How long does it take for live television programs like SNL reach my screen? I was curious to see how long it takes to live programs (those not intentional seven second delay, etc.) to be aired on my television screen. I have FiOS TV service (such as digital cable, I guess). I know that live TV is not really live, because it must be run through satellites and other things. I live in the Philadelphia area and was curious to know if the local news occurs more live TV on my other programs like SNL. If you had all the answers to this question, it would be great. Thank you!
Encoding delays for digital television are about 1.5 seconds for each cycle encode / decode and about 2-4 seconds for each satellite "hop" (uplink / downlink) cycle.
Thus, the video must be encoded in the studio, uplink to a satellite downlink television station, for transmitting coded and transmitted. That all adds up to about 3-4 seconds behind.
Live has nothing to do with the need to route the signal to your TV. It has to do with whether the show is playing a record or not. By your definition, even the old analog signals have never been "live" because they had transmission delays, too. The delays were simply not as noticeable.
Approximately 4-6 seconds.
Yes local live TV is faster because it does not have to go on a satellite hop, unless it's a satellite truck away.
Posted on April 8, 2010.
