Upgraded to 3lnb dish now white lines?

[Watrat]

Good evening,
Was hoping someone could help or offer some suggestions in what might be going on. Had 2 series 1 directivos for the past 3-4 years and haven't had any quality issues. Last week I upgraded to hd and they installed a new dish and the hdtivo unit. One of the things that they did when they installed was to bypass my multiswitch; having 4 lines come down from the dish two now went to the back of the hdtivo and the other two lines were connected to the two lines that went to my bedroom tivo. As soon as the installation and connections were completed I noticed these white lines going right to left on my bedroom unit. Mentioned it to the installers and they claimed it was nothing..it was something to me and they weren't budging (to be honest, they were already here 5 hours and it was late). The lines are now becoming more noticeable and I guess I am too much of a perfectionist when it comes to that stuff. I have swapped out the s-video cables, tried using the composite cables..removed each line from the dish one at a time and noticing that they are both the culprit..not bad when only one is plugged in..but together. Just wondering what might be causing this and if its something I can fix on my own.

Thanks for reading.

Tom

PS. Have noticed since the installation that sometimes the lines aren't as pronounced as others..if that helps.

[litzdog911]

This could be a grounding or ground loop problem. Were the satellite cables grounded outside where they enter your house? Did the new installation change that?

[Watrat]

Good afternoon..not sure I follow you on if they are grounded or not. How can I tell?

[litzdog911]

Where the satellite coax cables enter your house, they should run through a grounding block that looks like this ....
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103060&cp=&kw=ground+block&parentPage=search

There should be a ground wire from this grounding block to a nearby ground rod or other house electrical ground.

[Watrat]

Where the satellite coax cables enter your house, they should run through a grounding block that looks like this ....
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103060&cp=&kw=ground+block&parentPage=search

There should be a ground wire from this grounding block to a nearby ground rod or other house electrical ground.


I don't see any "grounds" anywhere..do notice when it ran through the multiswitch that that was grounded...the wires..from where I can see, just come from dish..2 to my hdtivo and two into my basement where multiswitch was but are now just connected to old wires with extenders. Would they install it like that without grounding?

Thanks


Tom

[greywolf]

If the multiswitch is near where the coax enters the building, it can be used to ground the cables.

[Watrat]

If the multiswitch is near where the coax enters the building, it can be used to ground the cables.

Good evening..unfortunately, they didn't leave me the new multiswitch that would handle the new wires..they just decided that I wouldn't need it.

Thanks

Tom

PS. Just curious...could I take the two cables that the installers connected to my exisiting bedroom tivo (which are running through the basement) and reconnect just those two to my multiswitch and then connect the old wires to that and see what happens or am I asking for trouble?

[greywolf]

HD equipment requires 4 cables from the dish to a 4x or better multiswitch if a multiswitch is used. As long as any receiver downstream from a 2x or 3x multiswitch is SD, it's okay to just have two lines into the multiswitch though. Some people use their old multiswitch for old equipment and use the reamaining two outputs from the dish to feed their HD equipment.

[Watrat]

Thanks Greywolf..thats what I just tried and the picture on my sd tivo looks much better and without the white lines.

Tom

PS. Just curious then...if my sd tivo needed to be grounded..how come my hd tivo doesn't have the lines problem since those lines are coming right from the dish?

[greywolf]

If a connector is touching something, that contact point can have a different potential. A cable problem may have existed too..