TV & Home Theater

[rwillen]

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purtypitcher wrote:

Just had a new Panasonic TC-P50S30 delivered yesterday. My over the air reception is terrible with it, and that's what I wanted it for. It is replacing a 30 year old 27" TV with a digital converter box that has great reception of all local channels.

The Panasonic only gets four of the six local channels, and they are all iffy at best. If I move my (indoor) antenna around, I can usually get these four to work, but I have to move the antenna each time I change the channel.

If the signal strength meter on the Panasonic shows 80 I will get a choppy picture. If the signal strength meter shows 85 the picture is fine with almost no glitches. 90 or above- totally glitch free. If the signal is 75 or below, I get nothing but digital junk, or it goes to black. The four channels that I can receive have varied all around those numbers in my testing. The other two local channels show no signal at all when I tune to their channel.

Is this normal operation for a brand new TV? I thought surely it would have better reception than a cheap converter on a 30 year old set. The antenna is nothing fancy, but it works perfectly on the ancient TV/converter box.

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Those "cheap converters" are actually good quality, better than most of the built in receivers you find in TV's. They were made that way to try to ensure a smoother transistion from Analog to Digital.

Your best best is simply to find a higher gain indoor anteanna. Another option which worked for me for years, is to get a smaller outdoor antenna and put it in your attic.

[rwillen]

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AgentM wrote:
No offense to anyone not wanting to pay for over-priced cable but connecting a new Panasonic (or any higher priced HD TV for that matter) to an over-air antenna is like filling your new Ferrari with kerosene and complaining it's not running right. Every manufacturer has a different tuning circuit design, some are less picky about the incoming signal than others.
-Agent M

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Tuner design removed from the equation, OTA HD is as good as it gets. Cable can introduce line degradation or compression issues that you'll never get with an OTA signal.

[AgentM]

Not clear on the logic here. Broadcast OTA broadcasts are always compressed and any OTA or any other wireless transmission is subject to degradation due to atmospheric conditions (weather), obstuctions between the receiving antenna and transmitter (trees, buldings, planes, topography and any other solid or semi-solid object) can all block or deflect signal.
Also, you cannot simply 'remove tuner design from the equation' any more than you can remove the wheels from your car before going on a road trip (unless it's a really short one ).
-Agent M

[ChiefAce]

AgentM,

So your response to poor OTA reception on this set is for the person to get cable? Had cable for years, not worth it when we have OTA, ESPN3 on Xbox, and of course Netflix. So I can pay aboug $11 a month for all that or $60+ a month for cable that isn't worth paying for, no thanks. I just think it's pretty awful that Panasonic would make this newer set of a lower quality than my 2009 50" Panasonic plasma and my 2011 Dynex that picks up more stations OTA as well. 

So to anyone wanting to go OTA with this set, don't do it, there are other TV's out there that work better for OTA. 

[AgentM]

I don't recall such a recommendation, or any recommendation for that matter. There are too many unknown variables to make an accurate recommendation for a solution. Every situation is unique considering all the factors listed in previous posts. The facts are that most newer TV's require a strong digital signal regardless of the source and have different tolerances according to design as to what is acceptable signal strength and what is not. Most manufacturers opt for no signal as opposed to allowing the TV to display a weak or marginal signal.
-Agent M