Items Tagged With TV
Written By: John Fuda
2003-11-23 23:26:30
I've figured out how to get into the service menu, the procedures almost like the one for the 40LC12:
There are two different service menus. The first one is calledThe only difference is that, for the second step, you push the MOVE button instead of the SWAP button.
"factory adjust mode". You enter it from a powered on state by holding down the VOLUME DOWN button on the set itself and the RECALL key on the remote for five seconds. Apparently to get out of this you turn the set off.
To get to the actual service menu, when in the above mode, you hold down
the VOLUME DOWN button on the set itself and the SWAP key on the remote for five seconds. To get out of this mode back to the previous
state you hit RECALL on the remote.
At this point a screen like the user adjust menu appears which has various
submenus. One is called Video Adjust or something similar. That is where I made my tweaks to get rid of red and purple push.
Written By: John Fuda
2006-01-23 00:00:00
OK, now for the next step.
I've received all of my channel modulating equipment and may set it up this Wednesday morning.
Here's a shot of how I plan on setting it up:
The top right shows all the TV stations in my area. The reds are very strong and can be received with little or no antenna, the ambers are a little weaker, and the yellows weaker still. The whites are very weak and probably unreceivable without a giant amplified rooftop antenna, and the un-named channels (white and green) are places I can safely modulate my stuff onto without fear of interferance (I think). The green ones are the channels I feel will be safe to use - with at least a channel gap between them and anything I think will cause inteference. I currently use 19 and 21 with my dual-tuner Dish receivers (built-in modulators) without any problems.
Currently, my system is setup like above, without the 3-channel modulator and its connected equipment. Also, the bridge gapped by the area designated by the lightening bol currently does not exist. Currently the living room and master bedroom run off of one dish receiver and the guest room and JC's room off of another. I'm assuming it's safe to connect these two so that programming in any part of the house can be seen in any other part, but my main intent is to have 2-way traffic between splitter 3b and splitter 4.
1. Do you all think introducing this many splits and connections will cause a lot of frequency loss? I could add an amplifier between splitters 1 & 2.
2. I may end-up adding hardwired IR couplers and injectors to the system. There would be an injector between 3a & 2, JC's TV & 3b, and Guest TV and 3b. There would also be a coupler betweeen 1 & 2 (or between 2 and the amp, if one is added). I would also have to upgrade splitters 2 & 3b if they do not pass DC current.
BTW - I'm going to put my PowerMid receiver on an appliance module and turn it on only when we're viewing a DVD in a remote room - that way there won't be any IR interference during normal (99% of the time) viewing). The noise the PowerMids have generated so far is present, but not high enough prevent desired IR reception by my equipment - it's mostly just a nuisance seing the indicator LEDs flashing on and off (though, this will be remedied when my IRLinc arrives and the PowerMid is hard-wired in, though it may also enhance the interferance).
Here's another shot with the hard-wired IR and amplifier added in:
Written By: John Fuda
2006-03-13 00:00:00
I went back and forth between doing and not doing this, but even though logic said I should not have done this, and should just wait for HD Sat locals to be available, the tinkerer in me won and I had to start messing with stuff.
First I tried the non-directional approach: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062075 A RatShack omnidirectional antenna. It dropped everything, except 29, into the low 70's, and could not get a lock on 35 at all. It had to go!
All my stations are pretty much in two different directions, so two directional antenna's were the way to go.
I ended up using one of these: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103088 pointed at 152 degrees and one of these: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103085 pointed at 280 degrees. I have them both connected to matching transformers, those transformers connected to a 3' length of RG6 each, connected to a splitter/combiner, then connected to the RatShack amp (I know it's not very good, but was on clearance for $29, so I gave it a try), then connected via 80' of RG6 to the indoor portion of the amp, and finally connected to the receiver.
It was a mixed bag... 4 and 5 got worse, 9, 12, and 29 got better, 35 got worse - however, this is the first time that I could get any signal at all on 32 without 29 getting bad multipath (before 29, though showing 81, was actually jumping all over the place and would lose lock duing actually viewing).
BEFORE, WITH TERK HDTVa INDOOR ANTENNA:
4-1 WOAI-D: 100%
5-1 KENS-D: 98%
9-1 KLRN-D: 73%
12-1 KSAT-D: 85%
29-1 KABB-H: 81%
35-1 KRRT-H: 65%
AFTER, WITH ANTENNA "ARRAY" MOUNTED IN ATTIC:
4-1 WOAI-D: 84% degradation, picture good
5-1 KENS-D: 88% degradation, picture good
9-1 KLRN-D: 78% improvement, picture good
12-1 KSAT-D: 94% improvement, picture good
29-1 KABB-H: 98% improvement, picture good
35-1 KRRT-H: 59% degradation, picture bad
I think I can get some improvement by reducing the 80' of RG6 to about 15', and possibly negating any need for an amp. See, I trried to salvage an old run af RG6 that was leftover from a previous sat install. However, this had the RG6 being ran from the antenna's location (almost directly above the receiver) all the way to the back of the house, to the grounding block, then all the way back to the front of the house... an 80' trip counting the ups and downs.
However, I could use some existing "holes" in the wall/ceiling, with a total of only 15' or less between the receiver and antenna. I can also reduce the "leads" connecting the two antenna to the splitter/combiner to 12" each, since the 3' is overkill.
Also, since the receiver has a 3-prong, gounded plug, does the antenna "array" need to be grounded (it's in an attic, not outside), meaning I can get by with one less connection by skipping the grounding block.. The indoor antenna I was using, which was located only 5' away from where the "array" is now located, was not grounded.
I'm going to see what kind of results I get by shortening the leads. I may also have to play with the orientation of the antenna with the wife observing signal strengths, rather than the "up and down the ladder" routine I used this morning.
Other possible courses of action:
- get a better amplifier, like this one: http://www.antennasdirect.com/antenna_amplifier.html (3rd one down, PA-17 UHF/VHF Low Noise Pre Amplifier).
- try a second UHF only antenna, pointed at 280 degrees for 32 (another $25), will also need a 3-to-1 splitter combiner, or use twin-lead to mate the antenna together with a single matching transformer comming off this "mini array".
- If I start seeing any multipath, I can try a Channel Master Jointenna. I see they're available for about $30 each with a 2-week turnaround.
Written By: John Fuda
2006-02-13 00:00:00
Well, my 21 February install has been changed to March 3! There seems to be some equipment shortages, and they're not getting them all out in time for the installs. So I've gone from having an install scheduled for a holiday, when I could easily be home, to a Friday where - not only do I have to work during the day, but I have a 24-hour duty on. Fortuneately, my boss is going to let me stay home to meet the installer and come in afterwords. We'll see if it gets rescheduled again...
Written By: John Fuda
2006-03-03 00:00:00
The installer arrived this morning and got everything setup rather quickly, despite not having a Dish 1000 with him - or even on the work order. He ended-up using an unused Dish 300 that was already mounted in conjunction with the Dish 500 that I was already using, to get the three satelites required to get all my programming.
Everything looks great! I think even the SD picture is enchanced a little bit. The High definition channels look phenomenal, I did not think there would be that much improvement over DVD, but there is. My TV has a 720p native resolution, so everything is scaled to 720p. Too bad I have to go to work now and cannot play with it until tommorrow!
I do not have satellite HD locals available yet (maybe late April?) so I have to use an over-the-air (OTA) antenna in order to get my local channels in HD. I'm using a Terk HDTVa amplified indoor VHF/UHF antenna and can get all of my channels except for my WB station, which is about 90 degrees off azimuth from all my other locals, and 40+ miles away, versus the 10-15 mile distance of the majority of my locals. I may have to resort to a bigger antenna!
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