Bad Receiver?

[Patch2]

I have a few month old Toshiba 50" flat screen LED, that I have connected to an OTA antenna. It was working fine, but recently it stopped picking up OTA signals, on all but the absolute closest station (like 11 miles away). There was a power outage around the time is stopped working, but that has never affected any TV I've ever had before. The antenna is in good shape, solidly connected, so no problems there. Could the receiver be partially burned out?

[Patch2]

Re: Bad Receiver?

BTW, from the day I bought it, it didn't get as good reception as the TV it replaced.

[dskall]

Re: Bad Receiver?

Maybe problem with cable. Does it have a signal amplifier?

[Patch2]

Re: Bad Receiver?

No amplifier. How can I test the cable?

[dick_barton]

Re: Bad Receiver?

TV tuners can have different signal gains (amplification) so a weak signal can be received by a high gain tuner but not necessarily by one with a lower gain.

Have you tried a factory reset or firmware update.

[dskall]

Re: Bad Receiver?

If you have another tv does antenna work good with it?

[Patch2]

Re: Bad Receiver?

TV tuners can have different signal gains (amplification) so a weak signal can be received by a high gain tuner but not necessarily by one with a lower gain.

Have you tried a factory reset or firmware update.

I thought so. I've always wondered about that. Thanks for the confirmation. But no, I have not tried a factory reset or firmware update. How do I do either of those?

[Patch2]

Re: Bad Receiver?

If you have another tv does antenna work good with it?

No I don't, but I've been looking for a cheap used one, at the thrift store, just to use as a test unit.

[Patch2]

Re: Bad Receiver?

I thought so. I've always wondered about that. Thanks for the confirmation. But no, I have not tried a factory reset or firmware update. How do I do either of those?

Never mind, I figured it out. There are no firmware updates at this time. I'll try the factory reset, and let you know.

[CapLeaker]

Re: Bad Receiver?

btw, the amplifier goes close to the antenna, as you want to amplify signal, not noise. I've noticed that some TV's have a built in LNA (low noise amplifier) in their tuners which can be turned on or off in the tuner menu.

[Patch2]

Re: Bad Receiver?

I don't see how it can be a matter of adding a pre-amplifier at the antenna. I've thought of that. But it's not like there is a weak signal, there is just no signal at all for about 10 stations, all of a sudden. They were working for several years with the same antenna I have now, and now they are not. FOX, the most powerful station is 1000kW at 38 miles away. I should get some indication that that station exists, but I get static. That's why I am questioning the tuner itself.

[mu2]

Re: Bad Receiver?

Hi,

I have had to replace the tuner on a 46" Samsung that I got from the recycling center.
I was fortunate to have a scrap board with the exact same tuner and swapped them. On this tv the side hdmi port didn't work and it was obvious that the chip was burned. I suspect that some kind of surge or lighting strike took out the parts.
So in my experience, the tuner can fail giving you no reception. Are all the hdmi inputs working? If both the tuner and hdmi are bad it may have been a surge that took them out.
There are external hd tuner boxes that are pretty inexpensive. The ones I have seen use the hdmi port to pass the signal to the tv. So that would be a way to still use the tv without replacing the internal tuner.
MCM Electronics carries such a tuner. If you want to spend a lot more money with more features check out the Channel Master DVR+.

Mike

[petehall347]

Re: Bad Receiver?

i take it you re-scanned the channels ?

[Patch2]

Re: Bad Receiver?

i take it you re-scanned the channels ?

Yes...couple of times.

[Patch2]

Re: Bad Receiver?

Never mind, I figured it out. There are no firmware updates at this time. I'll try the factory reset, and let you know.

Factory reset did not help. Same issue remains.

[dskall]

Re: Bad Receiver?

I don't see how it can be a matter of adding a pre-amplifier at the antenna. I've thought of that. But it's not like there is a weak signal, there is just no signal at all for about 10 stations, all of a sudden. They were working for several years with the same antenna I have now, and now they are not. FOX, the most powerful station is 1000kW at 38 miles away. I should get some indication that that station exists, but I get static. That's why I am questioning the tuner itself.

Just trying to rule out easy possibilities first. Cable connections cause a lot of problems. May well be tuner problem.