Question about over the air TV

[1069_KIFR]

Hope this is the correct Board to post this.

With my over the air DTV, should I need to run a monthly scan of stations even though I know there aren't any new substations out there?

 

[cd637299]

Hope this is the correct Board to post this.

With my over the air DTV, should I need to run a monthly scan of stations even though I know there aren't any new substations out there?

You'd be surprised!! New subchannels, and possibly shuffling of subs, happen constantly where I am (Miami). Monthly sounds about right.

I'm a TV DXer, so I care more about what the "RF" channel is....but when I wanna kick back, I enjoy some subchannels, especially Antenna TV---and we are getting MeTV in April.

I just noticed a change in one of our Spanish TV stations' subchannels yesterday.

cd

 

[landtuna]

Some converter boxes and TV's scan automatically and present any new signals when you power on. Some have to be done manually. It's basically up to you though. If you know there are no new services then leave well enough alone. However.......

 

[1069_KIFR]

Thanks for the replies! Great stuff.

 

[quadraphonic]

Our subchannels (Raleigh-Durham, Wilmington, Florence SC all come in sometimes here) don't seem to change much. All that changes is the stations we can get at a given time, with the indoor antenna moved around different places. I try to rescan the channels if I have it on late at night or in the early morning, especially if there's some 'unusual' weather going on.

There's always something different it picks up, or it doesn't pick up something it usually does. I've picked up 14, 20, even 28 channels that way, just, sadly, not all at the same time.

 

[dave73]

Unless you know that new subchannels are being added, then I wouldn't rescan every month. I know for a fact if you have the Magnavox converter box, model# TB100MW9, you don't need to rescan, because subchannels aren't counted as separate channels on their channel list. During a scan, if it picks up the RF channel, subchannels are automatically added & deleted. When you look at the channel list in the menu, it only lists the virtual channel number without the subchannel. Because of that, you can't delete the subchannels. Say you only want 7.1 & 7.3, but don't want 7.2, it can't be done. You either accept all of virtual channel 7, or delete all of virtual channel 7. The only time a rescan must be done is if a new station goes on the air (usually a translator or LPTV station right now), a full power VHF got a CP for a translator on the UHF (UHF station would be mapped to the virtual channel of the VHF station), or a station changes RF channels.

 

[kenglish]

No receivers that I know of will find new "stations", that is, RF channels. You always have to scan for them.

Many, but not all, receivers will update their PSIP information (tables that contain the sub-channel information) as it happens. Others do not, though, and you will be stuck with old "channel names" until a re-scan, and will often not see the added sub-channels at all without re-scanning (you might continue to receive a replacement channel of programming, if only the name has changed, and not the other PSIP info).

Also, it doesn't hurt to "burp" the receiver occasionally, just to clean out any corrupted data.

Assuming you are DX'ing, you'll want to re-scan a lot. For the average viewer, you probably don't need to re-scan more than once every few months, unless you hear of a new station going on the air, or channel offerings changing on your existing stations.

 

[landtuna]

No receivers that I know of will find new "stations", that is, RF channels. You always have to scan for them.

I should have been clearer.

I have an OTA DVR (which is a combo converter and HD receiver) which does update automatically. The regular converter boxes must be scanned manually.