My 2160A came in today and I have it hooked up to cable. From reading most of these threads it mentioned the "A" model has a known digital tuner problem. Didn't realize how bad it was until I tried it myself.
I have California Comcast and the unit is getting a direct cable from the main house splitter. I had Comcast measure out every outlet and they were all within spec.
My first hook up:
Coax into 2160A ant in. HDMI out to A/V receiver. Coax pass through to Samsung LN52A750 LCD.
Results:
The TV picks up over 400 digital, 90 analog, and about 30 over the air channels. This is more channels then what I get when using the HD Cable box I'm using for ON DEMAND. The 2160A, not a single digital channel. I read up a bit more and figured that I might have a "Digital Cliff" effect because I do have a signal amplifier installed by Comcast. This leads to a change in hook up.
Second hook up:
Coax into a DB-6 splitter. Coax to 2160A with -6db. Coax to TV from splitter pass through. HDMI out to A/V receiver.
Results:
I get digital signals this time on the 2160A!!! Well at least a fraction of what I should get. I'm happy I got the digital channels to my 2160A but it really is about a tiny fraction. This is an insane difference between the LCD tuner vs the 2160A tuner. Also the TV looks much better with its own signal. I do understand that the 2160A has to convert to HDMI out, but its a huge difference between viewing digital channels from the TV versus the 2160A. Is there any hook up or setting to improve the 2160A digital tuner picture quality?
Will dropping the db a bit more help? Also on my TV, the analog and digital channels are on one tuner. So when flipping through channels I get 2, 2.1,2.2 with the .x being digital but on the 2160A I have to use the DTV/TV button to access my digital channels. If its in TV mode I only get standard, and in DTV mode I only get digital. This is kind of a pain in the arse to switch. Is there a method to combine them like my TV?
Wajo: What would you recommend for video settings on my 2160A with the components I'm using? I have listed my full A/V hook up below.
A/V hook up:
Coax from main splitter to Motorola DCH3200 Digital Cable Box
HDMI out from DCH3200 to Samsung LCD LN52A750
Optic out from DCH3200 to Yamaha AVR RX-V663
PS3 HDMI out to AVR. This is my main source for movies and network streaming.
Coax from main splitter to DB-6 splitter. Coax -6db to 2160A. Coax pass through to LCD. HDMI out to AVR.
Logitech Harmony 880
6.1 Speaker Set.
I'm looking into upgrading the HDD on the 2160A but I want to make sure this is the unit to keep. If there isn't much more I can do about the tuner issue then I'll proceed to the upgrade and pray Funai comes out with a FW fix. If it is a unit issue tuner problems then I might swap for another from Walmart and pray I get one with a better digital tuner. I'm getting about 50-70 digital channels right now and mostly the useless ones.
Still working on reading the rest of this thread