A timing recovery apparatus and method for a digital TV is disclosed. The timing recovery apparatus includes: a symbol synchronization unit for determining the bandwidth of a timing recovery loop in a plurality of steps according to a convergence degree; and a timing lock detector for detecting a lock using a reference value calculated by the envelope of a timing error, whereby the envelope of the timing error calculated according to a channel state is used as a reference value for thereby preventing a lock error and assuring a rapid and accurate convergence characteristic.