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OTA HDTV for a 40" Poloroid (need help)

post #1 of 10
1/8/07 at 5:56pm
Thread Starter 
Someone may have to help me who actual has one of these TV's, but here's my question. I recently purchased a 90 Mile antenna which supposedly catches yellow,red, green, blue, & violet channel types. My main stations are about 40 miles away (FOX, NBC, ABS, CBS, etc...) When I do an "HD over the air" channel scan, it says it found only 2 analog & 8 digital channels. According to Antennaweb.org, I should be catching quite a few more (appox 10 digital & 16 analog.) Then, when I actually view or change my channels, all I have is 8 channels which I believe are the digital ones. Apparently my TV only let's me view the channels it has scanned. It also doesn't seem to let me view any analog channels (which I "should" catch more than 2.) The main thing that concerns me is not catching NBC, which is in the same 40 mile range. My TV won't manually let me punch in any channels that it has not scanned. So when I punch in channel 6 or 6.1 (which is NBC, for example) it stays on whichever channel it was currently on. Anyone have any ideas?? Like I said, maybe only Polaroid TV owners can answer this question unless all HDTV's do this. Thank you for any help!

Polaroid was ABSOLUTELY no help & says they don't have people to answer those types of questions, which sounds bogus!
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post #2 of 10
1/9/07 at 12:28am
90 mile? rooftop I assume?

First, I don't have a Polaroid, but I'll try to help.
I don't know why you can't see your analogs. Have you tried scrolling through inputs? My LG treats analog and digital as two separate sources.

Keying in 6.1 for digital will never work if it hasn't been found. Digital channels today are re-mapped. I.E. a station may be displayed as 6.1, but while analog is still on, the signal is actually being broadcast at some other frequency. It could be anything. They can't put both signals out at 6 simultaneously.

Antennaweb should tell you these numbers also. Note there is channel and frequency. For analog they will be the same. For digital, not.

Good luck,
Mike
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post #3 of 10
1/9/07 at 6:44am
The NBC affiliate in New Orleans, WDSU-DT, does not have an OTA transmitter. It is not available on any local cable service, either.

The analog channels will be receivable by an NTSC tuner. The digital channels will be receivable by an ATSC tuner.

If your tv is a Polaroid FLM-4034B, page 17 of the User's Guide indicates that the inputs to the NTSC and ATSC tuners are separate jacks. Split the antenna lead and try another rescan.
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post #4 of 10
1/9/07 at 9:41am
Thread Starter 
I see where it does say to split the connection, but I already have my regular cable connected to my TV cable connection on the back of the TV. I was basically just using the antenna to get my local channels in HD. I have FOX,ABC, & CBS, but all that really concerned was getting NBC on the antenna. AntennaWeb.org showed that I should catch, but I don't for some reason.
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post #5 of 10
1/11/07 at 1:36am
One thing lacking in the 40" Polaroid is signal strength indication for optimizing antenna position. I get all the Chicago area digital channels that I got with my Samsung OTA STB before from 36 miles out using Silver Sensor on 2nd floor with Radio Shack 30 db pre-amp. The only channel I cannot receive at all is CBS on analog channel 2, digital 3 (bottom of VHF). All other digital channels here are UHF, but the boosted UHF-only antenna can receive analog VHF channels other than channel 2.

My problem at first was that it found digital and analog channels, but would only display analog channels.

I didn't remember that I had to split my antenna to both inputs to receive analog and digital OTA channels. Since you have cable TV on one antenna input, maybe your only choices are cable and OTA digital (unless you have a cable box or VCR/DVR with some other video output, so you could split OTA to both antenna inputs).
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post #6 of 10
1/11/07 at 10:48am
I don't know about the polaroid but some TVs have the analog and digital channels in different locations.

On my JVC, you scan the channels and it will scan for both digital and analog channels. However you have to push a button on the remote to switch between the analog and digital channels. Works the same with basic cable and QAM, and ASTC channels and OTA analog.

On my panasonic, you scan the channels and it will scan for both digital and analog channels. However you DON"T have to push a button to switch between the analog and digital channels.
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post #7 of 10
1/11/07 at 12:50pm
Copy and paste what antennaweb.org told you about your location.
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post #8 of 10
1/12/07 at 6:37am
Quote:


I recently purchased a 90 Mile antenna which supposedly catches yellow,red, green, blue, & violet channel types.

NO such thing as a "90 mile antenna". Colors belong on resistors.
It would help if you let us know where you are. Antennaweb is NOT the holy grail.
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post #9 of 10
1/12/07 at 6:59am
Quote:
Originally Posted by JTOUPS View Post

........ I was basically just using the antenna to get my local channels in HD. I have FOX,ABC, & CBS, but all that really concerned was getting NBC on the antenna. AntennaWeb.org showed that I should catch, but I don't for some reason.

The OP is near New Orleans. The reason he can not receive WDSU-DT, NBC is because the NBC transmitter was wiped out by Katrina and the affiliate has put very little effort in recovering it. NBC OTA in New Orleans just doesn't exist.
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post #10 of 10
1/12/07 at 7:08am
That set allows a 'add channel' scan (doesn't delete the orginal channel list).

Not sure exactly where he is, but it can be fine tuned here;
http://tiger.census.gov/cgi-bin/mapb...ew+Orleans,+LA

Which gave me this;
http://www.2150.com/broadcast/defaul...=Show+Stations
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