How to View Digital Television
There are three ways to watch DTV. The first is to use an integrated digital TV; one with a built-in digital television tuner. The second is to connect an external DTV set-top receiver to a DTV-ready television or monitor. This type of TV or monitor will have wideband compo- nent video and stereo audio inputs. You can also watch DTV signals with personal comput- er (PC) tuner cards and computer monitors.
1. Integrated TVs versus DTV-ready TVs and monitors
The advantage of an integrated DTV set is that it can tune both analog and digital TV chan- nels at the same time. All you'll need to do is add an external antenna and you are ready to watch DTV.
However, integrated DTV sets are not as common as DTV-ready TVs and monitors. If you already own a DTV-ready TV with either component video, DVI or HDMI inputs, you can enjoy DTV broadcsts by simply adding a low-cost DTV set-top receiver and antenna.
2. Using your existing analog TV set
Your analog TV set can be used to view down-converted DTV broadcasts by connecting the DTV set-top receiver to your composite (yellow RCA jack) or S-video (black circular jack) AV inputs, as well as connecting stereo audio inputs. While the picture quality won't be as good as you'd see on a DTV-ready TV set, it will be as good or slightly better than analog TV broadcasts.
3. Using a personal computer and monitor
There are plug-in cards available that will receive and display DTV broadcasts on your computer monitor. In addition, many computer monitors will display one or more of the DTV program formats directly. The most compatible format is 480p, which is similar to the VGA (640x480 pixel) computer display standard. You may be able to watch DTV broad- casts by connecting a computer monitor to the 15-pin jack on the rear of the set-top DTV receiver.