Analog cable plus digital antenna

[thomasju]

I apologize if this as already been covered. Has anyone tried to merge CableTV (Analog extended basic) with a digital HD antenna?
I found a great RCA digital antenna for $25 which does great with digital channel and I am hooking it up to a Pannaosic 42A3HD that has seperate inputs for cable and digital antenna. Since it wired in-wall and I already have a RJ-6 running from the basement to the TV (in-wall) rather than put another RJ-6, I was hoping to combine these at the basement and then split them out at the back of the TV. I tired a radioshack combiner/splitter but that did not work. Any suggestions?

 

[markw]

Dunno exactly what's going on in your set but here's how thesethings work.

your analog statons are received via a tuner that goes by the NTSC standards,, which is the same tuner your grandparents used to watch The Honeymooners on first run TV.

These new fangled digital stations (including all Hi Def channels) require an "ATSC" tuner, which is a different animal from that aforementioned ATSC tuner. FWIW, all digital channels are broadcast on the UHF band.

digital cable requires yet a third type of tuner, a "QAM" tuner which can receiver unencrypted digital cable channels.. I find this of limited use since our provider (comcast) encrypts virtually everything.

It sounds to me like on your TV, the first two tuners require different inputs.

 

[mtrycrafts]

I apologize if this as already been covered. Has anyone tried to merge CableTV (Analog extended basic) with a digital HD antenna?
I found a great RCA digital antenna for $25 which does great with digital channel and I am hooking it up to a Pannaosic 42A3HD that has seperate inputs for cable and digital antenna. Since it wired in-wall and I already have a RJ-6 running from the basement to the TV (in-wall) rather than put another RJ-6, I was hoping to combine these at the basement and then split them out at the back of the TV. I tired a radioshack combiner/splitter but that did not work. Any suggestions?

Have you tried to connect that antenna to the digital antenna terminal and ask the TV to auto search for channels?

 

[thomasju]

Yes - I tired connecting the merged signal back to the digital input and scan, but the TV does not pick any digital channels.

My connection is something like this

Digital antenna --> -->TV Digitial in
Merged to ----in wall Split out
One RJ6 to TV------>
CHarter Cable TV --> --> TV Cable in

It seems like the combiner I am using to merge to one RJ6 does not seem to be handling the UHF digital well.

Any thoughts?

 

[markw]

Simply put, don't "merge" the signals. It ain't gonna work.

You might want to spend a little time reading that big book that came with your TV to see exactly what those inputs can be used for.

If you want your TV work, don't "merge" the two dissimilar signals. Feed them, via separate cables, to their respective, separate inputs.

The digital TV input most likely feeds the ATSC tuner. The cable TV input most likely feeds the QAM or NTSC tuner.

Even if my speculation on your TV's architecture is dead wrong, it won't work if you combine them. Betcha It works if you feed them to separate inputs, though.

 

[markw]

Also (edit not working?)

Digital TV frequencies, which are UHF TV frequencies, are the same frequencies used by many analog cable TV channels. "splitters" only work by separating different frequencies, not different information on the same frequencies.

 

[mtrycrafts]

I apologize if this as already been covered. Has anyone tried to merge CableTV (Analog extended basic) with a digital HD antenna?
I found a great RCA digital antenna for $25 which does great with digital channel and I am hooking it up to a Pannaosic 42A3HD that has seperate inputs for cable and digital antenna. Since it wired in-wall and I already have a RJ-6 running from the basement to the TV (in-wall) rather than put another RJ-6, I was hoping to combine these at the basement and then split them out at the back of the TV. I tired a radioshack combiner/splitter but that did not work. Any suggestions?

Are you sure that the TV is not a pioneer brand? That is the only one that came up with those numbers of yours. And, that TV has a digital input for over the aid digital signals only, as Markw explained. So try that input only with your digital antenna only, no co-mingled signals. Read the manual how to get it to auto find all the available digital stations from that input.

 

[thomasju]

Thanks for the responses. Yes its a Pioneer, sorry about the typo

And yes, it works with seperate cable feeds, I was just hoping to avoid one addtional cable feed through the wall to the TV, but I guess I have to do that, eh?

Thank you so much for the your time and patience.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Thanks for the responses. Yes its a Pioneer, sorry about the typo

And yes, it works with seperate cable feeds, I was just hoping to avoid one addtional cable feed through the wall to the TV, but I guess I have to do that, eh?

Thank you so much for the your time and patience.

We are here to help and learn
You tested that TV both ways, it seems and only one way to make it work with that antenna. If you have all the channels you want and need from the antenna, you don't need the cable TV Otherwise, no choice.