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By hafcanadian
#7738
I'm not sure if this is the correct place to post this, but the index description does say "... whatever you need help with".

For the last couple of months, channels 2.1 and 2.2 on our 2008 32" Sony TV have displayed an odd quirk. It varies with the program that's on and the commercials. Every one and a half to two seconds, the video stalls and then rushes to catch up with the audio. The audio is not affected. It does not do this on channel 2.3 nor any other of the approximately 20 off-air stations we receive in the Portland, Oregon area - only those two of the three KATU/ABC venues. To emphasize, not every program or commercial displays this odd behavior, nor is it consistent to day or night. Commonly if the program is affected, some or all of its commercials are not affected. Sometimes when the show is okay, one or more of its ads are affected, and at times there is no problem whatsoever. There's no consistency. I tried rescanning the channels, but that did not resolve the problem.

I thought it was the station or ABC, but ABC put the onus on KATU and KATU didn't return my inquiries. I had made the assumption at first that it was the station, but last night I discovered it wasn't doing it on either of our older and smaller tube Sony's that are on converters, even though the phenomenon was at the same time displaying itself on the 32" digital flatscreen. So the problem is not the broadcaster's nor my antenna signal quality - there is no pixelation involved and the signal meter is very good. The issue must be confined to the TV.

Any ideas about what's caused this? Or if this is the wrong venue to ask, should I be going to a Sony forum somewhere? Thanks for your tolerance and any assistance. Some of our favorite programs have become difficult to watch because of this annoyance.

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By Rasmus Larsen
#7739
I'm not sure but two guesses.

1. It may by related to decoding of the signal and if that is the case there is likely not much you can do except for checking the signal (bad cable splitters, wiring etc.) or using an external decoder box.
2. Motion compensation on your Sony TV (but it sounds strange that it only affects two channels then). but try to go to the TV menus and find a setting related to MotionFlow or other motion compensation systems. Deactivate them.
By hafcanadian
#7744
I only found one possible setting, cinemaflow or some such thing that was set on “Auto”; turning it off had no affect on the problem.

There are many connections in this system and it’s been redone several times over the years. We switched from DSL to FiOS internet/phone not long before this issue was noticed, and the router and its booster as well as the FiOS fiber-to-ethernet converter box were installed behind the TV (mostly due to its house-central location for WiFi output), piling onto the snakepit of wires and cables back there. So I thought perhaps some coax had been disturbed in the process.

The antenna feed comes down from the attic and goes through a Tru-Spec amplifier on the wall behind the TV; one 6ft. cable from that runs to the TV in question, and a second cable from the amp runs a very long way to a distribution box outside the garage where it splits out to several rooms. Since the signal in those other rooms seems unaffected, it appears logical the problem is along the short route between the amplifier and the TV, or the TV itself isn’t decoding 2.1 and 2.2 properly despite several re-auto-programmings. I found an old splitter in that line that used to send a second signal to an old VCR and converter, so I removed the splitter and 6 ft. of extra coax cable from the splitter to the TV so that the TV now connects directly to the amp output #1. But the video stalling persisted.

The 3 elbow connections at the Tru-Spec amplifier (antenna input, output to nearby TV, and output to the distribution box splitter) were all loose, so I tightened them all. The issue persists I’m afraid.

Following your theory that a poor connection may be disallowing proper signal decoding, in spite of that station reading 90% signal strength, I may try replacing the old coax with the removed extra one or a brand new one, or replace the fittings at either end of one of the old cables with modern ones since I have a kit for doing that properly.

I may try switching the problem TV over to the second output on the amplifier to see if it might be the first Tru-Spec outlet port that’s the problem. Or by the same token, I may hook up one of the old small analog tube TV's with their converter boxes to the coax off amp output #1 in place of the problem TV, to see if they also exhibit the stalling off that port; they don't currently have any issues where they're in remote rooms at the end of a very long split off amp port #2.

It wouldn’t be the first time that amp has been implicated in a reception problem. First though, I haven’t rescanned the channels (auto-programmed) since reworking the coax and fittings on the Tru-Spec, so I’ll do that next, and keep you informed.
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By Rasmus Larsen
#7746
It sounds like a quite complex antenna cable setup you have there. It is probably best to approach it by using the process of elimination. As you say, try to move the TV to another cable or even better as close to the source as possible.

The reason why it affects only two channels, I think, may have something to do with frequencies. Over the years I've seen many examples of interference. In Denmark were I was born we even had a case where city busses would scramble the TV antenna signal in people's home every time they drove by outside. I recall that it had to do with mobile data antennas on the busses. My point is that it doesn't necessarily have to be caused by a change in your own setup. It can also be caused by some changes in your neighborhood or that the broadcaster has made some modifications. The best thing to do in such a case is probably to make sure to use properly shielded antenna cables and make sure that the splitters are properly designed for splitting digital antenna signals.