Digital cable & TV issue - New Trailer?

[xcntrk]

Hi all, looking for some input. I have a 2017 Fuzion 325 toyhauler with the Monster package. It has 3 flat screen TV’s; one primary 50” LED in the main living room, one 40” in the garage (on drop down bracket), and a much smaller (maybe 22”) in the master bedroom. The main 50” unit is name brand (Samsung), while the 2 others are off-brand (can't even remember).

Here’s my problem, when connected to shore cable television service provided at some campgrounds, the off-brand bedroom and the garage TV’s are unable to locate any channels, while the primary 50” TV does just fine. This only happens at some campgrounds and I believe it has something to do with the TV’s ability to pick up and decode digital television signals. I suspect the 2 off brand units can only handle analog signals, while the name brand 50” can support digital. (outdated TV’s on a 2017!? Thanks Keystone)

Can anybody confirm this might be the case and/or what are some options to get around it (short of replacing the 2 off-brand TV’s)?

TIA :bow:

[hankpage]

It most likely has to do with the settings on the tv menu itself. All tvs after 2009 have digital tuners since all tv transmissions have to be digital after that date. Check that the tvs in question are set for "CABLE" and not antenna input. Also there are different types of cable settings .... check what the Samsung is set on and change the others to the same settings. Hope this helps, Hank

If this does not work you may have add QAM tuner to the off brand tvs.

[xcntrk]

It most likely has to do with the settings on the tv menu itself. All tvs after 2009 have digital tuners since all tv transmissions have to be digital after that date. Check that the tvs in question are set for "CABLE" and not antenna input. Also there are different types of cable settings .... check what the Samsung is set on and change the others to the same settings. Hope this helps, Hank

If this does not work you may have add QAM tuner to the off brand tvs.
Thanks for the feedback!

I can add that I've exhausted the menu configurations and tried every iteration of antenna/cable settings and channel scans across the two available tuner types. I've also messed with and ensured the trailer's antenna booster was not on while on shore cable (which can interfere with the cable signal).

[canesfan]

Have you tried hooking the cable from the CG directly to each of the 2 tvs not working and see it they work that way? Bypassing the internal wiring of the camper may help narrow things down. You never know what they may have, or not have, done.

[xcntrk]

Have you tried hooking the cable from the CG directly to each of the 2 tvs not working and see it they work that way? Bypassing the internal wiring of the camper may help narrow things down. You never know what they may have, or not have, done.
Sigh... I'm terrible at communicating this problem. I should have added in the first post that all 3 TV's work using the broadcast Antenna.

So that begs the question, we know broadcast is all digital now and the rooftop antenna obviously picks it up and distributes it to the 3 TV's, but is that signal a different digital type than that of cable? Maybe it does have to do with encryption and QAM as mentioned by Hank?

[JRTJH]

I think the KEY to your issue may be in the first part of your first comment: "at SOME campgrounds"....

There are two types of cable systems in use in campgrounds. One is the "free, just hook it up" type which is compatible with almost any "modern TV" and may be what you've experienced in "the other campgrounds"..

The second type of cable system is the type that is not free. Or the type that many cable systems are requiring their commercial subscribers to use. In that type, the cable is connected the same, but the signal is "scrambled" and can not be "interpreted" by the TV unless a "converter box" is used. Requiring the "converter box" effectively limits the subscription service to "authorized users only" and prevents pirating the cable signal.

That wouldn't explain why you can receive the signal on one TV and not on the others, unless your "better TV" has a built in "converter box" and the others don't or unless the cable system has some kind of "detector" built in that limits reception on more than one TV... (I've heard of this type but never EVER seen one)...

Have you discussed the problem with the campground office? They might be able to give you a "quick answer" to get you up and running.

[rsl]

Ok let me help out, I have been down this road already. The two off brand cheap TV's in the non living room areas do not have the digital cable tuners built in them. I cannot remember the brand of them but I have the same setup in my 371. I ran into the same problem and went as far as to call the manufacture who advised me of this. The Living room TV is higher quality and does has the Digital cable turner builtin. Which for reference the digital antenna and digital cable tuners are two different things.

[MattHelm21]

This is just a shot in the dark and I haven't experienced this or run into this problem yet because I've barely used the sets. These sets are by Seiki and when I look them up on Amazon, I find comments that there is a hidden menu to enable the QAM tuner and a code. I found a code and I can try this later today when I go out to the trailer but I have no cable and no way to test it in the near future. However, I'll post back if the set accepts the code and if you want it, PM me.

[xcntrk]

This is just a shot in the dark and I haven't experienced this or run into this problem yet because I've barely used the sets. These sets are by Seiki and when I look them up on Amazon, I find comments that there is a hidden menu to enable the QAM tuner and a code. I found a code and I can try this later today when I go out to the trailer but I have no cable and no way to test it in the near future. However, I'll post back if the set accepts the code and if you want it, PM me.

Yes please do! This sounds very promising ;)

[xcntrk]

Ok let me help out, I have been down this road already. The two off brand cheap TV's in the non living room areas do not have the digital cable tuners built in them. I cannot remember the brand of them but I have the same setup in my 371. I ran into the same problem and went as far as to call the manufacture who advised me of this. The Living room TV is higher quality and does has the Digital cable turner builtin. Which for reference the digital antenna and digital cable tuners are two different things.
Thank you for the detail, this sound like the source of the problem. So short of replacing the 2 cheap TV's, any other options that work?

[xcntrk]

This is just a shot in the dark and I haven't experienced this or run into this problem yet because I've barely used the sets. These sets are by Seiki and when I look them up on Amazon, I find comments that there is a hidden menu to enable the QAM tuner and a code. I found a code and I can try this later today when I go out to the trailer but I have no cable and no way to test it in the near future. However, I'll post back if the set accepts the code and if you want it, PM me.

Some quick searching revealed the following:

click menu
click 0,0,0,0, the service menu will open
scroll and click others
scroll and click other settings
scroll down to cable qam - switch it to on


I'll have to try that and see if that enables QAM for unscrambled HD channel scanning.

[rsl]

Thank you for the detail, this sound like the source of the problem. So short of replacing the 2 cheap TV's, any other options that work?

You can get an external addon QAM (digital cable) box. When I spoke to Seiki rep on the phone they advised me my model of TV did not have a digital tuner built in, but maybe yours does.

https://www.amazon.com/IVIEW-3200STB-Multimedia-Converter-Recording-function/dp/B00RDQGBIE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1487620419&sr=8-1&keywords=qam+tuner+for+cable+tv

[MattHelm21]

Well I found two procedures on this both of which didn't work on the 40 inch TV. I still need to try the one in the bedroom and in the basement storage. I tried both the service menu mentioned above and the QAM settings others have found in the selection of Air and Cable channels and the options aren't present.

A post I found had a supposed quote from Seiki:

"The TV does support ATSC digital channels from over the air broadcasts.
Our newer model TVs do not include a QAM tuner, so a cable converter box or digital adapter (DTA) would be needed. Some cable carriers offer digital adapters at low or no cost.
Since cable companies are no longer required by FCC to provide unencrypted or unscrambled QAM (see http://*******/uKd36y ), we no longer include QAM support in newer models."

Maybe this info will help someone else but it looks like the newer your Seiki TV, the less likely it is going to support QAM.

[xcntrk]

^Thank you for following up. I'll try the service menu on mine just to be sure, but it's very likely I'll be in the exact same boat. While it would be nice to take full advantage of the TV's when desired, I guess the poor kids will have to make do with no TV in the garage and go out and socialize with fellow campers instead :)

[K_N_L]

I just had the same issue with my 325 with the front bedroom TV as well on our last trip - I replaced the cable, tried it in the garage with the garage cable but still nothing. The campground area has NO air signals so it was DOA for the trip. Once I ran the auto scan there were no channels in memory and it wouldn't switch to that input without trying to run the auto scan. I found the admin access code by using my googlefu but it didn't really help at that point. Back home, as we were about to call the dealer/Keystone - it worked fine, auto scanning the air for bcast signal.

We're planning a trip back to the same campground in a couple of weeks and I will test it again - but I will have a small Samsung from our old camper I will take along as well. I kinda hate to be dorking around with TV's while out 'camping' but you want your stuff to work right? I was searching for where the splitters are when I found this tread, a bit old but at least it helps to know (as always) not the first one to see this issue. Thanks!

[xcntrk]

Thanks for the input and nice 325 Kevin! ;)

The admin code and attempting to enable (a non-existent) QAM did nothing for me. Maybe you'll have better luck.

I have since gone with an entirely different setup now where I bring along a small streaming video server, running plex, and use streaming stick clients to have access to my entire video library at every TV in the RV.

[rsl]

Thanks for the input and nice 325 Kevin! ;)

The admin code and attempting to enable (a non-existent) QAM did nothing for me. Maybe you'll have better luck.

I have since gone with an entirely different setup now where I bring along a small streaming video server, running plex, and use streaming stick clients to have access to my entire video library at every TV in the RV.

Do elaborate.....

[K_N_L]

One option I played with is by having ATT wireless and Direct TV - I can stream some DirectTV channels from my Android tablet with no data charges (at least for now) and access my home DVR as long as I have a good 4G signal.

With the right smart TV or Chromecast puck you could cast that to a TV as an option.
Actually the wife was happy the TV in the bedroom wasnt working anyway... ;)

[xcntrk]

Do elaborate.....

Well, anybody who has a digital media library is likely familiar with video servers and streaming utilities. I use Plex. It's a media server used to access and organize your digital media libraries, and can stream them to Plex-Clients that can operate on a number of different client devices and smart TV's.

So, what I do in the RV is use this neat WD-Passport device (https://www.wdc.com/products/portable-storage/my-passport-wireless-pro.html) which is a combined; portable 2TB storage device, Wifi hotspot, and Plex server all in one. I dump a selection of my media files onto that device, it runs the Plex server and builds a wifi (both N and AC bands) in my RV. Then I use "media stick clients" at each TV to access the Plex media server over the local wifi. In the small RV, the wifi clients are close enough to the hotspot to maintain an effective AC (5ghz) wifi band and can stream 1080p H264/ACC media no problem. I tried a couple different clients including Google Chromecast and now Roku Sticks, but really any client device that runs Plex will work. The kids also use their smart devices (phones, tablets, etc.) to run the Plex client and stream directly as well. We take it with us when we travel around (minus the TV stick clients), and the kids can watch their movies while in the car, etc.

Here's pic of the Passport storage/wifi/media server, and x2 Chromecast stick clients (which is what plugs into the TV's to access the media server over wifi).
http://i.imgur.com/bH1J4oK.jpg

[Jeepshots]

Which media stick clients do you prefer?

[rsl]

How many DVDs/Blu Rays will that handle?

[xcntrk]

Which media stick clients do you prefer?

I started with the Chromcasts and didn't have much luck with them. There's some known problems with casting technology on some devices. The various smartphones I tried in my household would drop the cast session after some period of time. Some would make it deep into a move, others would only go a few min before the casting would error. A few google searches and you'll see this is all over the Internet. This is a Chromecast issue and has nothing to do with the MyPassport or Plex components.

So returned those and am currently exploring the Roku's. So far they are much better and include a remote so the kids can use them and the Plex streaming without my assistance. The Roku's do have a MAJOR limitation however. They require and assume access to the internet when they first start up. Not sure why but if they don't have access then they come up saying you need to reconfigure the network. The MyPassport device is both a wifi hotspot and a wifi gateway. So what you do is if the campground has wifi, then you join the Passport device to it. Then the Passport launches it's own private hotspot that the Roku's use to stream. In this configuration the Roku Internet access issue is not a problem as they use the passport to get there. The Roku's are not streaming any content from the Internet, I think they need the access to check your account credentials and look for updates, etc. However in campgrounds with no wifi the Roku's will not work. In these situations, you can tether the MyPassport server to your smartphone 4G/LTE service to give it enough Internet access for the Roku's to do their thing. Granted this is not ideal and I'm still experimenting with it.

There are other streaming client devices out there that can be used as well. One of the most promising (should the Roku Internet problem be too much to bare), is to use a Raspberry Pi and build a purpose built Plex client. This project already exists and is widely successful called - RasPlex (http://www.rasplex.com). The Raspberry Pi are available with both wired and wifi interfaces and the Plex client that runs on them has zero need for Internet access (can run totally standalone on a local Plex server network).

[xcntrk]

How many DVDs/Blu Rays will that handle?You would have to already have a digital media library to want to pursue this video streaming approach. The whole subject of how to "archive" to digital video files my library of DVD and/or BluRays is an entirely different conversation and there are entire forums dedicated to it.

But to answer your question, the MyPassport device is available in 2/3/4 Terabyte configurations. How much space a ripped movie will take on a disc is extremely complicated and has to do with type of encoding, desired quality, length of movie, blah, blah. But to make a shot in the dark; your average 1.5hr movie ripped to 1080P 30fps H264 with AAC audio High-Definition video format will consume roughly 5GB each. So in rough math:

2GB MyPassport could store = 400 movies
3GB MyPassport could store = 600 movies
4TB MyPassport could store = 800 movies

More than you could ever want to watch on a long camping trip that's for sure :popcorn:

[Jeepshots]

I rip all my movies into .ISO format, so on the hard drive, they're still pretty large. I then convert them to .M4V for iPad use. Those are less than 1Gb in size. So 2Tb is plenty big if you go that route. I've read that a lot of folks were having issues with the MPW device - disks were dropping out, so they'd lose capacity as well as data. Others were saying that they'd sometime drop in the middle of movies. I'd like to see a device like that, but with SSDs in it. Might be worth buying one, taking it apart on my own, and stuffing in SSDs (cloning the software over).

[Jeepshots]

An alternative is to use a RAVPower device, such as this one on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/RAVPower-Wireless-Portable-Companion-Streamer/dp/B016ZWS9ZE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1500056534&sr=8-2-spons&keywords=ravpower&psc=1

It uses SD cards for storage, or you can use an external USB drive. 6K mAh battery pack, so plenty of battery. Should last longer since it's not powering true HDDs.

Really looking into one of these, but i don't know about any casting capabilities.

[xcntrk]

An alternative is to use a RAVPower device, such as this one on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/RAVPower-Wireless-Portable-Companion-Streamer/dp/B016ZWS9ZE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1500056534&sr=8-2-spons&keywords=ravpower&psc=1

It uses SD cards for storage, or you can use an external USB drive. 6K mAh battery pack, so plenty of battery. Should last longer since it's not powering true HDDs.

Really looking into one of these, but i don't know about any casting capabilities.That is a neat alternative! Hadn't seen this RAVpower before. The generic DNLA streaming turns me off a little as it sounds like higher maintenance to get a movie going, whereas the streaming media server front-ends like Plex/Twonky/Kodi give you an easy to use interface to access a movie library. But great alternative to test with if you don't want to go "all in" on a Passport device.

[Jeepshots]

Ordered one from Amazon and got it in yesterday. Charged it up last night. Got to scrounge up an SD card from one of my cameras, load a movie or three onto it and see how it works for the kids. I'll let ya'll know. Still like the idea of the Passport reloaded with SSD drives...

[xcntrk]

Ordered one from Amazon and got it in yesterday. Charged it up last night. Got to scrounge up an SD card from one of my cameras, load a movie or three onto it and see how it works for the kids. I'll let ya'll know. Still like the idea of the Passport reloaded with SSD drives...

I was sort of surprised the Passport didn't come with a solid state, considering it's portable and all. Disc platters and vibrations from being on the move don't mix well.

I ran my Passport/Roku system while camping this weekend. It was a dry campground and no wifi. Literally on top of a mountain. The Roku and Passport system worked great! Was streaming 1080p HD movies and they looked fantastic on the 50" in my Fuzion. I did have to tether the Passport to my smartphone so the Roku's could get their Internet connection for registration or whatever, but even that went over without a hitch. Once the Passport remembers your SmartPhone "HotSpot", it will automatically connect as soon as you turn it on. And once the Roku wifi is setup to use your Passport, the whole system just comes online without any hassle. I think I'm done for now. I would like to find a streaming client device that doesn't require Internet to function, but honestly this was so easy it's not worth the effort.

[fishingprospector]

Having same problem. We have been on the road for a month now and at over a dozen rv parks. Twice now we have hooked to parks cable tv and have been unable to scan any channels. Both times the park personnel have brought out little tvs and verified the cable to the campsite was working (very nice of them). At one park the gentleman said there cable doesn't work on some campers. Today we bought a new tv and hooked the cable from the park directly to the new tv and still no channels scanned. Both tvs will pick up a few antenna channels. The original 50" tv is a 2013 model and the 32" we just bought today. Wondering if there is any chance these tvs cannot scan certain cable signals?

[flybouy]

http://www.wyan.org/Cable-TV/What-Televisions-have-QAM-tuners.aspx
List of tvs with and without QUAM tuners.

[ctbruce]

Having same problem. We have been on the road for a month now and at over a dozen rv parks. Twice now we have hooked to parks cable tv and have been unable to scan any channels. Both times the park personnel have brought out little tvs and verified the cable to the campsite was working (very nice of them). At one park the gentleman said there cable doesn't work on some campers. Today we bought a new tv and hooked the cable from the park directly to the new tv and still no channels scanned. Both tvs will pick up a few antenna channels. The original 50" tv is a 2013 model and the 32" we just bought today. Wondering if there is any chance these tvs cannot scan certain cable signals?Just to verify, not trying to be a smart donkey. For cable you are first turning off the over the air signal booster and then scanning for cable? If you don't, you will not pick up any cable.

You may also want to check that all connections are tight and the cable ends installed properly. Good luck.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[fishingprospector]

Yes we did have the booster off when programming. The new tv is a TCL but the instructions state it has a Frequency synthesized tuner. Does not mention Qwam.