Why won't my TV get all the channels?

Is the DVR also a cable box? If so, it has the proper setup for your cable. Otherwise, check the Input settings and make sure you have selected digital cable. Without doing that you will only be able to see the old analog channels.

Tom

 

Your new TV is smart enough to know there's nothing on TV worth watching.

I'd try calling your cable company and the TV maker, if you disagree with the TV about the value of the missing channels.

 

I failed to see any vendor model numbers for the TV or cable boxes. (if you asked 'my car is broken', we would ask which car you owned) nor the cable company (if indeed you rent cable TV)
Some TVs have no internal tuner, some have NTSC, and some have ATSC tuners.

[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTSC"]NTSC - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]


ATSC (standards) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

since comcast went digital in our area none of our tv's work without a digital cable box. i asked them if i bouught a new tv with a built in digital tuner would it get all the channels and they said no, i have to have a box as they scramble the channels so people can't get more than they are paying for.

 

A city and name of cable provider might help.

Yep. The OP might be trying to tune to channels that aren't in clear/unencrypted QAM. One would need a set top box or something that accepts a CableCARD (like a TiVo Series 3 or above, ATI OCUR tuner, CableCARD TV, etc.)

It might be interesting for the OP to put in their zip at http://www.silicondust.com/support/channels/ and then select their cable provider.

What's worse, is some areas might be using Switched Digital Video - Will it impact you? - TiVo. Folks in those areas w/high def TiVos need to use (so I've heard) flaky tuning adapters.

 

I have Wide Open West's normal Basic (analog) package, which includes about 65 channels up to channel 100. Our older TV's, when in Cable mode, will receive those channels fine, but nothing in HD.

I bought a small 15" LCD TV model a month ago, and it took 12 minutes to scan the channels, then went on to give me the on-screen message "now scanning digital channels." When it finished I had 15 extra digital channels with numbers like 77.205 and even some far beyond 100. Didn't expect that.

So somehow, this new model is acting sort of like a digital cable box.

 

Some very early high def TVs required a separate high def tuner to receive HD signals (not counting stuff coming in via component inputs). I don't recall if it was to receive ATSC (OTA) HD or QAM (over cable) or both.

There are some cable providers that have gone completely digital and ditched all analogs. Also, from what I've heard, it's illegal for cable companies to encrypt channels that are available OTA. Thus, those should be available over clear (unencrypted) QAM.

 

right, the ota channels are still available. but i had 10 tv's set up with analog cable (no boxes) and whe comcast went fully digital, i was down to about 6-8 stations from 50-60. the give you two fre digital boxes and i rent one hd box so i'm down from 10 tv's to three.

 

Your right on.

BTW, Brighthouse in my area has put the local ota on there quam cable stream in HD for free. All new HD tv tuners decode quam on the raw cable so using the Cable TV mode as Tom mentioned in search it will load all the locals in free HD. Some locals HD's are all over the place on the dial but they are there. Handy.


But Verizon the bastards as you mentioned went all digital so you must have a box. I guess so you are always capable of on demand tv. $$$$

 

Huh? Who has Verizon? Me? The OP? Did I miss a post somewhere? I am on Frontier (formerly Verizon) FiOS, so that's a good guess. My area got spun off by VZ to Frontier Communications.

The channel mappings for clear QAM FiOS in my area are a HUGE mess if one tries use a TV tuner and Silicon Dust's listings are totally incomplete.

I don't use Frontier's/Verizon's box. I'm using a TiVo HD and renting a M-card [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CableCARD"]CableCARD - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame] so the above mapping mess is moot and doesn't apply. However, CableCARD is only one way so I cannot receive anything from On Demand nor even get to the UI w/o their box.

 

You didn't miss a post. I was just replying to your post here:

There are some cable providers that have gone completely digital and ditched all analogs. Also, from what I've heard, it's illegal for cable companies to encrypt channels that are available OTA. Thus, those should be available over clear (unencrypted) QAM.

All I said is Verizon is one that did that in my area. Sorry I replied.

 

I have a newer Samsung that's digital, HD, built-in tuner, etc., but if I want to connect direct (without a cable box), I have to buy a card that inserts directly to my Samsung. Check out your TV and see if you need this. Also, based upon how you set up cables to your TV, have you correctly sourced antennaes according to your TV's on-screen menus?

 

Be advised that adding a card into your new TV may or may not work properly with your cable provider. Cable standards are a mess right now. The only way to get all of the channels with certainty is to use their cable box. Other options may work, may work for a subset of channels, or not work at all.

For example, in our area we have Charter. We get a block of analog channels. This block of analog channels is also transmitted simultaneously in the low digital channels. HD digital is in a higher block. Digital and HD digital are both extra cost packages, and each require a compatible decoder, whether an external box or a card. The analog channels are transmitted differently than over-the-air, so my older analog TVs require a "cable" setting to see them.

My big Mitsubishi TV has a fancy digital tuner that gets the TV Guide online listings, but these only work for the analog Charter channels. I have to use the Charter cable box to see their version of TV Guide. Ultimately I ended up ignoring the built-in tuner and only work through the cable box.

Tom

 

In the US, you don't buy CableCARDs. You rent them from your cable company.

There was a year or two when a whole bunch of TV companies were making TVs w/CableCARD slots. I think that stopped long ago.

 

A TiVo Series 3, HD or Premiere with CableCARD will work just fine. Only thing is, since CableCARD doesn't allow for bidirectional communications, you can't do On Demand nor buy pay per view stuff through it.

The above TiVos also can tune to ATSC OTA broadcasts.