DTV to SDTV

Are you the original poster?

Just get a set-top box that will take the digital broadcasts and output composite or component video out the back.

Or setup a computer with a DVB (the current FTA digital standard) card installed and watch the video on your screen as your working ;o)

The digital conversions are quite simple using ready built hardware that will do the job for you.

No I posted a reply, why do you ask?

Well, the set top boxes are indeed necessary as the characteristics of the digital signal are quite different to the old analogue system. The digital signal is sent on multiple carriers which have to be sorted out by the circuitury in the box, while the analogue signal is a simple amplitude modulation (but with 1 sideband) just like AM radio.

So even the tuner has to have a different detector and has to be followed by suitable circuits.

Actually the digital signal is much the same as the signals used on line for movies, and there of course you need a computer too to sort them out.

In fact you can now buy computer motherboards quite cheaply that will do all the demodulation of a digital signal for you, though they still need an appropriate tuner. Just a few days ago I saw one that also has HDMI and Blueray facilities as well.
It is a fact that worldwide the upgrade from SD to HDTV has been handled very badly indeed. Even in the electronics industry it is hard to find out what is happening and all sorts of opinions and half baked ideas are still flying about. So noone should blame themselves for being confused, even old electronics people like me are!!!

Guest,

The digital signal can put more information into a narrower band width, and with a narrower separation between bands than an analog signal can. When the switch is made to eliminate analog TV signals, this will free-up a significant portion of the increasingly-crowded RF spectrum.

Therefore, the converters' job is to take the digital signal and change it into an analog signal at the channel's original frequency so the analog TV set can work. Fortunately, the US government has included small rebates to individuals or families which want to purchase one of these converters. This is keeping their cost below US$50.00.

--JMM

"Fortunately, the US government has included small rebates to individuals or families which want to purchase one of these converters."

I sent for and received the vouchers several months ago, but decided I would wait until next year to buy the converters so as to be sure they were up-to date. Imagine my frustration when I recently discovered that the vouchers expired 90 days after issuance. Now they are worthless! Why do these vouchers expire so quickly?

Bill Morrow

Inflation

90%+ of us get our TV signal from a cable/sattelite provider whose boxes or cable hook ups (for "basic" service) will convert digital broadcast to analog signal. So, it is a small number of users who will need a converter (and perhaps a new antena?) for the digital broadcast of 1's and 0's. Unfortunately, this small number of people tends to be the least informed...

There are also several PC's with ATSC & NTSC tuners built in. If you live in a broadcast saturated area e.g. NYC or LA and do not wish to pay for the cable/dish (where you do not need any new equipment), then I suppose that you will need the tuner, which will send the correct signal to your TV, digital via HDMI or analog via Component or Composite. If you do not even have composite input, it's time for a new digital TV. I am not sure about "rabbit ears" antenna for digital signal capture but have heard that an amplified antenna's are required as inputs to the digital tuner, which will send the analog signal to the old TV's not able to "see" a signal Feb 2009...

Thanks is good info but I was trying to give a steer to one outside a saturated broadcast market or stuck between protocols of an existing system not wanting a major up grade.

My area is like 'little house on the prairie with Internet'