The present invention relates to a waveform equalizer and a method for controlling the same, as well as a receiving apparatus and a method for controlling the same whereby better receiving characteristics are provided than before.In a filter 28, registers 911 through 915 delay an input DT1; multipliers 920 through 925 multiply outputs from the registers by filter coefficients C20 through C25 respectively; and adders 931 through 935 add up outputs from the multipliers to acquire DT2. A selector 81 either outputs a timing signal at intervals of a symbol period of DT1 to drive the filter 82 as a symbol rate equalizer, or outputs the timing signal at intervals of half the symbol period to operate the filter 82 as a fractionally spaced equalizer. The present invention may be applied to waveform equalizers performing waveform equalization of the input signal.