A digital television (DTV) receiver is provided, comprising: a demodulator that demodulates television signals and outputs equalizer training signals in the form of real (I) and imaginary (Q) data; a sync signal detector, and a phase compensator that offsets the phase of the I and Q data based on the phase offset signal and outputs phase adjusted I data under control of the lock control signal. The sync signal detector comprises: a correlator that correlates the equalizer training signals including the I and Q data; a power calculator that calculates the sum of the power of the correlated I and Q data; a comparator that compares (the sum) against a preset threshold and outputs a compare indication signal; a sync lock controller that monitors the compare indication signal and outputs a lock control signal; and a phase calculator that calculates a phase of the equalizer training signals based on the I and Q data and outputs a phase offset signal based on the compare indication signal.