seaofchaos
join:2003-10-15
Silver Spring, MD
|  Video Problems [Silver Spring, MD]
Just wondering if anyone else in Silver Spring, or in the Montgomery County area who are serviced by Comcast have been having any video problems.
For me its video freezing up while audio continues or vice versa, pixelation, video will hiccup...
It usually does it on and off but on Friday night during Survivor Man it went into overdrive on almost every channel. I've checked what I can see in the service menu on my cable boxes and they all seem ok. No uncorrectable errors which leads me to think its Comcast maybe.
If no one else in the area is getting glitches then I guess it must just be on my end. Just trying to trouble shoot and see if I can fix it before I have to pay Comcast to make a house call. |
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BPpark
join:2002-03-02
Silver Spring, MD
| I have Comcast analog service (no box) in MoCo and it used to be perfect all the time. In recent weeks, however, I've been seeing these occasional pixelation hiccups with increasing frequency on various channels. I'm pretty sure this is something at Comcast's end, but I'm also pretty sure they don't give a damn because I'm not renting a box. |
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need 2 know
@rr.com
| with pixelation on analog channels its a problem with the drop from your pole to the house....but thinking more about this it really sounds like a problem with the hard line...thats the main line that feeds the whole neighborhood, or it might be the tap that feeds up to eight people around you....your really do need to have comcast come out, and check with your neighbors and ask them....when you call them tell them that you really think it's a line problem....i work for a cable company as a service tech..for 5 years and i see this on a daily bases...... |
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richard41
@aol.com
| reply to seaofchaos
Comcast has had this problem for a few weeks. Some areas worse than othrs. Olney, Maryland area lost everything for several hours last night. Tonight(Sept. 4) the hits are back and comcast tells me they are having similar problems all over Montgomery County----I can hardly wait to pay the next bill!This is obviously a comcast issue and I fear we are going over the edge as to reliable video, converter box or direct(they both break up). Time for everyone to consider Verizon fios! |
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richard41
@aol.com | reply to seaofchaos
My previous reply should have been referring to sept. 3 not sept. 4...sorry |
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seaofchaos
join:2003-10-15
Silver Spring, MD
| reply to seaofchaos
I'm all digital so I can't comment on the analog. Since the beginning of the year I've had small glitches here and there, but I guess for the past month they've been at their peak, especially over the holiday weekend with the problems I've mentioned in the opening post.
I'm mostly in the channels above the 50's when I'm on my TV, but today when I switched to the lower channels when the glitches started to kick in I noticed in the lower channels like fox 5 (25) only the audio would go out for a second but in the above 50's you'd get that and pixelation.
For a while I've thought it was because of the structured wiring I put into my home, but since everyone else is having similar problems I guess its not that.
I might give Comcast a call tomorrow. How much would they charge me for them to just come out and check out my levels? For the limited information I get off my boxes everything looks good, but I know its not extensive. |
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seaofchaos
join:2003-10-15
Silver Spring, MD
| reply to seaofchaos
Well Comcast tech came out today. According to him my levels were way to high and the amp I had didn't help. So from what he told me it was like all my TV's were getting the same levels as from the tap outside.
I wanted to just tweak the amp down some but instead he ended up giving me a 4 way splitter. Since I only have 3 cable boxes he suggested hooking those three to the splitter and then feed the amp from that splitter for the rest of the outlets in the house.
I really would of liked to of kept all my connections on the amp since I had 8 rooms wired up (although I don't have tv's hooked up in all, only 5, with 2 being analog) just to keep it neat inside my distribution box.
His fix seems to have fixed my problem, I'll have to give it a few more days to see how things play out. I guess if thats the case, the extra splitter is no big deal. If I ever get more cable boxes I'll just plug everything back into the amp and call out a tech again to tweak the levels.
This is the amp I have.
»hometech.com/techwire/lvcoax.html
LE-47692GSM |
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seaofchaos
join:2003-10-15
Silver Spring, MD
| reply to seaofchaos
Hmm, well I'm still noticing some artifacts. More so on the HD channels than it was before the "fix". I guess I might have to have another tech come out again.
Any here do structure wiring for a living or are familiar with amplifiers? Any comments on the one I was using? |
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analogbaltimore
| reply to need 2 know
said by need 2 know :
with pixelation on analog channels its a problem with the drop from your pole to the house....but thinking more about this it really sounds like a problem with the hard line...thats the main line that feeds the whole neighborhood, or it might be the tap that feeds up to eight people around you....your really do need to have comcast come out, and check with your neighbors and ask them....when you call them tell them that you really think it's a line problem....i work for a cable company as a service tech..for 5 years and i see this on a daily bases......
pixelation of analog channels is usually a problem at the headend not the drop to your house. with analog, impairments in signal show up as a grainy or snowy pic. wih digital, impairments show up as pixelation. |
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Lamp
@comcast.net
| I'm in Kensington and have been dealing with the pixelation issue for the last 2-3 weeks. Comcast is no help. We switched out the cable box, we changed it to an HD box, they sent a technician out who said "Your signal is too strong" but neglected to offer any additional info to clarify what he meant or offer any solution to the issue. Pixelation tends to be worse at night, and on HD channels such as sports channels in the 250's and local digital channels in the 210's. It occasionally affects the normal lower channels like the 20's and 40's. The weird thing is ESPN2HD channel 253 doesn't generally get affected by pixelation. Seems like the concesus is that the issue lies in the line that enters the building. Anyone else have any additional info or insights? |
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seaofchaos
join:2003-10-15
Silver Spring, MD
| reply to seaofchaos
I was in the same boat. I noticed anything in the 50's and above the artifacts seemed more frequent and noticeable. Since the Comcast tech visit though the glitches seem to have vanished. Like I said before his reasoning was the signal was to strong and then the 8-way amp I had overpowered the signal again by the time it reached the box. He also terminated some open ports on the utility pole he said were left open and maybe interference was getting in that way.
I haven't been watching much TV lately, but at least over this weekend I haven't noticed any glitches what so ever so I'm hoping nothing else pops up in the coming weeks again.
I was a bit annoyed that he insisted on using his own splitters instead of helping me tweak my amp down some to an acceptable level, but I guess I can deal with that for now. |
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