poor mystic
- Apr 8, 2011
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Hi Chuckd
Not that I have an answer for your question right off but what experience/knowledge do you have right now? Also, what kind of TV tuner? PAL, NTSC, or some digital protocol?
Not that I have an answer for your question right off but what experience/knowledge do you have right now? Also, what kind of TV tuner? PAL, NTSC, or some digital protocol?
Hello poor mystic,
I am a recent EE grad but have no experience working on TVs. I would like to experiment with building a set top TV tuner as a learning project. I think that it would be a digital protocol. I would like for it to be compatible with a typical coaxial cable TV service and a modern TV.
Thanks for the reply,
Chuck
I am a recent EE grad but have no experience working on TVs. I would like to experiment with building a set top TV tuner as a learning project. I think that it would be a digital protocol. I would like for it to be compatible with a typical coaxial cable TV service and a modern TV.
Thanks for the reply,
Chuck
poor mystic
- Apr 8, 2011
- 1,106
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2011
- Messages
- 1,106
Hi Chuckd (and Timothy) 
It's not so easy to know what you need here, Chuckd.
I wonder what you mean by saying you are an EE grad? How long did you study for that qualification, and was the course at a university? Was there any emphasis on research?
I ask these questions because the level of your own question is not appropriate to the people I know who are fully qualified as Electrical Engineers. Of course it may be that you do have very high level qualifications in a related but not inclusive field, but I cannot imagine what that field could be.
Now as to your question.
Once upon a time there were just 2 common protocols or formats in which television signals were encoded (PAL and NTSC). By modern standards, these were quite simple encoding systems, which were purely analogue and relied on circuit elements like filters and ramp generators for their function.
In those days the circuit elements I have mentioned were quite high technology. (There were no such things as op-amps, no logic gates and no microprocessors.) So it was a while before books appeared about how amateurs could build their own TV tuners. I think Newnes Techbooks might have been among the first to publish a book like that.
Now the situation is quite different. There are more methods by which television is encoded and transmiited than there are letters in the alphabet. (At a guess.) You said: "I would like for it to be compatible with a typical coaxial cable TV service and a modern TV". How can one TV tuner encompass all these protocols?
I don't thing there is such a beast, unless it belongs to the American NSA who are reputed to have eveything you can think of, including billions of dollars to pay for it.
When I saw your first post I wondered which of the 2 common analogue protocols you'd be working to. I thought the project big but do-able. Now I feel doubt. I think you need to decide exactly what you are doing. It's a weird truth that when your study toward making your decision is complete you will have your design. Knowing exactly what you want is a very large step toward getting what you want. (We mystic philosophers are always thinking like that!)
Probably one of the best resources for studying the subject of these arcane protocols, that can be found on the internet, is Wikipedia. I suggest that you read what you find there so that you have more of an idea of what it is that you want to do.
Timothy has posted a list of TV formats that might be worth looking at for a start.
It's not so easy to know what you need here, Chuckd.
I wonder what you mean by saying you are an EE grad? How long did you study for that qualification, and was the course at a university? Was there any emphasis on research?
I ask these questions because the level of your own question is not appropriate to the people I know who are fully qualified as Electrical Engineers. Of course it may be that you do have very high level qualifications in a related but not inclusive field, but I cannot imagine what that field could be.
Now as to your question.
Once upon a time there were just 2 common protocols or formats in which television signals were encoded (PAL and NTSC). By modern standards, these were quite simple encoding systems, which were purely analogue and relied on circuit elements like filters and ramp generators for their function.
In those days the circuit elements I have mentioned were quite high technology. (There were no such things as op-amps, no logic gates and no microprocessors.) So it was a while before books appeared about how amateurs could build their own TV tuners. I think Newnes Techbooks might have been among the first to publish a book like that.
Now the situation is quite different. There are more methods by which television is encoded and transmiited than there are letters in the alphabet. (At a guess.) You said: "I would like for it to be compatible with a typical coaxial cable TV service and a modern TV". How can one TV tuner encompass all these protocols?
I don't thing there is such a beast, unless it belongs to the American NSA who are reputed to have eveything you can think of, including billions of dollars to pay for it.
When I saw your first post I wondered which of the 2 common analogue protocols you'd be working to. I thought the project big but do-able. Now I feel doubt. I think you need to decide exactly what you are doing. It's a weird truth that when your study toward making your decision is complete you will have your design. Knowing exactly what you want is a very large step toward getting what you want. (We mystic philosophers are always thinking like that!)
Probably one of the best resources for studying the subject of these arcane protocols, that can be found on the internet, is Wikipedia. I suggest that you read what you find there so that you have more of an idea of what it is that you want to do.
Timothy has posted a list of TV formats that might be worth looking at for a start.
