Television momentarily losing picture!

[Simonslimline]

A strange one, but possibly someone on here has experienced this problem?

1 bedroom flat, sockets for flat are all on 1 ring final. Loads on the ring include a microwave, kettle, toaster, fridge freezer, plus an extension lead with an amp a PS3 and TV plugged in.

When turning on an appliance whether it be the microwave or kettle, and when the fridge turns on the picture on the television disappears for a few seconds and then reappears.

I have checked the sockets and the consumer unit to make sure all the connections are tight.

The problem does not happen every time something is switched on either but most of the time.

I have never come across this before and am confused to say the least.

Anyone have any theories as to why this may be happening!

Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[spark 68]

In a word crap co-ax aerial cable.

It is caused by the TV picking up the switching transient.

This was not so much a problem when analogue was the norm, it just gave a brief picture disturbance, digital does not fail gracefully, it's an all or nothing affair, any disturbance to the data causes the decoder to stall, and it needs time to recover the datastream.

 

[Simonslimline]

Ok thanks for the reply, much appreciated. Is there anything i can do to stop this happening possibly like a device to stop the TV picking this up?

 

[Simonslimline]

Or possibly have the TV on its own circuit?

 

[spark 68]

See if the co-ax aerial cable is the cheap and nasty stuff with very poor screening first, if it is then replace it with better quality cable, also check that there are no loose connections arcing under load on any of the circuits at the tails, CU etc.

 

[Lucien Nunes]

The signal might also be low in level or of poor quality, due to incorrect splitting / distribution with the other flats and/or poor aerial. This makes the TV more sensitive to the induced noise, if it is struggling to maintain reception even under good conditions.

 

[Silly Sausage]

I thought with digital TVs, the picture just freezes on signal loss.
Well, it does on mine!

 

[Simonslimline]

Thanks for the replies, i will check the coax etc and see if i get anywhere. nice 1

 

[DPG]

Agree with Spark68. The cheap co-ax doesn't give full screening - strip the outer sheath off a piece and you'll see why - more gaps than copper! Daz

 

[spark 68]

I thought with digital TVs, the picture just freezes on signal loss.
Well, it does on mine!

Depends on the set Archy, different decoders handle the glitches in different ways, Lucien has made a good point too.

 

[Silly Sausage]

Depends on the set Archy, different decoders handle the glitches in different ways, Lucien has made a good point too.

Ah right, sometimes get 'step framing' (sic!) on poor signals, really annoying!

 

[DPG]

All part of the myth that digital television is a big improvement in signal quality. 'No more sparklies or snowy reception' they say - nope, that's right - the picture just freezes or goes off!! Daz

 

[spark 68]

Hi Daz,
It was never about quality, lol
It was about cramming ever more crap (channels) into the available spectrum space, so the thieves (sorry Government) could sell off vast swathes of freed up space to the higest bidder.

 

[DPG]

Yep - agree with you there. Just look at the compression they use on some channels now - Dave for one. Shocking quality. Much worse than BBC used to be years ago on good old analogue. Daz

 

[ArseyDee]

As others have said:-

Poor quality aerial.
Poor alignment.
Masthead amp issues.
Unsatisfactory distribution/splitter arrangements.
Rubbish quality coax and poor screening.
Poor connections.
Damage.

I'd be asking the neighbouring flats to see if they share same issue with picture.