HDTV Tuner for Plasma TV (1 Viewer)

[Jeff Magdziarz]

I just got an HDTV tuner to go with my Plasma television, which was not HD. What is the tuner going to do for the TV?

 

[Colin-H]

If your TV is HDTV-compatible, it means that the monitor is capable of displaying high-definition video if it is provided an HD video signal. Your monitor does not have the capability to produce this signal from a raw source, such as a cable or antenna feed. It expects a pre-processed signal from an HD source like a OTA tuner, HD satellite or cable receiver, or a D-VHS deck. The monitor doesn't care what the source is; if it's fed a valid video stream, HD or otherwise, the monitor will display the video on the screen. (I say monitor because the plasma screen and the HDTV tuner combined form the television system; "television" implies the entire process from the transmission of the source from a central location to the display of that source on your screen.)

The tuner will pick a selected over-the-air (OTA) digital signal (say you want channel 3, it will pick channel 3 from all the information passing through the air), decode the signal, and pass the video information to your monitor (as component video, usually) and the audio information to your receiver (or TV).

Analog TVs typically have built-in tuners. If you have, say, a digital cable box, that functions as an external tuner for a cable signal (you change the channels with the cable box, then it passes the video signal through to the TV) much like an HDTV tuner functions as a tuner for digital OTA signals.

 

[jeff peterson]

I didn't know there were non-HD plasma televisions out there? Why did you buy an HDTV tuner if you didn't know what it did?

 

[jeff peterson]

I think I see...your TV is probably HD ready so you need an HDTV tuner to make it a complete HDTV.

 

[Mike I]

There are some plasma sets that only are only 480p progressive..An HD Tuner will allow you to receive HD broadcasts but you will not get the full benifit of HD quality..The tuner can down convert HD signals to 480p which still will be a much better picure than analog ntsc but not near the quality of hd.

 

[Scott_AH]

Best Buy has a couple plamas that are only enhanced-def. One of theirs, a Pillips I think, claims to be hi-def but its max vertical resolution is 1054. Doesn't it have to be 1080 to display hi-def?

Scott