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New TV - Question about best way to hook up?

Old 02-27-08, 10:40 PM
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New TV - Question about best way to hook up?

Finally decided to buy a new HDTV and looking for best way to connect everything. TV is Pioneer 5080, it has two coax inputs for cable/ant, two component, and 4 HDMI. I am connecting a comcast HD cable box (no HDMI output yet), TIVO, old Sony receiver (no HDMI) and a SD DVD player (no BR player yet).
#1 - why is there two coax inputs to the TV? I assume one is for an OTA antenna, but if I connect the cable by component or HDMI what is the other for?
#2 - I tried connecting the cable outlet from the wall directly to the coax input on the TV, without the cable box, just to see what channels would show up when I scanned. As I expected, it did not pick up everything in our cable package. However it did pick up some not in our package, and some had channel numbers like 92.20 and such. Should I split the feed from the wall, one to the TV and one to the cable box to get the extra channels or will this degrade the signal? I already have it split once to send a signal to the cable box and the TIVO without a decline in quality.
Any suggestions?

BTW so far the pic on the 5080 has been amazing.
Old 02-28-08, 01:02 AM
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The two coax inputs may be for picture in picture, since that requires a tuner for each image. Of course, this will only work if you connect the cable (split) to the TV directly, which you won't be doing since you use a box.
Old 02-28-08, 02:19 AM
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You can download the owner's manual for your TV here. It should answer most of your questions.

To answer your first question, it's covered on Page 24:
Originally Posted by PDP-5080 owner's manual
This system is equipped with two terminals for inputting TV
broadcasting signals: ANT/CABLE A IN and ANT B IN. The ANT/
CABLE A IN terminal accepts both digital and conventional TV
broadcasting signals while the ANT B IN terminal accepts only
conventional TV broadcasting signals. When using cable TV to
watch digital and/or conventional TV channels, connect to the
ANT/CABLE A IN terminal as shown. In addition, you may
connect an antenna to the ANT B IN terminal as shown; use an
outdoor antenna to enjoy clearer pictures. If your outdoor
antenna uses a 75-ohm coaxial cable with an F-type connector,
plug it into the antenna terminal at the rear of the plasma display.
Old 02-28-08, 10:13 PM
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so does anyone know what the channels are with the odd numbers such as 93.06 and so on?

will it degrade the picture (significantly) if I split the cable from the wall in order to watch these channels?

thanks
Old 02-29-08, 12:58 PM
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Originally Posted by undkid
will it degrade the picture (significantly) if I split the cable from the wall in order to watch these channels?

thanks
It shouldn't have any effect, especially with a digital signal.

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