FiOS TV Technical Assistance

[#1]

Last weekend I brought home a 46" Samsung LCD TV.  I connected in-house coax to Verizon set-top box and then ran a coax patch cable from set-top box to TV.  Very dissapointing picture quality on almost all channels.  Unexpected ghosts and pixilation for such a well-reviewed TV and highly regarded FiOS service.  Checking connections and fine-tuning TV did not seem to help.  Then I removed the set-top box and asked the TV to search for channels directly off of the signal from the street.  This helped, but provided significantly fewer channels, no interactive guide, etc.  Do I need an upgraded box?  Upgraded firmware/software?  Other suggestions?

Frank

[#2]

Ghosting is typicall caused by cable damage or unterminated splitter ports. It seems odd that you would get ghosting through the stb as it only looks at digital signals and ghosting is typically an analog issue.

Did you have a TV connected to this outlet before the 46 inch? If so, did it have any issues? What type of box are you using, SD or HD? Have you tried using RCA Cables (if SD) or Component cables (if HD)?

[#3]

My biggest problem is with the picture not being so sharp when the signal is routed through the box.

I am using a SD box.

Haven't yet tried the RCA cables, but I will.

I'll do some more testing and be back in touch.

Thanks for the advice.

Frank

[#4]

At least use the RCA cables like he said. That is the worst possible setup you have, just coax from the STB and you will only get mono sound. Is this an HDTV? If so, why don't you have an HD box?

[#5]

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westernfb wrote:

Last weekend I brought home a 46" Samsung LCD TV.  I connected in-house coax to Verizon set-top box and then ran a coax patch cable from set-top box to TV.  Very dissapointing picture quality on almost all channels.  Unexpected ghosts and pixilation for such a well-reviewed TV and highly regarded FiOS service.  Checking connections and fine-tuning TV did not seem to help.  Then I removed the set-top box and asked the TV to search for channels directly off of the signal from the street.  This helped, but provided significantly fewer channels, no interactive guide, etc.  Do I need an upgraded box?  Upgraded firmware/software?  Other suggestions?

Frank

Frank, your post says you're using a coax cable from the STB to your TV.  This implies that you're not using the higher-quality signals that the STB can product, like (in increasingly improving quality) composite, S-Video, component and HDMI.  Your new LCD TV should accept the higher-quality imputs.  Suggest you try a component or HDMI connection to your TV from the STB. 

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[#6]

He said he's using an SD box, so he can't use component or HDMI.

[#7]

Sounds like possibly the RF signal on the coax is too low causing your problem. You might need a service tech to come out and check the signal with his/her Sunrise meter.

[#8]

Here's another shot: The TV tuner is set to "Antenna". Channels 3 or 4 are usually close enough to CATV frequencies that you can sort of get them, except it's really noisy. Check the menu on your TV and be sure it's set to "Cable", not "Antenna".

That being said, your RCA cables will still be much better. 

Message Edited by GeekGirl on 08-08-2008 08:37 AM