One RF input or two?

I find very little attention is paid to the RF input situation. Who cares?
Well evidently not some major manufacturers. They often give us only one RF
input. Sure, it accepts NTSC (old analog), ATSC (digital, which can be high
def at times), and QAM (the stuff the cable people send), but they only
store the channels and frequencies for one or the other (air or cable)
signals at a time. What they do for NTSC is not a problem, since it's going
to disappear in February 2009, but it would be nice to be able to switch
from cable to off-air signals without having to endure the band scan that
takes many minutes before the set is ready to work again. And then to go
back to cable, you have to do the entire band scan again - - another long
delay before it's ready.

So what's the answer? Two RF inputs - - one for off-air and one for
cable - - and of course two memory systems to go along with the two band
setups so that switching sources is quick and easy - - no need to repeat
band scans since once it's done, it's remembered for each.

If your set has two RF inputs, please let us know how you like the way it
works and what model set you're enjoying. We would like to know which
manufacturers care.

And if you're in the business of reviewing TV sets, please give the "RF
input" situation the importance it deserves - - tell the manufacturers and
customers when they are not getting two-band setup memory due to only one RF
input on the set.

Thanks,

Chuck

"Chuck Olson" wrote (in part):

I find very little attention is paid to the RF input situation. Who cares?
Well evidently not some major manufacturers. They often give us only one RF
input. Sure, it accepts NTSC (old analog), ATSC (digital, which can be high
def at times), and QAM (the stuff the cable people send), but they only
store the channels and frequencies for one or the other (air or cable)
signals at a time. What they do for NTSC is not a problem, since it's going
to disappear in February 2009, but it would be nice to be able to switch
from cable to off-air signals without having to endure the band scan that
takes many minutes before the set is ready to work again. And then to go
back to cable, you have to do the entire band scan again - - another long
delay before it's ready.

So what's the answer? Two RF inputs - - one for off-air and one for
cable - - and of course two memory systems to go along with the two band
setups so that switching sources is quick and easy - - no need to repeat
band scans since once it's done, it's remembered for each.

If your set has two RF inputs, please let us know how you like the way it
works and what model set you're enjoying. We would like to know which
manufacturers care.

I have four digital tuners, not counting a couple of CECBs. Three
have dual RF inputs. Here's the rundown:

LG LST-3410A: One input for OTA, one for cable. Can tune NTSC and
ATSC on OTA, NTSC and clear QAM on cable. But if you tell it you have
cable it will not use the OTA input for NTSC. That's fine as long as
there are no analog broadcasts you want that are not also on cable.
Channels are integrated into the guide so that when you choose one it
selects the proper input and format.

MyHD MDP-120: each of the two RF inputs can tune NTSC and ATSC on OTA
or cable channels. No QAM. Could be used with two separate antennas
pointing different directions to avoid a rotor. Maintains a separate
list for each input but channels can be integrated into a Favorites
list.

MyHD MDP-130: my primary HTPC tuner. Like the MDP-120 but adds clear
QAM capability on both inputs. The only tuner I have that can receive
ATSC and QAM on the same input. I've read that some cable companies
are toying with the idea of putting the local digitals on channels
2-13 using ATSC (8VSB) modulation so that their non-STB customers can
tune them with a CECB, thus hastening the switch to digital.

AutumnWave OnAir GT: one RF input. A bit of a nuisance to switch
cables, but acceptable on a unit small enough to fit in my laptop bag.
Tunes NTSC and ATSC on OTA channels, NTSC and clear QAM on cable
channels. Does not require rescanning when changing inputs, just tell
it which of the four to tune in Channel Manager.

I don't like the configuration I've seen on a Sanyo TV: two RF inputs,
but one is for analog (OTA or cable) and the other for digital (OTA or
cable). This only makes sense if you have both antenna and cable and
you want analog only from one and digital only from the other.
Usually you have both analog and digital on a single coax, and you
have to add a splitter.

Del Mibbler

"Chuck Olson" wrote in message
...
I find very little attention is paid to the RF input situation. Who cares?
Well evidently not some major manufacturers. They often give us only one RF
input. Sure, it accepts NTSC (old analog), ATSC (digital, which can be high
def at times), and QAM (the stuff the cable people send), but they only
store the channels and frequencies for one or the other (air or cable)
signals at a time. What they do for NTSC is not a problem, since it's going
to disappear in February 2009, but it would be nice to be able to switch
from cable to off-air signals without having to endure the band scan that
takes many minutes before the set is ready to work again. And then to go
back to cable, you have to do the entire band scan again - - another long
delay before it's ready.

So what's the answer? Two RF inputs - - one for off-air and one for
cable - - and of course two memory systems to go along with the two band
setups so that switching sources is quick and easy - - no need to repeat
band scans since once it's done, it's remembered for each.

If your set has two RF inputs, please let us know how you like the way it
works and what model set you're enjoying. We would like to know which
manufacturers care.

And if you're in the business of reviewing TV sets, please give the "RF
input" situation the importance it deserves - - tell the manufacturers and
customers when they are not getting two-band setup memory due to only one
RF input on the set.

Thanks,

Chuck

I have OTA antenna for locals because my cable provider, Mediacom, is
constantly unreliable. They do however have one local (ABC) that I cannot
receive OTA. My Sharp TV actually has 3 RF inputs and using the remote I
can shift from air to cable. While shopping for a replacement (larger
screen size) I was appalled to discover that most (Especially Sony) only
market TV's with one RF. It is obvious to me that no consideration was given
to viewers like myself that do not live in large metro areas with many
signal source choices(i.e. cable, fiber,OTA,other). Here we need to be able
to easily switch back and forth to pick the best signal. One RF ain't the
answer. My 2 cents.

"Ross Moody" wrote in message
. ..

"Chuck Olson" wrote in message
...
I find very little attention is paid to the RF input situation. Who cares?
Well evidently not some major manufacturers. They often give us only one
RF input. Sure, it accepts NTSC (old analog), ATSC (digital, which can be
high def at times), and QAM (the stuff the cable people send), but they
only store the channels and frequencies for one or the other (air or
cable) signals at a time. What they do for NTSC is not a problem, since
it's going to disappear in February 2009, but it would be nice to be able
to switch from cable to off-air signals without having to endure the band
scan that takes many minutes before the set is ready to work again. And
then to go back to cable, you have to do the entire band scan again - -
another long delay before it's ready.

So what's the answer? Two RF inputs - - one for off-air and one for
cable - - and of course two memory systems to go along with the two band
setups so that switching sources is quick and easy - - no need to repeat
band scans since once it's done, it's remembered for each.

If your set has two RF inputs, please let us know how you like the way it
works and what model set you're enjoying. We would like to know which
manufacturers care.

And if you're in the business of reviewing TV sets, please give the "RF
input" situation the importance it deserves - - tell the manufacturers
and customers when they are not getting two-band setup memory due to only
one RF input on the set.

Thanks,

Chuck

I have OTA antenna for locals because my cable provider, Mediacom, is
constantly unreliable. They do however have one local (ABC) that I cannot
receive OTA. My Sharp TV actually has 3 RF inputs and using the remote I
can shift from air to cable. While shopping for a replacement (larger
screen size) I was appalled to discover that most (Especially Sony) only
market TV's with one RF. It is obvious to me that no consideration was
given to viewers like myself that do not live in large metro areas with
many signal source choices(i.e. cable, fiber,OTA,other). Here we need to
be able to easily switch back and forth to pick the best signal. One RF
ain't the answer. My 2 cents.

My Sharp also has 3 RF inputs, Analog, Digital Air, and Digital Cable. That
is not what you want, unless you do not care about the analog at all; else,
it forces you to use a splitter for the analog input. Of course, that will
all be moot next year.

Tam

Chuck Olson wrote:
I find very little attention is paid to the RF input situation. Who cares?
Well evidently not some major manufacturers. They often give us only one RF
input. Sure, it accepts NTSC (old analog), ATSC (digital, which can be high
def at times), and QAM (the stuff the cable people send), but they only
store the channels and frequencies for one or the other (air or cable)
signals at a time. What they do for NTSC is not a problem, since it's going
to disappear in February 2009, but it would be nice to be able to switch
from cable to off-air signals without having to endure the band scan that
takes many minutes before the set is ready to work again. And then to go
back to cable, you have to do the entire band scan again - - another long
delay before it's ready.

So what's the answer? Two RF inputs - - one for off-air and one for
cable - - and of course two memory systems to go along with the two band
setups so that switching sources is quick and easy - - no need to repeat
band scans since once it's done, it's remembered for each.

If your set has two RF inputs, please let us know how you like the way it
works and what model set you're enjoying. We would like to know which
manufacturers care.

And if you're in the business of reviewing TV sets, please give the "RF
input" situation the importance it deserves - - tell the manufacturers and
customers when they are not getting two-band setup memory due to only one RF
input on the set.

Thanks,

Chuck



My Sanyo has an RF for each tuner (NSTC & ATSC) I use a spliter now and
it works good for PIP. Next Feb. I just unplug the NSTC.

On Jul 7, 8:02*pm, "Chuck Olson"
wrote:
I find very little attention is paid to the RF input situation. Who cares?
Well evidently not some major manufacturers. They often give us only one RF
input. Sure, it accepts NTSC (old analog), ATSC (digital, which can be high
def at times), and QAM (the stuff the cable people send), but they only
store the channels and frequencies for one or the other (air or cable)
signals at a time. What they do for NTSC is not a problem, since it's going
to disappear in February 2009, but it would be nice to be able to switch
from cable to off-air signals without having to endure the band scan that
takes many minutes before the set is ready to work again. And then to go
back to cable, you have to do the entire band scan again - - another long
delay before it's ready.

So what's the answer? Two RF inputs - - one for off-air and one for
cable - - and of course two memory systems to go along with the two band
setups so that switching sources is quick and easy - - no need to repeat
band scans since once it's done, it's remembered for each.

If your set has two RF inputs, please let us know how you like the way it
works and what model set you're enjoying. We would like to know which
manufacturers care.

And if you're in the business of reviewing TV sets, please give the "RF
input" situation the importance it deserves - - tell the manufacturers and
customers when they are not getting two-band setup memory due to only one RF
input on the set.

Thanks,

Chuck

We have a 2 year old viewsonic lcd hdtv with 2 rf inputs, one for
analog and one for atsc over the air digital. There is no qam tuner. I
would rather have a tv with a single input and qam tuner. We have
basic cable (70 analog channels) which also includes the local
stations in hd clear qam, but can't get these extra hd channels on
this tv unless we rent a set top box from the cable co. You can switch
back and forth between the 2 inputs with a button on the remote, but
we are in a weak signal area and can't get the ota channels reliably.
If I had know more about what the cable co. was providing and what
tuner the tv had we would have bought a different tv.

On Jul 8, 2:13*am, Del Mibbler [email protected] wrote:

LG LST-3410A: One input for OTA, one for cable. *Can tune NTSC and
ATSC on OTA, NTSC and clear QAM on cable. *But if you tell it you have
cable it will not use the OTA input for NTSC. *That's fine as long as
there are no analog broadcasts you want that are not also on cable.
Channels are integrated into the guide so that when you choose one it
selects the proper input and format.

Del,

I believe that you can edit the channel information in the LG's guide
to reflect your situation. Somehow, I have removed analog information
for all but WADL-38, whose digital signal is weak, and CBET-9, which
has no DT. Previously, it was quite the worry of accidentally
programming the analog instead of the digital.

I have no cable, so I don't know for sure how it would change things,
but the setup seems like it just treats it as a separate band.

remysun wrote:

On Jul 8, 2:13*am, Del Mibbler [email protected] wrote:

LG LST-3410A: One input for OTA, one for cable. *Can tune NTSC and
ATSC on OTA, NTSC and clear QAM on cable. *But if you tell it you have
cable it will not use the OTA input for NTSC. *That's fine as long as
there are no analog broadcasts you want that are not also on cable.
Channels are integrated into the guide so that when you choose one it
selects the proper input and format.

Del,

I believe that you can edit the channel information in the LG's guide
to reflect your situation. Somehow, I have removed analog information
for all but WADL-38, whose digital signal is weak, and CBET-9, which
has no DT. Previously, it was quite the worry of accidentally
programming the analog instead of the digital.

I have no cable, so I don't know for sure how it would change things,
but the setup seems like it just treats it as a separate band.

Yes, you can add or delete channels from memory in Ch. Edit. That
affects the channels you can land on when you use Ch. Up/Down. You
can still go to a "disabled" channel by entering it directly.

You can also disable channel listings in TVGOS and assign the
remaining entries to any channel numbers you choose, analog or
digital.

To expand on my original point, I could attach just an antenna or just
cable to the appropriate input and tune any available channel from
that source, analog or digital (clear QAM for digital cable). Or I
could attach both and tune everything from both sources EXCEPT analog
from the antenna. That avoids confusion on overlapping channel
numbers: if you enter 15-0, do you want OTA channel 15 or cable
channel 15? Digital channels don't overlap (yet) because the upper
limit for OTA is 69 and so far my lowest digital cable channel is 71.
The LG doesn't use virtual channel numbers for cable as it does for
OTA; you have to use the actual channel and subchannel.

Del Mibbler