Some Internet Service Providers throttle video streaming traffic without telling their customers.If you are using a Wifi connection, be sure to check out our 9 easy steps to improve your Wifi for Streaming.Check out our recommended Routers for Streaming. Use a modern Router that has advanced features like QoS to prioritize video content.
What kinds of channels, as well as the number of channels you’ll be receiving, is dependent on where you live.Īre your streams loading too slow? Getting constant buffering? Not able to stream at full resolution? Check out these tips to improve your streaming experience:
With a digital converter box, your TV will be able to pick up these signals and access public television channels for free. These OTA channels are broadcasted from signal towers many miles away. There are however a few channels that you will be able to get for free.Įvery major area has what’s called OTA or Over The Air programming. If you don’t have cable or satellite set up and are only using your digital converter box then you won’t be able to get as many channels as with a paid subscription to a service. What Channels Can You Receive With a Digital Converter Box?
If any of the above terms show up or if the manual lists it under the features section then your TV will not require a digital converter box.
If you could not find any stickers on your set then feel free to look up the owner’s manual that came with your Smart TV. If you see a sticker that says anything like “Digital Tuner” or “Digital Receiver” or even anything like “HDTV,” “DTV” or “ATSC” then you can be sure that it has a digital tuner. They are usually located on the back of the casing but are sometimes placed on the front. If you have a Smart TV and you want to verify if it has a digital tuner then there are a couple of things you can do.įirst check your actual TV set for any stickers. $56.99 How do I know if my TV has a digital tuner? Notice the difference? That means that not all Smart TVs are also digital TVs, even though most of them are. A digital TV is essentially one with a built-in digital tuner. This is because Smart TVs and Digital TVs are not necessarily the same thing.Ī Smart TV is a television that can access the internet and have certain apps downloaded onto it, much like a smartphone. While the vast majority of Smart TVs do have built-in digital tuners, a small minority do not. Believe it or not, this is not actually the case. Are All Smart TVs Digital Ready?īecause Smart TVs are a relatively new phenomenon compared to how old TV sets actually are, one may assume that all Smart TVs are already digital-ready and don’t require a digital converter box. So if you own an ‘HD ready’ TV that was made in 2003, it may end up requiring a digital converter box. HD-ready TVs mean that they are capable of higher resolutions but only with external applications like digital converters. It’s important to note a distinction between full HD TVs and televisions that are labeled as HD-ready. High definition TVs made after 2005 are almost guaranteed to be digital-ready. Generally speaking, newer TVs made from the past decade are very likely to be digital-ready as most high definition television sets are made with built-in digital tuners that do not require the external box.Ĭhecking the year that your TV set was manufactured is another way to check if your TV is already digital-ready. There are a few general rules of thumb to follow to know if your TV requires a digital converter box. How Do You Know if You Need a Digital Converter Box? Even today many people who use a cable service still use these cable boxes. These were colloquially referred to as ‘cable boxes’ but they really were just the most popular kind of digital converter boxes around. Not too long ago it was common for the majority of households to use these digital converter boxes that were given to them by a cable provider upon signing up for a subscription. This allows television sets that are not designed with certain electronic components to be able to receive digital or electronic signals from certain content providers like cable television.