Is my TV dead?

[csutak40]

Now this is not an IceTV question, but I am hoping that with all the experts here someone may be able to advise.  I have a 5 year old Sanyo TV in the bedroom.  I can't remember how long it has been  since  I watched actual TV on it.  I have a sender with which I stream the contents of the Toppy to it (from the loungeroom) and that is my sleeping pill :-)  I now have the T4 connected to it (that's going to change) and I can watch that too.
However, when I went to scan it for the new channels yesterday, I just couldn't get a picture on the TV input channel.  I scanned it anyway (it was showing a bar that it was scanning) but still the screen is completely black,  No sound either.
What could this mean?  Is it possible that the tuner had died but I can still use it on the other inputs?

[simoncasey]

Without meaning to sound too patronising, do you have an aerial plugged into it?

[csutak40]

Without meaning to sound too patronising, do you have an aerial plugged into it?

ROFL   As I was writing it, the same thought occurred to me, so went to investigate (a friend plugged in the T4 for me, so thought he may have accidentally unplugged it) but no, it is plugged in  ;D

[TimC]

Its worth watching the display as it scans for channels.  There is usually a count showing somewhere showing how many Digital TV / Radio channels it finds.  If the count is zero at the end of the scan there may be an aerial or tuner issue.

Some things to try.
The Aerial is usually initially connected to the PVR first with a second cable going to the TV.
The PVR passes the signal through some loop circuitry before sending it to the out put socket.
Sometimes the TV doesn't like what the PVR loop circuitry does to the signal and fails to recognise the channels.
If the TV has an Antenna out, you can try connecting the antenna directly to the TV and looping to the PVR.

Failing that, you can try unplugging the antenna from the PVR completely and plugging it directly into the TV ( i.e. only the TV is connected to the antenna) and then scanning.
If that succeeds in finding the channels then you can plug the antenna back into the PVR and reconnect the loop cable to the TV.

The trick is to get the TV to recognise the channels. Once the channels are scanned in, the TV will usually work when you return it to the loop connection.

You can get similar issues when you are using an RF amplifier to boost the signal from the amplifier.

[Dave at IceTV]

Without meaning to sound too patronising, do you have an aerial plugged into it?

ROFL   As I was writing it, the same thought occurred to me, so went to investigate (a friend plugged in the T4 for me, so thought he may have accidentally unplugged it) but no, it is plugged in  ;D

The T4 has 4 antenna inputs and 4 antenna outputs and 3 little flyleads so it is possible that your friend may have connected an input on the T4 to the input on your TV. Depending on what type of cable he/she was using it may have only been possible to connect it incorrectly. The antenna cable from the T4 to the TV needs to be a male to female cable.

Or you may have the T4 set to turn off the antenna outputs when in standby.

[csutak40]

The T4 has 4 antenna inputs and 4 antenna outputs and 3 little flyleads so it is possible that your friend may have connected an input on the T4 to the input on your TV. Depending on what type of cable he/she was using it may have only been possible to connect it incorrectly. The antenna cable from the T4 to the TV needs to be a male to female cable.

Or you may have the T4 set to turn off the antenna outputs when in standby.

Oh dear!  As Mr Fraser said, life wasn't meant to be easy!   ::)

[TimC]

Mr Frazer?

Oh my you're as ancient as me.

[csutak40]

Mr Frazer?

Oh my you're as ancient as me.

Probably more ancient :-)

[prl]

.... Or you may have the T4 set to turn off the antenna outputs when in standby.

There isn't a setting to do that.

However, when the T series Beyonwiz is in shutdown/deep standby, there is no antenna feedthrough.

The T series need to be running or in standby for feedthrough to work.

Judy, if your TV antenna input is fed from the antenna feedthrough from the T4, does the TV scan and show TV from its own tuner if the T4 is running?

If you want to use the TV while the T4 is in shutdown, you should use an antenna splitter to feed the two, instead of using the T4 feedthrough.

[csutak40]

This is all getting way above my head (literally and figuratively  ;D)  Last night I ran the scanner again and it found nothing, so I gather this means it is antenna problem.  As my TV is on the wall, and I suffer from vertigo, standing on things and looking upwards is definitely a bad idea ATM, so it will have to stay as is until I get a willing visitor.  I don't really care - as I said, I never watch that TV as TV.  I rarely watch LTA TV even in the daytime.

However this (needing to split the antenna) may come back to haunt me in the future.  I plan to move the T4 from the bedroom as I really don't like it in there - I thought it was a good idea at the time, so that I can stream its contents over the network, but firstly, that isn't working the best and secondly, I really need to have it in the loungeroom where I can comfortably sit and play with it.  I do sometimes watch LTA TV in the loungeroom as a TV, if all the tuners are busy - I suppose that is less likely to happen with four tuners, but  still...

[prl]

...  I do sometimes watch LTA TV in the loungeroom as a TV, if all the tuners are busy - I suppose that is less likely to happen with four tuners, but  still...

In that particular case, feedthrough from the T4 to the TV will work, but if the T4 shuts down to full shutdown because all the recordings have finished, the TV will suddenly lose its signal :(

[TimC]

Have you tries simply plugging the antenna into the TV by itself and then doing a scan?

If that works you take all the other issues out of play.

Once scan is done you can return the antenna to the other configuration. 

[csutak40]

Have you tries simply plugging the antenna into the TV by itself and then doing a scan?

If that works you take all the other issues out of play.

Once scan is done you can return the antenna to the other configuration.

As I said, doing anything like that involves me looking upwards, which I can't do ATM.  So, it will have to stay as is, until someone looks at it for me.  Not a problem, as I said, I don't really watch that TV except the T4 and streaming from the Toppy.  Those are fine.  Had it not been for the need to re-scan, I probably wouldn't have noticed the problem for months.   :P

[prl]

BTW, if the mods are watching, this topic probably belongs more in the Beyonwiz section (or on the Beyonwiz forum, for that matter :) )

[csutak40]

BTW, if the mods are watching, this topic probably belongs more in the Beyonwiz section (or on the Beyonwiz forum, for that matter :) )

Well, I didn't know that to start with :-)