Why won't my older Zenith TV pick up any channels over 13 with cable?

Question

I have a 27" Zenith TV that was made in 1994 that I use in my bedroom. I also have a 56" wide screen JVC made in 2003. I just got cable television (expanded basic) last week and for some reason my JVC picks up every channel that I should have, but my Zenith only picks up all the channels up to channel 13. When I use auto program to program the TV it only adds up to 13 and even when I use the remote to manually switch to say, channel 45, all I see is fuzz. I switched the TV over to cable signal instead of air also. Anyone have any suggestions besides buying a new TV for the bedroom? Anyone have a good reason as to why the Zenith doesn't work right? Thanks in advance!!

Answer 1

If you have the tuner set for cable service, it should pick up the same channels as your JVC.

It would not be economically practical to fix the tuner, but you could use an old VCR as a cable ready tuner. Most of the VCRs made in the last 20 years have cable ready tuners. The mechanical part of the VCR doesn't need to be in working order, you just need the electronics.

Answer 2

The setting should be on CABLE, not AIR. When you switched it over to CABLE did you then AUTO PROGRAM again? This must be done. I can't think of any other reason. Good luck!

Answer 3

Your TV IS on the antenna/over-the-air broadcast mode.

Channels 2 -13 are the same for cable and analog over-the-air TV after that they are on different frequencies for the channels.

So you MUST tell your TV set it needs to look at the cable frequencies.

In the channel setup function normally accessed through the menu button on the remote. Change the TV input to CATV or Cable.  THEN do an auto channel search.  You MUST set to cable first - then auto scan.  All channels will be there.

The new TV sets default to cable setting, in 1994 the default setting was broadcast.  NOTE: If you loose power to the set it may revert to broadcast so you will have to re-set it to cable after a power outage.

There is NO other reason you are not getting the channels UNLESS the TV tuner in the TV is bad (VERY VERY VERY unlikely)