HDTV Tuners - The way to save your money from buying new TV

Why do you need HDTV Turner?

In 2009 the broadcasting signal for television will change from an Analog signal to a Digital signal, basically changing both the face of television and of history. Some providers are offering coupons to make the change, but the issue remains that if you do not adjust your television to receive this new digital information, or purchase a new TV that is HDTV compatible or ‘ready’, you will be left in the dark.

What is HD TV?

HD TV stands for High Definition Television and it is the most advanced feature in the DTV arena. Its qualities are in the abilities to broadcast programs whose format is widescreen, with pictures featuring high resolution, and with a digital output of pure and refined surround sounds. As the digital era continues to advance our society, it also strives to better the quality of our entertainment. With HD TV, you will be receiving the equivalent quality of picture and sound that you can see in movie theatres.

Do I need to buy a new TV to receive HD signal?

For those of you who love your existing televisions, all you need to do is purchase a converter, or HDTV Tuner, sometimes referred to as top boxes, receivers or decoders, all performing the same function, and pretty much having the same look. HDTV tuners work as specially designed systems that receive and emit HDTV signals.

The signal received by a HDTV tuner is associated with ATSC formats. These signals that are received are decoded before displaying into the HDTV signal. With this high definition signal comes the quality of resolutions associated with the 720p and 1080i, obtaining a 16 to 9 ratio. In general, HDTV tuners can receive any HDTV signals, which includes satellite, cable, broadcast over the air, as well as VHS recordings that are digital, allowing your tuner to work the entire network for you.

HDTV tuners can be used in conjunction with special sets or receivers or simply as an external box. HDTV tuners, which are an external unit, are most often placed between the TV and the antenna. TVs or receivers equipped with internal tuners such as the HDTV sets will not need outer HDTV tuners in order to receive channels associated to standard cable. In the case of Analog and Digital televisions that do not include tuners, any external version of an HDTV tuner will be necessary to take advantage of the HDTV signals.

The costs of these tuners vary as much in price as in variety of brand names. Anywhere from $49.99 US to $400 US, have been advertised throughout the Internet websites. You will need to know what type of TV you currently have and which input and out put connections are available on your set to correctly get the right tuner for your TV.

As they are designed to satisfy different necessities, tuners can provide exclusive characteristics. Such characteristics can be program guides for any channel, setup guides, guides for interactive programs, and so on. Those tuners that are equipped with specific hard drives can record TV programs that are standard digital and HDTV.

So with the options that are available comes the price differentiation. Take a look around, you’ll find not only something that will do what you need, but that will also fit into your budget.

  

HDTV FAQ - What You Should Know About HDTV

On February 17, 2009 all full-power broadcast television stations in the United States will stop broadcasting on analog airwaves and begin broadcasting only in digital. This Digital broadcasting in turn will allow stations to offer improved picture and sound quality as well as additional channels.

Digital Television (DTV) is an advanced broadcasting technology that will simply transform your television viewing experience. DTV enables broadcasters to offer television with better picture and sound quality, multiple programming choices called multicasting, and interactive capabilities.

Converting to DTV also will free up parts of the scarce and valuable broadcast spectrum. Those portions of the spectrum can then be used for other important services, such as public and safety services (police and fire departments, emergency rescue), and advanced wireless services.

The endless question has plagued people over the past year of “What will happen if I don’t do anything?” And I have to say that I love saying this…”You will be left in the dark…ages!” and literally at that. Your TV will simply not receive any information that it can understand, and will remain silent…still…and dark….very dark.

There are two basic reasons for the change to the digital format. First the digital format allows many improvements to be added as time goes on, such as the high tech gadgetry of TV screens that would have multi-media displays. You could watch TV, and view your computer while sending and receiving messages on screen. The uses for digital are endless.

At the same time when the conversion takes place all the old Analog transmitters will be shut off. Then according to the FCC, those frequencies will be sold for use as communication frequencies, use for cell phones data transmission and for other useful resources.

To view HD content, you need a screen that can display the full resolution of the HD content. Some HD ready screens, especially lower-priced plasma screens, can only display 720 lines, so 1080 content has to be down sampled. You also need an HD receiver, for broadcast content, an HD set-top box for cable or satellite HD content, or an HD-DVD or Blu-Ray player for HD content on DVD. VIIV PCs and current Windows Media Centre PCs can receive HDTV with the right tuner. Some HD TVs labelled as ‘HD ready’ have the receiver built in. Since March 2006 all 25-35" sets sold in the US must include an HD tuner, but before you pay extra for it, check how the HD content you want to watch is going to be broadcast.

To connect HD devices together you don't use scart or S video. Although some HD equipment lets you connect via component video or even FireWire, the main connector is High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI). This interface supports high-definition sound too: 8-channel 192kHtz uncompressed audio, as well as Dolby Digital and DTS. HDMI 1.3 will support the new Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD lossless digital audio formats. Confusingly, manufacturers can choose which features of HDMI to implement; if you want a DVD-Audio or SACD connection, check if the HDMI connection on the set you're considering implements it.

For connecting a PC or a high-definition DVD player or set-top box that decodes copy-protected content, you may need High-bandwidth Digital Copy Protection (HDCP). This is a system that applies DRM to a DVI or HDMI connection. The "protected video path" in Windows Vista uses HDCP connections to let you play DRM content but not pirate a copy. Creators of Blu-Ray and HD-DVD discs can choose to set a flag that only lets you play the content in HD via an HDCP connection; if you connect it to a system without HDCP you get a down sampled version instead.