I think a new TV is in our future (Channel fixed)

[LVSteve]

Apart from some free stuff that I stream, I get all my TV over the air (OTA) from the antenna farm up on Arden Peak/Black Mt. in the Vegas valley. It is line of sight, and the signal levels are monstrous, in general.

Well, one of the stations had a bit of a reorg of what they were broadcasting so I had to rescan my TV. Now, none of the six channels on that frequency have sound on my Sony TV and I am getting glitches in the picture. However, if I hook up a $30 digital TV decoder box the sound comes through just fine and the picture is stable. Now I will admit that the TV dates back to about 2009 or maybe before. Rooting around the Web suggests that this may be a known issue that Sony has taken great pains to cover up. For example, on the Sony community forum a user had a similar problem to mine, and after the thread ran for a bit the moderator sent him a PM and the thread died right there. Uh-huh! I'll do a web search for software updates, but I think this may be a straight up obsolescence issue. Oh well, at least it gives me the excuse to go to a bigger screen.

(Edited to add)

Went back to the funky channels and they now come in loud and proud with stable pictures.

 

[kraynky]

Big screen TV's are so much cheaper now than when I bought my first one (about 1991) That sucker was almost 5' tall and 5' wide, and probably 2' thick. And it cost over $2 grand! My current flat screen is probably old by today's standards ( about 2-1/2 years) but what a great picture it has over the old projection screen TV's of the 90's!

I still recall when we were told we could buy cable TV and miss the commercials! That didn't last long. (same for satellite radio)

You'll find some great deals this time of year I reckon!

 

[LVSteve]

Edited OP to state that the TV has NO sound on the offending channel. Doh!

 

[dmn57]

Big screen TV's are so much cheaper now than when I bought my first one (about 1991) That sucker was almost 5' tall and 5' wide, and probably 2' thick. And it cost over $2 grand! My current flat screen is probably old by today's standards ( about 2-1/2 years) but what a great picture it has over the old projection screen TV's of the 90's!

I still recall when we were told we could buy cable TV and miss the commercials! That didn't last long. (same for satellite radio)

You'll find some great deals this time of year I reckon!

We've had a 58" Panasonic plasma since 2010 that still looks fantastic, although it weighs in at 107 pounds. Bought it for $1400. We also have more recent 60", 55" and 42" sets that combined cost less than the big plasma.

 

[Tom S.]

Now, none of the six channels on that frequency have no sound

Doesn't that mean they all have sound? The old double negative thing?

 

[johngalt]

I'm still using a 2006-ish TiVo Series3 for my tuner/DVR, with a 2004-ish Pioneer Elite plasma TV. No plans on upgrading in the near term, but if I do it will be some sort of OLED. I only with I could get a non-smart TV.

 

[Walter Rego]

I thought you were going to tell us you did an Elvis and plugged your TV with a Model 60. You are in Vegas right ?

 

[LVSteve]

Doesn't that mean they all have sound? The old double negative thing?

Oops! I've fixed it in the OP.

 

[Kanewpadle]

Go spoil yourself buddy.

We got a 65 inch Samsung a year ago and a sound bar to go with it. We love it. The sound bar really makes a big difference.

 

[Narragansett]

I am not a tv aficionado, but I just got a 43 inch Insignia out the door for 197.00. All I need . BIL just got a 2000 dollar something to mount on the wall. Picture marginally better. Sound, no idea. He watches it closed caption. But, has external sound bar. Millionaires and their money

 

[Browns fan]

GO LARGE I bought a 83 inch samsung open box about a year ago for 1400 you can find them even cheaper now go big you’ll be glad you did

 

[Onomea]

I'm not into super big TVs, but, I am into sound bars. I have a 32" TV in my living room — cost a hundred and change — hooked up to a very nice audio system. Use the TV mostly for morning and evening news. Occasionally, run the audio through the audio system to watch music performances.

But I don't like a big TV taking over my living room. I don't like it visually.

Upstairs, have a room off our bedroom. 55" TV with a sound bar beneath. I enjoy it. Seems plenty big to me. Cost less than $500 a coupla years ago.

I think it is amazing how cheap TVs, big and small, are these days.

 

[coltle6920]

I think the OTA providers are trying to find that sweet spot in the available channels.

I get about 75 channels on a good day. Some of those channels are duplicates. What I mean is that for example I'll get channels 2.2 - 2.4 every day but sometimes they are also available on channels 19.1-19.4.

Never know what I'll get when I rescan the TV and wouldn't know what to type to research it online but there probably is a reason other than blaming the TV.

I have a 32" Sony Bravia that I bought when stations were first mandated to carry OTA content. No issues like the OP has.

 

[Golddollar]

I pieced together a TV system that covers everything. It's a 65 inch LG OLED TV that has the inputs for the DirecTV and DVD player, plus I can run a cable from my computer to watch anything I can get streamed on the computer. There is a dedicated input for my VHS player (yes, I still have a lot of VHS tapes). The sound feeds into a Denon receiver that feeds a pair of Infinity AL-50 speakers. It took a little time to assemble everything but it was worth it.

 

[LVSteve]

Never know what I'll get when I rescan the TV and wouldn't know what to type to research it online but there probably is a reason other than blaming the TV.

You may have something there. I decided to monitor one of the channels on the offending frequency for an extended period looking at the diagnostics available on the TV. It became clear that the signal to noise ratio is more than sufficient, and that the error correction system was detecting no errors. Despite this the picture is glitchy and there is no audio. This would suggest that either the monitor software is missing stuff because it is too slow, or the wonky picture is what is being sent.

Thing is, when I look at the same channel with the converter box, everything is good. I think it may be a buffer depth issue, with the newer box having a deeper buffer. It could be that buffer overflows in the TV are not reported as errors. If the broadcaster is sending its signal in frames that are too long for my TV, then it could be that this is where TV is going, or the broadcaster is doing something they shouldn't.

 

[chief38]

Just bought a new 75" last week - love it! LG 85 series of QNED technology with micro LEDS. Not cheap compared to many other 75" models. but blows them away IMHO. When we sit down to watch a movie i want to really enjoy the experience and now I can do just that. Got a 5 year full Warranty through Costco (included in the regular price) and am quite happy with its performance so far.

NOTE: I'd suggest no matter which brand you purchase you go on Youtube and turn off as many spyware features as you can. I believe there were 4 or 5 I turned off on mine. I am sure they still spy on us anyway, but no need to make it easier for them to do it. My model came with a voice activated command remote and they will not let you use that feature unless you agree to let them monitor your viewing history and habits - pretty darn low IMHO but all major Company's are now doing this. I did NOT agree to that because I already have a voice command Cable Co. remote that I just programmed to my new TV and does the exact same thing as the LG TV remote. While some people don't care - I do and figured I'd just pass that along.

 

[Yaworski]

I was selling TVs when the 4K thing became big. We were displaying a 55" 4K priced at $3600 (on sale). A year later, the new version was $1700 on sale. Now you can get a 55" 4K for about $300.

 

[LVSteve]

All good now.

 

[JohnRippert]

I was selling TVs when the 4K thing became big. We were displaying a 55" 4K priced at $3600 (on sale). A year later, the new version was $1700 on sale. Now you can get a 55" 4K for about $300.

I have a 1080p 55inch Vizio that is several years old. I still watch DVD's and see no need for a Blu Ray or a 4K TV as of yet. I saw a really nice 50inch 4K 120Hz Smart TV on sale for about $400 a week ago but just cannot make myself spend the money when I am still satisfied with what I have. The longer I wait the more I will get for my money when I do break down and get something new.

 

[GaryS]

2009 is like 100 years old in TV years.

As to rescanning, a few years ago the FCC mandate the TV stations move to new frequencies to free up spectrum for mobile data services.

Since digital TV offers better fidelity with narrower bandwidth each TV station can offer 2, 3, or more channels over the same bandwidth that used to be required for one analog channel.

Hence the rescanning. At one point, some stations in my area were moving to temporary frequencies while new equipment and antennas were installed. A friend is a TV RF engineer and let me know when it was time to rescan.

I still get most of my TV via cable, with most of the rest via streaming. I have two TVs that also have OTA antennas for when the power goes out and the cable amplifier batteries die. Since we have a whole house generator, everything in the house works so we can watch OTA TV to at least get some news.

If you have a legacy TV that isn't a Smart TV and you want to stream, you can buy a Roku box and you have a Smart TV. Well, if you WiFi.