Television Issue

storm5510 · 03-31-2009, 12:01 PM

For the past few months, I have had an intermittent problem with my home theater setup. Actually, the audio portion is not an issue. It is the video. I seem to get intermittent interference from somewhere which produces a gray distortion line on my TV screen. This line will slowly progress from the bottom to the top of the screen in roughly one minute intervals. The image below demonstrates this in the center. Sometimes it is worse and sometimes not. It never seems to completely go away.

I have several devices all connected to an automatic selector switch. There have been times when the interference will even intrude during DVD playback. I would like to get some thoughts from a few here before I call the cable company.

ebackhus · 04-01-2009, 08:16 PM

Does this happen when the video selector is not used?

storm5510 · 04-02-2009, 10:44 AM

It did. I found a solution which was somewhat extreme.

I stripped the A/V cables off of everything and ran it all again. I took the automatic switch and the VCR out of the system completely. I was only using the VCR as a channel selector for the cable. Without the VCR, there was no need for the switch.

The TV, despite being nearly 11 years old, has RCA and the standard cable connectors on the rear. So, the cable went where it needed and the DVD player went to the RCA's. The remote for the TV has a button to select the source. Simple.

I found one A/V cable lying on the floor behind that was connected to the back of the switch on one end. That makes for an antenna. Taking that off helped a lot, but didn't resolve the issue. I think the tuner in the VCR has issues also. It's ancient.

So far, so good.

03-31-2009, 12:01 PM	#1 (permalink)
storm5510 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Indiana Posts: 103 OS: Windows XP SP2 My System	Television Issue For the past few months, I have had an intermittent problem with my home theater setup. Actually, the audio portion is not an issue. It is the video. I seem to get intermittent interference from somewhere which produces a gray distortion line on my TV screen. This line will slowly progress from the bottom to the top of the screen in roughly one minute intervals. The image below demonstrates this in the center. Sometimes it is worse and sometimes not. It never seems to completely go away. I have several devices all connected to an automatic selector switch. There have been times when the interference will even intrude during DVD playback. I would like to get some thoughts from a few here before I call the cable company.

04-01-2009, 08:16 PM	#2 (permalink)
ebackhus Manager, Design Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: SATX Posts: 14,275 OS: WinXP Pro SP3/Windows 7 RTM My System Blog Entries: 28	Re: Television Issue Does this happen when the video selector is not used? __________________ ----------------------------- There are no dumb questions, unless a customer is asking them. Help in the fight against cancer and other serious illnesses.

04-02-2009, 10:44 AM	#3 (permalink)
storm5510 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Indiana Posts: 103 OS: Windows XP SP2 My System	Re: Television Issue It did. I found a solution which was somewhat extreme. I stripped the A/V cables off of everything and ran it all again. I took the automatic switch and the VCR out of the system completely. I was only using the VCR as a channel selector for the cable. Without the VCR, there was no need for the switch. The TV, despite being nearly 11 years old, has RCA and the standard cable connectors on the rear. So, the cable went where it needed and the DVD player went to the RCA's. The remote for the TV has a button to select the source. Simple. I found one A/V cable lying on the floor behind that was connected to the back of the switch on one end. That makes for an antenna. Taking that off helped a lot, but didn't resolve the issue. I think the tuner in the VCR has issues also. It's ancient. So far, so good.