Your HDTV doesn't live in a vacuum. An essential step when choosing an HDTV is to find a model that works within the confines of your home. That means making sure your HDTV can work with
- Your chosen source of HDTV signals
- Your analog (NTSC) TV signal source
- Your existing video-source devices, such as a DVD player, VCR, or home theater
Accessing your HDTV channels
To get the most out of your HDTV, you need to be able to receive HDTV channels. What you need to make this reception work depends on what kind of HDTV you have (or are buying):
- HDTV: A true HDTV contains a built-in ATSC tuner, which can receive over-the-air (OTA) HDTV broadcasts.
- HDTV-Ready TVs: These TVs can produce HDTV images on-screen, but they don't have an internal ATSC tuner. You need some sort of external tuner to pick up HDTV broadcasts.
So what do you need? Well, for openers . . .
- If you want to watch HDTV from cable or satellite sources, you may need the appropriate cable box or satellite receiver connected to your HDTV.
- If you're going to watch OTA HDTV channels, you need two things:
• An HDTV antenna to receive the broadcast signals
• An HDTV tuner (either built into your HDTV, or a separate tuner) to tune into the HDTV channels
Getting your analog channels
Just because you buy an HDTV doesn't mean you can watch only HDTV stations with it. HDTVs are backward-compatible with NTSC (the old analog TV system). You can watch the analog channels and also preserve your investment in NTSC source devices like DVD players, VCRs, and laser discs.
Most HDTVs - whether or not they contain an ATSC tuner - contain an NTSC analog TV tuner. That way you can plug in an antenna feed and pick up all your local NTSC broadcasts. In most cases, you can also tune in to analog cable broadcasts with this NTSC tuner.
If you've got an external ATSC tuner for OTA HDTV, it probably also has an NTSC tuner.
Working with your other sources
Chances are very good that you plan to connect more than just HDTV and analog TV broadcasts to your new HDTV. You may want to watch DVDs and videotapes, play video games, and so on.
There are two bits of good news here:
- All HDTVs are compatible with the NTSC signals that these devices may put out.
- Most HDTVs include plenty of inputs on the back (or side, or front) of the HDTV set to accommodate these devices.
Inputs galore! You really don't have to worry about "will my 1982 Betamax work with my 2006-model HDTV?" It does - as long as that beautiful old Betamax itself is still operating (and there's a whole underground world of Betamax enthusiasts to keep you up and running!).
But you need to count the devices that you have (or anticipate getting) and group them together by the type of inputs that they use. Then compare these numbers to the number of inputs on your HDTV. Here's a basic list (in order of connection quality, from best to worst):
- Digital inputs: You probably have only one of these (DVI or HDMI) on your HDTV; your HDTV tuner/cable box/satellite receiver or DVD player may use these inputs.
- Component video inputs: You may have a couple of these on your HDTV. Your HDTV tuner, DVD player, and game console (Xbox or PlayStation) can use these.
- S-video inputs: You probably have a bunch of these (and you need them) on your HDTV; your DVD player, VCR, game console, digital cable box, satellite receiver, camcorder, and even PC (yes, PC!) are just a few of the devices that can use this connection.
- Composite video inputs: You also have a bunch of these; everything in this list can use this connection method.
If you run out of inputs of a certain type (like component video) and have to use the next one down the list, you lose a bit of video quality. Therefore it can be important, if you have a lot of gear, to choose an HDTV with the most digital, component video, or S-video connections, if at all possible.
You can get by with fewer inputs on the HDTV if you use a home theater receiver that provides high-definition video-switching functionality. Basically, you can route everything into the back of your receiver and then use just a couple of cables to connect the receiver to your HDTV. You may find a receiver a great way to deal with running out of the proper kind of inputs on your HDTV.
