I have recently tried the latest models of Toshiba, LG, and Samsung TV's. All 3 models do a great job with weaker signals.

The Samsung exhibits the worst selectivity when in a strong signal environment. It will easily overload with no amplification in urban areas. Proper amplifier selection is crucial if one is truly needed with the Samsung.

A minor observation that I haven't seen mentioned before (please forgive me if it has, I've looked but not seen it), but my Samsung TV has a pretty serious bug around digital OTA, and given the problems that Samsung's have with PSIP I would be surprised if more TV's don't have it:

The previous channel button doesn't work.

The issue is pretty obvious, it is a requirements oversight from the software side. The problem is this: enter one channel, the TV displays it. enter a second channel, the TV displays it. Hit previous channel, and the TV returns to the actual channel (not the rewrited version) that the current channel was on; it then gets redirected on the current channel again.

e.g.:

I tune to 22-1
I tune to 2-1
I hit prev-channel, the TV goes to 58, gets redirected to 2-1.

- or -

I hit 22-1
I tune 58 (go to 2-1)
I hit prev-channel, the TV goes to 58, gets redirected to 2-1.

Anybody else seen this? It seems to me like it's a pretty big bug, this is a 2 year old TV -- Samsung LNT4669

How common is having one digital channel missing from Toronto?

I was helping my brother setup his 4221HD on his roof to his 2 year old Panasonic plasma TV. Direct run into a grounding block, no splits and the antenna is angled between Buffalo and Toronto. He gets all the Buffalo channels and all the Toronto channels nicely including 57-1 except 9-1, but he does get it in analogue.

To answer my own question, I took my external ATSC Samsung tuner over to his house to try things out. Guess what? Channel 9-1 came in nice and strong, so we've deducted it must be his tuner dropping stations. Fortunately it's only 9-1.

So I went on the web and found a firmware update that's suppose to fix channel dropouts from Panasonic website but unfortunately it didn't solve anything.

I guess we have to wait for another update when available. Any ideas? Panasonic model TH-42PX6U.

Thanks

I just realized this thread should probably be moved somewhere else. Please move if necessary. Thanks.

Is there any difference b/w auto and manual scan? New on the air digital stations have been saying that you need to "auto" scan to get the new channels. Can't one just scan the channels manually- 5.1, 6.1, 7.1, 8.1, etc, etc.?

Is there any difference b/w auto and manual scan? New on the air digital stations have been saying that you need to "auto" scan to get the new channels. Can't one just scan the channels manually- 5.1, 6.1, 7.1, 8.1, etc, etc.?

It depends on the TV and if it is a new channel or if it is moving to a different channel number. When a station moves (or is otherwise updated), an autoscan is preferred as it will remove the old information for that channel.

Hi there. I have Samsung HD TV and I would like to asked how you get channel from middle of multiplex. I'm getting some from Seattle WA. But channel 9 has 3 sub channels 9-1, 9-2, 9-3. When I press 9 it goes always to 9-1 and then I have to scroll to 9-3 And that's easy. Channel 20 has 5 sub channels. 18 two,,, Is there any way :confused:

Just enter "20-3" or whatever channel you want to go to on your remote.

Does the Sammy line have a key on the remote for the dot in the subchannel number? My Sonys just assume the dot when I key in 3 digits while set to OTA.

Yes,

The Samsung has a dash key underneath the #7. You must use the button to directly any subchannel.

:p It works I did not see that under #7,,,it is - not minus thank you:D

I think one of the good attributes of my Samsung A550 is the ATSC tuner.

It is fairly sensitive and was not fuzzy at all during any channel data change. The only thing I needed to do extra was to delete 43.8 and 43.9. The CHANNEL GUIDE could have been better but at least there is one and I am quite happy.

I got the same Samsung, and it has been very good for OTA- no overload on very close signals, even with a CM 7778- much better than the LG. The only small problem with the Samsung was not being able to read 18.1 (CHCH) as 11.1, it just show's it as 18.1.

The only small problem with the Samsung was not being able to read 18.1 (CHCH) as 11.1, it just show's it as 18.1.
Smiler problem here in Victoria my Samsung reads CHAN DT 8.1 as 22.1

I hope if any of you email Samsung product support to let them know that lots of Canadians are experiencing problems with their ATSC tuners not handling station PSIP data satisfactorily that you'll show us their reply.

WNYB changed it's digital channel allotment and I tried to manual scan on my Samsung- didn't work.

I had to do an auto scan- which probably erased the channel memory which had the old channels- no biggee, but now I know that auto scan is recommened to get the new allotments- see June 12th and beyond.

(Ooops, see post 305, thanks roger1818)

I hope if any of you email Samsung product support to let them know that lots of Canadians are experiencing problems with their ATSC tuners not handling station PSIP data satisfactorily that you'll show us their reply.Response from CHCH to my email:We have heard of this situation with some TV brands since launching our HD transmitter last April.
18:1 is our transitional channel and it will become 11:1 after August 31st, 2011. That being said we have set up our transmitter to broadcast on 11:1. You are not alone in the fact that your brand of set will only pick up our signal on 18:1. We have 2 different brands of HD sets at our transmitter site and one picks us up on 11:1 and the other on 18:1. Our Engineers have gone through all the tables to see if there is a fix to this with no luck to date. This situation is not only a CanWest issue as I have heard the same thing from other Broadcasters. We will continue to search for a fix this this situation.

Thank you for taking the time to send us your question.

regards
Wayne Rabishaw
Broadcast Operations Manager
CHCH News

I have a Sony LCD. At the begining of the current year I had an on screen TV-guide.
I have check the configuration and everything seems to be OK but the tv guide is not loading anymore.
Does anyone know what is going on?

thanks.

When you are viewing a DTV station does it give you real time program info for it?

Could it be that you were receiving a TVGOS signal from an analog station and it has since shutdown?

northyork,

I just bought a Sony and it has the TV Guide, but nothing showed up so far. I checked Sony site and here is what I found (posted April 20, 2009):
The TV Guide On Screen® system listing does not appear for DTV stations.

Solution

IMPORTANT:

All full-power television stations in the United States will stop broadcasting analog signals at midnight on June 12, 2009 and begin broadcasting digital signals only. Individual broadcast stations may decide to stop broadcasting an analog signal at an earlier date for testing purposes. As a result, your television may not display a signal. Visit http://www.dtv2009.gov for complete information about this transition.

While the national transition to DTV takes place on June 12, 2009, full-power television stations in Hawaii proceeded with the transition on January 15, 2009. Visit http://www.hawaiigoesdigital.com/ for further information.

At this time the TV Guide Onscreen system listings are transmitted through an analog broadcast only. As such, if using an antenna to view programing, the listings will not display on DTV broadcasts (including HD programming).

A software update to alleviate this issue is currently being developed. Once the update is released, details will be made available on the News, Alerts section of the Sony Support Web Site at http://esupport.sony.com.