Sparklies is a form of interference on analogue

satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location.ITU Radio Regulations, Section IV. Radio Stations and Systems ...

transmissions. Sparklies are black or white 'hard' interference dots (as opposed to the 'soft' interference patterns of

terrestrial television Terrestrial television, or over-the-air television (OTA) is a type of television broadcasting in which the content is signal transmission, transmitted via radio waves from the terrestrial (Earth-based) transmitter of a TV station to a TV rece ...

), caused either by too weak or too strong a signal. When within the satellite's rated reception footprint, sparklies are most likely to be caused by a misaligned dish, or LNBs which are too high- or too low- gain for the dish and receiver. The term "sparklies" is used by

British Sky Broadcasting Sky UK Limited (formerly British Sky Broadcasting Limited (BSkyB)), trading as Sky, is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television, broadband internet, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers a ...

(BSkyB) and a number of hardware makers including

Amstrad Amstrad plc was a British consumer electronics company, founded in 1968 by Alan Sugar. During the 1980s, the company was known for its Home computer, home computers beginning with the Amstrad CPC and later also the ZX Spectrum range after the ...

and Pace. Sparklies do not occur on

digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Businesses *Digital bank, a form of financial institution *Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) or Digital, a computer company *Digital Research (DR or DRI), a software ...

satellite systems; similar problems with digital signals cause

MPEG The Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) is an alliance of working groups established jointly by International Organization for Standardization, ISO and International Electrotechnical Commission, IEC that sets standards for media coding, includ ...

artifacts.

References

Satellite broadcasting Television terminology {{tv-term-stub

See also

References