Electronic program guide: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 23:04, 21 July 2005

Revision as of 17:09, 16 August 2005

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An '''electronic program''' (or '''programme''') '''guide''' ('''EPG''') or also an '''ínteractive program(me) guide''' or ('''IPG''') is a on-screen guide to scheduled broadcast television programs, allowing a viewer to navigate, select and discover content by time, title, channel, genre, etc, using their remote control.

The technology is based upon [[broadcasting|broadcasting]] data to an application usually residing within [[middleware]] in a [[set-top box]] which connects to the television set and enables the application to be displayed. The technology is predominant in the [[digital television]] and [[digital radio|radio]] world, but equally EPGs exist that rely upon analogue technology (using the VBI - or [[vertical blanking internalinterval]]). These signals may arrive via [[cable TV]], [[satellite TV]], [[cable radio]], [[satellite radio]], or via over-the-air terrestrial [[broadcast station]]s.

By navigating through an EPG on a receiving device, users can see more information about the current program and about future programs. When EPGs are connected to [[PVR]]s, or Personal Video Recorders they enable a viewer to plan their viewing and record broadcast programs to a hard disk for later viewing.