Cable TV, pixel breakup problem

[shortbun]

We moved in December. Since then we have regularly experienced severe pixel breakup on all of our tvs. It happens at the same time. We've had a myriad of techs here from our first cable company. They put a booster on our line, told us the signal was 'low' but always claimed to have found the problem. We changed companies today because the problem was never taken care of. I explained to the installer for our new company about the pixel breakup. He said HIS signals were low and that he had used the booster the previous company installed to get them where he felt comfortable. We are having horrible breakup with this new cable. Am I doomed to get a dish?
Anyone have experience with this and fixed it? I'm talking breakup so bad that the screen goes blank and we lose audio as well; it happen regularly.

 

[disneyfans95]

No fix really. Unless whatever cable company gets enough customers and/or demand they won't install a new trunk line near you.

So you have to use the boosters, but seems like it is not doing the job.

Honestly you are looking at DSL (so so choice, IMHO) or a Dish..

 

[golfgal]

No fix really. Unless whatever cable company gets enough customers and/or demand they won't install a new trunk line near you.

So you have to use the boosters, but seems like it is not doing the job.

Honestly you are looking at DSL (so so choice, IMHO) or a Dish..

We had major issues with our cable and switched over to Dish. I was worried about going to DSL because I liked the speed of cable-turns out our DSL was FASTER then cable (we have a node close by so that helps).

 

[Jestocost]

Try mixing HD and non-HD digital service in different rooms if you want some fun. We couldn't get the digital service to work on our bedroom TV, which has the longest cable run to it, with out a booster. However, when you put the booster into the system it made the signal too strong for the HD TV and the picture would block and freeze. Take off the booster and the HD worked fine, but the bedroom TV wouldn't get a signal. I had techs out several times and one even ran a second drop to our house, but we never could get all of the TVs working at once.

And Charter's HQ is two miles from my house.

AT&T's U-Verse is available around the corner from me in one direction and a block away in another, but so far no luck for me. If and when it's available at my address (we have fiber at the curb already, just no U-Verse boxes close) I'm probably going to switch.

 

[Familyof4lovesDW]

We moved in December. Since then we have regularly experienced severe pixel breakup on all of our tvs. It happens at the same time. We've had a myriad of techs here from our first cable company. They put a booster on our line, told us the signal was 'low' but always claimed to have found the problem. We changed companies today because the problem was never taken care of. I explained to the installer for our new company about the pixel breakup. He said HIS signals were low and that he had used the booster the previous company installed to get them where he felt comfortable. We are having horrible breakup with this new cable. Am I doomed to get a dish?
Anyone have experience with this and fixed it? I'm talking breakup so bad that the screen goes blank and we lose audio as well; it happen regularly.

Did I write this? lol We have a similar problem. It is only on our tv that had the dvr box on it that this happens on. Ours only affected certian channels of course ones we watch. I finally got a new box and it was messed up at first, but now that I have a service call in it works fine I also may be doomed for dish! Did you have Time Warner by any chance? What is a booster and how do I get one? BTW I thought about At&T u-verse but my neighbor had a lot of trouble with hers.

 

[shortbun]

I just GOT Time Warner, switched from WOW. The tech who did the install yesterday came back. He said he thought the booster was too strong, causing the problem. He switched to a less strong booster and our problem went away-poof. We'll see if it stays gone. I'm skeptical. The other thing I'm not happy about is that Time Warner's set up seems to limit display size and I have big screens everywhere so I now have a smaller display inside my big screen where my entire screen was being utilized prior to this. My husband polled the neighbors and it seems that most have A T&T. I'm going to start researching that service but we just got the Time Warner so I'll give them a chance.
Who thought it would be so hard to get good cable service in 2010?

 

[bicker]

The other thing I'm not happy about is that Time Warner's set up seems to limit display size and I have big screens everywhere so I now have a smaller display inside my big screen where my entire screen was being utilized prior to this.

Time Warner offers both HD and SD boxes, so it seems perhaps you subscribed to SD service even though you have big screen (HD) televisions. HD service, for expanded basic and higher, is sometimes an added fee.

My husband polled the neighbors and it seems that most have A T&T.

AT&T U-Verse is a decent service, but there are significant down-sides vis a vis what you can get from TWC, namely your video bandwidth is limited with U-Verse. You can only tune in a certain number of channels simultaneously, throughout your entire home (even though you have more televisions hooked up), while with TWC it doesn't matter how many televisions you have hooked up, they could all be tuned into something simultaneously. In the end, it is a trade-off, and generally there isn't any provide that is objectively better than the others. They all have their strengths, and if those strengths make a difference to you, then that will make that supplier your best option.

 

[plutotek]

The other thing I'm not happy about is that Time Warner's set up seems to limit display size and I have big screens everywhere so I now have a smaller display inside my big screen where my entire screen was being utilized prior to this. My husband polled the neighbors and it seems that most have A T&T. I'm going to start researching that service but we just got the Time Warner so I'll give them a chance.
Who thought it would be so hard to get good cable service in 2010?

I know that Charter's HD box has settings that sometimes get tripped, resulting in a smaller screen size. You might give TWC a call and see if that's the case.

 

[Belle2667]

We have the same problem. Try watching American's Funniest Home Videos this way! Does not work.

Our cable company (RCN) keeps telling us there is nothing they can do. We know the problem is their boxes that we HAVE to have. Prior to requiring the boxes, we could put the cable directly into our tv and have no problem. Now they scramble their service and we have to use a box. Our only other choice is a dish and we're not sure we really want to go there.

Anyway, a temporary fix we stumbled on (while calling RCN to complain) is turning our home cordless phone on. By turning our phone on, the picture clears up. Leave it on for several seconds (5 - 10) and the pic stays nice for a little while. Stinks that we have to know have the phone and remote to work the TV, but at least it helps.

 

[shortbun]

I know that Charter's HD box has settings that sometimes get tripped, resulting in a smaller screen size. You might give TWC a call and see if that's the case.

Yeah, we fixed the display size by reading the remote instructions.Thanks!