The Minnesota Channel is an American free-to-air television channel originating at Twin Cities Public Television . It features programming related to Minnesota (and some related to Wisconsin and North Dakota ), plus coverage of the Minnesota Legislature when in session. The Minnesota Channel is carried as a digital subchannel on all six member networks of the Minnesota Public Television Association .
51-491: In early 2003, TPT began setting aside time on KTCI for the "Minnesota Channel", an evening dedicated to local and regional related programming, frequently produced in partnership with other nonprofit and public service organizations. The service expanded from one to two evenings in 2004 and, on September 16, 2005, became a new full-time digital channel , tptMN (digital channel 17.2, Comcast (Saint Paul) 243, Comcast (Minneapolis) 202, and Mediacom 102). The Minnesota Channel
102-552: A 16:9 aspect ratio. HDTV cannot be transmitted over analog television channels because of channel capacity issues. SDTV, by comparison, may use one of several different formats taking the form of various aspect ratios depending on the technology used in the country of broadcast. NTSC can deliver a 640 × 480 resolution in 4:3 and 854 × 480 in 16:9 , while PAL can give 768 × 576 in 4:3 and 1024 × 576 in 16:9 . However, broadcasters may choose to reduce these resolutions to reduce bit rate (e.g., many DVB-T channels in
153-502: A 1990 FIFA World Cup broadcast in March 1990. An American company, General Instrument , also demonstrated the feasibility of a digital television signal in 1990. This led to the FCC being persuaded to delay its decision on an advanced television (ATV) standard until a digitally based standard could be developed. When it became evident that a digital standard might be achieved in March 1990,
204-402: A scattering effect as the digital processing dithers and is unable to consistently allocate a value of either absolute black or the next step up the greyscale. Changes in signal reception from factors such as degrading antenna connections or changing weather conditions may gradually reduce the quality of analog TV. The nature of digital TV results in a perfectly decodable video initially, until
255-649: A standard-definition television (SDTV) signal, and over 1 Gbit/s for high-definition television (HDTV). In the mid-1980s, Toshiba released a television set with digital capabilities, using integrated circuit chips such as a microprocessor to convert analog television broadcast signals to digital video signals, enabling features such as freezing pictures and showing two channels at once . In 1986, Sony and NEC Home Electronics announced their own similar TV sets with digital video capabilities. However, they still relied on analog TV broadcast signals, with true digital TV broadcasts not yet being available at
306-429: A subwoofer bass channel, producing broadcasts similar in quality to movie theaters and DVDs. Digital TV signals require less transmission power than analog TV signals to be broadcast and received satisfactorily. DTV images have some picture defects that are not present on analog television or motion picture cinema, because of present-day limitations of bit rate and compression algorithms such as MPEG-2 . This defect
357-479: A widescreen aspect ratio (commonly 16:9 ) in contrast to the narrower format ( 4:3 ) of analog TV. It makes more economical use of scarce radio spectrum space; it can transmit up to seven channels in the same bandwidth as a single analog channel, and provides many new features that analog television cannot. A transition from analog to digital broadcasting began around 2000. Different digital television broadcasting standards have been adopted in different parts of
408-540: A TV set in the following year. The digital television transition, migration to high-definition television receivers and the replacement of CRTs with flat screens are all factors in the increasing number of discarded analog CRT-based television receivers. In 2009, an estimated 99 million analog TV receivers were sitting unused in homes in the US alone and, while some obsolete receivers are being retrofitted with converters, many more are simply dumped in landfills where they represent
459-436: A more efficient means of converting filmed programming into digital formats. For their part, the consumer electronics industry and broadcasters argued that interlaced scanning was the only technology that could transmit the highest quality pictures then (and currently) feasible, i.e., 1,080 lines per picture and 1,920 pixels per line. Broadcasters also favored interlaced scanning because their vast archive of interlaced programming
510-467: A single HDTV feed or multiple lower-resolution feeds is often referred to as distributing one's bit budget or multicasting. This can sometimes be arranged automatically, using a statistical multiplexer . With some implementations, image resolution may be less directly limited by bandwidth; for example in DVB-T , broadcasters can choose from several different modulation schemes, giving them the option to reduce
561-410: A single frame often results in black boxes in several subsequent frames, making viewing difficult. For remote locations, distant channels that, as analog signals, were previously usable in a snowy and degraded state may, as digital signals, be perfectly decodable or may become completely unavailable. The use of higher frequencies add to these problems, especially in cases where a clear line-of-sight from
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#1732776172325612-554: A source of toxic metals such as lead as well as lesser amounts of materials such as barium , cadmium and chromium . Nippon Telegraph and Telephone The Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation ( NTT ) ( Corporate Number : 7010001065142) is a Japanese telecommunications holding company headquartered in Tokyo , Japan. Ranked 55th in Fortune Global 500 , NTT is the fourth largest telecommunications company in
663-400: A standard-definition (SDTV) digital signal instead of an HDTV signal, because current convention allows the bandwidth of a DTV channel (or " multiplex ") to be subdivided into multiple digital subchannels , (similar to what most FM radio stations offer with HD Radio ), providing multiple feeds of entirely different television programming on the same channel. This ability to provide either
714-502: A terrestrial transmitter in range of their antenna. Other delivery methods include digital cable and digital satellite . In some countries where transmissions of TV signals are normally achieved by microwaves , digital multichannel multipoint distribution service is used. Other standards, such as digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) and digital video broadcasting - handheld (DVB-H), have been devised to allow handheld devices such as mobile phones to receive TV signals. Another way
765-512: Is Internet Protocol television (IPTV), which is the delivery of TV over a computer network. Finally, an alternative way is to receive digital TV signals via the open Internet ( Internet television ), whether from a central streaming service or a P2P (peer-to-peer) system. Some signals are protected by encryption and backed up with the force of law under the WIPO Copyright Treaty and national legislation implementing it, such as
816-440: Is a crucial regulatory tool for controlling the placement and power levels of stations. Digital TV is more tolerant of interference than analog TV. People can interact with a DTV system in various ways. One can, for example, browse the electronic program guide . Modern DTV systems sometimes use a return path providing feedback from the end user to the broadcaster. This is possible over cable TV or through an Internet connection but
867-498: Is not possible with a standard antenna alone. Some of these systems support video on demand using a communication channel localized to a neighborhood rather than a city (terrestrial) or an even larger area (satellite). 1seg (1-segment) is a special form of ISDB . Each channel is further divided into 13 segments. Twelve are allocated for HDTV and the other for narrow-band receivers such as mobile televisions and cell phones . DTV has several advantages over analog television ,
918-634: Is not readily compatible with a progressive format. DirecTV in the US launched the first commercial digital satellite platform in May 1994, using the Digital Satellite System (DSS) standard. Digital cable broadcasts were tested and launched in the US in 1996 by TCI and Time Warner . The first digital terrestrial platform was launched in November 1998 as ONdigital in the UK, using
969-777: Is not regulated by the NTT Law. In July 2010, NTT and South African IT company Dimension Data Holdings announced an agreement of a cash offer from NTT for Dimension Data's entire issued share capital, in £2.12bn ($ 3.24bn) deal. In late 2010, NTT's Japan-to-US transpacific network reached 400 Gbit/s. In August 2011, its network capacity was expanded to 500 Gbit/s. In 2021, Nippon Telegraph & Tel issued green bonds worth about 300 billion yen ($ 2.7 billion). The bonds include three tranches with maturities of 3, 5 and 10 years. The proceeds will be used for environmentally friendly projects ( renewable energy , energy-efficient broadband infrastructure, etc.). NTT Group consists of
1020-507: Is sometimes referred to as mosquito noise . Because of the way the human visual system works, defects in an image that are localized to particular features of the image or that come and go are more perceptible than defects that are uniform and constant. However, the DTV system is designed to take advantage of other limitations of the human visual system to help mask these flaws, e.g., by allowing more compression artifacts during fast motion where
1071-496: Is the format used in computers, scans lines in sequences, from top to bottom. The computer industry argued that progressive scanning is superior because it does not flicker in the manner of interlaced scanning. It also argued that progressive scanning enables easier connections with the Internet and is more cheaply converted to interlaced formats than vice versa. The film industry also supported progressive scanning because it offers
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#17327761723251122-482: Is the transmission of television signals using digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals . At the time of its development it was considered an innovative advancement and represented the first significant evolution in television technology since color television in the 1950s. Modern digital television is transmitted in high-definition television (HDTV) with greater resolution than analog TV. It typically uses
1173-588: Is used in the Netflix VMAF video quality monitoring system. Quantising effects can create contours—rather than smooth gradations—on areas with small graduations in amplitude. Typically, a very flat scene, such as a cloudless sky, will exhibit visible steps across its expanse, often appearing as concentric circles or ellipses. This is known as color banding . Similar effects can be seen in very dark scenes, where true black backgrounds are overlaid by dark gray areas. These transitions may be smooth, or may show
1224-780: The DVB-T standard. Digital television supports many different picture formats defined by the broadcast television systems which are a combination of size and aspect ratio (width to height ratio). With digital terrestrial television (DTT) broadcasting, the range of formats can be broadly divided into two categories: high-definition television (HDTV) for the transmission of high-definition video and standard-definition television (SDTV). These terms by themselves are not very precise and many subtle intermediate cases exist. One of several different HDTV formats that can be transmitted over DTV is: 1280 × 720 pixels in progressive scan mode (abbreviated 720p ) or 1920 × 1080 pixels in interlaced video mode ( 1080i ). Each of these uses
1275-473: The FCC took several important actions. First, the Commission declared that the new TV standard must be more than an enhanced analog signal , but be able to provide a genuine HDTV signal with at least twice the resolution of existing television images. Then, to ensure that viewers who did not wish to buy a new digital television set could continue to receive conventional television broadcasts, it dictated that
1326-454: The FCC's final standard. This outcome resulted from a dispute between the consumer electronics industry (joined by some broadcasters) and the computer industry (joined by the film industry and some public interest groups) over which of the two scanning processes— interlaced or progressive —is superior. Interlaced scanning, which is used in televisions worldwide, scans even-numbered lines first, then odd-numbered ones. Progressive scanning, which
1377-693: The MN Channel are several targeting ethnic communities that now call Minnesota and the Twin Cities home and who are generally under-served by commercial media. Some of these shows are also broadcast on Public-access television cable television channels in the region: The network's website features information on programs and partners, plus a regularly-updated blog . Prairie Public Television carries Minnesota Channel in North Dakota. Digital television Digital television ( DTV )
1428-646: The UK use a horizontal resolution of 544 or 704 pixels per line). Each commercial broadcasting terrestrial television DTV channel in North America is allocated enough bandwidth to broadcast up to 19 megabits per second. However, the broadcaster does not need to use this entire bandwidth for just one broadcast channel. Instead, the broadcast can use Program and System Information Protocol and subdivide across several video subchannels (a.k.a. feeds) of varying quality and compression rates, including non-video datacasting services. A broadcaster may opt to use
1479-594: The US Digital Millennium Copyright Act . Access to encrypted channels can be controlled by a removable card, for example via the Common Interface or CableCard . Digital television signals must not interfere with each other and they must also coexist with analog television until it is phased out. The following table gives allowable signal-to-noise and signal-to-interference ratios for various interference scenarios. This table
1530-497: The company was divided into a holding company (NTT) and three telecom companies ( NTT East [ ja ] , NTT West [ ja ] , and NTT Communications ) in 1999. The NTT Law regulating NTT East and West requires them to serve only short-distance communications and obligates them to maintain fixed-line telephone service all over the country. They are also obligated to lease their unused optical fiber ( dark fiber ) to other carriers at regulated rates. NTT Communications
1581-477: The digital signals. In the United States, a government-sponsored coupon was available to offset the cost of an external converter box. The digital television transition began around the late 1990s and has been completed on a country-by-country basis in most parts of the world. Prior to the conversion to digital TV, analog television broadcast audio for TV channels on a separate FM carrier signal from
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1632-525: The early 1990s. In the mid-1980s, as Japanese consumer electronics firms forged ahead with the development of HDTV technology, and as the MUSE analog format was proposed by Japan's public broadcaster NHK as a worldwide standard. Japanese advancements were seen as pacesetters that threatened to eclipse US electronics companies. Until June 1990, the Japanese MUSE standard—based on an analog system—was
1683-482: The eye cannot track and resolve them as easily and, conversely, minimizing artifacts in still backgrounds that, because time allows, may be closely examined in a scene. Broadcast, cable, satellite and Internet DTV operators control the picture quality of television signal encoders using sophisticated, neuroscience-based algorithms, such as the structural similarity index measure (SSIM) video quality measurement tool. Another tool called visual information fidelity (VIF),
1734-621: The following major companies, divided into five segments. NTT East, NTT West, NTT Communications, NTT Docomo , and NTT Data are most major subsidiaries. NTT Data is listed on the stock markets. NTT Urban Development is a subsidiary involved in real estate . NTT Communications' business outside of Japan became part of NTT Ltd. on 1 July 2019. In 2023, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) ’s Annual PCT Review ranked Nippon Telegraph and Telephone's number of patent applications published under
1785-526: The front-runner among the more than 23 different technical concepts under consideration. Between 1988 and 1991, several European organizations were working on DCT -based digital video coding standards for both SDTV and HDTV. The EU 256 project by the CMTT and ETSI , along with research by Italian broadcaster RAI , developed a DCT video codec that broadcast SDTV at 34 Mbit/s and near-studio-quality HDTV at about 70–140 Mbit/s . RAI demonstrated this with
1836-425: The image and sound, although the program material may still be watchable. With digital television, because of the cliff effect , reception of the digital signal must be very nearly complete; otherwise, neither audio nor video will be usable. Analog TV began with monophonic sound and later developed multichannel television sound with two independent audio signal channels. DTV allows up to 5 audio signal channels plus
1887-488: The most significant being that digital channels take up less bandwidth and the bandwidth allocations are flexible depending on the level of compression and resolution of the transmitted image. This means that digital broadcasters can provide more digital channels in the same space, provide high-definition television service, or provide other non-television services such as multimedia or interactivity. DTV also permits special services such as multiplexing (more than one program on
1938-408: The new ATV standard must be capable of being simulcast on different channels. The new ATV standard also allowed the new DTV signal to be based on entirely new design principles. Although incompatible with the existing NTSC standard, the new DTV standard would be able to incorporate many improvements. A universal standard for scanning formats, aspect ratios, or lines of resolution was not produced by
1989-418: The problem of large numbers of analog receivers being discarded. One superintendent of public works was quoted in 2009 saying; "some of the studies I’ve read in the trade magazines say up to a quarter of American households could be throwing a TV out in the next two years following the regulation change." In Michigan in 2009, one recycler estimated that as many as one household in four would dispose of or recycle
2040-422: The receiving antenna to the transmitter is not available, because usually higher frequency signals can't pass through obstacles as easily. Television sets with only analog tuners cannot decode digital transmissions. When analog broadcasting over the air ceases, users of sets with analog-only tuners may use other sources of programming (e.g., cable, recorded media) or may purchase set-top converter boxes to tune in
2091-445: The receiving equipment starts picking up interference that overpowers the desired signal or if the signal is too weak to decode. Some equipment will show a garbled picture with significant damage, while other devices may go directly from perfectly decodable video to no video at all or lock up. This phenomenon is known as the digital cliff effect. Block errors may occur when transmission is done with compressed images. A block error in
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2142-403: The same channel), electronic program guides and additional languages (spoken or subtitled). The sale of non-television services may provide an additional revenue source to broadcasters. Digital and analog signals react to interference differently. For example, common problems with analog television include ghosting of images, noise from weak signals and other problems that degrade the quality of
2193-640: The telecommunications technologies that will form the foundation for telecommunications. On 1 July 2019, NTT Corporation launched NTT Ltd. , an $ 11 billion de facto holding company business consisting of 28 brands from across NTT Security, NTT Communications and Dimension Data . While NTT is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the OTC Markets Group 's Pink (and formerly in the New York Stock Exchange under
2244-842: The ticker code "NTT" and in the London Stock Exchange under the ticker code "NPN"), the Japanese government still owns roughly one-third of NTT's shares , regulated by the NTT Law. Established as a state monopoly in August 1952 to take over the Japanese telecommunications system operated by AT&T during the Occupation of Japan , Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation ( 日本電信電話公社 , Nippon Denshin Denwa Kōsha , shortened into Den-Den Kōsha ( 電電公社 ) )
2295-542: The time. A digital TV broadcast service was proposed in 1986 by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) and the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunication (MPT) in Japan, where there were plans to develop an "Integrated Network System" service. However, it was not possible to practically implement such a digital TV service until the adoption of motion-compensated DCT video compression formats such as MPEG made it possible in
2346-435: The transmission bit rate and make reception easier for more distant or mobile viewers. There are several different ways to receive digital television. One of the oldest means of receiving DTV (and TV in general) is from terrestrial transmitters using an antenna (known as an aerial in some countries). This delivery method is known as digital terrestrial television (DTT). With DTT, viewers are limited to channels that have
2397-451: The video signal. This FM audio signal could be heard using standard radios equipped with the appropriate tuning circuits. However, after the digital television transition , no portable radio manufacturer has yet developed an alternative method for portable radios to play just the audio signal of digital TV channels; DTV radio is not the same thing. The adoption of a broadcast standard incompatible with existing analog receivers has created
2448-823: The world in terms of revenue , as well as the third largest publicly traded company in Japan after Toyota and Sony , as of June 2022. In 2023, the company was ranked 56th in the Forbes Global 2000 . The company is incorporated pursuant to the NTT Law (Law Concerning Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, Etc. ). The purpose of the company defined by the law is to own all the shares issued by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone East Corporation [ ja ] (NTT East) and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone West Corporation [ ja ] (NTT West) and to ensure proper and stable provision of telecommunications services all over Japan including remote rural areas by these companies as well as to conduct research relating to
2499-409: The world; below are the more widely used standards: Digital television's roots are tied to the availability of inexpensive, high-performance computers . It was not until the 1990s that digital TV became a real possibility. Digital television was previously not practically feasible due to the impractically high bandwidth requirements of uncompressed video , requiring around 200 Mbit/s for
2550-478: Was privatized in 1985 to encourage competition in the country's telecom market, making Japan the first Asian country and only the second in the world ( after the United States ) to deregulate its telecom market . In 1987, NTT made the largest stock offering to date, at US$ 36.8 billion. Because NTT owns most of Japan's last mile infrastructure (incl. broadband fibre connections ), it enjoys oligopolistic control over landlines in Japan. In order to weaken NTT,
2601-602: Was expanded to region wide coverage in Minnesota and North Dakota in February 2008. In October 2012, the Minnesota Channel changed picture formats from 4:3 to 16:9 widescreen. Since its inception, the MN Channel has co-produced more than 250 programs with more than 100 partner organizations: non-profits, universities, governmental agencies and other public service organizations. Among the programs broadcast on
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