Digital format for music and video that beams high-powered signals across North America from satellites orbiting above the equator to 18-inch satellite dishes providing a wide range of programming in a high-quality digital format. irect broadcast satellites orbit Earth 22,300 miles above the equator. The satellites are in a geostationary orbit meaning that the satellites are always broadcasting to the same area of the globe at all times (the satellites circle the Earth at the same speed the Earth spins so that the satellites are always facing the same part of the globe). he direct broadcast satellites beam down from their orbits a high-powered signal in a broad spectrum of radio frequencies. The small 18-inch satellite dishes receive the signal and transfer it to a decoder box in the home. The decoder box then decodes the digital data and supplies an analog video and audio signal to the video display and audio system. irect broadcast satellite dishes are pointed in a stationary direction facing south at a certain angle to the horizon (the angle varies depending on your position in the country). Because the satellites transmitting the signals remain stationary in respect to a point on Earth, the dishes do not need to track them and can instead remain stationary themselves. he digital video and audio feed from a direct broadcast satellite is encoded with MPEG-2 compression. This compression scheme allows the satellites to transmit excellent quality pictures with around 400 lines of horizontal resolution along with digital sound similar in quality to CDs. The satellites are able to offer hundreds of channels of programming from pay-per-view movies to traditional cable channels. he primary disadvantage of direct broadcast satellites is their inability to provide local programming. Since they broadcast the same signal over a wide swath covering North America, the signal is the same in Maine as it is in Seattle. In order to receive local television broadcasts (mostly the major networks and any independent stations in a particular location), a user needs an antenna or a basic cable feed. he term direct broadcast satellite covers a range of satellite products including DSS (which offers programming through DirecTV) and the Dish Network (which provides programming through Dish). Both of these systems use the small 18-inch dishes and receive similar quality programming. Another alternative, Primestar, operates on the same principal as DSS and Dish, but it uses a 24-inch wide dish and is offered through local cable companies. DSS and Dish equipment (the satellite dish and the receiver/decoder) must be purchased while Primestar hardware is rented. ach of the services feature an on-screen television guide that shows what programs are playing on each channel for the next 24 or more hours and provides information on each of the programs. Direct broadcast satellites provide the best quality broadcast programming available outside of digital television and namely HDTV.