Pixelation and dropout on some digital channels with cable cards

[V7Goose]

Interesting problem with my S3 and Verizon FIOS cable cards. I just had the FIOS service and cable cards installed yesterday - prior to that I was using the S3 on Time Warner digital cable without cable cards. There have been zero problems with the S3 since I received it a bit over 1 week ago.

I have pretty much all packages from FIOS, including premium channels and HD. I have discovered that about 20 digital channels on the S3 have mild to severe pixelation and dropout problems. The problems are happening the same on both tuners, including being on the same channels. All of the same channels display perfectly on the Motorola HD STB.

I have spent all day troubleshooting, changing cables, splitters, etc, as well as carefully testing the signal strength and picture quality of every channel I receive. In general, the channels that have a problem show an unsteady signal strength that varies from about 80 - 96. All of the other channels have very steady signal strength, always above 96. Here is the most interesting thing I have found so far - the lower signal is NOT the cause of the pixelation - just an indicator of the problems. I discovered this by trying to add a signal booster to the input. When the booster is plugged in, the signal strength and problems seem identical to the way they are without the booster. But when I unplug the booster and still leave it connected, the TiVo signal strength drops dramatically to around 65, BUT THE PROBLEMS GO AWAY!

I am waiting for the Verizon tech to come back out and troubleshoot the problem. When I called TiVo tech support, they only suggested that I replace the cable cards. I'll keep y'all updated as I find out more.

[TexasAg]

It seems to be a common problem with Fios. I had it, and several others have had it.

Mine got fixed, but I'm not sure if I did it or something else happened. I did 2 things:

(1) I added 9db of attenuation (the 3db and 6db attenuators Verizon left me). The signal on Verizon is really high, so this helps.

(2) I added terminating resistor on the OTA antenna input on the S3 and then rebooted.

Like I said, I don't know if either of these did it, but I don't have problems on mine any more. I always had problems with my local HD channels only (nothing else).

[dtee]

I've had the same problem. It appears to fix itself. Actually I think it is the Verzion signal not the TiVos. I just think that the TiVo tuners are more sensitive to signal changes than the proprietary boxes. Since the signal is actually converted to RF at the ONT the signal should be strong at all times , but it is'nt. In my experience only the same 5 HD channels have been affected. Please keep us informed on your progress.

[dtee]

Interesting that when you boosted the signal the problem persisted. Do the channels that have the problem vary or are they always the same ones? Please be wary of TiVo , they always blame the cable cards and Verizon always blames the box.Verizon told me to replace the box, the next day the problem vanished, only to reappear 4 days later, then vanish on Monday. Preplexing to say the least!

[Cblong]

Are any of you in the NY Westchester County area? I recently had Fios installed and have similar problems with several channels. My tech replaced the ONT box and that did not help - he then found out that there was a general problem with certain channels in my area. I have two S3's and the same channels do it on both boxes - so unlikely a Tivo issue. I have seen it on channels 210, 214, 61 among others.

[esb1981]

I think there's another thread out there that discusses what to do with Fios, but I can't remember what thread. What I understand is that Verizon sends a "hot" signal and you have to attenuate it down to a signal strength between 68 and 80, and an SNR of around 31-32. This tends to take care of the problem, and would explain why the problems go away when you take off the booster. If you don't have any attenuators you can order them pretty cheap from smarthome.com (and super-fast delivery). A -3db attenuator will take the signal down roughtly the same as a 2-way splitter, but it's better to use an attenuator than a splitter. There is also -6 db and -10 db. Start with the -3db, see what that does to your signal, then try attenuating further until the problems go away.