Entertainment Center: TVs, Stereos, VCRs and DVDs - TV tuning problem.

I have a 19" samsung (Model THX1970) about 2 years old. It was working fine until recently . The TV will only tune to channels 42 to 80. You can't get any channel outside this range. I can get only History and animal channel on standard cable. No ABC, NBC, CBS...or anything else. The quality of channels that I am getting is good and clear. it is just that i am not getting all the channels. The cable man said that it is the TV tuner problem. Does anyone know anything about this? How much does it cost to fix? is it worth fixing?
Any help with this will be appreciated.

Mo

[Edited by Mo Arida on 05-03-01 at 02:45]

It might be worth fixing (the tuner module needs replaced,
thay are rarely repaired).

If the set has A/V inputs, either get a cable box with A/V
out, or a VCR with a good cable-ready tuner.

Yup, that's the tuner for sure. Actually, the set is most likely receiving only channels 37 and up. This means the hyper channel LO (local oscillator) is functioning.

Channels Zero to 36 use a separate local oscillator that operates at a lower frequency. (What? You didn't know there was a Channel Zero or a Channel 1?) I would assume that local oscillator has failed and the tuner will need attention. It's time for a technician to get into the circuits and do some diagnostics.

Smokey ;)

Thank you Gary Tait so much for the hint. I have a good VCR. I just bought a $10 audio/video cable and connected the VCR to the TV. It worked. My TV now is using the VCR tuner. Thanks to you, I returned the new TV that already bought ($180 with service plan). This is a great message board :)