Newbie questions about Toshiba DST3000 and OTA Use

[Railbaron]

I hope some of you guys have some good advice for me. First, I have had my Toshiba 40H80 for about 1.5 years and live in Chattanooga, TN.

About 2 weeks ago the local CBS station, WDEF, began transmitting a digital signal at a low strength. I live about 12 miles from the transmitter on a hilltop and I almost have a line of site to the transmitter. I have been having trouble getting the Toshiba unit to pick up such a weak signal. The station engineer said that the signal strength was only 2kw (I think) and he admitted that it was a weak signal. My Toshiba digital guage says the signal varies between 51 and 58 and my satellite runs about 95. I haven't yet switched over to the new dish but I will switch it later this week. I am using a GE Max VHF/UHF antenna and it is outside though not yet permanently mounted. Does anyone have any advice about what else I should do to increase my pickup? Oh yeah, this antenna has an AC amplifier though there is no gain control.

As for the Toshiba itself, it does seem to run hot. Even when the unit is powered off, it is still very warm and when turned on, after an hour it is almost too hot to touch. This really worries me. I also think the menu system is confusing. I tried to change the resolution to 480 from the 1080 default and the screen went blank and I couldn't figure out how to change it back. I think I eventually turned it off then restarted it suing an analog output which I could see and switched it back. I guess I'll get the hang of this unit sooner or later.

I think I got a great deal on it. Our Best Buy had only one in stock. It was an open box model on sale for $629 and it has a $200 rebate going on to bring the final price to $429. This $200 rebate is supposedly a national sale this week only. I will probably take some advice I've read and add an extended warranty even though it costs $99.

I have learned that our NBC station will also begin broadcasting on low power also by the end of the month. Reportedly, all the other channels have requested extensions from the FCC. If I can't receive any OTA signals because the signals are so weak, I wonder if maybe I've jumped the gun on getting a HDTV receiver. I look forward to receiving some comments.

Mark

[RadioDave]

It sounds like you are using either the composite (yellow video) input or the S-Video input to your television. When you switch your DST3000 from 480i to 1080i the video output switches to the component (color stream) out only.

I will watch 480i programs using my s-video output of my DST3000 and then when I want to watch 1080i Hi Def, I first switch my DST3000 to 1080i (screen goes black) and then I switch my tv to the component video (color stream) input.

I would think you should be able to view the CBS station if you are receiving a signal between 51 and 58. I am able to view programs with a signal level of 30 to 37. It's not always perfect but it does work ok.

My DST3000 runs hot too, on or off. I hope this helps at least a little. Dave




Originally posted by Railbaron
I hope some of you guys have some good advice for me. First, I have had my Toshiba 40H80 for about 1.5 years and live in Chattanooga, TN.

About 2 weeks ago the local CBS station, WDEF, began transmitting a digital signal at a low strength. I live about 12 miles from the transmitter on a hilltop and I almost have a line of site to the transmitter. I have been having trouble getting the Toshiba unit to pick up such a weak signal. The station engineer said that the signal strength was only 2kw (I think) and he admitted that it was a weak signal. My Toshiba digital guage says the signal varies between 51 and 58 and my satellite runs about 95. I haven't yet switched over to the new dish but I will switch it later this week. I am using a GE Max VHF/UHF antenna and it is outside though not yet permanently mounted. Does anyone have any advice about what else I should do to increase my pickup? Oh yeah, this antenna has an AC amplifier though there is no gain control.

As for the Toshiba itself, it does seem to run hot. Even when the unit is powered off, it is still very warm and when turned on, after an hour it is almost too hot to touch. This really worries me. I also think the menu system is confusing. I tried to change the resolution to 480 from the 1080 default and the screen went blank and I couldn't figure out how to change it back. I think I eventually turned it off then restarted it suing an analog output which I could see and switched it back. I guess I'll get the hang of this unit sooner or later.

I think I got a great deal on it. Our Best Buy had only one in stock. It was an open box model on sale for $629 and it has a $200 rebate going on to bring the final price to $429. This $200 rebate is supposedly a national sale this week only. I will probably take some advice I've read and add an extended warranty even though it costs $99.

I have learned that our NBC station will also begin broadcasting on low power also by the end of the month. Reportedly, all the other channels have requested extensions from the FCC. If I can't receive any OTA signals because the signals are so weak, I wonder if maybe I've jumped the gun on getting a HDTV receiver. I look forward to receiving some comments.

Mark

[Railbaron]

[clipped]
It sounds like you are using either the composite (yellow video) input or the S-Video input to your television. When you switch your DST3000 from 480i to 1080i the video output switches to the component (color stream) out only.

I will watch 480i programs using my s-video output of my DST3000 and then when I want to watch 1080i Hi Def, I first switch my DST3000 to 1080i (screen goes black) and then I switch my tv to the component video (color stream) input.

I would think you should be able to view the CBS station if you are receiving a signal between 51 and 58. I am able to view programs with a signal level of 30 to 37. It's not always perfect but it does work ok.

My DST3000 runs hot too, on or off. I hope this helps at least a little. Dave




Well, when the screen went blank I remember that I was connected to Color Stream2 input using the component cables that came with the unit only. After it went blank, I reset the unit and connected to my 40H80's analog video 3 input and reset the setting. I had tried to change it using the menu, not knowing whether the unit would automatically switch between 1080 and 480i signals. I need to hook the S-video output to the TV and see if that will work.

As an update, yesterday, I moved my stubby UHF antenna to the front of the house and exchanged it to a larger, more sensitive antenna with an inline amplifier. After I did that I still couldn't view the local OTA station though my signal meter showed that the signal strength had increased to about 65 with a peak of about 75. I couldn't see it last night either but I was only connected to color steam 2, I did not have a separate s-video connection to my TV. Since this local signal is only 480i do I need to manually change the output or will the unit switch automatically? I assumed the latter but it sounds like I maybe have done something wrong. I have not yet activated this new receiver because I am having trouble getting both satellites locked in using the new oval dish so I still haven't seen a HD picture yet, sigh......

Mark