What Does A Digital Tuner Do? Does It Give You Hd Channels For Hd Tv?
January 31, 2010 by admin
Filed under Frequently Asked Questions
Because I just bought a new 32 inch LCD tv and it comes with a digital tuner. My family has time warner cable, but the box is on the other side of the house and the old LCD tv I had was great but the cable was not in HD, just video games and dvds. So what does a does a digital tuner do?
There are three types of tuners in modern TV sets.
NTSC: The old style North American analog TV signals.
ATSC: The North American over the air digital standard.
QAM: The North American cable digital standard.
To get HD, you must have an HD source. Many over the air TV stations (that you would receive with an antenna) are broadcasting in HD. If it’s there, you will get it with the ATSC tuner in your set.
The same is true of cable. If it’s there you will get it with the QAM tuner in your set. The operative phrase is “if it’s there”. Many cable systems will not supply a digital or HD signal to a subscriber unless the subscriber purchases an HD package. The set will be able to receive the digital and HD programming that is in the clear, however the cable company’s box is required for premium channels and pay per view channels.