Magavox TV- cable ready?

[ms]

I acquired a used 13" Magnavox color set. Guessing it is about 1990
vintage or older? Supposed to be cable- ready.

Connected to our cable system, it gets all normal channels up to 45,
skips 46, then has all up to 61 and stops. Our local Comcast provider
has channels beyond 80.

It has a Display button, one screen showed Cable TV On/Off, the default
was already ON.

Why does it skip 46, and how to extend beyond 61?

Mike

 

[Mike Kennedy]

I think you sort of answered your own question, wll at least part of it..
It is a 1990 model.. There were less cable channels in 1990, my Tv is the
same way.

 

[Mike Kennedy]

one way to fix this is to get a cable box... but I'm pretty sure you knew
that...
I dont have any more ideas.. : /
- Mike

 

[Ken Weitzel]

I acquired a used 13" Magnavox color set. Guessing it is about 1990
vintage or older? Supposed to be cable- ready.

Connected to our cable system, it gets all normal channels up to 45,
skips 46, then has all up to 61 and stops. Our local Comcast provider
has channels beyond 80.

It has a Display button, one screen showed Cable TV On/Off, the default
was already ON.

Why does it skip 46, and how to extend beyond 61?

Mike

The very definition of cable has evolved over the years...

If you want to use this particular set though, one easy
and relatively inexpensive way out is to get a cable
convertor from your cable provider...

Take care.

Ken

 

[Bob Urz]

I acquired a used 13" Magnavox color set. Guessing it is about 1990
vintage or older? Supposed to be cable- ready.

Connected to our cable system, it gets all normal channels up to 45,
skips 46, then has all up to 61 and stops. Our local Comcast provider
has channels beyond 80.

It has a Display button, one screen showed Cable TV On/Off, the default
was already ON.

Why does it skip 46, and how to extend beyond 61?

Mike

What you have to realize is some cable systems map their channels.
so, whats channel 70, may not really be channel 70 on a cable ready tv.
If there not mapping, just use the tuner off a newer VCR.

Some tv's also have a set up menu for cable and over the air tv.
Is yours set up properly?

Bob

 

[Jerry G.]

Most of the TV sets of this era only officially went up to channel 56. Some
went a few beyond, because of the firmware used in the uPC of the set, and
the tuner had some range.

As for your locked out channel, on the remote, key in the channel you want,
and then use the "add" feature, to add the channel. If you do not have the
original remote, you may not be able to add this channel.

You would be better off getting a modern cable box for the set, or using a
modern VCR as a tuner for it.

--

Greetings,

Jerry Greenberg GLG Technologies GLG
=========================================
WebPage http://www.zoom-one.com
Electronics http://www.zoom-one.com/electron.htm
=========================================


I acquired a used 13" Magnavox color set. Guessing it is about 1990
vintage or older? Supposed to be cable- ready.

Connected to our cable system, it gets all normal channels up to 45,
skips 46, then has all up to 61 and stops. Our local Comcast provider
has channels beyond 80.

It has a Display button, one screen showed Cable TV On/Off, the default
was already ON.

Why does it skip 46, and how to extend beyond 61?

Mike

 

[Andrew Rossmann]

I acquired a used 13" Magnavox color set. Guessing it is about 1990
vintage or older? Supposed to be cable- ready.

Connected to our cable system, it gets all normal channels up to 45,
skips 46, then has all up to 61 and stops. Our local Comcast provider
has channels beyond 80.

It has a Display button, one screen showed Cable TV On/Off, the default
was already ON.

Why does it skip 46, and how to extend beyond 61?

Does it have separate VHF and UHF inputs? One old RCA at my parents
house has cable mode, but can only tune all channels if you split the
signal and connect to both the VHF and UHF inputs. It wasn't until the
early 90's when the government put some rules on what 'cable-ready' really
meant.

Cable channel frequencies are not continuous. They jump all over the
place depending on the channel. In order of frequency, the channels go
like this:
2-4, 1, 5-6, 95-99, 14-22, 7-13, 23-94, 100-125. I doubt if any cable
system uses ANALOG channels over 100. These days, those frequences are
used for Internet or carrying digital TV. Each analog channel can hold 6-8
or more digital channels, depending on how severely they compress it.
http://www.jneuhaus.com/fccindex/cablech.html

 

[ms]

Does it have separate VHF and UHF inputs? One old RCA at my parents
house has cable mode, but can only tune all channels if you split the
signal and connect to both the VHF and UHF inputs. It wasn't until the
early 90's when the government put some rules on what 'cable-ready' really
meant.

Cable channel frequencies are not continuous. They jump all over the
place depending on the channel. In order of frequency, the channels go
like this:
2-4, 1, 5-6, 95-99, 14-22, 7-13, 23-94, 100-125. I doubt if any cable
system uses ANALOG channels over 100. These days, those frequences are
used for Internet or carrying digital TV. Each analog channel can hold 6-8
or more digital channels, depending on how severely they compress it.
http://www.jneuhaus.com/fccindex/cablech.html

--
If there is a no_junk in my address, please REMOVE it before replying!
All junk mail senders will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the
law!!
http://home.att.net/~andyross

This one only has one coax input. It may be a little older than 1990 as
my 1990 Toshiba 19" analog set receives all cable channels.

Thanks for that link, defines the channel layout.

Mike

 

[Andrew Rossmann]

This one only has one coax input. It may be a little older than 1990 as
my 1990 Toshiba 19" analog set receives all cable channels.

The age of the TV alone isn't a good clue. It depends on the brand and
model. My parents have an old 12" Zenith from the early/mid 80's that
receives all channels fine.

 

[Jeff Strieble]

The age of the TV alone isn't a good clue. It depends on the brand and
model. My parents have an old 12" Zenith from the early/mid 80's that
receives all channels fine.

I have an RCA CTC185A7 which I use on Comcast digital cable. I
don't even bother with the set's own tuner--just connected the cable
box to the TV, set the unit's tuner on channel 4, and that was it.

As to connecting a so-called "cable ready" TV of 1990 or earlier
vintage to cable, then finding the auto-scan doesn't find channels
above 61 or so, I agree with the person who suggested using a VCR as a
cable tuner. A friend of mine has a small Panasonic TV (1980s vintage
or so, I would guess--it's one of those cute little AC/battery 5"
portables with a continuous tuner covering channels 2 through 69)
which is not cable ready; however, he uses the set just fine with
Comcast cable by setting the TV's own tuner on channel 4, then using
his VCR to select channels. His set now receives all Comcast analog
cable channels as well as my RCA color set.

I would suggest this to anyone wanting to convert any TV, even the
very old ones with detented VHF tuners and no UHF, to cable. This will
work on any TV set capable of receiving North American television
signals and of being tuned to channel 3 or 4. One advantage to this is
that there will be no further wear and tear on the set's original
tuner. Just set it to channel 3 or 4 and forget it. If desired, you
can remove the channel strips except channel 3 or 4 (depending, of
course, on which is not an active station in your area) from a
strip-tuned tuner. Then, just set the tuner to your VCR's output
channel and forget about it, as above. This is a great way to extend
the useful life of a TV set you may have had for years and which still
works on ch. 3 or 4 (for example), but just don't have the heart to
throw out because you like the sound quality, the looks of the
cabinet, etc. The same dodge, using UHF-to-VHF converters, saved
hundreds of thousands of VHF-only TVs from premature obsolescence when
the UHF channels arrived in the mid-1960s.

Kind regards,

Jeff Strieble, WB8NHV (mailto: [email protected])
Fairport Harbor, Ohio USA

 

[BeefJerky]

I agree that the age has nothing to do with it too. I use a Sony
SL-HF750 betamax with a good MTS tuner from 1986 which picks up all 78
channels from my cable company, and can handle up to channel 125. I
suppose it's a matter of how high-end of a tuner module the VCR/TV maker
wanted to put in.