You may not be familiar with the Advanced Television Systems Committee, but the ATSC’s standards govern all digital television transmission, providing crisp, clear, and direct tv signals to users. The ATSC standards are what replaced the analog NTSC (National Television System Committee) standards on June 12, 2009.ATSC sets specifications for both audio and video. The audio standard, A/52, is a version of Dolby Digital AC-3. This allows for a maximum of five channels of sound with an extra channel for low-frequency effectsdeep sounds ranging from 3-120 Hz. This configuration is known as 5.1.A number of video displays are supported under the ASTC system, differentiated by aspect, display, and frame rates. Each of these display resolutions is transported in an MPEG Transport Stream via 188-byte packets. It’s not necessary to understand all of the technical specifications to enjoy your digital TV, but you should know what resolution, scanning, and frame rate refer to.Resolution is the number of lines of pixels in the imagethere are 480, 720, and 1080 resolutions. When you see one of these numbers listed as a resolution, it will be followed by p or i. p stands for progressive scanning, meaning that each line is drawn in sequence. i refers to interlaced scanning, in which two fields (one containing odd lines, the other containing even lines) are joined together to create an image. Finally, frame rate refers to the rate at which new images (frames) are produced. The highest frame rate in the ASTC standard is 60 Hz.Whether you will be able to get the full results from these standards depends not only on the transmission, but also on the type of television set you have. Make sure that you pick the set that will give you the viewing experience you’re seeking.