S3 with 9.1 began experiencing major pixelation on cable CBS HD (but not OTA CBS HD?)

1619 Views 16 Replies 9 Participants Last post by wgw, Oct 21, 2007

TAsunder

Discussion Starter · Oct 9, 2007

Maybe this is among the known issues for 9.1, but last night I recorded how I met your mother on my cable CBS HD. It was somewhat pixelated. I went to live TV on the same channel, and it was now REALLY pixelated, to the point of being unwatchable. I switched to the antenna feed, which I currently only use for a few stations, and it was crystal clear.

All other HD stations I've checked seem fine.

Help?

1 - 17 of 17 Posts

bkdtv

· #2 · Oct 9, 2007

Sounds like your provider was messing around with extra compression on that channel.

Maeglin

· #3 · Oct 9, 2007

This is one reason I'm looking into OTA for local HD channels as well... it seems like the only problem children, at least as far as HD channels on Comcast Atlanta, are locals. I was once getting that with Showtime HD, but not recently.

As I've never done OTA HD before, any recommendations for a good antenna? I live in a condo, so anything external is out of the question.

bkdtv

· #4 · Oct 9, 2007

Maeglin said:
This is one reason I'm looking into OTA for local HD channels as well... it seems like the only problem children, at least as far as HD channels on Comcast Atlanta, are locals. I was once getting that with Showtime HD, but not recently.

As I've never done OTA HD before, any recommendations for a good antenna? I live in a condo, so anything external is out of the question.

The $25 Channel Master 4228 works quite well for me, but it's not going to look very good out in the open.

Edit: That should say 4221. The 4228 is significantly larger and more expensive.

kmp14

· #5 · Oct 9, 2007

Since 9.1, QAM CBS won't tune in at all for me.....hum......

JYoung

· #6 · Oct 9, 2007

bkdtv said:
The $25 Channel Master 4228 works quite well for me, but it's not going to look very good out in the open.

Uhhhhhh, the 4228 is an outdoor antenna and it's not $25.

Maeglin is looking for something more internal.

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bkdtv

· #7 · Oct 9, 2007

kmp14 said:
Since 9.1, QAM CBS won't tune in at all for me.....hum......

Sure your cable provider didn't change its QAM channel?

Last time I used QAM on Comcast, they moved around those QAM assignments every 6-8 week, and more almost every time they added new HD channels. Comcast just added a few HD channels in the past week or two, and many of their systems undoubtedly altered their QAM assignments in the process.

bkdtv

· #8 · Oct 9, 2007

JYoung said:
Uhhhhhh, the 4228 is an outdoor antenna and it's not $25.

Maeglin is looking for something more internal.

Did I say 4228? I meant 4221.

The CM4221 is often used in attics and closets.

Another popular alternative is the Antenna Direct DB2 sold at Target, which measures 4 x 19 x 12 inches. This model is marketed as an indoor and outdoor antenna.

TAsunder

Discussion Starter · #9 · Oct 9, 2007

I have this one and it seems to perform better than This One which broke in less than 8 months. But both were better than a couple other random rabbit eared ones I tried.

How do I tell if the CBS is coming over QAM?

Maeglin

· #10 · Oct 10, 2007

TAsunder said:
I have this one and it seems to perform better than this one which broke in less than 8 months. But both were better than a couple other random rabbit eared ones I tried.

Dude, check your links... that's two to the same antenna

sac-s3

· #11 · Oct 10, 2007

kmp14 said:
Since 9.1, QAM CBS won't tune in at all for me.....hum......

I lost CBS HD OTA recently too. Quite annoying....

The station tech director says they did an upgrade recently and their tuners all get it so I am SOL. grrrrr.... I can live without CSI and what not, but not NFL.....

TAsunder

Discussion Starter · #12 · Oct 10, 2007

Maeglin said:
Dude, check your links... that's two to the same antenna

Thanks, Fixed that.

Maeglin

· #13 · Oct 11, 2007

The Radio Shack antenna is actually what I picked up tonight to try, and I have to concur on that. The only HD local that I want that it doesn't pick up without losing the others (due to antenna direction) is one that comes in well via Comcast, so it seems I'm all set.

Thanks!

morac

· #14 · Oct 11, 2007

I'll mention this since you are using both OTA and cable. The antenna strength can cause interference on certain frequencies that your cable channels might use. For example, if I turn the AMP on my Radio Shack Antenna up too high (which isn't very high) a bunch of HD channels on my cable system (all in the same frequency range of 717 MHZ) become horribly pixelated or go out all together. Lowering the amp on the antenna fixed the cable channel.

So if you you an amp for your OTA antenna you only want to amp it just enough to get the OTA channels and even then that can sometimes cause problems with the cable signal.

Dr_Diablo

· #15 · Oct 11, 2007

TAsunder said:
Maybe this is among the known issues for 9.1, but last night I recorded how I met your mother on my cable CBS HD. It was somewhat pixelated. I went to live TV on the same channel, and it was now REALLY pixelated, to the point of being unwatchable. I switched to the antenna feed, which I currently only use for a few stations, and it was crystal clear.

All other HD stations I've checked seem fine.

Help?

Viewed my recording of CSI: Miami from Monday past, and it was without any pixelation or audio dropouts...

Was quite unexpected to watch a recording without distraction... :up:

TAsunder

Discussion Starter · #16 · Oct 11, 2007

morac said:
I'll mention this since you are using both OTA and cable. The antenna strength can cause interference on certain frequencies that your cable channels might use. For example, if I turn the AMP on my Radio Shack Antenna up too high (which isn't very high) a bunch of HD channels on my cable system (all in the same frequency range of 717 MHZ) become horribly pixelated or go out all together. Lowering the amp on the antenna fixed the cable channel.

So if you you an amp for your OTA antenna you only want to amp it just enough to get the OTA channels and even then that can sometimes cause problems with the cable signal.

Thanks for the tip, I'll check into it.

wgw

· #17 · Oct 21, 2007

bkdtv said:
The $25 Channel Master 4228 works quite well for me, but it's not going to look very good out in the open.

Edit: That should say 4221. The 4228 is significantly larger and more expensive.

Thanks for the suggestion to use the Channel Master 4221 as an indoor antenna. It is working quite well and has virtually eliminated my RS errors.

At first I tried to find a spot in the living room where it would get good reception. I managed to get 88-100 signal strength on all the major channels, but CBS still kept fluctuating and dropped down to the 70's or low 80's occasionally. CBS has always been the most difficult channel to get a solid lock on even though I am 15 miles from all the stations exept PBS which is 20 miles. After playing with it for a day, and still getting lots of errors, I finally got the idea to place the antenna in the bedroom at the far end of the house, against an outer wall that faces the broadcast towers. I then made the cable connection to the living room using the unused cable from our old cable system that used to use 2 cables. Problem solved. I would guess my cable run is 70 feet but there does not appear to be any signal loss even with no amplifier and the cable split to feed 2 Tivo's. For asthetics, I put the antenna back inside the original box and just ran the cable out the bottom. Some day I may put it in the attic or on the roof, but it does not bother me sitting on the floor.

My RS corrected numbers have dropped to 1 or 2 per hour or less. I'm still getting occasional RS uncorrected errors, but from an RS error discussion in another thread, I gather that these are now errors being rebroadcast from the source and not a signal problem. Otherwise I would be getting hundreds or thousands of RS corrected errors in addition to the RS uncorrected errors. I'm now getting more RS corrected errors from my cable company than OTA. Hoo-rah!

To be fair, the amplified Radio Shack 15-1892 is giving me the same signal strength as the Channel Master when placed in the same location and the signal run over the same 70 feet of cable. But I don't trust the small Radio Shack antenna to give me as stable a signal as the 4 bay Channel Master and I'm not going to take a lot of time to test it. When I had both antennas placed in the living room, and connected each antenna to a different Tivo tuned to the same channel, I received at least twice as many errors with the Radio Shack.

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