nursemike
join:2001-10-14
Palm Bay, FL | Bad NBC in HD
I am having problems with NBC in HD. The picture is frequently jittery, and depixulates. The sound will also cut in and out. NBC in SD does not have this problem. These problems have been going on for quite awhile, and happen 24/7. |
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phdeez
join:2003-06-05
Winter Park, FL
| You know, I thought it was just because I had a TivoHD... I notice it especially on "high action" shows- ie Sunday Night Football and Heroes.
I normally watch HD content on NBC, so I thought it was just me, but thinking back on it- I hadn't noticed it on FXHD, DiscoveryHD, etc... |
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phdeez
join:2003-06-05
Winter Park, FL
| reply to nursemike
So, I guess we're the only ones?
1) Is your NBC WESH over there?
2) I don't notice it on the news normally, just shows from the "national feed". Do you notice the problem on the news?
3) What kind of device are you using? Built-in TV tuner? BHN device? Tivo? |
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nursemike
join:2001-10-14
Palm Bay, FL
| Question 1, I do not know, but I would guess it's out of Orlando.
2. I have had it happen during network shows and the local news.
3. Just a non-dvr SA box with HDMI into my plasma set.
I sure would like it if other readers would check the quality of their NBC-HD reception.
Thanks, Mike |
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cableguy
Premium
join:2009-01-20 | How often between occurances? Minutes or hours apart? And this is Palm Bay? And is it just the one channel?
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GIT R DONE |
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ruxi
join:2009-02-24
Casselberry, FL
| reply to nursemike
We programmed the TV to use the OTA antenna for all the broadcasts stations we can get good reception for. Not really because of the stuttering/jittery problem, but if the cable ever goes out, it's ready to go. But since doing that, we have noticed while watching football there a lot less hiccups in general. |
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nursemike
join:2001-10-14
Palm Bay, FL | reply to cableguy
It is frequent, but not constant. I am in Palm Bay and I have only noticed it on the NBC HD #1020. When it gets too bad, I have to switch to NBC SD to comfortably watch the show. |
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phdeez
join:2003-06-05
Winter Park, FL
1 edit | reply to nursemike
ruxi - Maybe we should try that... I know my Tivo can tune to both OTA and cable broadcasts simultaneously... too bad we'd have to change all of our season passes...
nursemike - 1020 - yep that is WESH (NBC Channel 2 from Orlando). I've never thought about switching to low-def (especially for football games - its pretty awful), I'd rather just deal with the background washout for a second. Furthermore, most of the stuff we watch is recorded so we can't go back and record the same show on low-def anyways.
cableguy - It is easiest to spot on Sunday Night Football - and it's pretty frequent - sometimes every 2 minutes or so. This weekend I'll try to record a show OTA and cablefed and see if I can post a screenshots so you can see what we're talking about. |
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swbrains
join:2004-04-14
Wesley Chapel, FL
| reply to nursemike
I'm in the Tampa Bay area and have trouble sometimes with 608, our NBC-HD channel. It will pixelate, freeze for a second, lose audio, then stutter through parts of the program with audio and video cutting out. This might go on for several minutes, or just happen for a second or two every ten seconds. Sometimes it's very intermittent and sometimes it completely ruins a show. It happened last night while trying to catch the local weather forecast on the news. Of course, as soon as the forecast was done, it started working fine! 
I've noticed this on other channels as well. One time while it was happening on the HD channel, I checked the SD version of the channel and it was fine in SD.
I checked my signals (SA4250HDC box which was recently updated to use Mystro) using the diag screen and noticed something interesting: There appear to be two sets of signal levels (FDC and QAM). The FDC power level is ~ +8db for most channels and the QAM power level is ~ -8db for most channels. Some go one or two higher or lower but usually around there. The FDC S/N is ~ 28 and for QAM it's showing ~ 33 for most channels. I don't know much about the difference of these two signal types, but should one be that high while the other is that low? Shouldn't they both be around 0 db?
At my last house (also using BH) years ago we had a low signal level for analog channels (before getting HD package) and adding a powered amp at the entry brought the levels up to around 0 to +2 db which was fine. But now with two different signal levels (FDC/QAM) I'm not sure if adding the amp is the right thing to do, especially since one number (FDC) would end up being out of range on the high side if I do add it.
Should those numbers be so far apart? Is this normal?
PS: My cable modem (also using BH/RR signal) consistently works well and usually shows between 0 db and +3 db for the downstream signal level and about 45 db for upstream. The downstream S/N is about 39 db. Both the set top box and the cable modem come from the same splitter in the structured wiring panel. The house and all wiring is one year old, using individual RG6 home runs for each connection. |
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phdeez
join:2003-06-05
Winter Park, FL
| reply to nursemike
So, I didn't get a chance to setup my TivoHD in time to get both OTA and cable fed NBC for Sunday Night Football, but I did get to record Heroes both OTA and cable fed. If I was pixel peeping I saw a few instances where the cable feed got a little weird (I noticed it a few times at minute 34 and then a few instances at 38) but I've got a serious foul-up further into the 38th minute. I just took these with my P&S, but I can extract the video from my TivoHD if you really want it.
Cable Feed
OTA
What's interesting on the cable feed is the NBC logo on the bottom left of the screen didn't mess up. |
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cableguy
Premium
join:2009-01-20
| phdeez,
Could you try these steps and post your signal readings here..
Put your box on channel 711 and look for RDC Power and FDC Power. Depending on your box model try to get the BER (bit error rate) also.
If your FDC is low you could have a rolloff in HD band. And it is possible to effect only one channel if there's standing waves in the signal caused by damage or water in the cable somewhere.. Especially up the 1020 area. If your BER shows anything but zero then there's other issues involved.
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GIT R DONE |
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phdeez
join:2003-06-05
Winter Park, FL
| reply to nursemike
Cableguy: Thanks for the feedback. As mentioned previously, I actually have a Tivo with a Tuning Adapter connected (Cisco STA1520 or something). I checked the adapter's diagnostics screen and could not find a BER anywhere, but did find the following stats under "Status Summary"
FDC: 75.500 MHz
RDC: 26.000 MHz
Tuner: -2 dBmV
FDC: 12 dBmV
RDC: 34 dBmV
Tuner: 0/Sec (avg)
FDC: 0/Sec (avg)
RDC: 661 uSec |
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cableguy
Premium
join:2009-01-20
| reply to nursemike
12db FDC is a little on the high side for some cable boxes. If you have a house amp connected, it's possible the amp could be overdriven causing your pixeling on some channels. You could try removing the amp or put the TV on a splitter before the house amp. If you don't have a house amp then you might try to knock the signal down a little using something like an in-line attenuator or just a regular house splitter. Preferably one with a 7db tap.
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GIT R DONE |
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