There’s only static when the signal is bad and some delay due to the travel time of signals, but analog broadcast never lags or stutters like TV and radio broadcasted over the internet.
Also, what makes it possible for thousands/millions of analog TV’s and FM radios to view and listen to broadcasts without causing issues when TV and radio broadcasted over the internet requires packet scheduling and lots of servers to serve the same number of viewers and listeners?
In: 0
This is more of a distinction between broadcast protocols vs the internet, rather than analog vs digital. Radio, analog TV, *and* digital over-the-air/cable/satellite TV are broadcasts. Think of it like the radio/TV station is shouting its signal into the air really loudly, and any device within earshot can choose to tune in and listen to it if they want. There’s no extra work for the station to do when a new listener/viewer tunes in. In fact the station doesn’t need to know at all who’s tuned in, or even how many people are.
The internet on the other hand is more like a big mail delivery service. When you watch a video on the internet, your device is sending a letter to the server saying “I’d like to watch XYZ, can you start sending me the data”, and the server starts sending it over to you by chopping it up into packets and mailing them all in sequence to your address. So the more people connected, the more “mail” has to be delivered. Note that this is how internet “live streaming” works as well. It’s all “mail” under the hood, just that everyone is asking for the same packages at the same time.
Latest Answers