ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee) is a group formed in 1982 that developed the ATSC Standards for digital televisions in the United States and in many other countries such as Canada, South Korea, Mexico, and Honduras. The abbreviations are also known to refer to the ATSC Standards itself.

ATSC Standards is a digital television format which will in the long term replace the current NTSC television system, as is the case in United States by February 17, 2009 and in Canada by August 31, 2011. These new high definition standards produce a display resolution better than approximately six times its predecessor — it shows off a lucrative 16:9 wide screen images up to 1920×1080 pixels in size. Not to forget, other different image sizes are still supported so that a maximum of six standard definition channels can still be broadcasted.

Sound wise, the ATSC is capable of a “theater quality” audio as it adopts the Dolby Digital AC-3 format, which also produces the 5.1 channel surround sound.

When broadcasting with the ATSC and an analog signal, two separate channels are required as the ATSC requires an entire channel for itself. As virtual channels can be remapped to any other number from 1 to 99, ATSC stations will often associate with one of the NTSC channels or all stations will use the same number.

Also, like many other systems, the ATSC is an interwoven standard, and is also heavily patented as it includes elements from MPEG, AC-3 audio coding, and the 8VSB modulation.

Comparison with Other Standards
Nowadays, the ATSC system, despite previously being criticized as being too complicated for the ordinary and over-priced to be a household system, is relatively simplified and is moderately priced compared to the current world’s most used system, the DVB.

Also, the ATSC signal, ironically, is more capable of adopting the changes in radio propagation conditions compared to the likes of DVB-T and ISDB-T. Were the ATSC capable of changing its parts such as its error correction modes, code rates, the randomizer, and the interleaver mode, it could become even more robust. Regardless of such fixed settings, it still is sturdy under various conditions.

If you’ve owned a diesel powered vehicle in the past or if you own one now, you no doubt appreciate the qualities this engine provides you with.  More torque, better fuel economy, and easier maintenance are but a few of the attributes of owning diesel powered vehicles. 

However, there are some motorists that still complain about the engine’s weak power, especially when accelerating from a full stop.  What you may not be aware of is the fact that a diesel engine can be tweaked to give more power without harming the fuel economy. 

Diesel engines use air compression to create combustion versus the fuel/air mixture that is required by gas engines.  This attribute means that diesel engines don’t require spark plugs and therefore don’t need to be tuned up.

Diesel fuel has a much high fuel density than gas, which results in fuel economy increases of 20 - 30% over gasoline powered vehicles.

Diesel engines are also cheaper to maintain as they have less parts than that of a gasoline powered engine.  The life span of a diesel engine is also much longer.

If you’re looking for torque, for pulling a boat or other equipment, then the diesel engine has the supreme advantage.  Diesel engines are surely slower, specially when starting from a dead stop, although when you climb hills or go over bridges, the diesel engine is surely up to the task.

With trucks, diesel is normally the leader over gas engines in terms of performance and miles per gallon.  Diesel trucks will get more miles than gas trucks, and the price for diesel is a bit cheaper than gas these days. And with gas prices on the rise, diesel will continue to dominate for a long time to come.