HDTV Forum

I'm sure this type of question has been asked before, but here goes....

I have a Panasonic TC-P50S1 plasma HDTV and Comcast SD service through a Motorola DCT 2524/1612 cable box. Is there a way I can have the TV simultaneously tune both the SD cable feed and the HD broadcast feed from the antenna? Right now the only way I can view local HD stations is by unhooking the cable coax from the TV and directly attaching the antenna. Thank you.

rmorgan

Good morning & welcome!

Actually, there's a "better" way and it'll give you almost same results!

As an experiment as well as to be sure I'm not leading you astray, disconnect that sd Cable Box - - - reconnect that Cable Coax directly onto the HDTV's threaded RF input.

Your fine HDTV has an '..auto program..' mode within it's Menu - - - find that w/ the tv's own Remote & allow it to "do it's thing!" .... found will be those very same sd digital channels you've been viewing ( the old channels #2 thru ~ 35) BUT also included will be 7 - 8 - 9 National Network Channels in HD - - -

Another means would be to use an "A" / "B" Switch (Radio Shack may still sell these & some LOWE's / H.D. have 'em) - - these have the means to watch the HDTV while using the cable box say on "B" - - - then, switching to the "A" for antenna.

The Outside Antenna connection does provide the "clones" or sub channels {of the primary channel} which will NOT be available on the ..'QAM'.. scanning. That would be a reason to have the A/B set up. .... eli

here is one version - - http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?mc ... ators&sku=

I'm on DishNet, and all I did was connect the antenna to the satellite receiver and use a splitter to also connect it directly to the my LG HDTV. This enabled me to utilize the receiver's OTA tuner in addition to the two built-in cable tuners. I have utilized all three tuners simultaneously to record programs on the DVR. And.. by switching the input to the TV.. able to watch a 4th OTA program at the same time. Not bad...

dihatten ...

Very good - however - I seriously doubt that his SD Cable Box will allow for a similar "hook-up" . . . most-likely, lacks those internal dual digital tuners plus other "challenges!"

Those "SD" Cable boxes may be approaching the end of their commercially-viable lifetimes for a couple reasons :

* probably too old to have the soon-mandatory "Energy" labeling

* only a very small (%) of Cable Customers now 'stop' at this basic level-of-service, opting instead to either Zero Cable Box {using a QAM set-up} @ under $20/monthly - - OR - - go "gung-ho" for the works, @ more than $100, easily!

eli

I am not sure If by "simultaneosly" you meant using the same RF input, or using either service without disconnecting anything.

Based on the second comment of your post it seems your problem is more in plugging/unplugging using the same RF connection, so my question to you is why don't you use another connection between the cable box and the TV (another input of the TV), such as component analog, S-Video, composite (the last two sufficient for SD) and switch inputs on the TV remote.

Best Regards,

Rodolfo La Maestra

Thank you for your very helpful posts!

I conducted an "experiment" as eliwhitney suggested. I hooked the cable from the wall directly into the TV and scanned for stations. The first time I tried, I selected "Antenna" from the TV menu. The TV scanned what was only on cable channels 2-13. I then selected "Cable" and had the TV re-scan. This time, it picked up 67 analog stations and 41 digital stations. The result was before channel 59, I received all of the digital broadcast stations - including the sub channels! After that though, the results were pretty strange. I had channels 59.1-59.11, 82.1-82.11, 93.1, and 111.1-11.11. The vast majority of those "cable" stations that the TV picked up were duplicated SD versions of the broadcast stations, with weird exceptions such as QVC and MTVU. So, while that method let me view my local channels (and sub channels) in HDTV, there were very few unduplicated cable TV networks I could see, compared to how many I should be able to get.

I decided to try the A/B switch. I went to Radio Shack, and found they have one that actually comes with a remote control. I hooked it up to the cable box and antenna, and it worked like a charm!

Then, I saw Rodolfo's post - I used composite video from the cable box to the TV and simply selected the different input from the TV remote - and it worked just as well! Looks like I can take the A/B switch back and deal with one less piece of equipment and remote!

Thanks again!