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#17
09-30-2010, 08:42 PM
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Last edited by mwplefty; 09-30-2010 at 10:16 PM. 
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#18
10-02-2010, 08:14 PM
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The one caveat about cable hookups these days is that a few of the systems out there are entirely digital. If that is the case, you won't see anything but "hypersnow" on an analog set, and no converter (other than one rented from the cable company) can fix it.
More common is what one very large CATV corporation is doing - offering only some of the programs available over-the-air (the ".1" channels) in analog. If your cable system offers many channels in analog (you can test this by plugging the cable into a "BPC" set made from the late '80s to 2005). For analog cable systems using the midband and superband channels, there is one really cheap solution for using an old "knob" set - a used VCR. Nearly all VCRs newer than about 1989 have a cable-ready tuner, simply leave the TV on channel 3 (or 4) and use the VCR tuner for changing channels. Now that so many people are using DVDs for movies and TiVos for timeshifting, VCR are abundant and selling for about $7 at thrift stores.
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#19
10-02-2010, 09:37 PM
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#20
10-02-2010, 10:59 PM
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Ok. So I hooked up the VCR to a newer (5-year-old) set with a digital tuner just to test it. Surprisingly enough, the VCR didn't need to be plugged in for the TV to get a signal.
One very strange thing I noticed was that I get less channels with the VCR. When I use the VCR to change channels, I only get channels 2-19, while when I use the TV to change channels, I get channels 2-31, 70, 96, and 98. Does anyone know why that might be?
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| Audiokarma |
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#21
10-02-2010, 11:20 PM
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If you have the remote for the VCR, bring up the on screen menu. There should be an option to scan for channels. Once you perform a channel scan, the VCR should receive the same channels as the TV that you used as a test.
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#22
10-02-2010, 11:37 PM
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MW,
Your VCR probably only has an ATSC tuner for over-the-air and a NTSC tuner for the now-gone cable world giving you the 2-19 world. Cable clear channels are QAM which is probably in your set tuner along with the NTSC/ATSC tuner when you bypass the VCR giving you the upper channels. VCR tuner fair, set tuner better. And the added few analog channels still sent by cable will appear. My Phila Comcast system is mostly digital but the locals are still analog and QAM HD, including sub-channels, (very good compared to what a digi box does to the signal in pure digital) and a bunch of useless other channels in NTSC. I do get a bunch of music channels though. All this on a Sony XBR960 HD glass set with the NTSC/ATSC and clear-QAM tuner via the basic Comcast delivery to that set. All that said, I have the Comcast mini-box on my other two relics. They do look ok but the audio is low on both.
__________________
“Once you eliminate the impossible...whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth." Sherlock Holmes.
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#23
10-03-2010, 01:40 AM
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My neighbors recently talked about how they no longer receive channels 2-99 with basic cable (They only got about 15 channels or so). They had to buy a separate box in order to get the additional channels. Could this be why I'm only getting a certain amount of channels? Do I need that digital cable converter box to get all channels 2-99 now? Either way, I'm pretty glad this VCR of mine still works. Even though we've had it for about 12 years, I can't remember that many times using it. Therefore, for a while, I thought it was broken and useless. I'm happy that I was wrong. Last edited by mwplefty; 10-03-2010 at 01:45 AM.
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#24
10-03-2010, 11:28 PM
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Your neighbor (and thus, in all likelyhood, You) probably use that really big cable company I was referring to. They are gradually "moderinzing" their cable systems with the same plan. Instead of running a whole new network of cables to every subscriber in their system, they are dropping (drastically) the number of NTSC (analog) channels they provide, and having subscribers attach a digital converter box (much smaller than those used for over-the-air DTV) to every TV and VCR in their homes. On the one hand, freeing up all that bandwidth used for 70ish NTSC cable channels so it can be used for PPV, on demand, Internet and telephone service without drilling more holes and mining more copper seems commendable. It also stops basic cable subscribers from running illegal cable splits to their non-paying neighbors (who can blame the CATV company for wanting to stop that?). On the other hand, it could introduce hidden price increases (not being on one of their systems, I don't know if they are charging customers for the boxes or not), and it does invariably take some working sets out of service (even if the cable company were providing a limitless number of boxes, few people would actually hook up, say, seven TV sets).
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#25
10-04-2010, 03:45 PM
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Believe me, how many of your young(er) friends or family members are intrigued by turning that knob to change the channels? I sure as hell was when I used to go to my grandma's house and use her 13" RCA from late-1979 while playing pool in the basement. (Now my family is talking about getting her a flatscreen LCD TV, since the RCA XL-100 hasn't worked since the DTV transition. I'm trying to convince them otherwise).
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| Audiokarma |
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#27
10-29-2010, 12:12 AM
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Linear Mode
