science

Red Button (digital television)

Red Button (digital television) is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Red Button (digital television) rather than just read about it. In short: The Red Button is a push-button on the remote control for certain digital television set top boxes in the UK, Australia, Belgium, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand and by DirecTV and Comcast in the United States. It is for interactive television services such as BBC Red Button and Astro (Malaysia).

Key takeaways

Red Button (digital television) belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Red Button (digital television) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Red Button (digital television) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Red Button is a push-button on the remote control for certain digital television set top boxes in the UK, Australia, Belgium, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand and by DirecTV and Comcast in the United States. It is for interactive television services such as BBC Red Button and Astro (Malaysia). When interactive programmes are broadcast a Press Red icon will appear on the television screen. Accreditation for the protocols behind what were originally known as 'side channels' is commonly given to London-based Entertainments Consultancy company 'Southbank UK' (now disbanded).

Red Button in the UK Sky UK previously used a video of a dog and a duck playing together and saying "press the red button" to promote the red button to its viewers. Pop Idol used the red button as a voting device. The feature also enables several different feeds from an event, thereby enabling viewers to select between events or sporting matches that may be taking place simultaneously. For example, when the 2006 FIFA World Cup was aired, viewers could choose to view matches from multiple camera angles, or hear an alternate commentary.

Red Button in other places Hong Kong's TVB uses the Red Button to access TVBar, an interactive service on TVB Finance & Information Channel and TVB J2. The United States' DirecTV satellite service utilizes the Red Button in certain interactive capacities, such as for instance, bringing up the "ScoreGuide", a list of sports matches and scores being played at that instant, on a sports network like ESPN. However, for older boxes from about 2006-2014, the red button was mainly used for guide functions in conjunction with three other colored buttons, much like Sky Digital; the newest remote that DirecTV has started to offer alongside their new "Genie" whole-home DVR only has the red button, while the other buttons' functions were relegated to other keys. DirecTV is the only TV provider in the US to provide red button services; other providers do offer interactive services, but do not use a red button (such as rival Dish Network and IPTV provider Verizon Fios), and still others do not offer much in the way of interactivity.

See also Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV)

References

External links Jane Hoskyn (2006-06-01). "How to take advantage of interactive TV services: Press the red button to find out how interactive applications can change the way you watch the box". Computeract!ve. VNU Business Publications. Archived from the original on 2012-03-30.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Red Button (digital television)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Red Button (digital television) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Red Button (digital television) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Red Button (digital television) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Red Button (digital television)

In research: Red Button (digital television) appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Red Button (digital television) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Red Button (digital television) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Interactive television, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Red Button (digital television) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Red Button (digital television) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Red Button (digital television) means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Red Button (digital television) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Red Button (digital television) in simple terms?

Why does Red Button (digital television) matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Red Button (digital television)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Red Button (digital television).