HDTV Forum

I get my HD content over the air from a good variety of local stations. I have my old trusty VHF/UHF antenna at 35', turned by a Channel Master rotor with remote control so I can rotate the antenna from my sofa. The vast majority of stations can be received with the antenna in one direction, but the distant (45 miles) PBS channel signal comes from a direction 90 degrees from the others. My 46" Samsung lacks the ability to manually specify adding a channel via the menus and the only way to add channels is to "rescan". If I rescan with the antenna direction set for the majority of the HD stations, it doesn't detect the PBS station. If I turn the antenna towards the PBS station, one or two of the other channels is missed on the rescan due to the signal being too weak. Apparently the TV set designers never considered that the signals would come from various directions and that the users might be using highly directional antennas. The concept of scanning to find available channels is a good one, but the failure to provide a manual add capability is shortsighted. Of course, the problem could have been solved had they provided an option to rescan and add to the channels already detected instead of wiping out the already-detected channels on a rescan.

Maybe another TV maker has already figured this one out? If so, that will be where my replacement comes from one of these days.

What model is that samsung?

fsense - -

Not the "manually-add-a-channel" per se - but - our Sony does not Wipe-out it's memory upon a re-scanning . . . simply "adds" any new ones found.

eli

The Samsung is a 46" LNT4661FX/XAA . I upgraded the firmware level once about a year ago.

Regardless of memory you should be able to manually select a station by either the PSIP channel number or the real RF channel number. Since this is only one station for you the only inconvenience would be channel surfing.

That is true of course. I was able to receive several additional stations from various points around the compass (snowy analog). So, losing stations when scanning was a first class pain in the rear. If those stations happened to be in my "favorites" list, it was a double whammy as I had to respecify each one as a favorite as well as getting it added. The real point is: When I have a list of stations compiled via a scan, that list is MINE and the firmware should NEVER delete it without my permission. The Samsung doesn't work that way. Other than that plus the power supply that fails anytime the humidity exceeds 60%, it's a great TV with a wonderful picture.