I have recently updated to HDTV to go with my sony 40" 1080P television. When I first connected the new HD box from the cable company only a few of the channels workes including the analog channels. So I went back to the cable company, which was not a problem I work next door. Anyway they gave me a brand new box never used and all of the channels work most of the time. Some times many of the HD channels get glitchy and blocky. What I am wondering is if it is possible that I have a bad cable somewhere or if HDTV is just glitchy sometimes? Anybody.

You may have a signal strength issue. Digital cable uses more bandwidth than analog cable, and HD cable uses more still. As a result, it's common for a house's cable service to work fine for analog cable but have issues with digital cable or HD. You will probably need to have the cable company send a tech out to check it over.

Again WOW that was fast. Thanks gonk. I think maybe I will try adding a higher quality spliter, re-termintate the cable ends, and use a new cable from the wall to the box and if it is still bad I will call someone out to the house. The only problem I have with calling someone out is no one is ever home at my house. Thanks Again

Don't worry, the cable guy NEVER shows up when you are there anyway. You may have a better chance of having him come over if you are not there.

This I know I have been in this situation before. This is why I have a believe I have a better chance of fixing the problem myself.

I have another question XenonMan. How do you get your list of theater equipment to show every time you post something?

Go to the top of the page and edit your profile

XenonMan has the list in his signature. I have a bunch of links. You can put whatever you want in there (up to 250 characters, as I recall - I've been bumping into that limit with my links for a while now).

The splitter could definitely be part of the problem. I would try testing without the splitter. The cable company should be able to come out and replace the splitters if they were old ones from before cable. They can also bring out an amp (or at least time warner did for me). All of this was at no charge (or possibly was n/c) because I had them cover the wire.

Unlike the old days, when splitters could cost a cable company $, most providers that have been digital for a while (fios providers especially) compensate for signal attenuation in their signal strength. You should be able to split 3 ways minimum with no issues (a friend has a 1x8 without an amp). Unfortunately, that's not a universal standard.

My first test would be to swap out the cable coming from the splitter; second, unplug the other connections on your splitter, and test your cable on each output; third, run directly from the demarc to your box. This should tell you if it's the cable, the splitter, or the cable company.