[Number_6]

I'm using the QAM cable tuner on a Panasonic 42PD50 to pull in HD locals. Was trying to watch the ABC football tonight but HD picture kept dropping out with message "Channel not available" or "Poor signal quality". While this was happening my analog cable was affected as well, with visible noise in the analog picture. Thanks a lot, TWC.


Now the analog cable is back to crystal clear but only one HD channel is coming in (not the football, of course). For all other HD channels the TV is displaying "Poor signal quality". But as I previously said, the analog picture is completely back to normal. I have a feeling the TV "gave up" on most of the HD channels and isn't really trying to tune them anymore.


Overall, it seems to take very little interference to knock the HD channels off. If I have visible noise in the analog cable I can pretty much forget about watching the HD channels. I find it hard to adjust to the "All or nothing" signal of digital channels because there is no obvious way to tell if the problem is with the TV, something inside your house, or the signal coming from outside your house.

 

[dsmith901]

Sounds like an antenna issue.

 

[Number_6]

I did a channel rescan and the dropped/inoperative channels began working again. Although why a re-scan is needed I don't understand. It sure seems to me that the PD50s tuner gives up on a flaky HD channel and won't allow you to view it even once the signal clears up.


Yesterday all my digital channels went black, although I'm still getting audio. If it's not fixed by today, I'll try another rescan. But if the tuner freaks out and needs a rescan every time the signal quality drops, that sounds like pretty bad design to me. Regardless of how crummy the input signal may be.

 

[afa3]

I have a 42PD50 also. It's done the same thing once, also on a QAM-tuned channel. Dropped out with the same messages, didn't come back until I rescanned a couple of days later. In my case, no other channels were affected.

 

[56Oval]

I've got the same model and have the same problem but with the ATSC tuner.


It decides to drop a channel randomly and show "Poor Signal Quality", even though I know the signal strength is just fine.


The immediate way to get the channel back is to do an auto-program and it finds the channel again. Very annoying.


Anyone else experiencing this too?

 

[muncey]

i am with the built in atsc tuner. i'm using a cheap indoor vhf/uhf antenna and thought that was why. i'll see what happens when i install an outdoor antenna, maybe this weekend.


muncey

 

[gregger77]

I have a new 50" Panasonic plasma, and am getting the same issue.


For the first week, I could ONLY pick up two out of six local channels that offer HD, via Comcast basic cable. Then, those two dropped out ("Poor signal quality").


I'll rescan. For the life of me, I can't understand why I have only two HD channels. The QAM tuner properly maps these to their analog broadcast equivalent locations (ie., 7.1 and 9.1 for channels 7 and 9 respectively); the others cannot be found ANYWHERE in the channels that autoscan picks up.


Very disappointing!!!!

 

[Superastro]

I, too, just got a 50PX50U this weekend. I LOVE IT!!! I have just experienced my first qam channel drop. When you guys rescan, does the tv keep all of the channel labels that you've painstakingly entered?

 

[56Oval]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Superastro I, too, just got a 50PX50U this weekend. I LOVE IT!!! I have just experienced my first qam channel drop. When you guys rescan, does the tv keep all of the channel labels that you've painstakingly entered?

I believe they're all lost when you rescan.



Has anyone contacted Panasonic to try to get the set fixed? I'm sick of mine dropping channels, but I've had it too long to take it back to the reseller and exchange it.

 

[ggghhh]

I have the same problem with the ASTC tuner. When I decide I’m going to watch broadcast tv, the steps I follow are:


1. turn on power

2. do a channel scan

3. wait 3min or so.

4. watch tv.


Then I'm usually good for the rest of the day.

 

[mswlogo]

If you want to try to improve signal for OTA try an AMP.


I have no affiliation with this place, it's where I bough my AMP and I go from 12 channels to 18 adding the amp.

http://starkelectronic.com/allamps.htm

 

[56Oval]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 56Oval I believe they're all lost when you rescan. Has anyone contacted Panasonic to try to get the set fixed? I'm sick of mine dropping channels, but I've had it too long to take it back to the reseller and exchange it.

So I called Panasonic and they hadn't heard of the problem, but were more than happy to schedule a tech to come look at my TV next week. I'll let everyone know what happens.


I was really hoping that I could upgrade the firmware somehow (like their RP TV's you just copy the firmware to an SD flash and turn the TV off and back on it and loads the new image.), but I didn't see any SD slot on the TV.


-Mike

 

[Krusty the Klown]

I had this problem on my new 42-500. I finally did a full re-boot and haven't lost a station in 2 days. Previsously I was losing several each day, and then doing a re-scan. A full re-boot causes you to lose everything including the TV Guide set-ups, but hoping for the best.

 

[mariachi]

I've had my panny for about a month and I experienced my first "HD channel drop" a few days ago. Did a rescan and I'm good to go. One thing I noticed, which may or may be the reason why the channels are dropped, is that, once you go to a HD channel, if you hit the volume button right away, it seems that it causes the tuner to drop the channel. You have to let the channel "settle" in before adjusting the volume. This seems to be the reason I lost two of my HD channels. I don't know if I'm right or not...


-Vic

 

[dchester]

I have experienced that following (with my TH-50PX500U), with Charter digital cable. On rare occasions, I would change the channel, and then after trying for a bit the TV would basically give up on a digital channel, however I found that simply changing the Channel again and then going back to the problem channel (easiest done via the return button) would cause it to try again, and usually it would succeed on the second try. Complaining to the cable company seems to have corrected the issue for me.

 

[56Oval]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mariachi I've had my panny for about a month and I experienced my first "HD channel drop" a few days ago. Did a rescan and I'm good to go. One thing I noticed, which may or may be the reason why the channels are dropped, is that, once you go to a HD channel, if you hit the volume button right away, it seems that it causes the tuner to drop the channel. You have to let the channel "settle" in before adjusting the volume. This seems to be the reason I lost two of my HD channels. I don't know if I'm right or not... -Vic

I like the theory, but on my system, the volume button on my remote (Harmony 680) controls my receiver volume, not the TV, so my channels are disappearing w/o any involvement of the TV volume control.


Has anyone ever had more than one channel drop at one time?


I never had. One of the PBS HD channels died and I've left it that way for a couple weeks now. And none of the other channels have died on me.

 

[barb1978]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 56Oval I've got the same model and have the same problem but with the ATSC tuner. It decides to drop a channel randomly and show "Poor Signal Quality", even though I know the signal strength is just fine. The immediate way to get the channel back is to do an auto-program and it finds the channel again. Very annoying. Anyone else experiencing this too?

Yep. But worse. I bought the 42PD50 a few days ago and have never received a signal through it. Just white noise. I had Dish hooked up from my Dish Network box for the first couple of days. Today I had a techie friend put an over the air HDTV signal into the TV and again ... white noise. I'm really getting sick of white noise!


I wonder if there's been a defective batch of the 42PD50's sent out? When was yours made, and in what country was it manufactured? Mine was manufactured in Mexico November 2005 (this month)!

 

[mariachi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by barb1978 Yep. But worse. I bought the 42PD50 a few days ago and have never received a signal through it. Just white noise. I had Dish hooked up from my Dish Network box for the first couple of days. Today I had a techie friend put an over the air HDTV signal into the TV and again ... white noise. I'm really getting sick of white noise! I wonder if there's been a defective batch of the 42PD50's sent out? When was yours made, and in what country was it manufactured? Mine was manufactured in Mexico November 2005 (this month)!

I'm not clear if you did run the channel auto scan or not?


-Vic

 

[56Oval]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mariachi I'm not clear if you did run the channel auto scan or not? -Vic

And did he set the input for "Antenna" mode?



Side note, what Firmware do people have?


I understand you can check it by pressing the volume up on the TV the same time as you press the volume up on the remote (repeating what I read elsewhere. I'll test it tonight and report my results. I'm hoping new firmware might be an answer to the dropping station issue.


-Mike

 

[barb1978]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 56Oval And did he set the input for "Antenna" mode?

I did scan the channels and I did set it to Antenna mode.


Oh, and I'm a "she." I thought the name would give it away.