We have designed the LETU digital TV system to support as many digital TV models as possible. To be fully supported on the LETU system your TV, computer tuner card, or other device must have a tuner with ClearQAM support (ATSC support alone is not enough though is also present on many tuners with ClearQAM functionality). As a result, we recommend bringing a quality digital TV with a current tuner (see below).
Recommended TVs
In general we have determined that the majority of TVs work very well with our HD system. While we cannot guarantee that any particular TV model from any manufacturer will work flawlessly, we will endeavor to document all known exceptions on this page as well as to pursue with our vendor support any models not listed on the "Non-Recommended" list which have difficulties.
In particular we have had excellent results with TVs from the following manufactures.
- LG
- Samsung
- Vizio
- Most other major brands generally work quite well (including Sony and others).
Non-recommended TVs
Unfortunately, HDTV standards are not yet consistent enough to guarantee that all TVs will work with every digital system. In particular, we have discovered issues with several TV brands and recommend that students avoid purchasing these brands for use at LETU if at all possible.
We have implemented workarounds for some of the issues the TVs below have experienced, but as they may still experience difficulties on the LETU TV system we recommend avoiding them if possible:
- Many TVs manufactured before 2008
- Emerson (may experience audio issues)
- Magnavox (may experience audio issues)
- Sylvania (may experience audio issues)
- Some of the cheapest models of "store brands" or the lowest priced models often available during after-Thanksgiving-type sales. Where budget is a concern, we recommend avoiding these "bargain basement" tv models where possible in favor of value brands like Vizio.
Digital Tuner Support
In cases where TVs are not fully supported there are several digital tuners available that can provide connectivity to LETU's TV system for TVs without proper support. They are available from the websites below however their availability is very limited due to worldwide shortages so we recommend their use only where purchasing a different TV is not an option.
PC Tuner Card Support
PC Tuners' performance on the LETU system depends heavily on the software used to view the programming. In general current generation cards with ClearQAM support should generally tune in our signaling, but the software is responsible for determining which channels can be viewed. As an example, Windows Media Center is very selective about the channels it will show after an auto-scan, but with some effort, it is normally possible to manually program all LETU channels to display.
We have had good results so far from the following tuner card:
- Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 2250
Please note that this card still requires some detailed work with Windows Media Center or your preferred TV viewing software to successfully tune all channels. If you are having difficulty please feel free to contact us - while we may not be able to assist with all tuner card issues we will be happy to provide any tips that have worked for us! - HDHomeRun
A newer tuner, this tuner does not require a PCI slot but does require you to provide your own network switch (support for switches on the LETU ResNet network is available as of Fall 2012) to connect it to your LETU network jack while still allowing a connection for any desktop computer you might have. We have limited experience with this tuner but initial testing appears positive. Please note we do not recommend the HDHomeRun PRIME model at this time - the basic HDHomeRun is the model which works the best. As with the Hauppauge card, actual support will depend heavily on the software used. We can provide limited support for software configuration but will be glad to share any tips we've learned as we work through TV software configuration issues!
