More recently, about half a century ago, residents of large cities when watching television broadcasts had a very limited choice. It was four, maximum five television programs. Residents of small towns or villages could view even less. The picture quality on TVs at this reception was, to put it mildly, not very good.
With the advent of the 21st century, the era of digital television is gradually coming. This is at the beginning of satellite television, and after it, cable. Gradually, progress moves further and even on-air digital television appears. But, to receive such channels, it also required new equipment - these are digital television receivers, which people simply call a TV tuner.
This is a separate device that connects to the TV. In the future, the TV manufacturers decided to introduce the functions of this device into television receivers. So there was an internal television tuner.
What is a TV tuner in a TV
The content of the article
- What is a TV tuner in a TV
- What can a TV tuner do
- How to choose it correctly
- Useful information about internal tuners
- What you need to know about external tuners
What is a TV tuner for a TV?
Important to remember, that the TV tuner is a separate functional unit designed to receive a digital signal.
Moreover, the TV also has a unit for receiving a conventional analog signal. Which allows the viewer to choose which network to connect to, or you can both of them at once. The second thing to note is that the digital signal allows the television set to display high definition images.
This is especially important if the size of the TV is large enough. The standard analog signal on such a device transmits very poor image quality.
What can a TV tuner do
The TV tuner is a pretty smart device. Its main feature is providing access to hundreds of high-quality television channels. Although its main function is the selection and viewing of digital quality signals, being a high-tech device, it allows you to perform many more useful functions.
Since most channels are encoded, the tuner provides the ability to decode such signals using special passwords. Also very useful for viewers is the ability to preview multiple channels simultaneously. Many tuners allow previews of eight or more pre-programmed channels. And some devices even allow you to perform an alarm function.
How to choose it correctly
What is a TV receiver?
Among other things, atit is important to remember TVs are available to receive a wide variety of television signals.
And many countries have their own television standards not only for analogue but also for digital television. If the viewer buys an imported TV with a TV tuner, he needs to find out the question for receiving which signal this device is designed for. Since in the opposite case, watching TV programs will be impossible.
If we talk about analog television, then most television sets have a unified system for adjusting the received signal. And regardless in what format the PAL, SECAM or NTSI signal will be transmitted, the TV decodes it. With a digital signal, the situation is different; the tuner will not be able to decode various digital television systems. Therefore, it is important to find out what signal the tuner is designed for and what signal the viewer plans to receive.
Useful information about internal tuners
So, let's look at what kind of coding systems for a television digital signal can be, and which can be used in our territory. In today's world of television, there are three main digital groups, these are:
- DVB
- ATSC
- ISDB.
Consider each of these groups and decide in which cases, which one is used.
What is a TV box for a TV? The so-called European standard for digital television. The most famous and used standard by providers in our country. Moreover, it is only the general name of a group of sub-standards developed on its basis, and this:
- DVB-C is the main standard for cable television. If you plan to use your TV for this purpose, then the tuner must support this particular standard;
- DVB-C2 is the second generation of the same standard, with improved noise immunity;
- DVB-S satellite television. In the presence of receiving equipment allows you to view satellite channels of various providers;
- DVB-S2 High Definition Satellite Image Transmission Standard;
- DVB-T terrestrial digital television;
- DVB-T is the second generation of the previous high definition standard. Therefore, when buying a TV, you should decide which source of the digital signal it will be connected to.
What is an ATSC Standard TV receiver? This is the American standard for digital television in our country is practically not applied, therefore television receivers equipped with a tuner with such a standard in our conditions will be completely useless.
The Japanese ISDB Standard for Digital Broadcasting with roughly the same utility as the American one. But in all these types of television receivers there is one, but an important advantage, is the quality of the reproduced signal. So what to do if the TV is already there, but the standard does not fit?
What you need to know about external tuners
In this case, external tuners are used. Due to the fact that they are connected to the TV by a low-frequency signal, they will help the viewer to watch any necessary channels. But it will also be necessary to select the tuner for the type of television broadcasting that the viewer needs.
In order not to get into trouble when buying a TV with a digital tuner, it is important to find out what standard you as a buyer need and what capabilities this device has.
