Pixelation on an LCD TV

[Go To Girl]

We bought my son a small LCD HDTV for Christmas and it came yesterday. We turned it on just to make sure it worked and didn't feel like connecting it to our cable so just hooked it to an indoor set top antenna. On some of the channels, I noticed a lot of pixelation and some freezing up of the picture. We were figuring it was because it was getting an HD signal over the air and it was picking up any flaws in the signal as pixelation.

Should we expect that from the TV when it gets hooked to cable? His school provides cable to all the dorm rooms so he'll be getting regular cable I'm guessing. And he actually won't be using it so much for watching TV as he will for playing games or watching DVDs.

And on another not, all of our TVs are still old analog tube TVs and I've never been in a hurry to replace them. But, seeing the pixelation and freezing on the one channel was disconcerting. Makes me not to to ever even consider getting a new TV. I need people to talk to me about this and give me the real scoop. When we finally do upgrade, I could care less about upgrading to HD so most likely we won't until we find we have no choice.

[jkeough]

just make sure you get a HD box and a HDMI cable

[Go To Girl]

I don't think he's going to have that choice, do you think he'll have problems?

And as far as us, what happens if you don't get the HD box? And what does an HDMI cable do as opposed to just a regular cable.

[sunbunny]

I was ready to kill Chris and send our tv back because the picture looked so funny. Then when our HD box came in, it was like magic. Cleared right up. I think an HD tv is gonna look funny and have a bad picture unless you have HD sat/cable.

[Scrumtrilescent]

HD TVs weren't made to take in nonHD sources, that's why it looks worse when you see a nonHD channel on it. Well, on many/most of the TVs I've seen.

[Go To Girl]

His college pays for cable for every room so he won't have the option to get an HD box I'm sure. When we hooked to antenna, it was only 1 local channel that messed up like that. For any of you locally, it was channel 3 WBTV. Everything else was ok. Some of the channels came up SD and some came up HD and then sometimes it would just show as DT which I assume was digital TV. Don't know whay that would have showed up as just DT.

When I read reviews of the TV, most people said that they didn't have it hooked to HD because it ended up being a child's bedroom TV or a spare one in a kitchen or something. No mentions of the pixelation.

I'm not sure whether I should take it back or not. Will it be ok for him playing games even if it doesn't work ok for him watching a TV program. And he's been going retro as far as his gaming. He took his Super Nintendo back to school with him. He said he's taking the Game Cube next. He's a strange guy.

[Go To Girl]

HD TVs weren't made to take in nonHD sources, that's why it looks worse when you see a nonHD channel on it. Well, on many/most of the TVs I've seen.

It's hard to find a TV now that's not HD....hmmmm, I need to talk to him about it.

[Neylus]

The freezing/pixelation was probably due to poor reception via the rabbit ears. On cable it shouldnt be a problem. HD/non HD tvs wont differ much now that tube tvs are phasing out. All LCD based tvs struggle with standard tv content.

[SorthNarolina]

it's just interference, thats what the jagged lines and fuzzy noises look like in HD because it is a digital signal and not analog, thus you gete pixelation and freez ups rather than a fuzzy picture and fuzzy sound

you shouldn't have any problems with cable, it would be very rare to happen

[chabber]

it's just interference, thats what the jagged lines and fuzzy noises look like in HD because it is a digital signal and not analog, thus you gete pixelation and freez ups rather than a fuzzy picture and fuzzy sound

you shouldn't have any problems with cable, it would be very rare to happen

This is correct. The TV will be fine. It was just a weak signal and pretty much the digital equivalent of a fuzzy picture. Hardly anything to be concerned about unless your picking up OTA signals from an antenna that sucks or have a weak signal coming to that particular set from your cable company after all the splits in your house.

[Go To Girl]

The freezing/pixelation was probably due to poor reception via the rabbit ears. On cable it shouldnt be a problem. HD/non HD tvs wont differ much now that tube tvs are phasing out. All LCD based tvs struggle with standard tv content.

So back to me if I should ever get a TV like this for myself. My TV in my bedroom sometimes doesn't get a great cable signal. Would I have trouble with pixelation in that room. We've got 4 TVs hooked to cable and a cable modem. There is a booster that the cable company put on. I'm guessing that I'd need the cable company to come and check it out before you do any changing of our TVs (not planning on doing that anytime soon).

[Samuel L. Jackson]

So back to me if I should ever get a TV like this for myself. My TV in my bedroom sometimes doesn't get a great cable signal. Would I have trouble with pixelation in that room. We've got 4 TVs hooked to cable and a cable modem. There is a booster that the cable company put on. I'm guessing that I'd need the cable company to come and check it out before you do any changing of our TVs (not planning on doing that anytime soon).

I don't know who you have cable with, but like someone else said, make sure they give you an HD capable box and the HDMI plug... You should be perfectly fine..

As far as the signal goes, the cable company should be able to boost the signal at the outside box, as well as put a power booster at each drop in the house, should they need to... They could probably tell you if that's all possible or not over the phone, and it should be....

[Scrumtrilescent]

I had to get the cable company come out and put the modem on a separate cable line and put an amp on the line downstairs. They said even with the amp, the modem was making the signal subpar.

[Go To Girl]

I think we have that as well. I couldn't remember what the thing was called. The booster is on the outside and the amp is on the inside. And the modem has a separate line.

And I do not give a rats ass about HDTV so I do not want an HD box. I hope my televisions last forever.