RV park digital cable

[Tumbleweed2015]

I have a 2016 Thor Challenger 37LX. It came with SEIKI brand led tvs. I am unable to read the digital cable signal at parks that have “upgraded”  to a digital signal. Beside replacing all of my tvs, what options are there? Antennae doesn’t always get good reception either.

[chirakawa]

You need a QAM tuner.  If your TV didn't come with one, you can buy a separate  QAM tuner

[Chalkie]

You could invest in that QAM tuner but I suspect that perhaps you are just not "tuning" the TV properly. 

All TVs since about 2006 have been required by law to have a digital tuner. When we pull into a park where were are hooking up to cable we have to run the tuning sequence each and every time and we always tell it to search for analog and digital signals. Most parks use one or the other method of delivery and sometimes a combination of both. Same when we set up for over-the-air in a new location. 

Dive into your owners manual to make sure you are following the proper tuning steps. 

[Tumbleweed2015]

I read and reread the owners manual. This set of tvs does not include a qam tuner. I guess Thor went on the cheap for this RV. 

I have googled qam tuners, and there is quite a variety out there. It is a little intimidating. I need to be sure where in my system something like this would be connected. Both my antennae and cable go to a “booster”, that switches between both. Light on: antennae. Light off: cable 

[Chalkie]

Can you humor me and tell me/us the exact model of TV(s) that you have?

 

[chirakawa]

1 hour ago, Chalkie said:

You could invest in that QAM tuner but I suspect that perhaps you are just not "tuning" the TV properly. 

All TVs since about 2006 have been required by law to have a digital tuner.

I'm not an expert on this, but my understanding is that a QAM tuner is not required.  I believe all TV's sold must have an ATSC digital tuner for over the air digital signals.  The QAM tuner is for cable digital channels.  I think most TV's have both, but are not required to.

[Chalkie]

• Channel CATV - UHF/VHF AIR (2-69); CABLE (1-135)

I pulled this off the specs for the lowest end Seiki TV I could find listed. Since it says that it can tune cable channels 1-135 it means that it has a built in QAM tuner. 

QAM is the format the cable companies use to deliver "unscrambled" channels such as local channels and the like without the use of a set top box. Clearly you do not need a set top box in a campground as the the cable provider has already unscrambled things at the campground so that the campers have no need for a set top box. 

I know of folks using some really inexpensive TVs (I am talking sub-$100 from Walmart) and they are able to tune in cable in a campground.

I can also say that the owners manual on the TV we have in our RV was about as clear as mud and pretty much worthless. It took some exploring through the various menus to discover the trick of getting the channels to tune in.

 

 

 

[rbertalotto]

Do a search for ZySYNC This is a stand alone QAM tuner for TVs that do not have QAM capabiity.

 

[Zulu]

 

20 hours ago, Chalkie said:

I pulled this off the specs for the lowest end Seiki TV I could find listed. Since it says that it can tune cable channels 1-135 it means that it has a built in QAM tuner.

 

That's not correct. It just means that the TV has a cable tuner -- that tuner may be analog, digital (ie, QAM), or both.

 

20 hours ago, Chalkie said:

QAM is the format the cable companies use to deliver "unscrambled" channels such as local channels and the like without the use of a set top box. Clearly you do not need a set top box in a campground as the the cable provider has already unscrambled things at the campground so that the campers have no need for a set top box.

Again, not correct. A QAM tuner is used to see unscrambled digital television. A "set top box" is used to watch scrambled (and unscrambled) digital (or analog) cable TV.

The QAM tuner vs set top box distinction can be lost because a set top box can be nothing more than a QAM tuner in a box.

As previously mentioned, after 2009 all TVs had to have ATSC tuners for decoding OTA TV signals, but new TVs were not required to have QAM tuners.

I learned this stuff the hard way . . . working at a campground that switched from analog to digital cable. Every week a few people would stop in the office complaining that the campground's cable wasn't working. When we asked if their TV had a digital (QAM) tuner, it was deer-in-the-headlights time. People would almost always respond with "But I have a new TV."

Since QAM tuners are not required on new TVs, many manufacturers don't include one, especially on cheap TVs -- the kind typically included in RVs.

The best way to check if you can receive digital cable TV programming is to do a scan for CABLE TV channels on your TV. If the scan allows you to search for ANALOG and DIGITAL channels, you're good to go. If DIGITAL is not explicitly stated, then you're probably SOL.

[Chalkie]

8 minutes ago, Zulu said:

That's not correct. It just means that the TV has a cable tuner -- that tuner may be analog, digital (ie, QAM), or both.

That is interesting since according to many sources there are no cable companies that still deliver in analog. Therefore you might expect all current TVs to receive digital. Here is one such source and a quote from that source. "Cable companies have changed their signals to digital, and are no longer sending out analog cable signals."

Again, not correct. A QAM tuner is used to see unscrambled digital television. A "set top box" is used to watch scrambled (and unscrambled) digital (or analog) cable TV.

Perhaps my wording was not the best. But again quoting Wiki as a source "In North American digital video, a QAM tuner is a device present in some digital televisions and similar devices which enables direct reception of digital cable channels without the use of a set-top box." So the implication there as I see it is that if a TV says it will tune in cable channels then it must have a QAM tuner. 

 

I am still looking forward to the OP providing the model numbers of his TVs so that others, like me and you, can help him research this issue without immediately jumping on spending money that may or may not provide a solution. 

[Tumbleweed2015]

The owners manual does not mention anything about a qam tuner. 

So before I layout any money, I will gather all my owners manuals for every component in my system and verify which tuner will best fit my circumstances. 

Thank you all for your input!

my tvs are SEIKI models SE32HY10 and SE40FY27.

When I pull into a new campground and initiate a scan, my choices are “air” or “cable”. There is NO option for analog or digital.

[Zulu]

On 11/15/2017 at 3:08 PM, Tumbleweed2015 said:

I am unable to read the digital cable signal at parks that have “upgraded”  to a digital signal. Beside replacing all of my tvs, what options are there? Antennae doesn’t always get good reception either.

If you did a program scan and no channels showed up, then your TVs don't have QAM tuners. Previous poster mentioned where you can buy one.

[Ray,IN]

5 hours ago, Tumbleweed2015 said:

The owners manual does not mention anything about a qam tuner. 

So before I layout any money, I will gather all my owners manuals for every component in my system and verify which tuner will best fit my circumstances. 

Thank you all for your input!

my tvs are SEIKI models SE32HY10 and SE40FY27.

When I pull into a new campground and initiate a scan, my choices are “air” or “cable”. There is NO option for analog or digital.

My 32" SEIKI  (3yrs old) has the same menu, however, when I click on cable- automatic search, it displays a box for analog and a box for digital channels, each displays the number of channels found as it searches.

[Bill Joyce]

Or the wiring is messed up. You might be able to borrow a known working TV and hook it up and try it both directly off the campground TV connection to make sure it is working and then to one going to the built-in TV, if you can get to the back of the TV to remove the cable.   There are some small TVs out there and some people have TV tuner cards for their computers.

[Tumbleweed2015]

The campground where I am now, did check their end and found a good signal and reception. I also found another forum where it was relayed that SEIKI was one of several manufacturers that do not put a QAM tuner in all of their TVs. I wil continue my search. Thanks to everyone that replied! 👍

[Chalkie]

12 minutes ago, Bill Joyce said:

 

8 hours ago, Ray,IN said:

My 32" SEIKI  (3yrs old) has the same menu, however, when I click on cable- automatic search, it displays a box for analog and a box for digital channels, each displays the number of channels found as it searches.

That is pretty much what my non-Seiki TV does but it took us a while to figure it out, no thanks to the owners manual.

12 minutes ago, Bill Joyce said:

Or the wiring is messed up. You might be able to borrow a known working TV and hook it up and try it both directly off the campground TV connection to make sure it is working and then to one going to the built-in TV, if you can get to the back of the TV to remove the cable.   There are some small TVs out there and some people have TV tuner cards for their computers.

That is an absolute possibility! We all know that most RV manufacturers pay great attention to detail.  

I helped a friend, who fortunately had access to cable tester, track down a TV issue. In his case it was a defective splitter. 

[Chalkie]

Now with a model number in hand I found this tidbit buried in a very detailed review on Amazon for the SE32HY10. I will presume for the moment that the other TV will be the same. Other reviews mentioned this as well and one in fact said that the code needed is 31415. Hope this helps out.

Quote

There are settings to enable QAM as well. But I just wanted to speak on the QAM being enabled through the factory menu a second because I saw other recent reviews that are a little misleading. If you enable QAM, indeed, you'll get a few more channels, but don't expect every cable channel possible. For the antennae channel scan, at best you may get 10 or more extra channels. (at the moment, my tuner found 58 channels via antenna with QAM enabled, whereas, before, it found about 40 or so channels. It's a difference, but it's not a huge difference)
Also, there is an option available to scan cable channels, which I'm assuming works, but you'll have to give Seiki an e-mail (which is provided if you call their customer service line. In fact, it's an automated message and it's literally the first thing they talk about before connecting a call), I got my code via e-mail in about a minute flat. (It seems to be an automated e-mail anyway)