Sudden pixelation/pauses

[jcarrera]

Over the past months, I have had essentially zero pixelation and pic breakup in Brevard. Suddenly, tonight, starting (I think) approx 7pm hour and continuing through American Idol (8-10), it has been pretty frequent, also stall then jump ahead. Observed on Ch 23 and 3 for sure. And, there are times the sound goes warble-y for one syllable of a word--as in a very rapid stutter for a fraction of a second, but no observable picture degradation.

Anybody know of something that has happened?

 

[Khandurian]

Whoops! Sorry jcarrera, been busy and I missed your post.

What model dvr do you have? Sounds like the HDD may be starting to go bad.

That's where I would start. If you live close to the Melbourne office, just bring it in and swap it out! If your unable to do that, call up, request a tech, and make sure you tell the person on the phone, that you want a replacement 8300 only!

We just got a brand new shipment of them in. So, now would be the time to get a completely brand new one!

 

[jcarrera]

Well, in the following days, the problem has disappeared...seems to have just been that one evening. I have the 8300HD. Of course that could still be the hard drive. Unfortunately, I've got a lot of stuff on the HD that needs to go onto DVD yet, so I'd hate to swap and lose that.

 

[Khandurian]

Ok, well let me know if theres something I might be able to help with. Sorry you had that glitch.

 

[casper04]

You could very well be experiencing a signal problem... It could happen intermittently, anything from your drop being damaged to a bad fitting. I would call it in and have someone come out and check everything if it ever happens again, just to be safe

 

[jcarrera]

Well, this problem has returned over the last two days. It is not always there, and normally manifests as the warble-y "stuttered" syllable. Occasionally, there is some pixelation at the same time, but mostly just the stuttered sound. It is very aggravating. There will be some periods, even more than an hour, when it does not occur. Then there will be a "spell" of it, then not. Irregular intervals as to how long it stays happening and how long it stays gone.

I do not believe this is caused by the cable box/DVR, SA8300HD, but can't prove that. The randomness seems to argue against it.

I can just see calling techs out, and of course it will be in one of the working fine periods when they arrive.

Strangely, there is a local radio station that was doing this intentionally in some of their promos as a "cute" attention getter.

 

[jcarrera]

Well, the tech came out today and seems to have fixed it. No pixelation or stutter since he left. He said the signal in the house was at the low end of the OK range, but had a high bit error count. He replaced a very slightly corroded coax connector outside (not at house box, but upstream at the next junction/distribution in the neighbor's back yard).

I mean it was VERY SLIGHTLY corroded. He showed it to me. I am an electrical engineer and have seen thousands of connectors. I would have replaced it too, but would definitely not thought it would cause that level of trouble. Just slightly discolored center copper and a bit of discoloration where center wire enters the insulating dielectric--really minimal level of connector degradation.

Oh, well. I'm happy for an evening of no aggravation with the signal..

 

[casper04]

well... I would be wondering if the ber went away after he replaced the cable.... that's a big problem which could have certainly caused pixelation/ freezing, but it can always be old an old splitter, or splitters that aren't organized properly (to give you more signal for digital). It can alway be a problem at the street on the feeder or your tap.

Hopefully that fixed your problem... post again if it doesn't

 

[jcarrera]

BER went to zero after the connector replaced. Before was 10^-5.

Old splitter? Do they get weaker?

"...problem at the street on the feeder or your tap." ??? There is no "at the street." Signal flow: (DVR)-- (splitter/amp?)--- (internal house wiring)--- (box on side of house) --- (underground feed) --- (distribution? box in neighbor's yard) --- (to wherever)

The replaced connector was at (distribution? box in neighbor's yard).

 

[casper04]

Thats good then...

yea splitters don't get weaker but there's still splitters out there that will only go up to 500 Mghz or 650 Mghz, so of course u would have problems with them

What i meant is a problem with the main feed, your neighbors yard has a box (pedestal) inside u gotta tap. you can have level problems off the tap all the time. I had a BER off the tap the other day. One of the amps was in overdrive

 

[Khandurian]

Splitters dont get weaker? thats a new one to me! I have seen splitters get weak, or in actual terminology, cause a greater loss of signal than at the time of installation.

Granted, these were very cheap, unsealed splitters, but they still were unable to pass the signal as they did when the were first new. Normally one of the ports or the entire splitter will just die, but I have seen some that refused to die and instead want to create a headache for you.

As for changing of the changing of the connector at the box, in the neighbors yard, its good to know that you got a line technician that was actually able to find that. The digital signals are wound tighter at transmission, so even the slightest bit of corrosion can cause problems.

You should see it out on the beach side. It's a constant battle out there!

 

[jcarrera]

"You should see it out on the beach side. It's a constant battle out there!"

Funny you should mention that--that's where I am! Boy, you are good!

 

[Khandurian]

HA!

Not into fish are you? Gotta make a trip to a couple of LFS's tomorrow. Anyways, glad they were able to get things working for ya.

 

[jcarrera]

"Not into fish are you? Gotta make a trip to a couple of LFS's tomorrow."

No, and I have no idea what an LFS is...must have something to do with fish! Local Fish Site? Hey, this is headed off topic. I'm gonna shut up.

 

[casper04]

lol im near the beach too...

right on the beach actually

I guess ur kinda right, it's possible for them to get weaker but it's either unnoticeable difference with maybe a extra 2 dB loss.
Or sudden difference, where it's going to stop working or work very poorly, but usually that won't happen just from corrosion. Lightning will usually do it

 

[Khandurian]

LFS = Local Fish Store! I have fish to help lower the blood pressure at the end of the day. Works wonders!

 

[Khandurian]

Ever have one melt in your hand? Let me tell you, it was a shocking experience. All 220 volts worth!

Back a few years ago, I was doing disconnects to help out at the time. The owners were doing "home repairs". I was up on the pole when I felt a very noticeable tingling while disconnecting the line.

I came down the pole, went to the house to remove the splitter, and it was warm to the touch. I blamed it on the warm day, however as I started to remove the lines connected to it, the wax sealing the inside components came oozing out rather quickly and then of course the smoke came out of it.

It was not a fun experience!

 

[MSU]

The same thing is happening to me. first they said it was a system wide problem but that was like 2 months ago. Then it stopped for a week or two and then started up again. They just came out to my house today and said it may have something to do with the cable box of something too high. They said they will be out later this week to get it fixed. It is making me very mad because its screwing up my DVR as well. This is one of the reasons why I''m switching the AT&T new cable service (don't care what people says about the service, I think it will be good, if not I will switch back. For some reason some people is bias against AT&T for some reason) once they get here, which I hear will be soon (in 2-3 weeks I heard the rumor was). Another thing I'm mad at Bright House about is them not getting off their rear ends and not get the HD channels as soon as they become available.

 

[stevenl]

The corrided fitting affected your high band (digital channels usally in the higher spectrum 400+mhz) Are more so affected by the corrision then the lower band channels because the low band travels on the "inside" (closer to) the center conducter then the highband. The highband rides farther away on the center conductor so if the outside of the center conducter is damaged or scratched or scarred or corrided your highband is usally the first to go. Ever notice how if you barely stick a cable into a tv, the low band channels look snowy but your digital channels come in perfectly fine and no pixelation? BEcause that low band rides so deep onto the center conducter it needs to make a very tight conenction to work properly. Your highband however can travel with barely being touched. However if that highway it travels on is affected at all it really will destroy the signal.