# Help!  My TV set is possessed!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-tv-set-is-possessed/67763>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 6, 2001, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-tv-set-is-possessed/67763 "2001-06-06T03:48:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Beruang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@Beruang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beruang)\
**Post date:** [June 6, 2001, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-tv-set-is-possessed/67763/1 "2001-06-06T03:48:37Z")

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I recently moved to St. Paul, Minnesota. My beloved TV set did not weather the journey well – the volume control got smashed and was stuck on “unbearably loud” – so I went to Target and bought a Sansui 13" (I am nothing if not cheap).

The local over-the-air stations are supposed to be channels 2, 4, 5, 9, 11, 17, 23, 29, and 45. And when I watch TV through my VCR (VCR is on, TV is set to Channel 3, and I change stations on the VCR only), those are indeed the channels I get.

But. When I turn off the VCR and startchanging channels on the TV, something very weird happens. Channels 2 through 11 come in where they are supposed to. But channels 17and higher are off by 51. That is, Channel 17 comes in on Channle 68; Channel 23 comes in on 74, and so on.

Something is happening here and I don’t know what it is. Does anybody? Thanks.

– Beruang

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**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\
**Post date:** [June 6, 2001, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-tv-set-is-possessed/67763/2 "2001-06-06T05:31:32Z")

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Does the TV have some kind of setting for antenna vs. cable? I know that kind of thing messes with the tuning, maybe it’s throwing off the numbering.

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**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\
**Post date:** [June 6, 2001, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-tv-set-is-possessed/67763/3 "2001-06-06T07:14:04Z")

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You have the TV set for “Cable” instead of for “TV”. (“TV” is the setting for a regular TV antenna.) “Cable” is usually the default setting, so you will have to figure out how to change it and then remember how to change it every time the power goes out.

Alternatively, you could just memorize the strange channel numbers. I’ve known several people who have done that.