The tv is a Sony KDL-32m3000 and I'm with comcast but dont have the hd box yet

I bought the tv yesterday and when i brought it home and connected it to the cable via coaxal it was working perfectly fine.

It was picking up channel 3(which i used to view the cable programs) and also 7.1,9.2, and other digital and analog channels without me having to auto program it(it was an open box model but nothing wrong with it.)

So i disconnect the coaxial so i can put the cable box under the tv and when i connect it again all the channels have been lost including channel 3(only channel that was left was channel 2). So i run an auto program on it and wait a long time and still come up with the same result. The tv also has a "add channel" option which i tried and luckily and i gained back all my channels EXCEPT 3 and that's the one i use to watch cable.

I again ran a add channel and auto programming but now all i can find is Channel 2 with no signal :confused:

If anyone can help me around this and help me recover my channel 3 i would greatly appreciate it.

The auto channel search function is meant to be used when the cable service is direct connected to the set and the cable box may not be passing through the signal to your tv. Viewing your cable box output by selecting a particular channel on your set will provide the worst video quality possible.

If you want to use the cable box for some reason, for example the built-in guide, then I would suggest you connect your cable box to your set using something other than the modulated rf output (coax cable between box and tv) that was used prior to your new purchase.

The cable box should, at the very least, have composite video and analog audio (yellow, red & white) connections. These should be connected to a composite input on your set.

Your new HD cable box will have either component video (red, green, blue) or HDMI/DVI, or both. One of these connections must be used between the HD cable box and tv in order to view HD programming. BTW, the composite cables that you may add to your existing cable box will no longer be required for the HD cable box.

thanks! that did it, just used normal composite cables.
even Comcast couldn't figure out what was going on.

So when I get my HD Box on Thursday(God-Willing) is it best to connect it with an hdmi(or component) cable directly from the cable box into the TV and select the hdmi input on my tv or should i do it another way that would give me a better picture.

Use an HDMI cable. You'll still want to have the coax directly to the TV - to watch clear QAM chs without the need for the STB.

Steer clear of Monster cables. They are high profit, high priced, good cables. There are many other cables available that function just as well, at much lower prices.

Qaisy,

Here's my advice.

Get a coax splitter from Comcast. This will split the cable feed from the wall and give you two connections.

One Coax feed will go the the HD-STB. The HD-STB will connect to the TV using HDMI or component. Ask the installer to leave you both types of cables so that you can see which one gives you a better picture or fewer problems.

When you want to watch TV using the STB, then select the appropriate input on the TV.

With the second coax feed from the splitter, run a coax cable directly to the Sony's RF input. This will allow you to use the Sony's QAM tuner to watch the channels that you previously had (i.e. 7.1, 9.2, etc)

The advantage to this set up is that you can have your STB tuned into one channel and watch something else on the QAM tuner. If your TV is capable, you can do Picture-in-Picture.

Another advantage for this set-up comes into play if the STB is a DVR. Most of the DVRs are dual-tuner DVRs. You can record two different shows at the same time using the DVR. With the above set-up, you could record two shows and watch a third one live on the QAM tuner. Could come in handy on Sundays if you want to record both NFL games and watch Nascar live. Other scenarios also exist.

ft