atsc vs. ntsc - what's the difference? (1 Viewer)

[Ted Lee]

hi all -

i noticed some of the tv's we sell are listed as atsc/ntsc compatible. anybody know the diff? doesn't atsc has some different formats used for hd?

thx!

edit: oops...i mean to put this in the display devices forum...if a mod sees this would he mind moving it?

 

[Mike Slade]

ATSC is for digital television. Their standards can be found at www.atsc.org/standards.html

 

[Elinor]

Yes, and NTSC is the current standard def. 480i format.

 

[Ted Lee]

thx all!

one other q - do these standards have anything to do with the delivery method? ota, cable, satellite, etc?

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

No. The standard used depends on the source material and the capabilities of the receiver. OTA, cable, satellite (DVD and VHS, for that matter) currently send NTSC signals (in North America) to the majority of sets that can only handle NTSC. Optionally all of them (well, except DVD at the moment) are also capable of delivering ATSC, PAL or other standards, digital or analog, with various resolutions. The delivery method/medium is related to the standard only insofar as it can inherently support the resolution of the standard. (Regular DVD and VHS can't handle hi-def resolutions, for instance.)

Regards,

Joe

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Really? They can't broadcast PAL and SECAM in Europe or transmit via satellite? There must be a lot of honked-off Brits and Euros over there.

Granted the discussion was primarily about North American TV, but I mentioned the other standards to make a broader point about how transmission method (OTA, cable) and medium (DVD, VHS) are not directly related to television standard.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Allan Jayne]

ATSC compatible means it has a built in U.S. over the air HDTV channel selector and can tune in 1080i and 720p and also the SDTV (non-hi-def) digital broadcasts. NTSC compatible means it has a built in U.S. analog broadcast channel selector. (PAL compatible; has a European analog broadcast tuner)

If you are using cable TV or satellite TV including hi-def, the ATSC tuner does not get used. The NTSC tuner may or may not be used depending on whether the feed comes in as channel 3 or 4 (yes), or as component or composite video or DVI or HDMI (no).

By the time the video, including PAL if accepted, gets to the screen it is usually ends up as one format using conversion if needed (generally 1080i for CRT, 720p for DLP or LCD, or maybe not matching any of the inputs for example 768p).

Video hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/video.htm

Both 1080i and 720p ATSC occupy 6 MHz when transmitted over the air or on cable/satellite (37 MHz upon arrival at the picture tube if not compromised). For various technical reasons including the fact that adjacent channels are in use, cable TV HDTV is further compressed, does not use the ATSC transmission standard, and is almost always further compromised in quality.

 

[Ted Lee]

thx guys..that cleared up a lot of my questions. i appreciate it.

 

[kahlilJ]

this is a question i have only recently began wondering about: does a tv with an onboard ATSC tuner also have NTSC tuning capability? i thought that they were 2 separate tuners i.e. a TV might have either NTSC OR ATSC OR both. & if it has both then it literally had 2 individual tuners. i have been looking for tv's that advertise having both.

I was in store recently & the sales assistant used a sony tv with an ATSC tuner onboard which was connected to their cable. he disconnected the cable feed & connected a regular antenna to it. It received NTSC channels!!

now i am confused. does anyone have a TV with an ATSC tuner & can verify that is also gets NTSC? do these tv's have 2 tuners then or is it only one (the ATSC which also gets NTSC)???

thanks,
kgj