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09-22-2011, 07:48 PM
ieee488 ieee488 is offline
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It seems that the tuner gets confused by the subchannels.

I set the timer to record on 11.3 This TV, and I recorded nothing. This has happened more than once. Now it is starting to annoy me.

Even when I am manually tuning to a channel using the remote, it seems to have trouble locking to a channel.

I'll push the Channel Up button and it will scan to 11.5 then when I push the Channel Up button again, it will tune back to 11.1.

I don't get this.

My LG TV doesn't have any trouble with the same signal. They are both connected to the same splitter.
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  #2  
09-22-2011, 08:57 PM
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Unlike analog channels, digital signals are not really locked to a specific channel frequency. For example, "Channel 4" (analog) was truly located at 66-72 MHz in the VHF spectrum. If it was "Channel 4", then it was always there. It could not be found within any other frequency (excluding bleed-through, which sometimes happened, and is the reason you could hear some TV stations over a radio).

Digital signals, on the other hand, are mapped -- not based on a frequency location. Problems occur, however, when the device responsible for decoding the digital channels does not do proper mapping. For example, where I am, Channel 17.1 will map to 80.1 on my HDTV, 80.3 on an SDTV with a DTV/ATSC tuner, and 17.1 on a Philips DVD recorder. So out of three devices, two get it wrong. This is a common issue.

So the channel may be available on your DVD recorder, but mapped to another channel assignment entirely. You'll have to scan the digital channels, and then manually flip through them one by one, to see where they're located.

Even if the channel is located in the proper spot today, it can move tomorrow. That's less common, but it can happen if you receive ATSC over cable.

Furthermore, DTV (ATSC) signals can sometimes drop out based on weather, cloud cover, etc. When that happens, you get nothing. Not snow, as we had in the analog days -- not even a partial signal (video under snow). Nothing. As if the channel doesn't even exist. I've run into this a few times myself, with channels that are broadcasted from about 35 miles away.

I can't receive Retro TV or This TV from my location. The channels are here in this market, but I'm too far away from the weak power transmission towers. I'd have to be within 20-25 miles of the antenna, and I'm out just a tad further. My geography is also not friendly to DTV era television signals, as it must pass through a series of large "mini-mountain" type hillsides.

Your splitter may also be reducing the frequency just enough to be below the power required by that specific DVD recorder tuner. Try it without a splitter and see how it acts. Be very sure you're using a minimum 2Ghz (2000Mhz) splitter, too, and not some cheapo thing at 1.5Ghz (1500Mhz) or lower. Monster makes excellent splitters for about $20 (2Ghz, 3Ghz). Monster cables may be overrated, but their splitters are fully worth the price. Unpowered should be fine (and it prevents power line noise by not adding another power inlet).

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  #3  
09-22-2011, 10:23 PM
ieee488 ieee488 is offline
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I should say that I have Comcast basic cable.
Here where I am they still have analog TV signals on their feed.

It's not that the signal isn't there, it just seems to me that the Magnavox's tuner has problem when a channel has multiple subchannels. The Magnavox acts like it is hunting for the signal.

The LG TV's tuner never exhibits the behavior that the Magnavox has.

I am using a Monster splitter.

I will try it without the splitter when I have a timer recording set and see if it makes any difference.
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