RF modulator

However, they tend to produce lower image quality than a baseband connection due to losses during the modulation and demodulation process.

When equipment was developed which could use a television receiver as its display device, such as VCRs, DVD players, early home computers, and video game consoles, the signal was modulated and sent to the RF input connector.

Consumer audiovisual devices sold in North America typically shipped with a modulator allowing for use on analog channels 3 and 4.

The choice allowed the user to select the unused channel in their area so that the connected device would be able to provide video and audio on an RF feed to the television without excessive interference from a broadcast signal.

For example, equipment sold in Europe, South Africa and Hong Kong used UHF channels 30–39 for this purpose.

[3] RF modulators are commonly integrated into VCRs, in video game consoles up to and including the fourth generation, and in 8- and 16-bit home computers.

[citation needed] RF modulators may also be used to take the audio and video signal from a PAL or NTSC composite video, RGB, YUV or other composite AV source, and generate a broadcast RF signal that can be fed into a television's aerial/coaxial connector.

Audio/video outputs from source devices such as a DVD player, VCR, or DSS receiver are connected to the audio/video inputs on the modulator.

When the TV is tuned to the programmed channel, the video and audio signal of the source device is accessed.