TV tiling issue

[brosborough]

Hope this is the right spot for this. I am having an issue with my TV channels tiling. It is pretty random. Can happen I think on all channels. Least everything I have ever watched I have seen it so far. Been going on for a very long time now.

I have had Cox Communications come out, they have repulled the cable to the house, twice, even installed two cables to my house. I've replaced my cable box from them several times. I've always seen the issue happen on both of the TV's so I never looked at my home theater system, since only one is connected to that.

Well, the past couple weeks the problem has come back again. This time though I am only seeing it on the TV in the living room, which is the one that is connected to the home theater system.

Everything is HDMI connected. Cable box and Blue Ray both run directly to the Onkyo TX-SR805 receiver. Then the receiver runs to my Pioneer 50" Plasma (PDP-5010FD).

I never see tiling while watching any of my Blue Ray movies. That kind of lead me to think all my home theater system was fine. I have replaced the HDMI cable from my receiver to the cable box. Issue still happens. Cox is now telling me that my receiver is the cause of the problem and that their cable box is so sensitive, it picks it up causing the tiling. I'm not sure I believe them, but the only way I can think to test this is to run an HDMI cable directly from the cable box to the TV and just watch it. Could take several hours.

Wouldn't be too big of a deal, but I have no sound in doing this. Am I on the right track? Could my receiver actually be the cause of the problem and only for my cable television?

Brian

 

[rgriffin25]

I'm with you on this one. Perhaps you should use component video from the cable box and an optical cable for audio. This way you would completely bypass the hdmi cable and put the blame back on Cox. Where I live we have Cox and we often have to use component video due to HDMI problems.
I would be willing to bet it is a signal issue. Why else would they continually run new cables into the house? Have you checked and or replaced any splitters in your house?

 

[brosborough]

Yes. Outlets on the wall have been changed. I've even told Cox I would pay them to pull new cable in the physical house if they can prove that is the issue. Signal quality, not real up on what this stuff means, but the guys said I had a -5 to my house. He said that was well within the acceptable range.

I will go to Best Buy today and pick up a component video and optical cable today and try that out.

thanks,

Brian

 

[highfigh]

Yes. Outlets on the wall have been changed. I've even told Cox I would pay them to pull new cable in the physical house if they can prove that is the issue. Signal quality, not real up on what this stuff means, but the guys said I had a -5 to my house. He said that was well within the acceptable range.

I will go to Best Buy today and pick up a component video and optical cable today and try that out.

thanks,

Brian

Before you buy anything, use any kind of cable with RCA ends and connect from the composite out on the cable box to a composite in on the TV. You're going to see the tiling that way, too. It's a signal strength issue, not HDMI. HDMI doesn't usually show tiling when the signal is bad, it goes out, gets streaky or switches to snow.

 

[Coult_45]

Then the receiver runs to my Pioneer 50" Plasma (PDP-5010FD).

My parents have the same issue. They have a Pioneer 5020fd. But it is not the TV! Cox said it was. I have hooked the box up to another tv and of-course it still has the same issue. Cox has continually placed the blame on everything but their stuff.

Last time i spoke with her she bought a monster hdmi to replace the tartan I bought for her. (Cox told her it was the hdmi cable.)

My mom doesn't know enough to stand up for herself. When the workers come to her house they always blame it on a different source that isn't there responsibility. I looked at my moms bill the other day, she has some type of monthly charge where they will fix wiring problems in the house for no additional charge. I told her about it and to ask to have an old coax changed that isn't quad shielded, it is the only old cable and it is the one hooked up to the cable box. They said they won't go up in an atic during the summer.

I have not tried component cables yet, maybe I should.

 

[brosborough]

Something else I've noticed. This problem seems far worse on tv shows than movies. I might see it once or twice watching a movie on showtime or cinimax but last night my dvr of both Americas got talent and deadliest catch it was horrible. Sound and picture in and out. It happened a ton, mostly at the beginning of each show. As the show went on it got better.

 

[MDS]

I have Time Warner cable and I've seen the tiling or smearing issue a few times but it is fairly rare. The problem is most certainly with the cable company. Either their servers are overloaded and can't deliver the required bit rate or it is a signal strength issue and the cable box can't reliably decode the signal it is receiving.

It could be the cable box itself and you could ask for a replacement or you could buy an amplifier to boost the signal.

 

[Davemcc]

I've been through much the same procedure over this issue. Several new set top boxes, new cable runs, multiple technicians checking signal strength, etc. It's never "their fault".

In the course of my investigation, my last recourse became digital compression issues only resolved by changing providers. I switched from cable to satellite and I have never had a single video issue since. I'd have to argue that it was definitely "their issue". They were simply incapable of providing a proper signal.

Cliff's Notes - Change providers.