The D-Book is the UK technical specification for

digital terrestrial television Digital terrestrial television (DTTV or DTT, or DTTB with "broadcasting") is a technology for terrestrial television in which land-based (terrestrial) television stations broadcast television content by radio waves to televisions in consumers' ...

(DTT). The

Digital TV Group The DTG (Digital TV Group) is the association for British digital television broadcasters and annually publish and maintain the technical specifications for digital terrestrial television (DTT) in the United Kingdom, which is known as the D-Boo ...

(DTG) has published and maintained the D-Book for over a decade and the specification is updated annually to keep up with the pace of development in UK DTT. The D-Book is compiled by DTG Working Groups composed of industry experts from the DTG’s staff and membership of around 150 broadcasters, manufacturers, technology providers and other organisations who continually update and peer-review the specification. Conformance to D-Book standard allows products to use the Digital Tick,

Freeview Freeview may refer to: * Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia * Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand *Freeview (UK), ...

Freeview + Freeview is the United Kingdom's sole digital terrestrial television platform. It is operated by Digital UK Ltd and DTV Services Ltd, a joint venture between the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky. It was launched on 30 October 2002, taki ...

and

Freeview HD Freeview is the United Kingdom's sole digital terrestrial television platform. It is operated by Digital UK Ltd and DTV Services Ltd, a joint venture between the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky. It was launched on 30 October 2002, t ...

logos. The D-Book is only available to members of the

History

The first edition of the D-Book was written in 1996 when the current standard for terrestrial broadcasting

DVB-T DVB-T, short for Digital Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial, is the DVB European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first published in 1997 and first broadcast in Singapore in Febr ...

was new and untried. From the outset, the D-Book was an implementation guideline and referenced fundamental standards where possible. But many of the component parts of the document had not then achieved stable international standards and the UK implementation was therefore reproduced in full. In subsequent editions, it has become possible to reference

ETSI The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) is an independent, not-for-profit, standardization organization in the field of information and communications. ETSI supports the development and testing of global technical standard ...

or other standards and the previous D-Book section simplified. However, the D-Book as an implementation guideline has become more important as non-UK based manufacturers have sought to introduce products to the UK market.

D-Book 6

In March 2009, the DTG published the 6th edition of the D-Book – enabling the launch of an initial three free-to-air HD channels on

by late 2009, as well as the introduction of a broadband return path which has the potential to be used for streaming on-demand video content such as

BBC iPlayer BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is a video on demand service from the BBC. The service is available on a wide range of devices, including mobile phones and tablets, personal computers and smart televisions. iPlayer services del ...

ITV Player ITVX (formerly ITV Hub) is a British online video-on-demand service operated by ITV plc, ITV. The service offers predominantly features content from ITV1, as well as ITV Digital Channels, ITV Digital channels and some licensed content. The serv ...

and 4oD, accessing e-government services and allowing viewers to complete transactions via their television. It also introduces

DVB-T2 DVB-T2 is an abbreviation for "Digital Video Broadcasting – Second Generation Terrestrial"; it is the extension of the television standard DVB-T, issued by the consortium DVB, devised for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial tele ...

, the new modulation scheme that is being used in the UK to deliver these services.

D-Book 7

In March 2011, the DTG published the 7th edition of the D-Book: the book detailed interoperability specifications for UK digital terrestrial television with extended Connected TV functionality. D-Book 7 provides the baseline specification that service providers such as Sky,

Virgin Media Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, Cable television, television and Internet access, internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, Berkshire, Reading, Engla ...

and

YouView YouView is a hybrid television platform in the United Kingdom developed by YouView TV Ltd., a partnership of four broadcasters, the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5; and three telecommunications operators, Arqiva, BT Group and TalkTalk Gro ...

can build on for trademark requirements to support their services.

DTG Testing

The industry's test centre: DTG Testing tests digital TV products applying for the Digital Tick,

and

logos against the D-Book standard. Many manufacturers, both small and large, have discovered the advantage of revealing problems at this stage, rather than when they have large numbers of products in the shops or in people's homes. The Freeview HD trademark requirements state that any manufacturer wishing to use the Freeview HD logo on a product must pass the required DTG Testing Freeview HD tests.

References

{{Reflist, 2

External links

*http://www.dtg.org.uk *https://web.archive.org/web/20110420114552/http://www.digitaltelevision.gov.uk/ *http://www.freeview.co.uk *http://www.etsi.org Digital television