Audio Video News

Although more and more high-definition displays now come with integrated over-the-air terrestrial Digital TV tuners (and some with Digital Cable Card slots), there are still plenty of HDTV Monitors with no Digital TV tuning capabilities whatsoever sitting in people's living rooms. At some point, be it 2006 or 2106 depending on when the FCC and Congress have the gumption to mandate that all analog TV broadcasting must cease and desist, owners of tuner-less HDTV Monitors will need to add some sort of DTV tuner if they want to enjoy all the glorious entertainment that local network television affiliates so graciously provide to a thankful and devoted public (in return for sitting through endless and insufferable advertisements).

Eager to do its civic duty by providing an inexpensive way to access free, local HD broadcasts, Humax (the self-described "Easy-Digital" company) is now offering one of the most affordable ATSC Digital TV tuners yet.

Priced at $229 MSRP, the Humax HFA100 is designed "to alleviate the complexity once associated with using similar type products." The new DTV tuner is said to incorporate an "intuitive" on-screen set-up guide, a seven-day electronic program guide (EPG), an automatic channel scan function that identifies and assigns all available DTV channels and locks them into the tuner's memory, along with direct channel access, aspect ratio control, and parental lock out capabilities. (Most teenagers would love to lock their parents out of the house, but I suspect that's not what this feature does...) The EPG can be customized by choosing full-screen or partial-screen display.

Compatible with all of the ATSC Digital TV formats, the Korean-made HFA100 offers selectable output resolution (including 1080i, 720p, and 480p) in order to match the native resolution of the display being used with Humax's new DTV tuner. The HFA100 is equipped with component video, RGB, and HDMI with HDCP outputs so it can be connected to the majority of EDTV and HDTV Monitors sold to date. The back panel also includes S-video and composite analog video outputs. Simultaneous DTV and analog (S-video) output capability makes it possible to use the unit with more than one monitor - so you can watch digital broadcasts on your new and old TVs. The HFA100 also offers an optical Dolby Digital audio output as well as analog audio outputs.

Humax says the HFA100 DTV Tuner is available for sale immediately.