Pretty strange.

It's a digital signal both in and out (if you're using HDMI to the TV) so splitting the cable and/or interference shouldn't matter.

Are you using both OTA and cable for the HD channels, or only cable? Is it happening on both sets of channels? Is it happening on both tuners in HD?

hi, WK, thanks for trying to help

let me answer the easy question first: yes, it happens on both tuners/cards (so it's not a damaged card or tuner)

what is OTA? the cable comes into my apt. via the standard old-fashioned cable wire (is this what you're asking?)

thanks again, i await any further notions

richard

OTA is 'over the air' - meaning antenna. OTA actually offers the highest quality HD image generally available. More info about it is here.

Then maybe this is related to power issues. Do you have a UPS on the unit? Can you try a different outlet?

I was actually going to email for the same problem, but decided to check here first. We had two Series 3's upgraded by you (full copy of programs and settings) to the new 750gb hard drives just a week or two ago. Ours are in two different parts of the house. One sends out video through component cables through our ceiling to a plasma on the wall; I thought the interference could be due to some wires crossing in the walls somewhere since the cable run is so long and chalked it up to something I'd have to live with. However, our second Tivo is connected via component cables to a receiver which upconverts to an HDMI output to our TV (nevermind that I've never gotten the HDMI connection to work here for some weird reason - probably some kind of HDCP problem).

Once I got this second unit back from being upgraded, it also had the horizontal lines scrolling up the screen like our first one did. This one definitely didn't have the problem originally, and I'm thinking our first one didn't either (we had just moved into the house so I hadn't really lived with it long enough to notice problems one way or another).

Both of them now basically have 1-2 horizontal lines (pretty faint usually) scrolling up the screen constantly. The weird thing is that I also see them when just the Tivo menu is up (ie no actual cable shows are on). I see them on SD channels, HD channels, on both tuners, in the Tivo menu, etc. Other devices connected through the same methods have no interference.

Both Tivos have two cable cards in them, without any OTA signals.

Is it something with the upgraded hard drives? I have tried different power outlets, but not any other connection methods at this point. Any info is much appreciated!

hi,

to answer that question, no OTA, just 2 cable cards

i DID try diff power outlets. i also tried moving it farther from anything that produces power, and i tried unplugging all the electronic stuff near it. none of this helped the problem

i think i mentioned that the problem improved a little when i went from component cable to HDMI for the tivo --> TV connection, but the problem is still bad enuf to ruin my watching anything on a HD channel (the problem doesn't happen on non-HD channels, which look great; truth is the HD channels look great too, except for these horiz. lines in the bkgrnd.

so mr. WK, what else can you find out about this problem. as things stand now, it's got to get fixed. i got the max. hours HD recording time. would going down 1 level to the next highest make a difference?

what will? help??

thanks

Can either of you possibly snap a screen shot and post it? That might help us figure out what's going on.

give me your e-mail and i'll take a picture and send it to you. thanks

but it's just faint/not so faint moving horizontal lines flickering up and down in the background w/varying intensity; sometimes you don't notice anything, sometimes it causes shadows in the whole picture

i stand corrected - - i can't take a photo of the problem w/my digital camera. my camera doesn't like the tv and every time i try to take a picture it captures a zillion wavy lines. sorry...

btw, i just spent $200 on monster cable HDMI and component cable. the guy at radio shack felt pretty sure it'd solve the problem, but it didn't. luckily i can return the stuff!

Just wanted to let you guys know that I got the problem solved due to some info I found. As I mentioned, our house is new and we just moved in a month ago. Something clicked when I read that an improper ground can cause similar problems as to what I was experiencing. When the cable and phone companies came out to install everything, they couldn't find anything to ground them to. I had the builder out today to fix that very issue, and once the cable was grounded properly, everything cleared up!

OK - great data point!

So smileLP - can you try a different outlet or make sure that your current one is properly grounded? When you return the cables to Radio Shack you should be able to purchase a grounded outlet tester to see for sure.

just for the record, while your post offers hope, i have tried plugging the tivo into a different outlet already, and it didn't fix the problem. as to making sure i'm all "properly grounded," i guess radio shack can help me determine this, but if i have a problem, how do i go about "grounding something properly?" i can't get "my house builder" as that other poster did; i live in an apartment bldg in NYC built in 1966 ; )

i'm also not clear on WHAT needs to be properly grounded. one of you mentioned cable & phone co. stuff needing proper grounding; the other fellah mentioned making sure the (all? since i tried several) a/c outlets are grounded properly

a little more clarification would be much appreciated

thanks for giving me hope. i shall investigate and await any further helpful suggestions from y'all

It's unlikely to be a cable line problem. That's a digital signal and it would either just work or not.

I'm talking about the power. You might try a line conditioner or UPS on there.

Do you have another TV you can check it on? Does it happen on all channels? Have you tried an attenuator on the cable (I had horizontal lines at one point and it turned out the cable company's amps were turned up too high). When the weather gets colder the signal gets stronger, and believe it or not, it got too strong at one point.

Solved the problem by putting a 3dB attenuator on the cable. (A friendly cable tech will give you a few with different strengths to try out, if you can find one).

jasel,

some good suggestions there; i will investigate those things

i do promise that IF i solve it; i will post my results, to help others (and offer gratification to those w/the winning advice) ; )