Okay, here is the "skinny"! Our cable driven TV in the basement puked (Grasshopper No.5's term). The TV shows lots of digital dots in very colorful patterns with "broken" sound clips. Our other TV sets in the house work fine including HD service to the first floor TV.
I called our local, friendly cable service provider and talked to a very nice lady technician. We discussed the problem and very methodically "rebooted" everything from their signal at the main switching station to our digital box on top of the TV. We still had the checkerboard screen.
The technician told me to recheck all the connections from the outlet to the TV. When I told her that the new gold plated input cable went to a "splitter" so we can record and watch TV simultaneously, the tone of the helpful conversation changed. "Oh, you have a splitter" she exclaimed. "Oh, Mr. Andrews, that may be your problem." I told her it was a high quality new splitter. She didn't care. My credibility as a user of cable service was in jeopardy. If I want to record, I should look into their DVR digital box which stores up to 100 programs. I know Grasshopper No. 3 has the service but it is another $10-$20 per month.
So where am I with this problem. I ran a direct line from the cable jack in the wall directly to my digital box and eliminated the splitter. Yep, it works great. Damn!
So now I've got a dilemma. We could go without ever recording another program and run our input line only to the digital tuner. Your Mom would have apoplexy because Oprah and Dr. Phil would become a mere memory. Or, as the cable company tells me, I need a DVR digital box from them at an extra cost per month and then record the programs to tape when we want later.
My theory is that the cable "system" is getting loaded to the point that the delivery to each and every home is weakened slightly. Yes I have a signal but the strength is diminished slightly. That is why I get a broken signal.
So what do I do? What do I do? Stay tuned.
Today is Friday the 13th. Some people believe bad things happen on the 13th. The fear of the number is called trisadectaphobia. My TV problems couldn't be blamed on 13?
Have a Happy Fathers Day.
Love,
Dad