New Features; Digital Tuner - Panasonic PT-47WXD63 Technical Manual

New Features

Digital tuner

Built in Set Top Box
The built in Set Top Box is designed to receive NTSC and ATSC television
broadcast. The ATSC reception includes High Definition TV (HDTV) and
Standard Definition TV (SDTV). Each consists of many formats. The well-known
NTSC system is not included among the DTV formats. DTV is based on a new
set of standards developed by the Advanced Television Systems Committee
(ATSC). All formats used in digital TV exhibit a highly improved picture quality in
conjunction with five channels of CD quality audio and one low frequency effects
(LFE) channel. This new digital tuner also provides the NTSC video output for the
main picture. It is a hybrid tuner that processes NTSC and ATSC terrestrial
broadcast for reproduction on the TV screen. DTV transmission started in the fall
of 1998. A total transition to DTV is to be completed by 2007.
ATSC (Advanced Television System Committee) is the organization that governs
digital television terrestrial broadcasting. The television broadcast is in
digital form requiring the use of a digital TV tuner.
OpenCable - Cable digital is a concerted effort by North American cable
operators to:
• Provide next-generation digital cable-ready devices;
• Encourage supplier competition;
• Create a common platform for advanced interactive cable services; and
• Create a retail hardware platform.
One of the OpenCable project's goals has been to standardize the cable network
interface, which will help to enable a retail market for competitively priced digital
cable products (e.g., integrated DTV's, set-top boxes). As part of this effort, the
OpenCable specifications define an interface to a removable CableCARD™
module that separates the cable operator's proprietary conditional access system
from the retail digital cable device (a "host"), thereby enabling portability of the
host to other cable networks.
The OpenCable project has developed two key sets of specifications: one for
hardware components, and one for software components.
The hardware specifications allow a digital cable product that is sold at retail to
provide portability. It includes specifications for a host device, a copy protection
system including security and user authentication, and a CableCARD
module/host interface. This means that if a consumer purchases a set-top box or
an integrated DTV in New York and then relocates to Los Angeles, that set-top-
box or integrated DTV will be operational with the new regional cable provider's
equipment.
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