HELP - TV Repair Guys

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We have a big screen TV that has suddenly gone on the fritz a couple of days ago.

It plays fine on channels 6 & 7 out of all available cable channels, the picture is there and looks fine except for those two channels, a 'snowy' sound exists on anything but channel 6 or 7.

It even is this way when playing back tapes or DVDs through our player when on channel 3, etc..

Does this sound familiar to anyone? My wife indicated today that on one occasion, one of the channels was playing pretty clear albeit in spanish with the commercials coming through in english. Weird as heck.

Seems like a cable issue although the fact that we can't place the TV onto channel 3 and play VCR movies or DVDs okay seems suspiciously like a television problem.

Any ideas?.

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[reply]

Does the TV have any inputs other than the cable, and if so what happens when you try playing the VCR thru those inputs?

[buffalobill]

unplug it and give it a ten minute rest. plug in a portable set and use the big tv's actual cable connector to check your cable channels. look on the back of the big set to see how many other inputs you have. get the make and model number. search for the missing operating manual at google.com if cable works ok on portable set, plug in the big tv and reconnect its cable. attempt to select a cable channel. if it's there, autoprogram the channels into tv memory using autoprogram button or enter setup or menu on remore control as needed. if no cable channels are appearing, you will need to use the vcr as a tuner and feed the video output into the tv video input with rca connector. sometimes yellow. get the picture working first then connect the stereo audio rca cables later. sometimes there is more than one rf cable input connector on the tv, sometimes the tv has a big menu of inputs which you must select from.

[Logan Shaw]

Is it possible you've accidentally set it to SAP (second audio program) mode? That's often used for Spanish-language translations of English material (such as the local news), but only the program is translated, so they play the English (regular) soundtrack for the commercials.

Since you said it seems OK on all the other TVs in the house, it seems really unlikely it's a cable issue.

- Logan

[mm]

Nothing stops a commercial from getting through. They'll send it with a police escort if necessary.

You probably have the right answer.

A similar anwer might be that the tv got set on Antenna instead of Cable. I have a VCR that goes to Cable every time I go to the autoprogram screen.

The problem with my idea is that channels 2 to 13 are the same frequencies in cable and antenna. If the OP could change his scenario that those channels work and no others do, we'd be in business.

Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let me know if you have posted also.

[buffalobill]

do you own a dog or cat who speaks spanish?

[Mike T.]

How old is this TV? About 20 years or so ago, I had a TV that would act similar to yours if the wrong cable mode was selected. These days, TV tuners can be set to regular TV (antenna) or Cable. But the TV I'm talking about had more selections than that. If you wanted to set it to Cable, you had to choose one of 3 or 4 different cable modes. If you choose the wrong cable mode, only certain channels would work, and all other channels would have bizarre symptoms like you are describing. -Dave

[Sam]

Using a channel for that gives you the LOWEST QUALITY. It's hard to believe that a big-screen TV wouldn't have something better.

Like I said above, don't use RF for that unless you absolutely have to. Use the base band connections (or any of the HD connections, if available).

[b]

sounds like a problem in the IF module. Coils may need a tweak.

-B

[PipeDown]

SAP or some other audio mode is the highest probability. The channels that work might be the only ones compatible with the mode but you shopuld not hear static if it were just a mode setting problem. If it is an electronic failure, my guess would be the audio decoder chip which decides if you listen to mono, sterio or dolby etc. I am guessing the big screen means a more recent model.

Have you called the 1-800 number on the instruction manual, those guys won't be guessing and can tell you immediately if it is an electronic failure requiring repair or just a mode setting problem.

[Rod Speed]

Unlikely given that a couple of the channels are fine.

Bet its just got set to the spanish audio

[Don K]

It's possible to have a short or something somewhere along the cable and have that act like a bandpass filter that might pass a couple of channels and attenuate everything else.

Try running the cable directly into the TV tuner, without anything else attached (like a VCR, cablebox, etc). If the problem is still there, move one of your smaller TV's into the room and see if it has the same problem.

It should be fairly easy to determine whether it's the TV, the cable, or something attached that is causing the problem.

Don

[Rod Speed]

Don K wrote

Doesnt bugger up JUST the audio.

Bet that wont help at all and the sound problem is the sound channel selected in the big TV.

[Armand]

Might your TV be set to SAP: Secondary Audio Channel? Since it's not always used, you don't always hear it.

[trollbusters]

TROLL

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Just wanted to say a big THANKS to everyone who posted a reply to my post here. In the past, I've unplugged the set, waited a couple of minutes and plugged it back in when it's acted strangely but haven't experienced anything quite like this. This morning after reading your replies, I started with the easiest first and unplugged the set prior to jumping in the shower for work. Upon getting out later, I proceeded to plug the set back in and went through 'setup'. VOILA, my problem went away and all was well... Thanks again, folks - I VERY much appreciate your time.

Chris

[Jumpster Jiver]

The TV is in SAP mode. (Second Audio Program - Spanish)