Inconsistency with reception?Picture & sound

Lilly7 · 02-12-2009, 09:55 AM

Channels may work great for weeks...then sound, or picture, or both will fade in and out constantly. Often, out of the blue, little squares of all different colors will fill the screen and then I get the "no signal". I may have channel 2 for weeks, and then in its place get a black screen with again the "no signal. Right now I am experiencing this with Ch 5. Sound for maybe 10 seconds-then cuts out. This is very frustrating...what might the problem be?

Thank You

cowboyup4christ · 02-12-2009, 05:55 PM

give us your zip code and we can look at your tvfool results and give a better answer

HTNut · 02-14-2009, 09:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lilly7

Channels may work great for weeks...then sound, or picture, or both will fade in and out constantly. Often, out of the blue, little squares of all different colors will fill the screen and then I get the "no signal". I may have channel 2 for weeks, and then in its place get a black screen with again the "no signal. Right now I am experiencing this with Ch 5. Sound for maybe 10 seconds-then cuts out. This is very frustrating...what might the problem be?

Thank You

Are you using an antenna with your converter box?

PATRICA NELSON · 03-08-2009, 06:06 PM

haing a lot of dificulty with channel 3 wcax picture freezes no sound colored bars no porblem on any othe channel we are customer of charter communications

DTVuser2009 · 03-10-2009, 05:07 PM

If there is a wind outside, even a 10-mph breeze, it can cause this. also if it stays in 'no signal' after whatever clears, and just keeps saying so, until you turn off the box and then back on, you're getting 'red zone'. on some converters, if for any reason the signal lock is lost for a few seconds, like during a wind gust, it will refuse to lock the channel back in. i call it the 'red zone' because if you were viewing the signal meter, there is a red spot where it is 'bad', and yellow for marginal and then green for A-OK. if you had a momentary signal lapse and you were looking at the meter to diagnose it, it will lock itself in the 'red' part of the scale, i.e., 'red zone.' i don't know why but some boxes won't attempt a re-lock without being rebooted. sometimes you will get the signal back into the green and then it goes red again. that is a sign that either the antenna is faulty, the weather is beyond the box's control, connections are bad, or the box is faulty.

staticMHZ · 03-11-2009, 09:14 AM

the tuners are slow responding to antenna adjustments

DTVuser2009 · 03-11-2009, 02:07 PM

i think so, then after x number of attempts they just give up. the Zenith DTT901-b is really bad with 'red zone.' i had to reboot mine many times last night since a big high wind came through knocking it down and it won't lock if it stays in red for so long. you can bet if you were watching a channel and all of a sudden it goes black and you get 'no signal' without you even doing anything, and the antenna hasn't moved or changed its aim, try simply turning the box off and back on. 90% of the time that's the problem.

Also, if you were using the signal meter and the bar seems to bounce up and down from perfect to zilch, it's your cable most of the time. if your box's cable came with cheap 'push on' type RF fittings, these are completely lousy for the antenna. i use screw on type fittings and problem is solved.

Lilly7 · 03-23-2009, 10:48 AM

Finally able to get back on here! I Forgot my password and received the message they would send it to my e-mail site and they never did!
To my brother in Christ (Cowboy) zip code is 55421.
And we do have an antenna on our roof.
I have rescanned channels, retuned - still no success with steady reception- Insignia converter box.
Seriously thinking of signing up for Dish!

Thanks,
Lilly7

staticMHZ · 03-23-2009, 12:58 PM

bouncy signal meter could also be the indication of multi-path

wowdoo · 03-23-2009, 06:29 PM

Make sure that all your connections are very tight, and there is no crack in your lines. The biggest thing that will throw off your reception is a bad connection in the house. People always look past that.


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