 distribution, those on 97-99MHz form the Radio 1 distribution.

Two things.

1. Digital isn't slower than analogue - it is delayed compared to analogue. They aren't quite the same thing - a 30 minute show is broadcast in 30 mins on analogue, and 30 mins on digital. (You could argue that the process takes a second or two longer - but that again is more of a delay than a speed issue)

2. Digital CAN be faster than analogue as well - as it can be implemented in a non-real time manner. There is nothing to stop a digital IP file-transfer system downloading a 30 minute show to your set-top box in 5 minutes - they don't have to be real time.

I think the BBC site is incorrect in what they are trying to say - however I think that your "digital is slower" is also slightly inaccurate.

Human fingers are digital