Here we go again, bad signal on TWC

[Brendan]

OK, I don't know why I seem to have HD signal problems during live sports (Packers, Bucks), but today it's CBS during the Packer game, rebooted box in vain attempt, called TWC, they reboot the box, nothing, made appointment.
And no other channels seem affected. What is it, does TWC have problems if too many people watch the same HD channel at once? Am I splitting my signal with the rest of the Milwaukee metro area?

[Brendan]

BTW, I just re-set up OTA, and CBS 58.1 has no problems. I assumed as much, but just wanted to confirm.
On a side note, I haven't had OTA set up because my current apartment couldn't get a signal via rabbit ears like my last one could, and when I tried to use my coax cable as the antenna, it wouldn't find any channels. But this time when I rescanned, it found all the SD cable channels and the OTA digital channels! Pretty nice to use as a backup to my DVR (which seems to be necessary with TWC).

[Jack 1000]

We had problems with only certain channels and static build up on the line.   (And only on HD channels.) Here is what you need to do.  (This is what the tech did for us when channels started out as minor pixiation to being unwatchable.)

When you are not watching something important, unplug the Cable box cables from the back of your cable box for about 30 seconds to 1-minute.  Don't put the cables on the floor to prevent any static from going to it during that disconnect process.  Now after a minute, plug the cable back in, let the box reboot if it needs to, and hopefully that will take care of the problem.

If it doesn't, you may need to have your line and signal strength checked out.  (Ours were good.)  I always look at a box replacement as a last resort.  So many cable problems can relate to signal, line, or static issues.  I don't want to lose recordings or settings on a box swap if it is not needed!

When you do the unplug thing, do it from the back of the cable box.  You want the cable that goes outside to the line.  This 30 second to one minute disconnect will clear the static or any build-up out of the cable going to the box.

If the problem comes back, you may have to call to get the cable replaced or the lines and signal strength checked out.

Jack

[ddeerrff]

Jack, you're not taking the "Drain the static out of the line" seriously, are you?  

It's possible the center conductor has no direct dc connection to ground, and a voltage could build up on it, but....  as soon as that voltage exceeded the breakdown or ESD protection of any connected device that charge would be shunted to ground.  And besides, a dc component on the cable would have no effect on signal anyway - we (in medical electronics) often use a coax cable to carry both DC and a signal at the same time.

[Jack 1000]

Jack, you're not taking the "Drain the static out of the line" seriously, are you?  

It's possible the center conductor has no direct dc connection to ground, and a voltage could build up on it, but....  as soon as that voltage exceeded the breakdown or ESD protection of any connected device that charge would be shunted to ground.  And besides, a dc component on the cable would have no effect on signal anyway - we (in medical electronics) often use a coax cable to carry both DC and a signal at the same time.

I don't know.  But whatever he did seemed to work.

Jack

[Brendan]

Thanks for the tip. I'll give it a try, since there's not much to lose--well, I suppose something odd could happen and destroy my box, but that's not too likely.
Quick update; CBS HD went completely black with no audio earlier today, and ABC HD followed suit some time after. I did have problems with ABC a couple weeks ago (see other thread) so I guess the problems may be connected.

[Brendan]

Well, just tried it. I unplugged all the cables (power, coax, video & audio) from the back of the box. It seems to have improved. I didn't have any signal problems on either station, but I only watched for less than 10 minutes so I'm not calling this "fixed" just yet. I'll see how it behaves tomorrow.
Actually, before I tried unplugging everything, the signal had come back from the completely blank screen I had, though it still had all the pixelization problems I had before it dropped out.
Thanks again for the tip, Jack, hope it holds up!

[Kenoman]

Anyone else having pixelization problems on cbs? Recorded two shows on Tues and they were unwatchable due to pixelization. Also, I tuned in the ondemand channel to watch the same show and it two had pixelization. Is it just me?
note: rebooted box. same problem.

[Jack 1000]

Anyone else having pixelization problems on cbs? Recorded two shows on Tues and they were unwatchable due to pixelization. Also, I tuned in the on-demand channel to watch the same show and it two had pixelization. Is it just me?
note: rebooted box. same problem.

I would try unplugging the cables from the back of the box for about a minute.  Don't put them on the floor to prevent static build-up.  Plug them back in after a minute and see if that solves the problem.  Worked for me about two months ago when the problem was pixiation on FoxNews, CBS, and VOD, and the issue has not returned since.

Jack

[Mark Strube]

Thread moved to appropriate section.

[Brendan]

@Kenoman: I've been having problems again, and yes, it's with CBS, as well as ABC. For whatever reason, both seem to be connected when I have bad signal. I had the signal go bad on both on Thursday, while I was recording on NBC, so I thought that could have something to do with it, like maybe I have low signal problems and the NBC HD feed recording split the signal too much or something. But I've started have problems again today.
I'm going to try the static bleed again, as it seemed to help before. I do have a lot of static in my home (obviously static happens indoors a lot in cold weather due to the dry air). I noticed that my rear surround speakers often pick up static when I walk over them (they're under a rug). So I hope another static bleed works.

[Mark Strube]

I'm sorry... your surround speakers are under a rug? Or the speaker cable is?

[Brendan]

@Mark, rear speaker cables are under a rug, not the speakers themselves. So the cables pick up static.
BTW, static bleed seemed to help at first, but I've had been having more signal issues on even more HD channels since then, so I can't say if it really helped or not.

[Jack 1000]

@Kenoman: I've been having problems again, and yes, it's with CBS, as well as ABC. For whatever reason, both seem to be connected when I have bad signal. I had the signal go bad on both on Thursday, while I was recording on NBC, so I thought that could have something to do with it, like maybe I have low signal problems and the NBC HD feed recording split the signal too much or something. But I've started have problems again today.
I'm going to try the static bleed again, as it seemed to help before. I do have a lot of static in my home (obviously static happens indoors a lot in cold weather due to the dry air). I noticed that my rear surround speakers often pick up static when I walk over them (they're under a rug). So I hope another static bleed works.

It sounds like you might have more static build up than usual.  This is gonna sound off the wall, but it really might help, if you have room for it and can put it in a place where it doesn't look....um....stupid!

Maybe you could get a little portable humidifier for the room to deal with the static issue.  Than during these cold winter months, set it just to get the dry air out.  Or if you have a big humidifier maybe put it at a higher setting.

Your speaker issues sounds like you are getting a lot of static build up.  A portable humidifier might help.  

How is the cable box doing otherwise?  If it's OK, you could schedule a service call to check your signal strength on CBS and ABC. Ask the tech to check your cable line as well.  if the problem keeps recurring.  Just say, "I don't want a new box I just want to make sure the lines and signals are OK."

If they find static build up on the line, they could replace the line, and maybe that would solve all your problems.  Two different options, a little humidifier for the TV room for the Winter months, or a service call to check your cable lines and signal levels on ABC and CBS.  I doubt a new box is going to fix this issue.

Jack

[brewtownska]

Not sure if this helps diagnosing or not, but I use the open QAM versions of the TWC signal, and I know CBS and ABC show up right next to each other in my guide.  They map as 85.5 and 85.12 on my Sony TV.  So I think they are coming down on the same physical channel.  So if you have problems with one, more than likely both are going to have issues.

To go a step further on the static stuff, when I had the TWC tech out looking for issues in my system, he was more interested in disconnecting and reconnecting all the cables going into the basement splitter.  If you have a splitter, maybe try that instead of the connection to the box.