Does your HDTV tuner lock up?
 

Does your tuner ever lock up?

My set is a Toshiba 51HX93 with what I think is a built in 4th
generation LG ATSC tuner. If I do not get a strong signal, my receiver
chip loads up and the set goes black after a few seconds of trying to
move around the indoor antenna. Then I have to turn off the set and
unplug it as well to clear the memory before I can get a picture
again.

Do other people have this problem or is my set defective?

Is this something a repair man can fix or is it endemic to all Toshiba
RPTVs?

IB

"inky blacks" wrote in message
om...
Does your tuner ever lock up?

My set is a Toshiba 51HX93 with what I think is a built in 4th
generation LG ATSC tuner. If I do not get a strong signal, my receiver
chip loads up and the set goes black after a few seconds of trying to
move around the indoor antenna. Then I have to turn off the set and
unplug it as well to clear the memory before I can get a picture
again.

Do other people have this problem or is my set defective?

Is this something a repair man can fix or is it endemic to all Toshiba
RPTVs?

IB

Same thing happens to my Zenith DTV1080 STB when it rains heavily. Huge
PITA.
Mine can't be fixed, to my knowledge.

Did you try AVS HDTV forum

"inky blacks" wrote in message
om...
Does your tuner ever lock up?

My set is a Toshiba 51HX93 with what I think is a built in 4th
generation LG ATSC tuner. If I do not get a strong signal, my receiver
chip loads up and the set goes black after a few seconds of trying to
move around the indoor antenna. Then I have to turn off the set and
unplug it as well to clear the memory before I can get a picture
again.

Do other people have this problem or is my set defective?

Is this something a repair man can fix or is it endemic to all Toshiba
RPTVs?

IB

Same thing happens to my Zenith DTV1080 STB when it rains heavily. Huge
PITA.
Mine can't be fixed, to my knowledge.

Did you try AVS HDTV forum

Simple, you answered your own question. You need more signal.
A outdoor UHF only antenna should help. A antenna mounted UHF
pre-amp using RG-6 coax may be needed if the stations are 40 to 60
miles away.

hdtvfan

On 21 Aug 2004 21:43:04 -0700, (inky blacks)
wrote:

Does your tuner ever lock up?

My set is a Toshiba 51HX93 with what I think is a built in 4th
generation LG ATSC tuner. If I do not get a strong signal, my receiver
chip loads up and the set goes black after a few seconds of trying to
move around the indoor antenna. Then I have to turn off the set and
unplug it as well to clear the memory before I can get a picture
again.

Do other people have this problem or is my set defective?

Is this something a repair man can fix or is it endemic to all Toshiba
RPTVs?

IB

Simple, you answered your own question. You need more signal.
A outdoor UHF only antenna should help. A antenna mounted UHF
pre-amp using RG-6 coax may be needed if the stations are 40 to 60
miles away.

hdtvfan

On 21 Aug 2004 21:43:04 -0700, (inky blacks)
wrote:

Does your tuner ever lock up?

My set is a Toshiba 51HX93 with what I think is a built in 4th
generation LG ATSC tuner. If I do not get a strong signal, my receiver
chip loads up and the set goes black after a few seconds of trying to
move around the indoor antenna. Then I have to turn off the set and
unplug it as well to clear the memory before I can get a picture
again.

Do other people have this problem or is my set defective?

Is this something a repair man can fix or is it endemic to all Toshiba
RPTVs?

IB

I also have lock ups sometimes with my USDTV box. What is weird is on some
weekends it seems some of the stations play around with their tramsmitting
frequency. An example is Learn TV will switch from channel 14 to 28. If I
do a channel replace/rescan it solves the lockup problem.

Barry
"inky blacks" wrote in message
om...
Does your tuner ever lock up?

My set is a Toshiba 51HX93 with what I think is a built in 4th
generation LG ATSC tuner. If I do not get a strong signal, my receiver
chip loads up and the set goes black after a few seconds of trying to
move around the indoor antenna. Then I have to turn off the set and
unplug it as well to clear the memory before I can get a picture
again.

Do other people have this problem or is my set defective?

Is this something a repair man can fix or is it endemic to all Toshiba
RPTVs?

IB

I also have lock ups sometimes with my USDTV box. What is weird is on some
weekends it seems some of the stations play around with their tramsmitting
frequency. An example is Learn TV will switch from channel 14 to 28. If I
do a channel replace/rescan it solves the lockup problem.

Barry
"inky blacks" wrote in message
om...
Does your tuner ever lock up?

My set is a Toshiba 51HX93 with what I think is a built in 4th
generation LG ATSC tuner. If I do not get a strong signal, my receiver
chip loads up and the set goes black after a few seconds of trying to
move around the indoor antenna. Then I have to turn off the set and
unplug it as well to clear the memory before I can get a picture
again.

Do other people have this problem or is my set defective?

Is this something a repair man can fix or is it endemic to all Toshiba
RPTVs?

IB

He asked if it's normal for a TV to 'hang' (like a Windows PC after a
Windows program or O/S crashes) after tuning a bad channel. The
academic answer is 'NO'; a *properly* designed/tested/working tuner
should *NEVER* lockup just because the station-signal is weak or garbled.

But the reality, confirmed by many on avsforum.com, is that *many*
ATSC tuners glitch or lockup when tuning a weak-signal. If there's *NO*
signal at all, the tuner's decoder skips it and moves on. But if the
signal is weak, the tuner tries to 'decode' the signal, and that's the
failure-point.

The firmware (or maybe it's the hardware) is pretty lousy, and the
firmware will wait forever to get the decoded statistics for the channel
(format, program-guide info, etc.) On a *good* signal, this takes a
split-second. On a garbled or weak signal, this can take upwards of
seconds.

In my area (Los Angeles, CA), two ATSC broadcasters (KRCA-DT/68 and
KLCS-DT/41) multicast up to 4 channels atvarious times of day.
During other times, only 2 channels are actively broadcast (but
all 4 are still in the PSAT/PSIP table accompanying the broadcast.)

What's the problem? Well the 'absence' of a real signal causes many TVs
(like Samsung's built-in tuner HDTVs) to 'freeze.' They reach the
subchannel, look for a valid MPEG-stream, then sit there endlessly
waiting. Fooling around at Circuit City, I tried to change the channel
(after tuning this 'phantom'), and the TV responded like 15-20
seconds later. But at least it responded...

It was obvious to me the firmware was badly written. It reminds me of
the earliest DVD-players. If they encountered a dirty/scratched DVD,
the player would stutter and/or lockup -- the remote would stop
responding. The modern DVD-players have better firmware, and the
'eject' button acts like a 'RESET' button. (At least it does on my $50
DVD-player :)

hdtvfan wrote:
Simple, you answered your own question. You need more signal.
A outdoor UHF only antenna should help. A antenna mounted UHF
pre-amp using RG-6 coax may be needed if the stations are 40 to 60
miles away.

hdtvfan

On 21 Aug 2004 21:43:04 -0700, (inky blacks)
wrote:

Does your tuner ever lock up?

My set is a Toshiba 51HX93 with what I think is a built in 4th
generation LG ATSC tuner. If I do not get a strong signal, my receiver
chip loads up and the set goes black after a few seconds of trying to
move around the indoor antenna. Then I have to turn off the set and
unplug it as well to clear the memory before I can get a picture
again.

Do other people have this problem or is my set defective?

Is this something a repair man can fix or is it endemic to all Toshiba
RPTVs?

Unfortunately, I don't have your particular TV, so I can't answer that.

He asked if it's normal for a TV to 'hang' (like a Windows PC after a
Windows program or O/S crashes) after tuning a bad channel. The
academic answer is 'NO'; a *properly* designed/tested/working tuner
should *NEVER* lockup just because the station-signal is weak or garbled.

But the reality, confirmed by many on avsforum.com, is that *many*
ATSC tuners glitch or lockup when tuning a weak-signal. If there's *NO*
signal at all, the tuner's decoder skips it and moves on. But if the
signal is weak, the tuner tries to 'decode' the signal, and that's the
failure-point.

The firmware (or maybe it's the hardware) is pretty lousy, and the
firmware will wait forever to get the decoded statistics for the channel
(format, program-guide info, etc.) On a *good* signal, this takes a
split-second. On a garbled or weak signal, this can take upwards of
seconds.

In my area (Los Angeles, CA), two ATSC broadcasters (KRCA-DT/68 and
KLCS-DT/41) multicast up to 4 channels atvarious times of day.
During other times, only 2 channels are actively broadcast (but
all 4 are still in the PSAT/PSIP table accompanying the broadcast.)

What's the problem? Well the 'absence' of a real signal causes many TVs
(like Samsung's built-in tuner HDTVs) to 'freeze.' They reach the
subchannel, look for a valid MPEG-stream, then sit there endlessly
waiting. Fooling around at Circuit City, I tried to change the channel
(after tuning this 'phantom'), and the TV responded like 15-20
seconds later. But at least it responded...

It was obvious to me the firmware was badly written. It reminds me of
the earliest DVD-players. If they encountered a dirty/scratched DVD,
the player would stutter and/or lockup -- the remote would stop
responding. The modern DVD-players have better firmware, and the
'eject' button acts like a 'RESET' button. (At least it does on my $50
DVD-player :)

hdtvfan wrote:
Simple, you answered your own question. You need more signal.
A outdoor UHF only antenna should help. A antenna mounted UHF
pre-amp using RG-6 coax may be needed if the stations are 40 to 60
miles away.

hdtvfan

On 21 Aug 2004 21:43:04 -0700, (inky blacks)
wrote:

Does your tuner ever lock up?

My set is a Toshiba 51HX93 with what I think is a built in 4th
generation LG ATSC tuner. If I do not get a strong signal, my receiver
chip loads up and the set goes black after a few seconds of trying to
move around the indoor antenna. Then I have to turn off the set and
unplug it as well to clear the memory before I can get a picture
again.

Do other people have this problem or is my set defective?

Is this something a repair man can fix or is it endemic to all Toshiba
RPTVs?

Unfortunately, I don't have your particular TV, so I can't answer that.

hdtvfan wrote in message . ..
Simple, you answered your own question. You need more signal.
A outdoor UHF only antenna should help. A antenna mounted UHF
pre-amp using RG-6 coax may be needed if the stations are 40 to 60
miles away.

hdtvfan
------------------
I live in an apartment and cannot use an outdoor antenna. I am
currently using a Silver Sensor indoor antenna with a Zenith indoor
antenna amp. It works on most stations at night but not as well
during the day. All of the stations are less than 10 miles away. I
am on the bottom floor of a 4 story building with a metal roof in the
middle of a small city.

So I guess your saying that this issue cannot be fixed by calling a
repair man. I hope the 5th generation receiver chips fix this problem.
Perhaps when they are available in 2005 I will get a new receiver.
Hope the prices come down as I do not like the idea of buying a second
receiver.

IB
---------------
On 21 Aug 2004 21:43:04 -0700, (inky blacks)
wrote:

Does your tuner ever lock up?

My set is a Toshiba 51HX93 with what I think is a built in 4th
generation LG ATSC tuner. If I do not get a strong signal, my receiver
chip loads up and the set goes black after a few seconds of trying to
move around the indoor antenna. Then I have to turn off the set and
unplug it as well to clear the memory before I can get a picture
again.

Do other people have this problem or is my set defective?

Is this something a repair man can fix or is it endemic to all Toshiba
RPTVs?

IB