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My Vizio and getting a converter box (1 Viewer)

David McGough

Second Unit
Joined
Nov 26, 1999
Messages
277
I have a Vizio 36" TV a VX37L that I bought last year.
I use DIREC TV.. My locals are out of Memphis which are ABC CBS NBC.
I do have a local ABC channel here in my town which is 100 miles away..

When we watch our local ABC/local news. I always CUT Direc TV reciever OFF. I have my TV on channell 7..

Other night during the new they announced they were going to have a
Digital test showing what your TV will get on Feb 17. They said they were going to turn the switch.. You lose the picture you need to get a converter box.. OK the real deal.. I'm setting there thinking I'm OK as I was told when I bought it... SCREEN GOES BLUE I LOSE THE STATION....

I been looking through my book for something.. I there a switch I have to set to on my TV
The salesman told me I was good to GO did not need anything..

I looked in the book for something.. I saw Digital CC tried to get to that, figure it is close caption?
anybody know about it please fill me in.

Thanks
 

Joseph DeMartino

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jun 30, 1997
Messages
8,311
Location
Florida
Real Name
Joseph DeMartino
Channel 7 is the analog channel that your local ABC affliliate uses. During the transition period stations have been broadcasting on both their old analog frequency and their new digital frequency, which uses another part of the RF spectrum. In February they will TURN OFF those analog channenls and only broadcast on the newer digital channels. You need to watch the station on using your set's digital tuner. Make sure you're selecting the right input.

Do you currently have an antenna for receiving signals over-the-air? If not, you may need to add one to pick up the digital signal, as they are less forgiving than analog. (With a marginal analog signal you'll get a poor signal with ghosting, maybe static and muted colors. With a marginal signal you'll get freezing, random blocks of color or nothing at all.)

But no, you don't need a converter box, and the salesman didn't lie to you.

Regards,

Joe
 

Stephen Tu

Screenwriter
Joined
Apr 26, 1999
Messages
1,572
Do you have a UHF/VHF antenna hooked up?

You'll want to run the "auto-search" for channels as described on page 46 of your manual. On the transition date you should run it again as some stations are changing digital channel frequencies back to their old analog frequencies. Make sure your tuner mode is set to "air" not "cable". Your scan should pick up some digital channels, if not you may need different/new antenna or better aiming of an existing one.

The digital channels typically are set up so that you tune to the digital equivalent of "7" on "7-1". Though it might be elsewhere if your local station's PSIP (a protocol for mapping arbitrary channel frequencies to a different displayed channel #) isn't quite working right.
 

David McGough

Second Unit
Joined
Nov 26, 1999
Messages
277
I do have a antenna but have not used it in 4 years as now have Direc.
It is still up there but not being used.. Glad to know I don't need the box.
I see Auto Search on page 35 of my book. So the station will not show up untill it switches to
Ditigal?
My TV in the computer room and Kitchen are older ones. May get one for them. Can you split 2 sets off of a converter.
 

Stephen Tu

Screenwriter
Joined
Apr 26, 1999
Messages
1,572
It should be already broadcasting in digital; you should be able to find it, given an adequate antenna and aiming. During this transition period your stations have been broadcasting in both analog & digital for years. What happens in February is analog gets switched off, not digital gets switched on; digital is already on. In some cases though the digital channel gets moved to the frequency where the analog channel used to be. Not clear exactly what stations you are talking about, but if you are talking about WBBJ, in Jackson TN, it's broadcasting channel 7 analog, channel 43 digital (but the digital shows up as "7.1" on your TV due to PSIP), so you need a UHF capable antenna for that.

It's not clear how you are getting picture on your TV's channel 7 now if you don't have an antenna connected. Where exactly is the cable attached to your TV's "F-type" coax 75-ohm antenna input coming from? Usually you want this hooked up to an antenna, your DirecTV you feed using AV cables (component/HDMI or S-video/composite depending if it's an HD DirecTV receiver or not) to a separate AV input on the TV. Are there separate cables coming in from your antenna & your dish or did the installer combine them onto one cable?

If reception is poor then you may need better antenna, aiming, or consider paying DirecTV for locals via satellite.
 

David McGough

Second Unit
Joined
Nov 26, 1999
Messages
277
On any of my TV's you just plug in the outlet and turn on channel 7 you get a pretty good picture.. It has been that way forever.. Some folks do tell me they cannot get a good picture by doing that..
I only had the ANTENNA hooked to my HT room. Back when my Direc Tv local channels they were out of New York and Chicago... I had the antenna so I could get the Titans football games out of Memphis which is 100 miles..

Then Direc gave me locals out of Memphis about a year ago..
Never thought I needed that antenna...

I did go up to the HT room/attic I traced the cable from eve intrance to TV and pulled the cable and will re rout it down the wall to living room TV.

Sure is a mess doing all this. Somebody got to be making money off all this
 

David McGough

Second Unit
Joined
Nov 26, 1999
Messages
277
I just did ran the scan .. I did not have the antenna hooked up to the TV.
In the book it is english, on the screen it is VIZIOIALIAN
or what ever language it is.. The layout was the same as in the book I just arrowed over/down to match the book. It ran about 10 minuets with a line bar showing
the time.. After it was done I clicked menu and channel 7 came on. There were 5 channels that were shown.. All this was with Direc Off..

I may have to re do when I hook the antenna to the set

Thanks for the help
 

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