Fiber-optic cable and the old general (coaxial or RF) cable, two different cabling technologies that can be used for distribution of services for end users – at home. In general, they differ only in the technical (electrical / communication) point of view. Basically it is important for network operators, because end-users and readers do not care about technology, they are interested in services and channels.
There are several methods that can be used for distribution of common services, such as television and radio channels via cable networks. Each has its advantages and disadvantages and needs of different topology, or network infrastructure.
Analog television
The first cable television network were simply an extension of broadcasts in the air. This was realized through the deployment of conventional antenna cable (but with fewer losses) from the headend cable system for the home. Because of the distance, was also a lot of amps in certain locations to provide the necessary signal level. Communication was only in one direction, but then most of these cable networks have been expanded to two-way exchange of information necessary to access the Internet using systems such as DocSys.
This approach can be used with the RF (coax) and fiber cables. Fiber optic cables are also used in some cases for the distribution of the old analog cable television. The advantage of optical networks, because it can use existing fiber to existing fiber-optic cables and cable losses are very low.
Digital television
Digital TV in cable networks, can be divided into two completely different ways of distribution. The first equivalent to digital broadcasting and the other side, mainly used in fiber-optic IP network television.
Digital Cable Broadcasting
This is equivalent to the distribution of analog (RF) cable, but with a digital signal. The same technology (modulation) can be used for terrestrial broadcasting, but usually, there are more effective systems that take into account the specific properties of the cable systems. One typical example is the DVB-T system, which is used in Europe for digital terrestrial broadcasting video, but use the same cable system, DVB-C.
IP TV
This is the most popular digital distribution of television used with fiber-optic cable systems. This means the spread of television channels with the protocol IP, which is the foundation of Internet communications. Each television channel is encoded either with MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 system and then distributed over a network of fiber-optic cables to homes. The benefits are enormous. Building on the number of channels is high enough, all channels can be encoded and distributed with a very high quality, very easy to distribute the HD channels, Internet access is easy, because the IP protocol and domestic technologies.
