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Way OT: Over the Air Broadcast TV

G

Grandcheapskate

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 9, 2014
Messages
817
Location
New Jersey, USA
Hi Guys,
This is way off topic but I know we have a lot of tech guys here.

We have one TV on cable and all the others work off a roof antenna. All TVs are older and therefore require a digital conversion box. All has been fine for years, but suddenly not one, but three of my boxes refuse to scan for channels and have wiped out the existing channels. In fact, with one of them I was watching TV when I decided to try to scan for more channels - I ended up losing everything. So it's not the antenna. It's like the boxes are being wiped clean. I can use a box as long as it has channels saved, but any new attempt to scan for channels wipes out all existing data. All other functions of the boxes are working.

Three boxes failing with the same problem on the same day? Unlikely.

I have written to the FCC asking about any changes to the way signals are broadcast. I have also contacted my local councilman to ask if local officials have been informed of any changes. Something has changed.

Anyone else use these boxes, especially near me in northern NJ?

Thanks...Joe
 
Not sure if this will help. My brother
just bought a off the air antenna to
pick up digital signals. He gets five to
seven stations. Both Canadian and U.S.
station. He got it from Best Buy. They range
From $60 to $100CAD. They vary in
Ability to get a good signal. My brother
says a RCA model is the best at &100.CAD
 
Are these boxes all the same model? What brand/model are they?

It wouldn't surprise me if some subtle change or difference inadvertently triggered some bug.

On my one box, it sometimes crashes and shuts down while viewing some specific shows preview information. Could be something as simple as a Unicode screwup, but digital TV is not that simple and the firmware is probably written by some brain dead indian.

The one I have is an "RCA" purchased from Target. They are not all the same though. I even recently purchased a new spare of a similar RCA model also from Target, it looks similar buy unlike my older one, it refuses to show preview information for anything other than the current show. WTF.
 
There has been progress in OTA converters since the "coupon" days. We've been using one made by iView--includes a recording facility (I use a USB flash drive); agc is much better than on older units and includes (apparently) a cable facility.

I'm pretty happy with it after about 2 years of use.
 
All three are the same RCA model - STB7766C. But here's a couple weird things..

1. I called my buddy and asked him to try a scan on his box. His is not being used so when he tried it, it had no antenna attached. He said it did the scan but found no channels. This got me to thinking. I disconnected one of mine from the antenna and tried a scan. The scan started and completed with no channels found. When I connected the antenna back and tried to do a scan, the scan will not even start.

2. As I pointed out, I was using one of the boxes which had some channels stored. Everything was fine, picture was great. I then tried to do a scan, the scan failed to start and it wiped out all the stored channels.

3. We have always had a TV in the kitchen. For some reason, it seems every couple days the box would "forget" all the channels and make me do a scan. Here's the weird part - it's not the box. After one box kept doing this I switched it with another box from another TV. Now the new box had the "channel lost" issue and the old box in a new location never lost the channels.

Just a side note. The boxes are not plugged in when not in use, but are always connected to the roof antenna. There have been no lightning storms in the past few days. I need to find a solution because I have 3 unuseable TVs and two more whose boxes I will not touch.

Thanks...Joe
 
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Can you get access to a frequency counter to pluginto your antenna? There may be a strong local signal overwhelming the receivers when they tune to a certain frequency.

If not, try a different antenna; especiallya bad one. That is, maybe an indoor antenna in yourbasement that only gets one or twochannels. Or a coathanger with your hand on it.

It may also be noise on the power line disrupting the CPUs somehow. Get a portable AM radio and listen around your house. Modern switching supplies are horrendous. Especially tiny wall warts or your neighbor's secret grow lamps ( this is a well documented serious issue).

Otherwise, downright strange.
 
What size are your TVs? New TVs are getting pretty cheap...if your old TVs are not huge, you might be better off looking at new TVs rather than buying more conversion boxes. You will get a much better picture too.
 
Also somethong simple to try: If multiple units are sharing one antenna, disconnect all but one and try making that one scan. Maybe the receivers are interfering with each other.
 
He's likely gonna need new converter boxes anyway. The ones he has seem to have been depreciated. Instead of spending ~ $50 per unit you can get them from the cable company for $1.50 per month. And it will always work. :)
 
If he can I'll be surprised. I have a TV that will do that but I've never seen a settop box that would. I expect most TV's won't allow that either.

Unless there's a specific reason to use OTA, cable might be the way to go. I found that whilst ATSC discombobulators can be expensive, cable boxes and VCRs with cable tuners are a dime a dozen. But I don't know the locale, maybe cable is digital there for all I know.
 
Okay, we are now in weirdsville. All this was done with one of the boxes that won't scan with the roof antenna. Get this...

1. If I do a scan with no antenna connected, the scan completes but finds no channels.

2. If I do a scan using a rabbit ears antenna (yes, I still have a couple), the scan completes and finds a bunch of channels. I believe it was 35 or 36 channels. Picture comes in clear.

3. After doing the rabbit ears scan, I disconnect the rabbit ears and plug in the roof antenna. Turn on the TV and I can see all the channels which were found using the rabbit ears. Picture is clear.

4. With the TV on and roof antenna plugged in, I tried to do an "additive" scan where I want to preserve all the current channels and try to find more. The scan hangs and does nothing, but I do not lose the channels found using the rabbit ears. Probably if I did a complete scan, it would wipe out all the existing channels.

If it was the roof antenna, it doesn't make sense I get reception with a box that has saved channels - I should get no reception.

The roof antenna is shared among four TVs, although only one is on at any given time. I am going to disconnect all but one and try to do a scan. Let's see what happens.

Thanks...Joe
 
Grandcheapskate said:
If it was the roof antenna, it doesn't make sense I get reception with a box that has saved channels - I should get no reception.

The roof antenna is shared among four TVs, although only one is on at any given time. I am going to disconnect all but one and try to do a scan. Let's see what happens.
Click to expand...
Well, it *is* the roof antenna -- somehow. It just might be the way it's shared between four TVs. Did you, by chance, just add a fourth TV?
 
Some DTV converter boxes were designed to work with an amplified antenna, and will actually send DC power through the RF lead so that the amplified antenna doesn't need its own power source. Maybe you accidentally have the amplified antenna option turned on, and the extra resistance of the long RF lead to the roof antenna is causing it to act funny?

Or, if the antenna is on a grounded mast, maybe that's causing some kind of ground loop?
 
Did you disconnect everything else from the roof antenna? i have two settop boxes here that interfere with each otger. i havent done a scan with noth plugged in but i wouldnt be surprised if i got your results.

Else, your a.ntenna is likely receiving a strong signal that is causing desense in the settop box during scan.
 
While I'm not familiar with OTA digital TV's and the uses of the set top boxes, I do have a couple possibilities that "might" be occurring:

Since these are older Boxes and the scan data is stored somewhere in the box, could the memory be full and not allow for addition info in them. Likewise the memory could be corrupted. Is there a limit to the maximum number of channels that can be stored that you run up against when using the outside antenna but don't run up against when using the rabbit ears.

Just some thoughts - and they most likely are way off base.

Bill
Smithville, NJ
 
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