Cable TV with my smart TV

[jim7489]

I have a 32 inch smart Tv in my 2022 Esteem 29V.
Every place I go that has cable we hook up to it, do a channel search, but are not able to get any stations on the TV.
At home we need a cable box (Spectrum) The campsites we stayed at never mentioned that would be needed.
I am wondering if the RV is missing a connection somewhere.

[Grumpy]

Do you have the antenna amplifier turned off?

[Joey55]

As Grump said, check that the amplifier button is on. Also, did you set the TV to 'over the air' and then search? If you leave it on 'cable' you won't get anything over the air. And keep in mind very few RV parks have good cable. Some have the cable and nothing on them.

[SmokeyBear]

Idiot questions from a novice/idiot.

1) The OP specifically said having problems with cable. What does that have to do with the antenna?
2) Grumpy asked if the antenna amplifier is off, Joey55 said check the amplifier button is on. I presume he means antenna amplifier. Should it be on or off?
3) If he said cable, why would he do an over the air search?

Like I said, idiot questions from a novice/idiot.

[Ttlanders]

If the antenna amplifier is on it searches antenna. If it is off it searches cable channels!

[Ttlanders]

Jim, the amp switch is in cabinet over door .

[Harleys house]

Ttlanders
Well that explains our problem-- have been to 3 different campgrounds and could not get cable channels, but alot of over the air channels.
I thought they did not get the cable connections right, so I will try with the amp off.
Thanks

[jetlag]

Originally Posted by Harleys house

Ttlanders
Well that explains our problem-- have been to 3 different campgrounds and could not get cable channels, but alot of over the air channels.
I thought they did not get the cable connections right, so I will try with the amp off.
Thanks

Over the air channels will show up on your TV, they being a function of the antenna on the camper. You still won't get cable channels with the amplifier off unless you first go to your TV menu, look for channels or something similar, and then tell it to do an auto search for cable channels. Default is typically over the air. It takes a few minutes, and yes the amplifier switch should only be on for watching regular over the air TV.

[jetlag]

Originally Posted by SmokeyBear

Idiot questions from a novice/idiot.

1) The OP specifically said having problems with cable. What does that have to do with the antenna?
2) Grumpy asked if the antenna amplifier is off, Joey55 said check the amplifier button is on. I presume he means antenna amplifier. Should it be on or off?
3) If he said cable, why would he do an over the air search?

Like I said, idiot questions from a novice/idiot.

Originally Posted by Ttlanders

If the antenna amplifier is on it searches antenna. If it is off it searches cable channels!

Yes and no. The only way it will search for cable, with switch being off as you indicated, is by going through the TV menu and telling it to search for cable channels. You have to tell the TV you want to connect via cable and not OTA.




1) The OP specifically said having problems with cable. What does that have to do with the antenna?


Nothing at all. Cable and Antenna are totally different animals.


2) Grumpy asked if the antenna amplifier is off, Joey55 said check the amplifier button is on. I presume he means antenna amplifier. Should it be on or off?


Grumpy is correct, switch to be OFF before searching for cable channels with the TV menu.


3) If he said cable, why would he do an over the air search?


He wouldn't and you are correct.

[SmokeyBear]

Ah Ha! Much clearer now. In order to do a cable search, the antenna amplifier must be off. Got it.

[jetlag]

Originally Posted by SmokeyBear

Ah Ha! Much clearer now. In order to do a cable search, the antenna amplifier must be off. Got it.

Yes, otherwise it won't pick up any channels. Next time you are watching cable, turn the amplifier on and watch your picture , lol. The amplifier is for regular OTA TV only.

[Kim Gass]

We've been there. Sometimes the TV has an ego showing how much smarter it is than we are.

sometimes that frigging green light is so hard to see. on our unit its buried.

[bucko]

While I like the Smart TV for utilizing Apps to get other channels over the internet, it does add to making sure you have the right settings on/off on the TV to do so.

Reading the OP's post, it reminded me of our first camping adventure. We only had a simple TV, and tried to search for "over the air" TV channels. It got nothing. I then read the owners manual, and it said to press the button (amplifier) to search for channers over the air. Bingo, we had channels.

Fast forward to our campout at Disney....it had cable. So we did another channel search, specifying a cable channel search this time, but the channels were fuzzy. We called the front desk. They sent someone over to check our cable connection. The first check was for the rep to come inside, and he first looked to see if the amplifier was on. Bingo once again! That was the problem.

Now we have a Smart TV, which my wife and I have to remember to open the APP screens, then pick an APP that supports the channel we want, toggle through the events (kind of like channel surfing, then select and wait for it to load and play.

Gee, what ever happened to 3/maybe 4 channels to watch using rabbit ears?

[Murff]

When cable is available at RV parks, we find the same problem as at home;

Multiple channels and not a damn thing worth watching.

Solution: Take a "nosy walk" though.the campground! Meet a neighbor, build a fire, make a friend!

Murff

[LukeDagny]

We just ran into this issue yesterday while camping at a facility with cable. My Greyhawk has an Insignia brand smart TV. There was no option for cable input, but I figured it out.

Under antennae input, I chose Advanced Options. Here is where I could select cable. After selecting cable, I scanned and had 80+ channels, but, like Murff said, nothing worth watching.

[pconroy]

Originally Posted by Murff

When cable is available at RV parks, we find the same problem as at home;

Multiple channels and not a damn thing worth watching.

Solution: Take a "nosy walk" though.the campground! Meet a neighbor, build a fire, make a friend!

Murff

Talk with your spouse.






Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
What was I thinking???

[jim7489]

I have checked the booster power button. there is also a wifi power button.
I have tried it many ways. I searched over the air and cable. sometimes near a city I pick up quite a few over the air. But hooking up to cable at a campground, nothing. (This is when the campground shows they offer about 30 cable stations)

[Stavman]

Have u tried the simple step...run a cable from their cable directly to your TV

Kiss baby.....KISS

[Springhook]

Originally Posted by Stavman

Have u tried the simple step...run a cable from their cable directly to your TV

Kiss baby.....KISS

Hmm. Dealing with this issue right now. Cable NEVER worked since delivery. Several campgrounds verified working signal. I finally attached direct to the tv. Voila! Cable worked. Then disconnected cable at amplifier to TV. Cable signal OK. No signal when attached on other side of switch. So, cable signal not going through amplifier. I thought cable signal merely "passed" through amplifier switch. Does cable signal contain a voltage? I replaced amplifier but have been unable to test it as I don't have cable at home. Does anyone know how I might generate a cable signal (without cable) to test the circuit?

[Crumbum]

Your RV/trailer is probably fancier than our Jayco Hybrid, but when we are at a campground with cable, we have to disconnect the TV from the amplifier and connect it to the cable connection jack. Our amplifier has nothing to do with the cable connection. We have two jacks for the TV input, one connected to the amplifier and one that's tied to the cable jack on the side of the trailer.