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New Contributor
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TV going blank at random and sometimes re-appearing, sometimes not
I have never joined a forum in my life, but am totally frustrated by Cox for the last year+.
I have a "new" cable box (which in Cox's world, I believe means it is under 5 yrs old), the Explorer8642 HDC. This is the 3rd box tried in a series of replacement boxes. 13 yr customer that didn't have many problems at all for like 9 or 10 years. Then suddenly our black Motorola box (10 yr old box/technology?) started to intermittently stop sending a signal to the TV. We'd be watching a show and it would go blank. Sometimes after sitting there, it would pop back up after a minute or two or three. Sometimes I would have to pull out plug and let it do it's boot-up thing. Got a replacement, same type box and after a short period of time, low and behold, same behavior. Was told they "know about some issues like that".
Weird thing about it is, that if we were recording something and watching at same time when it happens, it seems to record the show right through these dark periods. Leads me to believe that it's definitely not a problem of the signal not coming down the cable into my home, but rather it's just not sending signal to TV during this time.
To placate me Cox told me to get the "new" all home box and just use it for the one TV. They would graciously waive the $60 install fee (which wound up on my bill in $20 increments until I noticed). They brought the new box out, but it wasn't the petit little high tech box in the showroom, it was a huge clunker that was obviously somewhat old (but hey they weren't charging me for this tech upgrade, so I didn't complain). Seemed to work ok for about 2 months, but then here we go again. My last hour long tech phone call got a great guy who seemed to really invest himself into fixing my problem and he had me ultimately go in and set the power off to "manual" which made a massive improvement....for about 3 weeks. Again this was a "known issue" with this box. I thought it might be heat related, so I pulled everything away from the box, but to no avail.
Well, now here I am on a Friday night wanting to relax and unwind, but no real cable service. This makes me really begrudge the fact that my bundled Cox bill crept from $120 mo to about $200 since Nov 2011 (a 66% increase). I don't know where that additional $$ is going, but I do know it wasn't a capital expense for new, high tech cable boxes.
Is anyone else having these intermittent signal interuptions? Is there hope out there for me of a lasting solution?
Domino
Valued Contributor III
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John,
You didn't mention how the DVR is connected to the TV. Component cables? HDMI cable?
Plus, if these "blank periods" occur while watching recorded programming, does the "blank period" occur at the same place in the program if you play back that portion again?
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John_Galt
New Contributor
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Sorry for my oversight,
It's connected via HDMI. Also, to be clear, it stops the video signal to the TV whether or not we're recording. But when it comes back "on", if it was a recorded show, we can go back and play the recording without it having a black out in the recorded file at the same point in the show.
If we're watching a previously recorded show and it chooses that moment to go black screen (where the TV actually comes up with the message of "no cable signal", etc.), we can again go back and play through that same spot and see it later when its not acting up.
Hope that's helpful, and thank you for your time & wisdom on this matter.
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Domino
Valued Contributor III
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Try connecting the DVR to the TV with component cables (red, green, blue for video; red and white for audio.) Those HDMI cables have 19 connectors, and intermittent connections are not rare. Or, you might have an intermittent in your TV's HDMI socket.
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Domino
Valued Contributor III
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Simply replacing the HDMI cable would not eliminate an intermittent HDMI socket or circuit on his TV. That is why I suggested trying component cables.
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John_Galt
New Contributor
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I would have to respectfully disagree. The fact that its getting a signal and recording it (if its set to record), does not rule out a loss of signal output. (i.e the box itself). To illustrate, if I'm playing the DVD (completely cutting out the DVR in the equation), and it's using the same HDMI cable, without ever having a problem, that would seem to indicate it's not the cable, socket or TV circuitry. Would you not agree? Also, we see the box going thru resetting motions (display on front of box goes to "2d" and 480i, then sets to 1080i as screen is coming back on and everything works fine....for a while or only minutes).
I have a HCMI/DVI socket and HDMI #1,2,3 & 4 so I tried #3 instead of #4 which points to it not being the socket itself (put does not rule out internal TV circuitry). I also have another HDMI cable used currently from the son's xbox (which never blanks out on him). So I will swap cable to further test your thesis gladly, but I'm not holding out much hope....let's hope I reply and need to eat some crow! lol
Thanks for the input.
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Domino
Valued Contributor III
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The only way to definitely rule out anything HDMI is to hook it up using component cables. Either try it or not. Your choice.
The "2d" on the front panel means the DVR is attempting a HDMI "handshake" with the TV. This is further indication that this is a HDMI problem.
So, please try hooking it up with component cables. Please?
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Domino
Valued Contributor III
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...nothing but crickets.
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ChrisL
Former Moderator
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Everything actually looks good on this end according to the status reports coming from the box itself. I would agree with Domino that this sounds like it could very well be a HDMI/HDCP handshake issue. The only way to test that theory would be to try connecting the cable box via component cables and see if the picture intermittently cuts out.
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Deedee
New Contributor
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I have been having this problem. The voice also cuts out. I do not have a DVR.
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KipK
Former Moderator
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Your digital cable receiver is giving us a low signal-to-noise reading, so this is probably an issue on the wall side of the connection rather than the TV side. The thing to do in that case is check for loose or damaged cable connections, and if the picture doesn't improve then a service call would be the next step.
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Dina
Contributor III
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Hi John Galt,
We are just checking back to see if you are still having issues with the intermittent loss of video? Were the suggestions provided above helpful in resolving your issue or is it ongoing?
Whenever you have a minute we would appreciate if you would please let us know. Thanks so much :)
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