HDTV Tuner of High Definition Television
High definition television is the recent trend in television broadcasting system and home theatre system. Innovation in technology has made cinema-like viewing possible in homes. With HDTV, it is now possible to watch programs on a wider screen. The quality of resolution is also superior to traditional television which makes the viewing clearer and the images more vivid.
Since the introduction of high definition television in 1998, many buyers have been considering purchasing this kind of television system which can display programs in HDTV signals well as analog standard TV signals. It is a digital television that can also display progressive scan DVD.
It may still be possible to view programs on high definition television from analog format. HDTV may come in built-in HDTV tuner. Thus, there would be no problems for the HD television set to receive programs in digital or analog format.
HDTV tuner is a device that can be found integrated in a television set that can display high definition content. It allows a high definition television to display programs broadcasted over by a digital television broadcasting company. Even if HDTV is capable of displaying digital content, it would still need an HDTV tuner for a high definition television to receive digital signals.
HDTV tuner is capable in generating video and audio signals from over-the-air digital television broadcasts. It can provide several functions such as: transport stream demultiplexing, demodulation, error correction, decompression, analog to digital conversion, media reformatting and AV synchronization. These functions would enable HDTV to display programs coming from analog and digital formats clearer and to have quality picture and sound performance display.
Not all HDTV produced nowadays have an integrated HDTV tuner. If the HD television set may come with no specification of integrated HDTV, thus, it is HDTV ready or HDTV compatible. It would require a stand-alone HDTV tuner for the television set to be capable of displaying digital programs with synchronized audio and video signals.
A stand-alone HDTV tuner is also a called set-top box. Cable or satellite companies may provide this device if you purchase a HD package. It is possible to watch cable programs that normally come in digital format with the use of a set-top box.
However, if you opt to receive signals over the air from television broadcasting system, you may have to acquire an external HDTV tuner and an antenna so the TV set will be able to display programs with clear images and sounds.
Aside from set-top box, HDTV tuner is also called ATSC tuner. These terms may be used interchangeably.
There will come a time when all televisions will have built-in HDTV tuner replacing the NSTC tuner in traditional televisions. This could be possible as many countries are shifting or have plans to change its broadcasting system from analog to digital format.
