Pixelation...?

[Rixta]

I'm sure this question has been asked many times before so apologies for that....but I'm new here so you will have to excuse me.

Does anyone have a decent explanation of why severe pixelation can occur on certain HD channels at certain times? For example, a couple of nights ago UHD had crazy pixelation, but the nexy day was perfect...then last night it was ABC's turn. It only affects 1 or 2 channels at a time and all of the others are ok....seems weird.

Thanks
Rick

 

[Sean Mota]

Rixta,

welcome to the forum. I do not know why you are getting pixelation. I know UHD is a very poor transmittion everywhere - sat or cable. I never liked the channel (except for BSG). So I really do not watch that channel. It is about the only channel that I do not watch because it always display poor PQ for me in either cable/satellite.

I do not know about ABCHD. I find myself watching mostly HBOHD, showtimeHD, StarzHD, INHD and YESHD and I haven't experienced any heavy pixelation on those channels. It is sometimes to explain pixelation especially when it is not consistent in one particular channel. When you do actually see the pixelation --- explotions, fast action, etc?

 

[Rixta]

Hi Sean,
Thanks for the reply....after reading some other posts I decided to go and get an inline amplifier yesterday. I think I have resolved it now.

Before connecting it I checked if I had any bad channels and sure enough, ABC & UHD were again in bad shape, but everything else was ok.

I then connected the amplifier and kaboom, those channels came in perfectly...

I then found out how to check the signal strength on the cable box (SA8300) and found that before the amp was in, the signal was -20db on some channels. After the amp went in it went to -5db.

So...I obviously have some signal issues but I think it is due to the cable length and the fact that there are probably 4-5 splitters around the house - I bought the house that way!

Anyway, let's hope I can watch BSG happily again!
Thanks
Rick

 

[Sean Mota]

What type of amp did you buy?

 

[Rixta]

It was just a standard Radio Shack one for $30....nothing special I don't think.

R