[rec.video] Radio Shack MTX decoder / NY MCTV on the BLINK...

dan@rna.UUCP (Dan Ts'o) (04/12/89)

	Live in Manhattan (a contradiction in terms) and get cable TV via
MCTV. I have a Radio Shack TV receiver which has an MTS decoder in it.
Over the past year, I have noted that the operation of the setup (stereo
audio-wise) has gotten pretty bad. Specifically, the MTS decoder very often
switches in and out of MTS/stereo mode. These transitions between MTS and
standard video-audio are very annoying. I wish it would stay put.

	The questions are:

	1) For you who also use MCTV in NYC and have MTS decoders, have you
noticed a problem with the MTS signal as provided by MCTV ?

	2) The timing of the onset of the occurence of the problem coincides
with my moving to a different apartment and MCTV installing a new decoder
box with remote tuner. This new box has remote volume. For remote volume to
function on the video tuner, it seems to me that this box must strip the
audio portion of the signal, apply the volume function, and piece together
the RF TV signal with the new volume setting, right ? Since the volume
control works on the MTS portion, it must strip and recombine that as well,
right ? So maybe this new box is screwing up the MTS signal...

	3) If it is not MCTV's fault (it happens on most MTS channels, such
as HBO, MTV, VH1, etc., but not necessarily to the same degree...), then
I seek a little advice from those acquainted with MTS decoders (or better
yet, that Radio Schlock one).
	I am guessing that inside the MTS decoder there is something like
a carrier detect circuit with a threshold/switch. Is this likely to be the
case, and if so, is this likely to be a possible source of this problem:
i.e. the threshold is too high or the gain of the carrier detect circuit too
low ?
	I suppose I could trace backwards from that MTS presence LED
indicator...

	Please email responses. Thanks.


				Cheers,
				Dan Ts'o		212-570-7671
				Dept. Neurobiology	dan@rna.rockefeller.edu
				Rockefeller Univ.	...cmcl2!rna!dan
				1230 York Ave.		rna!dan@nyu.edu
				NY, NY 10021		tso@rockefeller.arpa
							tso@rockvax.bitnet

hundt@paul.rutgers.edu (Thomas M. Hundt) (04/12/89)

Well, at my father's house, he has one of those nice Mitsubishi sets
that has MTS built-in.  Now, this TV will automatically switch in/out of
MTS mode, and displays a nice text message in the middle of the screen
every time it makes the transition.  

Result:  every once in a while you get the obnoxious message flashing on
the screen that the MTS turned on or off.  It seems to do this quite
often on the network channels.  The cable-only channels are more stable.

Note: this is in NJ and has nothing to do with Manhatten, I just wanted
to let you know that you're not the only ones.
-- 

  w ["]  | Thomas M. Hundt :: hundt@occlusal.rutgers.edu   |
  |__'_  | Gradual Student :: Electrical & Computer Eng.   |
     H \/| Rutgers University   :: 201/932-5843            |
     X   | 272 Hamilton St. #96 :: 201/247-6723            |
   _/ \_ | New Brunswick, NJ 08901  "Limit guns not speed" |