Digital Revolution

Radios, television sets, computers, DVDs and cameras are all part of the digital revolution. As the digital revolution in TV and radio production makes analogue sets a thing of the past, viewers have even more choice of channels and programmes.

Digital systems are normally quicker, cheaper, more reliable, and more portable than analogue ones. Digital gadgets use a code of On and Off (1 and 0) to carry and process information. Analogue systems use changes in the strength of a signal to reproduce information.

DVD (Digital Versatile Discs) can do most of the different kinds of jobs done by separate machines – video players, games consoles and CD players. All these functions are together in one simple box. Thanks to digital technology it’s possible to skip to a favourite part of a film without having to wind a tape backwards and forwards.

DVD discs are built to last longer than magnetic video tape, as well. You can get discs with up to 12 hours recording time – far longer than 3 or 4 hour video tapes. And they don’t produce fuzzy pictures as they grow old!

We have come a long way from radios the size of sideboards that took ages to tune in to miniature digital radios with digital text displays showing the song and artist that’s playing and can find hundreds of stations at one touch.