Newer ones are capable of NTSC, ATSC, and QAM. This would be capable of tuning cable channels if not for encryption (corporate paranoia).
NTSC BROADCAST ended, but NTSC is still usable in local wired systems. I still use a NTSC modulator to make the cameras at my doors visible on any TV (as well as some broadcast ATSC). I am considering replacing the modulator, but ATSC modulators are still expensive.
BTW, NTSC and ATSC tuners still go up to channel 69 (but not 83).
I guess you need to ask Sony. I don't design TVs but since the feature you want isn't there, I think you already have the answer.
The extended cost is more than that but there are people who shop down to the last dollar.
The OP was asking why he couldn't save all of the dead channels on a scan and the only reason he would want to is when you are using a rotor.
Price a "monitor" vs a TV to see the difference. Both will have several inputs although HDMI has become the standard these days. It is getting harder to find VGA on anything much bigger than 20" since new PCs also output HDMI. You can find 70 inch and larger "monitors" these days. If you are a cable, streamer or satellite customer, a monitor is all you need. There are a lot of people using OTA but not enough to scare Comcast, Dish or Direct TV. As soon as you get away from the transmitter more than 30 miles or so OTA is about as unreliable as DSS. It screws up in the rain and sometime for no apparent reason. I have an antenna, rated "50+ miles"
35 feet above ground in a place as flat as a pancake and my OTA signal still breaks up a lot from towers 32 miles away. This is the 3d style of antenna I have tried. (new amps, new cables each time) My TiVo says I have a signal strength of 60-70% so it in not overloading the front end.
Since they do sell "monitor only" without the tuner somewhat cheaper, that does not seem to be true. My bet is the tuner is at least one more chip, maybe more plus the other hardware to feed it.
The thing is digital TV does not use channels the way NTSC did. Channel 20 may not actually be in the band the old channel 20 used, and that shows up particularly apparent with the 13 and below channels that seem like they should be VHF but they are usually (always?) up in the UHF band. That is why you need a scan. The easiest to understand is when you get that notice you need to rescan your local channels because the frequency changed. It is still channel 20 on your TV but it is not really where you would think channel 20 would be. Channel numbers are just software these days.
It must not take much more for a tuner as you can buy the dongles for about $ 15 that you plug into a computer and pickup TV stations. I bought one a good many years back that does both types of TV signals and the FM radio stations. It is barely larger than the USB memory sticks and plugs in like them. Works very well.
CableCARD used to be a thing, but I haven't heard much about it recently. It's easier to just use the STB.
I was using a signal combiner to feed a couple of Dish boxes, a Replay and an agile modulator to a bunch of TVs some years back and it worked but I had to be sure the modulator was outputting a channel the Dish box wasn't. RTV = Ch 3 Dish 1 = Ch 76 Dish 2 + Ch 79 PC via agile modulator = Ch 69
I never tried combining all of that with OTA tho.
On Tue, 25 Aug 2020 20:51:11 -0500, Jim Joyce posted for all of us to digest...
Do you have picture in a picture or whatever it's called now?
I don't, but that could be because I only use the remote that came with the STB and the remote for the AV receiver. I know the original TV remotes have a lot more features, like direct access to Netflix and a dozen other streaming services, but those remotes are put away somewhere.
TiVo still uses them.
As I just said above, "I could remove/add channels only to the list of channels that were detected during the most recent complete scan." That's done, of course, via the setup options of my TV. This limited channel "editing" capability has been consistent in my experience with Radio Shack digital to analog TV converter boxes, Toshiba HDTVs, and Samsung HDTVs. In all three cases, using the remote control, keying in a digital channel not on the most recently scanned channel list, the TV (or adapter) tunes to the channel on the scanned list that's closest in virtual channel number to the channel I try to receive. Example: my most recent scanned list contains 2.1 7.1 and 9.1 even though I know that if I realign my antenna, I could receive 4.1 but not 2.1, 7.1. or
9.1. If I tune to 2.1, it comes in. If I tune to 7.1 it comes in. However, if I either key in or use the channel up/down select switch on the remote to tune to 3.1 or 4.1, 2.1 comes in. And if I tune to 5.1 or 6.1, 7.1 comes in. If I realign my antenna to the position that enables 4.1 to be scanned-in, but not 2.1 or 7.1, and don't re-scan, when I try to key-in 4.1, nothing comes in, because it's not on the most recent scanned list and neither 2.1 nor 7.1 can be received with the antenna in the position needed to receive 4.1. I believe the OP experienced the same behavior and posted to solicit possible solutions for the problem.
Correct. Which is why some devices have a CableCard slot. It's a PCMCIA size slot that a card from your cable company goes into. It performs the de-encryption that the cable box normally would. I have one in my Tivo. A side benefit is that a cable box with storage from the cable company is several dollars a month more than the CC, so I save that each month.
I don't disagree, but I would suspect the cost of that extra chip/hdw isn't much. You have similar crammed into cell phones, for example. And when you compare it to the cost of having to support a additional model through all the distribution channels, the costs to stores, etc, it's probably a losing proposition. However some of those costs are hidden, eg the cost to the retail store for the floor space, educating the employees, time wasted explaining to customers the differences, etc. For whatever reason, TVs without tuners don't seem to be very popular. Earlier in the move to ATSC FCC mandated that all TVs had to have ATSC tuners. If TVs are available now without, I guess they must have rescinded that.
Good point, it supports what I said. And that's for a separate dongle, that selling price has to include more than just the cost of adding a tuner function to a TV. Back 15 years ago when the conversion was going on, the govt was giving them away for free and the cost must be lower today than back then.
The ABC station in this area is on channel 7. That's what it says (virtual channel). It also uses the PHYSICAL channel 7 (VHF-Hi).
The other channels are UHF. Virtual channels 19,51,56 and physical channels 15,20,22. Two of these (I forget which two) were changed a couple of years ago requiring a rescan.
The FM broadcast frequencies are just above TV channel 6, making it possible to use the same antenna. I use my antenna to get FM as well as TV.
BTW, before digital TV, I knew someone who got TV channel 6 audio on a FM radio.
A couple of my cable boxes look like they have cards in them, although I have never handled the cards separately.
A related issue, with a rotor out there in the weather, how long does a rotor actually last? Plus it would seem to be a PIA to have to rotate the antenna and wait when you want to go from channel to channel.
This is how some FM broadcasters get around the shortage of valid FM radio frequency slots.
They'll have a television transmitter on VHF channel 6, but the real purpose is... to be able to broadcast an FM audio stream at 87.75 FM.
(Most, although far from all, standard FM receivers, which are supposed to go "down to" 88 Mhz, can pick this up).
There's a good Wiki writeup at:
I used to do that with cable, but it was difficult dealing with the cable company making changes and with digital it's hard to tell what actual channels are in use. I then ran a separate cable for CATV. My modulator now outputs OTA channels which are mixed with OTA from an antenna. This seems relatively stable. Broadcast is limited to channel
36 (which I have a low-pass filter for). My modulator is set to channel 60 (selected one of ReplayTV, DVD/Blu-Ray, cable, Roku) and channel 62 (security cameras). All my TVs can tune up to channel 69.Note the filter is important so you don't broadcast your own channels.
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