my friend gave me an old TV but I can't get every channel on it

I plugged in the cable and I can only get channel 2-13 (although when I try to tune to 11, I get 11, and when I tune to 10, I get 11, so I can’t watch 10). But I can’t get any channels on the U setting. What am I to do?

You need a cable box. We may need some additional info about the TV (type of I/O connections would be helpful).

I don’t know what that means. I’m just not gonna bother with if I have to buy something.

How is your cable currently “plugged in” to the TV? Coax? RCA’s? Sounds like it’s a coax connected directly to the wall? Does the TV have an “AUX” channel or a channel selector switch on the back that’s labeled something like “3 - 4”?

Maybe you can keep this one separate and use it to watch your laser discs on.

If it was made before 2006, it’s undoubtedly analog. Since the switchover to digital transmissions in 2009 (assuming you live in the U.S.), you’re not going to pick up those transmissions without some kind of converter box. You can buy one for over the air transmission. You just need an antenna with one of those. It used to be if you had cable, you could hook the cable to the TV and watch analog cable channels below ch. 125 (depending on your set and your cable company’s tiers of channels). However, recently, many cable companies have switched over to 100% digital. I know Comcast has. Customers are required to have a digital box, even for basic cable. So, basically you need some kind of box hooked up to it to watch anything. Either an over-the-air box or some kind of cable or satellite subscriber box.

coax straight into the wall. I don’t see any switches or anything. This TV was made in 1987. My other TV was made in 1986 and works fine hooked up to the cable. I already have a TV to watch laserdiscs on, but I might just keep this one to play Atari on.

Do you have any idea what the other end of the cable is attached to?

attached to the wall? what do you mean?

Depends on the TV. The default setting is to receive channels 2 through 13 as analog VHF channels and channels 14 through 83 as analog UHF channels. But the later analog “cable ready” TVs had the ability to receive 14 through 83 as VHF style channels, or use the same channel “space” as a larger number of channels. Depending on the TV, these different channel spacings are labeled “IRC”, “HRC” or “STD”. So the TV is probably set for “TV” (the default) and needs to be set for “Cable”. Then, depending on the age of the set, you need to automatically scan for channels and it will determine the correct channel spacing, or manually select the spacing.

Try taking the cable from the set that is currently receiving programs and plugging it into the other set, if you haven’t already done that. If it doesn’t work, the problem might be with the set.

I know the problem is the set, because I can take the cable out of it, plug it into another set, and it works.

Goldstar CMR-4540 btw

Being a 1989 model, it’s way too old to have any information on the web. Being a 13" set, it is quite possible that it is not cable ready.

How do you tune channels? Does it have the old round knobs for VHF and UHF? Or is it electronically tuned with buttons from 0-9? If it has the mechanical tuning knobs, you’re going to need a converter box to watch cable. If you can live without watching programs on it, then yes, it would make a good set for your Atari, as you said.

The few results I get in Google suggest this is a 13" TV from 1989. Is that correct?

If so, throw it out. Its tuner is too old for new digital signals and it’s probably not worth the cost of the digital to analog box, assuming the cale is attached to an antenna.

And again, what is the other end of the cable attached to?

Do you have to be so technical?

yeah I guess it is just too old to watch cable. my older 1986 can do it, but it doesn’t have knobs.

“Ready as she’ll ever be!”

Also assuming you live within range of a real town, and are not dependent upon low-power transmitters for your TV signals. The FCC has yet to set an analog sunset date for low-power stuff, which means that a large number of them are still broadcasting analog TV signals. In addition, our Canadian brethren still use analog TV, so if you’re far enough north to get broadcasts from the Great White North they’ll be analog.

I bought a VCR today and hooked it up to it, so now I can get more channels through the VCR, but still not all of them. At least I can watch movies though

Back in the day, we often used a VCR as replacement for a cable box. But it would have to be an older VCR, now, as the newer ones (yes, they exist), as well as other movie players, no longer have a tuner built in.