When watching a live broadcast and the signal drops, why does the screen seems to wipe across the screen when it comes back?
In: Technology
You mean [in a glitchy sort of way](https://youtu.be/fw5QnRevqX4)?
Modern TV signals are actually sent as compressed digital video, a bit like the video files you have on your computer.
The compression works by only sending the difference between frames. So if your signal cuts out and you lose a bunch of frames, when the signal comes back it’ll be starting with a bad frame and adding the difference to that.
Your TV manufacturer could have just shown black until it had received a complete good frame, but they decided it’s better to show something even if it’s corrupt.
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