My Brand New Tv Gets Less Reception Than My Old One, But With The Same Antenna?
February 18, 2010 by Rich
Filed under Frequently Asked Questions
I just got a new TV (a 32″ Vizio LCD), and I plugged my rooftop antenna into it. After it scanned all of the channels and found the few digital ones I receive here, I flipped through the channels and see that for some reason, the reception is HORRIBLE compared to my old “tube” TV. Doesn’t the reception have to do with the antenna, not the TV? Why is it that getting this new TV affects my signal so much?
It’s not exactly true that it has to be your antenna and here’s why.
It’s the tuner.
Tuners can be good, decent, or bad.
All of my old tube TVs had better tuners in them than my newer TVs. The older sets got more channels and the picture was better. I’m comparing analog channels between the new and old sets.
So what was different? The antenna was always the same, but the quality of the tuner was better in the old sets. My oldest TV that still works is about 30 years old and it gets the best reception.
It has a better tuner because years ago it had to be good. There was no Sat TV, and cable wasn’t as popular, over the air reception was still huge.
As the years have gone by, I have seen the tuners get worse and worse. So what you might have here is a signal strength that might have been ok. A good tuner was enough to get you a good pic, and now a so-so tuner (not as sensitive) shows up as fewer channels or channels that don’t look as good.
So this could be what is going on here. And I’m afraid that if that’s the case, there isn’t much you can do. A signal booster might help, but that’s kind of a band-aid thing.
Do you digital channels look ok? They don’t drop out? In 2009 when analog goes out, they are supposed to boost the digital signals to full power so you might even get more channels. That’s what I’ve read in the forums, don’t quote me on that one.
Your problem is about 90% certain to be your antenna and things associated with it, like its direction, downlead, connections, etc. Unfortunately, digital television over the air (DTV OTA) requires a strong signal to work well, stronger than with analog. A weak analog station will still be watchable, just snowy. But a weak digital station won’t show up at all.
Another confusion factor is that most DTV stations are on UHF, even those with “VHF” sounding channel numbers like 3.1, 10.2 etc. That means that your antenna must be designed for very good UHF performance.
Check the web site below for the DTV channels you should receive in your area and the recommended antennas. In general, you want the best antenna you can muster, as high as possible, with a quality downlead, and a rotor if your stations are not in the same direction from you.
You old TV should be International World Brand, as world brand always care for total quality , you just paid more. OEM brand only for some country , and go for prices, have to save cost from many area . i do mean Vizio TV is no good at all,is good brand. but still is a OEM brand, design and make by other factory. not so easy to control every things. and World Brand maker never accept OEM order, only design and make by own, use own make first grad LCD panel. for you reception , is due to Tuner RF section , sometimes is because of design, or tuner is out ( tuner is supply by some company ). may be check with services technician from Vizio , change a new set and try.if not wait till digital signal is on.
The reception has to do with the signal strength (antenna) and with the tuner inside the tv. The tuner in this one may not be as good as your old one. You can get an antenna signal amp which should help. Once we go to all digital, those analog stations will go away anyway so if your doing ok with the digital stations, just stick with those