Residence Hall - Cable TV

Overview

Texas A&M offers both cable TV and internet protocol TV (IPTV) service in most residence halls. Please ensure the TV you bring to campus can tune digital channels using a coaxial cable or can connect to an internet network if you are planning to use the IPTV service.

  • Instructions for connecting to Cable TV are available below.
  • Instructions for connecting to IPTV are available here.
  • Instructions for connecting to MAX are available here.

Connecting to Cable TV:

All televisions manufactured after 2007 are required by law to have digital signal receivers. To make sure your TV will receive cable channels:

  1.     Consult your owner’s manual and look for any of the following labeling on the TV:
    •         Digital Ready
    •         DTV
    •         Digital Tuner Built in
    •         HDTV
    •         QAM
    •         Integrated Digital Tuner
  2.     If your TV has any of these labels, your TV should work. You will just need to connect the TV into the wall jack with a coaxial cable, complete an auto-tune and begin watching TV.

If you have an older TV, and your owner’s manual states the TV only has an NTSC tuner, your TV will not work with the campus cable system. You will need to either:

  1.     Buy a new TV with a built-in digital tuner.
  2.     Buy a digital converter that has a QAM tuner and hook up this device to your old TV.

If you decide to buy a digital converter instead of a new TV, make sure the converter has the correct outputs that match one of the inputs on the back of your TV.

Cable TV Troubleshooting

Most televisions require only a few steps to work. Before you make a service call, read and follow these steps:

  1.     Make sure the television is connected to AC power, and to the cable outlet.
  2.     If you have a remote control, make sure the batteries are good.
  3.     If you do not receive all of the channels listed on the channel lineup, your TV may need to be set up and programmed to be cable ready.

With slight variations, all televisions require similar actions to prepare for use with a cable system. If the exact term listed below is not on your programming menu, there probably is a very similar term.

  1. Go to "MENU", "Programming", or "Action" screen.
  2. From this screen, go to "Set-Up".
  3. If you are prompted to choose between "off-Air" and "Cable", choose "Cable".
  4. Go to "Auto Program".
  5. When you depress the "Auto Program" button your television will begin to automatically scroll through the channels. The TV is programming itself to acquire the channels that have signal coming from the cable TV system.
  6. Save the changes and exit.

 Alternate: Some TV's (typically older ones) have an "antenna-CATV" switch on the back. Be sure this is in the "CATV" position.

If, after you have tried these steps, you do not have reception or are missing channels, notify Help Desk Central (HDC) at (979) 845-8300. They will direct you in additional steps or dispatch a service person as soon as possible. It may take a day or two to attend to your request as all requests are addressed in the order in which they are received.

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