Cableguy help me Please!!!!

 

New member
Username: Vixenlotus

Post Number: 1
Registered: Oct-06
I need help, I just bought a Samsung LNS4696d, it has a built in Digital tuner and a cable card slot. Well I have it up on the wall and am having trouble picking up Digital cable.(i am not using a cable card) I had analog service with Comcast, but was told that the digital signals are running through the lines as well. When I set the TV on search for channels it goes through the normal channel numbers and only finds the analog signals. I tried putting a splitter on the cable and running it to the cable and Air antenna jacks and do a search on AIR/Cable mode. (same results) I was told that with out the cable card I could pick up digital cable but the channel numbers would be strange like 122.22 or something like that. But I do not see a way this TV can search for such signals or frequencies. Never mind how I would punch them in. the Samsung manual is no help at all. I am going nuts. Please help me. Anyone that helps will get a beer!!
 

Silver Member
Username: Cableguy

Deep in the ... U.S.

Post Number: 860
Registered: Mar-05
larry~ Just connect the cable wire to ant2 and not the air ant1. Make sure the tuner is set to cable and not "air". Do an autoprogram to let the TV pick up what channels are available. If you are still unable to pull in any in the clear HD channels, I would defer you talk with somebody at Comcast about the problem, as they may have some filter on your line that prohibits those frequencies. Your TV will find channels with decimal points in the numbers, this is normal for any digital/hd channels in the clear. Something else you could try is hook up an antenna to your air input and do the auto scan for both cable+air and see if you're able to view OTA digital/hd channels. Wish I could be of more help but I don't work for Comcast.
 

New member
Username: Jensan

Post Number: 1
Registered: Oct-06
Hi Cableguy, I hope you or someone can help me with my HD trouble. I have a Pionoeer PDP-4360HD that I bought in May. I have the HD package, with the cable card, from Comcast and it has woked great until last week where all the HD channels stopped working and I am left with only Analog.

Yesterday I had Comcast come out and spend 3 hours trying to get it to work. They replaced the cable card twice and at one point the HD was there for 2 minuttes and then disappeared again. The Comcast guy was on the phone yelling (said he was not pleased with them at all) at his support team at Comcast, and finally they said it was my tv that is broken and to call Pioneer to get it fixed, and then call them back.

Is there any test I can do to ensure that the tv is functioning well, or do you think I should call Pioneer and take the tv in for repair.

I went to check the signal strengh via the tuner, and it states that there is no digital signal and thus canot find channels.

I then took out the cable card and searched for all channels and are able to see the local digital channels clearly... does this not mean that the tv is ok?

BTW are the HD signals digital or analog, or something totally different? The Comcast guy said they were Analog!

Any help/feedback is greatly appreciated!
 

Silver Member
Username: Cableguy

Deep in the ... U.S.

Post Number: 861
Registered: Mar-05
Jens~ I'm not really sure how to guide you because I've never seen any problems with Pioneer displays. It wouldn't hurt to contact Pioneer and have them walk you through whatever steps they need to in order to establish if there is something wrong with your cable or your display. The nice thing about Pioneer is, they used to make STB's so they know how to put together a good product, complete with good diagnostic information that should be able to pinpoint your problems. When you removed the card and searched for channels it should have found both analog and digital in the clear channels, so I'm not sure why you would only see the digital and not the analog. As for HD signals, by proxy they are digital on steroids, one thing they definitely are not is analog!
Please keep me posted as to what Pioneer says, I'm pretty sure you'll find it's something on the cable side of things and not your display, but let them tell you that :-)
 

New member
Username: Jensan

Post Number: 2
Registered: Oct-06
Thanks Cableguy,
Called Pioneer, he sneered at Comcast and told me to get them back on the phone and demand they come out and fix their mistake. Called Comcast right away and sneered right back at them. They came out today and got the card working.. . What I could get out of it was they had made a mistake in their switch in the neighborhood and blamed the world... In response to the service guy telling me HD was analog, said it to get out of my house and on with his work... Anyway, it works now and I totally appreciate your help, so thanks a billion:-)

Jens
 

Silver Member
Username: Cableguy

Somewhere on... U.S.

Post Number: 864
Registered: Mar-05
Glad to hear it got resolved Jens. What's scary was that it was something in the cable like I felt it was...oooohhhh scary lol!
 

New member
Username: Shyfish219

Post Number: 2
Registered: Nov-06
Cableguy-I hope you can help. I have a Pioneer PDP 5071HD and am having trouble hooking up my cable plus an antenna to receive digital signals from both. We have Comcast Basic service and when we connect the cable to Ant A and autoprogramed we picked up many unscrambled digital signals including many HD stations.

However, recently some of the local HD channels stopped working (ie, PBS, NBC, FOX). So we bought an antenna and hooked it up were able to pick up those signals OTA. The problem is that that the ATSC tuner is only connected to Ant A input. The Ant B input only uses the standard tuner and can't receive digital signals. For Ant A you have to select either air or cable prior to autoprogramming. So we can't seem to get both OTA and cable digital signals simultaneously without having to re-autoprogram in cable mode or air mode. That takes awhile and certainly is not convenient. Does anyone have a solution?
 

Silver Member
Username: Cableguy

Somewhere on... U.S.

Post Number: 868
Registered: Mar-05
Shyfish~ I don't believe there is anything you can do to correct the situation, other then what you've already determined: Swapping between the cable feed and the OTA feed, then reprogramming the channels to each. You could contact Pioneer and see if they have any recommendations as a work around to your problem, but I doubt there is any "easy" solution short of leasing a STB from your cable provider for HD channels and leaving your Ant A input designated for OTA. Keep us posted please.
 

New member
Username: Nicmdhj

Post Number: 1
Registered: Dec-06
I'm setup for Comcast Basic but i've been receiving all the Standard channels as well ESPN, ESPN2 Etc. I bought my first HDTV w/ a Cablecard option so i could try to keep this going. I had them install the cablecard and now i only receive the Basic channels on the new tv. If i go to the non-hd channel, i get nothing. The other TVs still get all Standard channels. Is there any way i can set it up so i get the HDTV channels in Basic, and continue getting the other Standard channels even if they are not HDTV? I tried a split and auto-programming w/ the non-dtv input- didn't work... any ideas?
 

Silver Member
Username: Cableguy

Somewhere on... U.S.

Post Number: 879
Registered: Mar-05
Sam~ I don't work for Comcast, so I really can't help you figure out what is happening. From what it sounds like they haven't properly provisioned your card, because you are able to view the channels on other TV's in your house. There are some Comcast people that read these threads from time to time, and maybe they can better assist you. Once the CableCARD is installed your pretty much locked and loaded depending on your TV (which you neglected to indicate make and model). If you can clarify what your connected to, I might be able to help a little more.

thx
 

Bronze Member
Username: Torchum

Post Number: 23
Registered: Jun-05
Hi there! Just curious, actually really curious if I can fix a problem or at least lay blame to the appropriate source of a Samsung HLR6167w looking like crap when watching cable. If it isn't a true HD channel, it looks horribly digitized anytime there is any darkness whatsoever. Will Smith's face has 4 different shades of digitized information. Forget watching a horror show or anything dark and creepy. A green digital fog lays in every corner.
I had Cox in AZ and now Time Warner in TX. Same result. I have ran component direct to tv. Component through AV. Cable through Panamax 1000 (slightly worse) I have had cable people in AZ diagnos it and they blamed TV. I had TV dude come and sit me down and tell me that is the way it is untill at least 3 years down the road. No one else seems to have my dificulties. Man do I wish I knew where I stood with this $3000+ tv. BTW dvds work awesome. Very little noise when Shrek goes through my Oppo. Still some but very good picture all ion all. Any advice would be greatly appreciated and I'll buy you a beer.

Trevor
 

New member
Username: Adjah

Albuquerque, NM USA

Post Number: 5
Registered: Dec-06
torchum-

Did you ever get it figured out on why non-HD channels look bad? I am having the same problem and it is really frusterating. My HD channels look great (same with DVDs) - but everything else is just kind of "off". I mean my 10 year old Sony in the bedroom looks better on standard channels than my LCD.

I'd buy you two beers if you can let me know.
 

Bronze Member
Username: Torchum

Post Number: 24
Registered: Jun-05
Looks like the cable guy is on his way to a six pack if he would throw us a bone. No I havn't found out why my TV sucks. Any picture tube tv ever made will look way better than mine. I guess it has something to do with the tv not having enough information and having to make it up as it goes. Sure hope SOMEONE can help us in our plight. Merry Christnmas.
 

Gold Member
Username: John_s

Columbus, Ohio US

Post Number: 1234
Registered: Feb-04
­
Guys, this question of SD PQ on HDTVs is not new. Read this while you're waiting on cableguy to throw you a bone:

http://www.highdefforum.com/showpost.php?p=11145&postcount=1
 

Silver Member
Username: Cableguy

Somewhere on... U.S.

Post Number: 891
Registered: Mar-05
The link that John S. provided is actually good reading, I've been there once or twice over the past 2 years.
Torchum, from what it sounds like you could be seeing a lot of compression artifacts, which if you read up on them at the site John posted, you should have a better understanding of what is going on. In my experience, LCD TV's are some of the worst for this phenomenon, but again it's not just the TV's fault. It's more technology's "not where it needs to be" at this point in the game.
 

Bronze Member
Username: Torchum

Post Number: 25
Registered: Jun-05
THANK-YOU Cable guy and John S for the replys. I am now able to define my situation. Compression would be the culprit. I sure wish there was an easy fix but I will try the suggestions in that article and see if any improvement can be made. Have a great day.
 

New member
Username: Friend20013

Post Number: 1
Registered: May-07
i own an olevia 532 ati,hdtv,atsc,hdmi,hd builtin,big picture, image director`s. but i was wondering what is the best way to hookup up my duel tuner dvr/hdtv capable settop cablebox made by motorola ? i live in brockville ,ontario, canada.i have y pb/cb pr/cr & hdmi hooked up to it. is that good or should i lso add my s video to it ?
 

New member
Username: Khiladishah

Post Number: 2
Registered: Aug-07
Hi Cableguy,
I recently bought the sony bravia KDS40 lcd tv. I ran autosetup for the tv to detect the available stations. I picked up everythign except the local stations like fox, nbc, abc etc... I hooked up my regurlar tv to the same cable and it works fine for the local stations. Do i need to run a different setup for the new tv. Or do i need to get digital cable inorder to get local stations? Also, the tv does not have antenna in, is there a way for me to hook both cable and antenna and watch OTA stations?
 

Silver Member
Username: Cableguy

Somewhere on... U.S.

Post Number: 990
Registered: Mar-05
khiladi~ if you have a Sony, you should have 1 antenna input for OTA local stations, and 1 input desiginated for cable. I'm a little confused as to why your company doesn't allow locals through in the clear. We don't do that where I work, but I've heard some do in other places. I would call them and ask if the local HD channels are blocked. If they're not, I'd contact Sony and ask them if they can help you figure out why they are not working.
 

Gold Member
Username: Tapeman

New York City in-HD, NY

Post Number: 1256
Registered: Oct-06
They do that in many towns if you don't pay for locals

I would use an A/B switch or 2nd tuner off a VCR or DVR
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