QAM Tuner Problems

In article .com,
"Ryan" wrote:

Sure, it's a Samsung DTB-H260F:

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Samsu...sm/oid/164855/
rpem/ccd/productDetail.do


If I interpret what i read in the owner's manual correctly:
"ANT / CABLE IN
Connect the AIR antenna or CATV antenna here.
Connect the cable in the event that a local cable
provider is passing through 8-level Vestigial Sideband
(8VSB) and Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM)
on their systems.

Your cable provider is probably passing 8VSB for the local channels.

--
Tom Stiller

PGP fingerprint = 5108 DDB2 9761 EDE5 E7E3
7BDA 71ED 6496 99C0 C7CF

Ryan wrote:

The issue, as I understand it, is that the cable company is required
to offer the local broadcast stations and cannot scramble them by
law.

That's not entirely true. The cable company is required to deliver your local
channels in the clear. However, it is not required to provide multiple feeds of
your local channels in the clear. So, for example, if your local cable company
already provides the SD version of the NBC affiliate in the clear, they are not
required to also provide the HD version of the same NBC broadcast in the clear.

Nonetheless, nearly every cable company does provide all local HD feeds in the
clear - even though they are not technically required to do so.

Even so, my question is more geared to figuring out what went
wrong so that I can fix it. With an internal QAM tuner, you
absolutely can pick up unencrypted digital channels, even if you do
not subscribe to digital cable.

My guess is that there is some arcane difference between config of the receiver
and the config of the cable broadcast. Suppose your QAM tuner checks only for
subchannels numbered 10 or less, while your cable company (for some unknown
reason) has numbered the subchannels starting at, say, 30.

The result would be that most tuners would work with that system (though yours
wouldn't) and your tuner would work with most other systems (though not this
one). In other words, it's a bug that would hinder only a small subset of users
and would therefore be easily overlooked by the manufacturer.

I'm not suggesting necessarily that the subchannel is the problem, just that the
problem is one of this nature. There are many other configuration parameters
that might affect the reception of a QAM broadcast.

Have you tried posting your problem on the AVSforum.com?
(http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/)

There are a lot of smart people there, and one of them may be familiar with your
tuner, cable co, or both.

Tom Stiller wrote:
In article .com,
"Ryan" wrote:

Sure, it's a Samsung DTB-H260F:

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Samsu.../sem/rpsm/oid/
164855/ rpem/ccd/productDetail.do


If I interpret what i read in the owner's manual correctly:
"ANT / CABLE IN
Connect the AIR antenna or CATV antenna here.
Connect the cable in the event that a local cable
provider is passing through 8-level Vestigial Sideband
(8VSB) and Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM)
on their systems.

Your cable provider is probably passing 8VSB for the local channels.

8vsb is for ota signals, qam is for cable.

Chip

--
-------------------- http://NewsReader.Com/ --------------------
Usenet Newsgroup Service $9.95/Month 30GB

In article ,
wrote:

Tom Stiller wrote:
In article .com,
"Ryan" wrote:

Sure, it's a Samsung DTB-H260F:

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Samsu.../sem/rpsm/oid/
164855/ rpem/ccd/productDetail.do


If I interpret what i read in the owner's manual correctly:
"ANT / CABLE IN
Connect the AIR antenna or CATV antenna here.
Connect the cable in the event that a local cable
provider is passing through 8-level Vestigial Sideband
(8VSB) and Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM)
on their systems.

Your cable provider is probably passing 8VSB for the local channels.

8vsb is for ota signals, qam is for cable.


Yes, but when a cable company passes along analog channels, as most of
them do, there's nothing to prevent them from passing 8-VSB analog
feeds. That's consistent with the statement in the manual and with the
OP's observation.

--
Tom Stiller

PGP fingerprint = 5108 DDB2 9761 EDE5 E7E3
7BDA 71ED 6496 99C0 C7CF

Ryan wrote:
One person suggested
that the channels were now being mapped to sub-channels of channels
zero, but that doesn't make any sense to me.

That would be me. I just did a re-scan on my JVC AV-30W776 and the local
HD channels and subs are on channel 0. I can receive them all with the
exception of WSYX(ABC). Additional channels "in the clear" are at 112-1
thru 112-13. None are labeled.

Like you, this started in early March, when the locals were 201, 202,
203, etc. and were labeled ABC-HD, CBS-HD, etc.

Hello Everyone,
I am in desperate need of some advice. Since I received my new
Panasonic plasma TV (TH-50PX60U) in early January, I was enjoying
local HD channels via clear QAM. I am a basic cable subscriber (Wide
Open West / WOW) and was picking up a number of digital stations just
by scanning the digital spectrum with my internal tuner. Everything
was fine until 3/1/07, when suddenly all of my HD channels stopped
coming in. I rescanned the channels numerous times, and although I
was still receiving *some* digital stations, I no longer received the
local HD channels. I even did a hard reset with Panasonic on the
phone, but the rescan did not pick up the HD channels.

Sure you selected "Digital Cable" (vs. OTA ATSC) in the menu before you
rescan? Can't imagine a tuner will break in couple of month. Otherwise a
more likely reason is the cable company. They frequently shuffle the digital
channels around and may forget to turn on (or off) some digital channels.

"ZR" wrote:
Hello Everyone,
I am in desperate need of some advice. Since I received my new
Panasonic plasma TV (TH-50PX60U) in early January, I was enjoying
local HD channels via clear QAM. I am a basic cable subscriber (Wide
Open West / WOW) and was picking up a number of digital stations just
by scanning the digital spectrum with my internal tuner. Everything
was fine until 3/1/07, when suddenly all of my HD channels stopped
coming in. I rescanned the channels numerous times, and although I
was still receiving *some* digital stations, I no longer received the
local HD channels. I even did a hard reset with Panasonic on the
phone, but the rescan did not pick up the HD channels.

Sure you selected "Digital Cable" (vs. OTA ATSC) in the menu before you
rescan? Can't imagine a tuner will break in couple of month. Otherwise a
more likely reason is the cable company. They frequently shuffle the
digital channels around and may forget to turn on (or off) some digital
channels.

He did say he did a rescan. That SHOULD have gotten back
any missing channels. Since it didn't, there must be another
reason. Like I said, I suspect his signal levels are low,
and the qam tuner in the tv isn't sensitive enough to get
them all, but the hd box he bought is. JMHO

Chip

--
-------------------- http://NewsReader.Com/ --------------------
Usenet Newsgroup Service $9.95/Month 30GB

On Apr 16, 7:46 pm, wrote:
"ZR" wrote:
Hello Everyone,
I am in desperate need of some advice. Since I received my new
Panasonic plasma TV (TH-50PX60U) in early January, I was enjoying
local HD channels via clear QAM. I am a basic cable subscriber (Wide
Open West / WOW) and was picking up a number of digital stations just
by scanning the digital spectrum with my internal tuner. Everything
was fine until 3/1/07, when suddenly all of my HD channels stopped
coming in. I rescanned the channels numerous times, and although I
was still receiving *some* digital stations, I no longer received the
local HD channels. I even did a hard reset with Panasonic on the
phone, but the rescan did not pick up the HD channels.

Sure you selected "Digital Cable" (vs. OTA ATSC) in the menu before you
rescan? Can't imagine a tuner will break in couple of month. Otherwise a
more likely reason is the cable company. They frequently shuffle the
digital channels around and may forget to turn on (or off) some digital
channels.

He did say he did a rescan. That SHOULD have gotten back
any missing channels. Since it didn't, there must be another
reason. Like I said, I suspect his signal levels are low,
and the qam tuner in the tv isn't sensitive enough to get
them all, but the hd box he bought is. JMHO

Chip

--
--------------------http://NewsReader.Com/--------------------
Usenet Newsgroup Service $9.95/Month 30GB- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks to everyone who responded. Chip, as to your suggestion, I did
have the cable company come out to check the signals about three weeks
ago. Everything checked out just fine. I really doubt it's a problem
with the internal QAM tuner, but I'm open to any possible solutions.
I posted on the AVS forum and although I found some people who have
experienced the same problem, no one has come up with a solution. I
guess it's all the more reason to head on over to solidsignal.com and
buy that 4-bay Channel Master antenna that I've been looking at!

Ryan

Ryan wrote:

Thanks to everyone who responded. Chip, as to your suggestion, I did
have the cable company come out to check the signals about three weeks
ago. Everything checked out just fine. I really doubt it's a problem
with the internal QAM tuner, but I'm open to any possible solutions.
I posted on the AVS forum and although I found some people who have
experienced the same problem, no one has come up with a solution. I
guess it's all the more reason to head on over to solidsignal.com and
buy that 4-bay Channel Master antenna that I've been looking at!

Ryan

I have the Channel Master 4228. You won't regret getting it.
Even if you have hight vhf in your area it will work well.

Chip

--
-------------------- http://NewsReader.Com/ --------------------
Usenet Newsgroup Service $9.95/Month 30GB