Summers
11-05-2005, 03:49 PM
If anyone knows anything about electronics, please help me! As much as I'd love an excuse to have to buy a new (bigger) TV, we really can't afford it.
We have digital cable with the signal in a straight line from the wall to the cable box, to the DVD burner (to the S-video converter box because we don't have an S-video TV) to the TV. So, for the past few days the TV has been randomly flickering off and showing nothing but static. The first couple times I thought it was the cable, so I rebooted the cable box, but I now realize the cable box doesn't seem to be the problem, because if the cable box is turned off or if the cable isn't working, we should still be able to watch a DVD. But when it's going staticky, the DVD player shows that it's playing (the counter is moving) but the screen is still static. Also, this morning, when it just flickered off for about 15 seconds and came back on the show I'd been watching from my DVR recorded list was still playing. If it were an issue involving the cable box, wouldn't it reset the cable box?
So, I called Time Warner tech support to see if they had any ideas and he said it could be the TV or one of the cables. I think if it were a cable, it would either be the one from the DVD player to the converter box or from the converter box to the TV, because if it were one of the others, I'd still be able to watch DVDs, right? So, I changed both of those cables out with some spare coaxial cables adn that didn't solve the problem.
But here's what I don't understand (because I really don't know anything about how TVs work). When it's staticky, if I change the channel or volume on the TV, the little green volume/channel indicators show up fine (over the static of course). Does this make sense to anyone? Is it possible the TV isn't receiving the cable signal, but the green indicators are supplied separately, like internally and digitally? If this is the case, can I just take it somewhere and have them replace some attachment or wiring?
Oh, and the other thing is why is it going static randomly? It's not a gradual sucky picture that gets worse until I just can't see it. It goes from crystal clear to black static, and then back again to a perfect picture. The static has been lasting anywhere from a few seconds to up to half an hour. Does that mean anything?
We have digital cable with the signal in a straight line from the wall to the cable box, to the DVD burner (to the S-video converter box because we don't have an S-video TV) to the TV. So, for the past few days the TV has been randomly flickering off and showing nothing but static. The first couple times I thought it was the cable, so I rebooted the cable box, but I now realize the cable box doesn't seem to be the problem, because if the cable box is turned off or if the cable isn't working, we should still be able to watch a DVD. But when it's going staticky, the DVD player shows that it's playing (the counter is moving) but the screen is still static. Also, this morning, when it just flickered off for about 15 seconds and came back on the show I'd been watching from my DVR recorded list was still playing. If it were an issue involving the cable box, wouldn't it reset the cable box?
So, I called Time Warner tech support to see if they had any ideas and he said it could be the TV or one of the cables. I think if it were a cable, it would either be the one from the DVD player to the converter box or from the converter box to the TV, because if it were one of the others, I'd still be able to watch DVDs, right? So, I changed both of those cables out with some spare coaxial cables adn that didn't solve the problem.
But here's what I don't understand (because I really don't know anything about how TVs work). When it's staticky, if I change the channel or volume on the TV, the little green volume/channel indicators show up fine (over the static of course). Does this make sense to anyone? Is it possible the TV isn't receiving the cable signal, but the green indicators are supplied separately, like internally and digitally? If this is the case, can I just take it somewhere and have them replace some attachment or wiring?
Oh, and the other thing is why is it going static randomly? It's not a gradual sucky picture that gets worse until I just can't see it. It goes from crystal clear to black static, and then back again to a perfect picture. The static has been lasting anywhere from a few seconds to up to half an hour. Does that mean anything?