Thank you much for the confirmation and advice. Sorry for the very delayed reply.
-Dave
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Browse All TopicsI have digital cable with Suddenlink Communications. I am required to use a Motorola DCH6416 STB. The TV hooked up to it (via HDMI) is a Samsung LN-T5271F. I want to set up the PiP function. The TV has that capability, and the STB is a dual-tuner. With the cable plugged into the STB, and the STB plugged into the TV, turning on the PIP only gives me snow, and I'm only able to change the TV channels in the PiP, as opposed to the cable channels.
After some (actually alot) of research, it appears that I may have to (1) use a cable splitter before the STB, (2) input one prong into the STB, then to the TV, and (3) input the other prong directly to the TV. However, my understanding is that, using that setup, the PiP would only receive the "standard" channels (i.e., the ones available without the STB), which is pretty useless since I don't even watch any of the first 100 or so channels. So:
Q1: Is there a better way to set up PiP?
Q2: Is the whole "dual tuner" thing only useful for maintaining the record buffer on, say, Ch.1 when I switch to Ch.2 (using "swap"), since it apparently does not allow me to set up PiP using two video outs directly from the STB?
Q3: Have I missed some boat, and if so, where should I go to find it?
Motorola DCH6416 STB:
http://broadband.motorola.
Samsung LN-T5271F:
http://www.samsung.com/us/
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by: garycasePosted on 2008-03-24 at 15:37:33ID: 21197959
You're correct that the TV requires two inputs to use the PIP function. If your setup box only has one output (as you've suggested), then the only way you can use PIP is as you've described => split the signal and feed it to both the set-top box and the TV. But as you've also correctly noted, this will only allow the TV to receive the "standard" channels that it can receive with its own tuner ... and not those additional channels that the setup box receives.
However ... the specifications for the set-top box indicates that IT supports picture-in-picture. So you should, using the STB's remote, be able to generate a PIP display without using the TV's picture-in-picture function. This will be generated using the STB's two tuners ... so there won't be any restrictions on which channels you receive.