What causes this picture problem? (1 Viewer)

[DeathStar1]

It only happens on 2, 4, and 5 when I don't use the VCR. When I used the VCR, it came in perfectly. We have regular Cable on Cablevision, and I'm using an ATI TV Tuner to watch it on my computer.

I would like to ditch the VCR completly, and use the Tuner as a Tivo type service, but it dosn't help much if I have these wavy lines all over the place. Anyone know if a digital cable upgrade will fix it?

 

[Patrick Sun]

It's just the vagaries of analog cable TV. A digital TV solution (either digital Cable TV, or Satellite TV) would help in getting clearer reception.

 

[Ken Chan]

Maybe the VCR simply has a better tuner. And the inside of a computer can't be the best place to tune RF signals. Do you have your antenna feed split?

One thing about digital cable: not all of the channels are digital. Often it's just the higher channel numbers, with the cable-only stations, not the low ones which have the major networks. You can certainly ask your cable provider.

//Ken

 

[Bill Catherall]

This could be the result of a weak signal. You could try a signal amplifier. VCRs have them built-in. I've noticed that colors usually look a little better when I'm watching the cable feed from my VCR. And there's no way that my old Radio Shack VCR has a better tuner than my Sony TV with a digital 3D comb filter.

 

[Malcolm R]

One thing about digital cable: not all of the channels are digital.

Right on. My parents have digital cable, and most of their reception on the major channels looks identical to mine with analog cable. The only thing digital cable is good for is the specialty channels in the higher numbers.

 

[Robert Fellows]

Looks like interference to me. Disconnect everything except the feed directly into the tuner and see if it goes away.

 

[DeathStar1]

Well, if I disconected everything, I'd have to turn off the VCR, Gamecube, Speakers, Stereo, etc. I turned off a few of theose the other night, figuring maby the gamecube would be interfering with the signal, and it didn't affect the picture at all...

And to the other poster, yep, our cable is split off to the TV Downstairs and to our TV Tuner up here.

 

[TonyD]

looks like signal interferrence from another thing plugged into the house somewere.

i sometimes see something like that when the toaster is on or someone is running a hairdryer. or some other high power electrical device in another part of the house.
microwave oven.

 

[Ken Chan]

our cable is split off to the TV Downstairs and to our TV Tuner up here

Downstairs is the VCR, which is good, and upstairs is the computer, which is bad? Try this: take the VCR upstairs and see if the picture is still good. If it's too much of a hassle to hook the VCR so you can see it, you can just tape a minute or two, and then bring it back downstairs to watch.

//Ken

 

[DeathStar1]

Maby that should be rephrased a little. We have a regular TV Downstairs, with a Mono VCR Attached. It dosn't have this problem.

The TV Tuner on the computer upstairs ALSO has a VCR attached to it. When I view the signal through a VCR, the picture problem clears up. However when I look it through the TV Tuner stand alone, the lines appear. And even when I use the VCR, we get these miniscule black lines going from left to right across the screen. Not as annoying, however.

 

[Glenn Overholt]

Is the cable going into your living room split before it goes to the TV and VCR? If so, maybe the cable going directly to your TV is bad. Also, just to make sure, have you tried moving the electrical cord for the TV? Sometimes they can cross and do that, but I'm going for a bad cable first.

Glenn

 

[DeathStar1]

Could be a bad cable, but it would be a bit difficult to replace. The cable comes into the house on the outside wall, and then splits into the house to the TV downstairs and the TV upstairs.

Not impossible, but an afternoons work at best. Have to see if we have the time to replace it this weekend.

 

[Tom Keels]

It's interference caused by bad connections or cable splitters. Mine does it sometimes and it will even disconnect me from my cable modem. One thing I did to combat it was to install as much RG-6 coax as I could get to, and installed a signal amplifier/splitter before all my video connections. This got rid of most of the video interference, but I still have problems with my cable modem sometimes. I guess I'm going to have to completely re-run my house cable with RG-6.

 

[Patrick Sun]

It could be the power supply in the computer. My TV Tuner in the PC also suffers from this ailment in quality.