TV & Home Theater

[purtypitcher]

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.

[NoNoBadDog]

The tuner in the new TV has a higher rejection setting than your ancient olf analog TV.  Pictures that might look acceptable on your old tube TV would look horrid on your new high def TV...eveidently many of the signals in your area are weak or marginal, and cannot deliver a clear High def picture.

[TechSavvyChick]

You might try a powered antenna or a signal booster.

[purtypitcher]

Thanks for the replies. In looking at some signal maps on TVFool, I shouldn't be having much trouble at all picking up these stations. I'm less than 4 air miles from three network stations, and the strongest one on the TVFool map doesn't come in, except as digital garbage. The other two come in if I move the (omni-directional) antenna around some. Another station, 13 air miles away, comes in fine, and is listed lower on the TVFool "score" for my location. Another station shows in the "green" (easiest to receive) rating from TVFool, but I get nothing. I've got an email into Panasonic tech support, we'll see what they say. I'll check into better antennas as well, but if I can't pick up full power network broadcasts from 4 miles away, there is something wrong.

[Walrus Valued Contributor]

I looked at TVFool and inputed my own information. It states I should have no problem picking up 13 channels with my set-top antenna. TVFool is not accurate. It states I "should" be able to pick them all up, but it doesn't have all the facts of my area as I have difficulty picking up more than 1 channel. I can pick up all the channels with different levels of signal, but only the 1 comes in with little if any "choppiness" in the signal.

Most of the signals worsened when they went from analog broadcasting to digital. I am 25 miles from most of them. The ironic point is that 1 channel that comes in perfectly now, my old analog antenna didn't pick up at all. But all the other channels now frequently lose signal, most often during Prime Time.

I wouldn't think a new TV would take care of this problem. I would think an attic installed or roof-top antenna would boost these signals.

You state that you are only 4 miles from some stations. I don't know how Digital signals differ from Analog signals when broadcast, but the old information on Analog was the way the signals bounce around, that further distances from the transmitters was better than closer in picking them up. Don't forget where the station is located has nothing to do with the signal you are receiving. The station beams its signal to a transmitter usually miles away which then re-transmits it across the region.

[purtypitcher]

I agree that TV Fool and similar sites are not absolutes, but do give good information. And yes, the broadcast signals are a lot different with digital vs the old analog. What gets me is the difference in what I am able to get with the cheap converter box and my old TV, vs the new TV. The old setup gets all the local stations, even a "not local" one with a transmitter 46 miles away, which is actually pretty amazing from an indoor antenna.

I'm going to hook up my little Philips indoor antenna to my neighbor's brand new Visio TV, and see what we can get. He has cable and has never checked for OTA reception.

[ChiefAce]

Hi,

I just wanted to tell you I'm having the same issue. I have a Panasonic plasma 50 inch I purchased two years ago that gets 18 OTR channels crystal clear even with a 50% signal strength in HD, and I just bought the same model 50 inch Panasonic plasma two weeks ago that you did and I'm getting around 13 channels now. I'm also not getting anything that isn't choppy under 85%, it seems the signal strength needs to be much higher for this new tv which I'm not happy about. I also bought a 40 inch Dynex LCD at the same time and my Dynex is getting 20+ channels crystal clear compared to my brand new Panasonic plasma. 

So I will be returning this new Panasonic 50" plasma, and I do not recommend anyone else buy it that plans on using an over the air HD antenna, it simply does not perform up to a standard that is acceptable to past Panasonic plasma tvs or my new Dynex LCD. 

As a note, my old Panasonic plasma was a 720p set, my new tv is 1080p, and my new Dynex 40" is also 1080p. The Dynex performs the best far and away in picking up channels.

[AgentM]

As mentioned newer TV's require a much stronger signal to display properly, a picture on an older smaller TV which is acceptable may look almost unwatchable on a newer TV. The new TV designs assume a high quality, high strength signal source will be present and may not accept a poorer quality signal (like putting kerosene in your new turbo charged sports car, which I do not recommend). Every manufacturer is a little bit different according to design and firmware. Also keep in mind 'air miles' from a broadcaster has little bearing on your reception especially indoors, the signal is still subject to interference, weather conditions, trees and buildings as well as topography.
-Agent M
www.facebook.com/geeksquadrecon (see post TV reception not perfect)
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[ChiefAce]

I think it's just the newer Panasonic plasma televisions. Especially as someone who owned a 2009 model 50" Panasonic plasma that got more stations than my current model. Our 40" bedroom 1080p LCD which is newer than the new 2011 Panasonic plasma also receive more channels. 

Bottom line, if you're looking for over the air HD do not buy a new Panasonic plasma, go with a different brand. If you're going to use cable or satellite it shouldn't matter at all. 

[AgentM]

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