I'm having issues involving my apartment complex. In essence, I have a 'terrible' cable provider with no STB; just a cable coming out of the wall. I receive channels 2-64, all standard definition, and nothing digital.
Living close to Pittsburgh, I am able to pick up a handful of high-def channels OTA if I use a regular antenna.
The problem is that my new Panasonic plasma only has one RF input (as opposed to the two provided with many Samsungs) so that when I scan channels, I'm forced to choose either the physical cable input OR the antenna input, and therefore cannot watch nor scan both sources simultaneously.
I'm looking for any/all suggestions on how to deal with this issue, thank you highly in advance.
You could purchase a separate HDTV receiver (Samsung makes a nice one with HDMI output) and connect it to your Panasonic plasma via HDMI cable. Or you could disconnect cable and go OTA HD only.
Suppose you could also install an A-B coax switch and switch back/forth between OTA and your crappy cable. It it were me, I'd ditch the cable and go free OTA.
Or get something with an analog cable tuner (such as an old VCR, or maybe a DVD recorder) to get cable on (using the composite / S-Video and analog audio connections) .
I really wouldn't recommend the A/B switch method, and you certainly cannot use a combiner with two different sources like that.
Thank you to the both of you for the quick responses.
Unfortunately the switch idea wouldn't solve the problem of not being able to tune both sources, though I could try to manually add additional channels.
I'm going to do some research regarding analog cable tuners.
I'm having difficulty finding an actual "tuner" apart from VCR's and TiVo's; is anyone aware of a tuner solution for my analog RF cable which would output via composite or s-video?
Your best and cheapest bet is an VCR with a cable-ready tuner. You won't be able to find a new one but garage sales and thrift shops should have plenty.
Exactly what I was hoping not to hear! I'm amazed at how difficult it is to find a "simple" cable tuner box that is less than $150. Thanks for the help.
I didn't see any requirement for cheap in the original post, in which case a TiVo HD would do what you want. It has separate RF inputs for cable and antenna and integrates the channel lists for both seamlessly. Plus, you get DVR functionality.
For thread-contribution purposes, I've come to realize that the Panasonic 42px80u, once scanned, retains separate channel listings for cable and antenna scans.
To explain, once I attached the "cable" coax to the set and scanned for channels, 60+ were found with my analog cable service. I then disconnected the "cable" coax and hooked up an "antenna" coax. I then went into the menu, changed the input from "cable" to "antenna," and scanned again. This time ~15 channels were found via the "antenna" coax.
I then unplugged the "antenna" coax, plugged the "cable" coax back into the set, and switched the input to "cable" in the Panny's menu. Voila, the previously scanned 60+ channels were restored and I didn't have to rescan! The same happened when switching back to "antenna."
What this means is that a simple A/B coax switch will somewhat solve my problem, and I will no longer have to climb behind the set to switch coax inputs manually. I'll just have to throw the switch and change the input in the Panny's menu. A *small* victory, I suppose.
Now does anyone know where I can find an electronic coax switch?
Radio Shack sells a real nice remote controlled one. Priced a little steep, but well worth it in my opinion (since you never have to get up to change it).
Otherwise, they also sell manual ones like you describe.
Quote:
Originally Posted by onepoint /forum/post/13395559
The problem is that my new Panasonic plasma only has one RF input (as opposed to the two provided with many Samsungs) so that when I scan channels, I'm forced to choose either the physical cable input OR the antenna input, and therefore cannot watch nor scan both sources simultaneously.
I'm looking for any/all suggestions on how to deal with this issue, thank you highly in advance.
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