This is one of those things that most people don't really know enough about when buying a HDTV. There are two types of tuners in TV's: NTSC tuners for standard analog TV reception, and ATSC for digital and HD TV reception. When buying a new model HDTV, you're going to automatically have an ATSC tuner in it, but when you're buying an older HDTV from somewhere like EBAY, then you have to pay attention to whether or not it has an ATSC tuner. You're TV may be capable of displaying HD content, but you'll need a seperate HD receiver (and a UHF antennae) to draw in the over the air (OTA) digital and HD broadcasting. When purchasing a HDTV, always look for whether or not it has an ATSC tuner built in so that you can start enjoying HD programming right out of the box (with your UHF antennae!!!) even if you choose not to subscribe to your cable/satellite HD programming.
Guide created: 07/03/07 (updated 10/12/09)


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