Launch of Set-Top Box Standard Brings Digital TV Closer

As South Africa gets ready to migrate to digital TV in September, authorities have unveiled standards for the manufacture of decoders that will provide digital signal for old TV sets. 

On Wednesday, 6 June, the Department of Communications together with the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) launched the Set-Top Box decoder standard (SANS862:2012) for free-to-air digital terrestrial television (DTT) at the inaugural ICT Indaba that took place in Cape Town.

The Set Top Box is a receiver that will decode the digital signal to enable the channels to be displayed on your analogue television set. This Set Top Box will plug directly into your TV set.Migrating to digital TV, will give you a brighter, sharper picture and much better sound quality; like moving from the old video cassette to a DVD.

All television sets will be compatible with the STB either via the RF/Aerial input in older television sets, or via the RCA/audio and video inputs in modern television sets.The STB decoder operates in conjunction with an analogue television receiver minimising additional expense for the public whilst providing good quality video and sound.

Significantly, the announcement means that South Africa will now comply with the 2006 resolution of the Regional Radio Communication Conference (RRC-06) hosted by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), as all countries in Europe, Africa, Middle East and the Islamic Republic of Iran need to migrate from analogue to digital broadcasting services by 2015. 

Source: http://www.services.gov.za/services/content/Home