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KrLouKy
join:2010-09-18
Louisville, KY

KrLouKy

Member

Louisville picture issues

For nearly a week now I'm having issues with the picture on all of my sets "washing out"; one minute all is razor sharp and then the picture begins to fade and almost pixelate before clearing back up. This is a confusing problem because my internet and phone are working fine; it's just the cable that has developed the problem. Another thing is not all channels seem to be affected.

I was wondering if anyone else in Louisville is seeing this, or is it just me or my area?
dray513
join:2003-10-26
Louisville, KY

dray513

Member

same here . we are in 40245
KrLouKy
join:2010-09-18
Louisville, KY

KrLouKy

Member

Thanks for the reply; I did some more troubleshooting today but the issue is definitely the cable input. I'm going to give them a few more days to see if this clears up and if not I guess I'll be making a call to see what's going on. 40258 area.
dray513
join:2003-10-26
Louisville, KY

dray513

Member

Thanks. We have multiple cable boxes, and the problem is with only one box, and only a few channels.

Fabfive
@verizon.net

Fabfive

Anon

Rebooting the box fixes that problem
rainlake
join:2006-10-03
Twinsburg, OH

rainlake to KrLouKy

Member

to KrLouKy
same here at NEOhio
KrLouKy
join:2010-09-18
Louisville, KY

KrLouKy to Fabfive

Member

to Fabfive
said by Fabfive :

Rebooting the box fixes that problem

I have 2 TV's with cable boxes and 2 without; I had tried rebooting the box on my 60" set without success in the beginning. I later checked all of my sets carefully and noticed the problem is on all of them.

I've not figured out the issue yet, it's almost as if something is interfering with the signal coming in but I can't imagine what that could be on a cable signal. Perhaps the signal has weakened, but then my standard internet is working fine with 16/1 speeds noted using speedtest; seems like a weak signal would keep my internet from working properly or giving me intermittent problems there as well.

I guess I'll be making a call if it doesn't clear up soon.... it's really distracting and becoming an aggravation. I was hoping others have seen similar issues and could tell me what was the cause, but so far that hasn't happened.
rjbasye
join:2000-05-24
Dry Ridge, KY
Netgear R7000
Linksys PAP2

rjbasye

Member

If it's happening on fast motion or screen dissolves then it could be the amount of digital compression being used at the headend. This causes artifacts like you are seeing. I know in my area they have added new on demand content but I have not seen this issue in my area.
KrLouKy
join:2010-09-18
Louisville, KY

KrLouKy

Member

said by rjbasye:

If it's happening on fast motion or screen dissolves then it could be the amount of digital compression being used at the headend. This causes artifacts like you are seeing. I know in my area they have added new on demand content but I have not seen this issue in my area.

That could be it; the thing is will TWC address this issue at some point? If this continues and becomes "normal" then TWC and I will be parting company, because I'm not paying the high prices I'm paying for that kind of service, to see a degraded picture all the time. Perhaps most people don't even notice it, but I do and expect better.
KrLouKy

KrLouKy

Member

Addendum: Was just over visiting my mother this evening, who also has TWC, and noticed same issue with her TV's and picture, and she's in a slightly different area than me and zip code.

So, this is definitely something going on at the head end and is not a good sign. Hope this does not last long before it's "fixed", and certainly hope this is not going to be permanent.
KrLouKy

KrLouKy

Member

Update: tech arrived yesterday morning and listened patiently while I described problem with artifacts. Watched carefully and both noted and agreed they were there. Proceeded to run tests and could find no signal problems in my home or in the feeds outside. Went ahead and replaced all connectors, plus added an amplifier for the cable TV runs to smooth signals out and add a slight boost, though it really wasn't needed.

Bottom line: still have the problem, but it's definitely the feed coming in. Unfortunately tech says there's probably no way to find this problem until some piece of equipment breaks down or enough people begin complaining about the same problem to warrant getting more tech people involved with tracking it down.

Tech promised to bump this up the ladder; hope someone does take it seriously and can find the problem soon. Not driving me crazy, but it is annoying and I hope it gets cleared up before too long.
dray513
join:2003-10-26
Louisville, KY

dray513

Member

tech came out last week and replaced box, and also noted there was some TWC work on our neighbors house and a cable was slightly twisted. Problems now solved
KrLouKy
join:2010-09-18
Louisville, KY

KrLouKy

Member

said by dray513:

tech came out last week and replaced box, and also noted there was some TWC work on our neighbors house and a cable was slightly twisted. Problems now solved

Glad your problem is solved; mine isn't. Checked a neighbor's cable picture as well as a re-check of my Mom's, and they have same issues. This is a TWC transmission problem here in Louisville, at least in our area and section of the city. If rjbasye is correct, TWC has made some kind of digital compression changes here that is affecting our service, and apparently it's looking like it's going to be here for awhile. I really don't know at this point who to contact, but I'll have to look into it.

superakcraig
join:2005-03-15
Louisville, KY

superakcraig

Member

said by KrLouKy:

Glad your problem is solved; mine isn't. Checked a neighbor's cable picture as well as a re-check of my Mom's, and they have same issues. This is a TWC transmission problem here in Louisville, at least in our area and section of the city. If rjbasye is correct, TWC has made some kind of digital compression changes here that is affecting our service, and apparently it's looking like it's going to be here for awhile. I really don't know at this point who to contact, but I'll have to look into it.

So I am curious, are you still having the picture problems? I have seen something similar on some of my HD channels within the last few weeks or so. And as you mentioned not a problem with my internet speeds.
KrLouKy
join:2010-09-18
Louisville, KY

KrLouKy

Member

said by superakcraig:

So I am curious, are you still having the picture problems? I have seen something similar on some of my HD channels within the last few weeks or so. And as you mentioned not a problem with my internet speeds.

I am; so far no resolution to the issue. I have been contacted by a TWC rep who stated problem was being bumped up to higher level tech dept. but as of today problem still exists; and it's now been about 4 weeks.

As you seem to have noticed problem exists on some of the HD channels but perhaps not all of them. My wife and I have watched a few network shows via On Demand and they look clear with no artifacts. In addition, I have hooked up an inexpensive indoor antenna to my main set and am receiving the local HD stations perfectly sharp and clear with no issues; switch back to the cable box and issues return. I passed this info on and am promised this will be fixed but as I said so far nothing has changed.

Perhaps we need more people who have and are seeing the same thing to report it to TWC. The more the merrier.... and perhaps we'll get this resolved.

superakcraig
join:2005-03-15
Louisville, KY

superakcraig

Member

Well I have also discovered that several of my HD channels are now not working, the box won't tune to them. So this along with some channels that look "washed out", I contacted TWC and went through the normal procedures...nothing helped. I scheduled a tech call for next Tuesday. About 30 minutes after that, I got a call from some "tier 2" person who basically had me do the same thing and also did some sort of "hard rest" where he actually called me back after 30 minutes to see what my box was showing. As I figured, it didn't work.

He tried to convince me that I needed to go and switch out my box and I told him that I already had an appointment for a tech call as I was not about to go switch out the box, bring it home, and have the same issue. I want them to test my line to make sure there isn't something wrong with my signal (even though I still don't have any internet issues).
KrLouKy
join:2010-09-18
Louisville, KY

KrLouKy

Member

I'm sorry to say I'm still having the issues; have yet to hear anything from anyone at TW even though I was promised the problem was being "bumped" up to higher level techs here in Louisville.

At this point I don't know what can be done except continue to complain. The problem is not my box unless it's possible to have the box backfeed the poor signal through all of my lines, as I see this on all sets, and I continue to see it at other homes as well. The tech who came to my house when I first started this process said nothing about changing out my STB. Good luck with that, if it does fix what you're seeing please post it.

superakcraig
join:2005-03-15
Louisville, KY

superakcraig

Member

So as it turns out, I had an old filter on my line in the box on the outside of my house. This filtered out the movie channels on the analog signal. Tech said this was the cause of some of my HD channels not working (about six of them). He also checked my in the house line for interference and found a female coupling between two cables to be causing some line interference. Removed the filter, replaced the cable and now all is good.

I would like to add that the tech on the phone wanted me to change out my box...this would not have fixed my issue, thus the reason I asked for the tech to my house.
KrLouKy
join:2010-09-18
Louisville, KY

KrLouKy

Member

It's now been another two weeks since my last post and still no satisfaction from TW. Same issues, same interference on some HD channels and looks like TW is just giving me the run around and paying lip service to my problem.

Very disappointing to have to continue to watch and deal with artifacts on some channels. Say what you want, but never had these issues with Insight before the takeover.

Much as I really don't want to switch looks like I will be seriously contemplating a move to UVerse soon. I'm leery of their internet speeds and reliability but I'm tired of paying TW for what I'm seeing. Craig, I'm glad your problem was resolved. Wish I could say the same.

OSUGoose
join:2007-12-27
Columbus, OH

OSUGoose

Member

Just keep being a squeaky wheel, call in daily, just like with Insight, the more annoyance you were the quicker they started to realize fixing it would get you to stop calling.
rjbasye
join:2000-05-24
Dry Ridge, KY

rjbasye

Member

If this is a neighborhood wide issue, which it probably is, get them to call in about it as well.