Sudden pixelation/pauses

[jcarrera]

Over the past months, I have had essentially zero pixelation and pic breakup in Brevard. Suddenly, tonight, starting (I think) approx 7pm hour and continuing through American Idol (8-10), it has been pretty frequent, also stall then jump ahead. Observed on Ch 23 and 3 for sure. And, there are times the sound goes warble-y for one syllable of a word--as in a very rapid stutter for a fraction of a second, but no observable picture degradation.

Anybody know of something that has happened?

[Khandurian]

Whoops! Sorry jcarrera, been busy and I missed your post.

What model dvr do you have? Sounds like the HDD may be starting to go bad.

That's where I would start. If you live close to the Melbourne office, just bring it in and swap it out! If your unable to do that, call up, request a tech, and make sure you tell the person on the phone, that you want a replacement 8300 only!

We just got a brand new shipment of them in. So, now would be the time to get a completely brand new one!

[jcarrera]

Well, in the following days, the problem has disappeared...seems to have just been that one evening. I have the 8300HD. Of course that could still be the hard drive. Unfortunately, I've got a lot of stuff on the HD that needs to go onto DVD yet, so I'd hate to swap and lose that.

[Khandurian]

Ok, well let me know if theres something I might be able to help with. Sorry you had that glitch.

[casper04]

You could very well be experiencing a signal problem... It could happen intermittently, anything from your drop being damaged to a bad fitting. I would call it in and have someone come out and check everything if it ever happens again, just to be safe

[jcarrera]

Well, this problem has returned over the last two days. It is not always there, and normally manifests as the warble-y "stuttered" syllable. Occasionally, there is some pixelation at the same time, but mostly just the stuttered sound. It is very aggravating. There will be some periods, even more than an hour, when it does not occur. Then there will be a "spell" of it, then not. Irregular intervals as to how long it stays happening and how long it stays gone.

I do not believe this is caused by the cable box/DVR, SA8300HD, but can't prove that. The randomness seems to argue against it.

I can just see calling techs out, and of course it will be in one of the working fine periods when they arrive.

Strangely, there is a local radio station that was doing this intentionally in some of their promos as a "cute" attention getter.

[jcarrera]

Well, the tech came out today and seems to have fixed it. No pixelation or stutter since he left. He said the signal in the house was at the low end of the OK range, but had a high bit error count. He replaced a very slightly corroded coax connector outside (not at house box, but upstream at the next junction/distribution in the neighbor's back yard).

I mean it was VERY SLIGHTLY corroded. He showed it to me. I am an electrical engineer and have seen thousands of connectors. I would have replaced it too, but would definitely not thought it would cause that level of trouble. Just slightly discolored center copper and a bit of discoloration where center wire enters the insulating dielectric--really minimal level of connector degradation.

Oh, well. I'm happy for an evening of no aggravation with the signal..

[casper04]

well... I would be wondering if the ber went away after he replaced the cable.... that's a big problem which could have certainly caused pixelation/ freezing, but it can always be old an old splitter, or splitters that aren't organized properly (to give you more signal for digital). It can alway be a problem at the street on the feeder or your tap.

Hopefully that fixed your problem... post again if it doesn't

[jcarrera]

BER went to zero after the connector replaced. Before was 10^-5.

Old splitter? Do they get weaker?

"...problem at the street on the feeder or your tap." ??? There is no "at the street." Signal flow: (DVR)-- (splitter/amp?)--- (internal house wiring)--- (box on side of house) --- (underground feed) --- (distribution? box in neighbor's yard) --- (to wherever)

The replaced connector was at (distribution? box in neighbor's yard).

[casper04]

Thats good then...

yea splitters don't get weaker but there's still splitters out there that will only go up to 500 Mghz or 650 Mghz, so of course u would have problems with them

What i meant is a problem with the main feed, your neighbors yard has a box (pedestal) inside u gotta tap. you can have level problems off the tap all the time. I had a BER off the tap the other day. One of the amps was in overdrive