Cable Co does 'HD upgrade', now I have lost 4 of my TV channels

[John Galt III]

Exciting update! The cable guy came out and fixed it. Tested signal at 2 inside locations. Hooked up meter, and found signal into house was good, before splitter. Replaced 38 year old splitter in basement. Replaced 38 year old wall plate and the connector behind wall plate near TV. Getting all channels now, but picture is more cropped than before. Also, the black bar at top of screen slants downward just a bit on the right side. He says it is my old tube TV causing the cropping and slanting, not the equipment upgrade. Yeah, but... it wasn't this way before the new parts got installed, so yes, it is the new parts causing it. Anyway, I didn't insist on them buying me a new TV, lol.

The old parts were still functioning well for their original purpose, but were now also acting as antennae (strands of wire exposed at ends of cable, unshielded) and accepting cell phone signals over the air, thereby ruining certain frequency channels .

I got one new cable. All other cable upgrades were via clipping the old connectors off and crimping new connectors onto the existing cable.

All work done inside the bldg. No need for cable being draped over driveways, lol. That was a relief. He did not even test the signal at the outside box on my house.

45 minutes for the whole thing.

 

[bbqcoder]

He says it is my old tube TV causing the cropping and slanting, not the equipment upgrade. Yeah, but... it wasn't this way before the new parts got installed, so yes, it is the new parts causing it. Anyway, I didn't insist on them buying me a new TV, lol.

Glad your problem got fixed. Are you still using a tube TV instead of a flat panel one? I would highly recommend upgrading the TV as you can get a much bigger, sharper picture. They've been around for 20+ years.

 

[2HOTinPHX]

Glad your problem got fixed. Are you still using a tube TV instead of a flat panel one? I would highly recommend upgrading the TV as you can get a much bigger, sharper picture. They've been around for 20+ years.

and if being frugal you could pick up a used one dirt cheap on craigslist. Even a new one can be cheap these days. Not everyone or every place in the home needs the latest and greatest.

 

[Koolau]

Glad your problem got fixed. Are you still using a tube TV instead of a flat panel one? I would highly recommend upgrading the TV as you can get a much bigger, sharper picture. They've been around for 20+ years.

And really cheap if you don't insist on the best features.

 

[GenXguy]

That's the first time I heard of anyone using a CRT tube TV in a while.

But that goes along with your outdated Windows computer.

Good to hear your are at least getting your channels, again.

 

[John Galt III]

Glad your problem got fixed. Are you still using a tube TV instead of a flat panel one? I would highly recommend upgrading the TV as you can get a much bigger, sharper picture. They've been around for 20+ years.

Yes, I confess to still using an old tube TV, and liking it.

Actually, I do have a 5 year old flat screen, which I have hooked up to my cable. The picture is different, but not necessarily any clearer, imho. Larger, yes, but that doesn't do anything for me. And the sound is definitely not as good as the sound on my old tube TV.

Standing my ground until old faithful gives up the ghost, lol, then replacing with the flat screen, and will have to get used to its less clear sound.

Appreciate the well-meant suggestions, but stuck in my ways (and liking it!)

 

[John Galt III]

That's the first time I heard of anyone using a CRT tube TV in a while.

But that goes along with your outdated Windows computer.

Good to hear your are at least getting your channels, again.

Thanks, GenXguy. It turns out that old CRT tube TVs are in demand these days, for use by gamers who want to play retro video games like Mario Brothers, Nintendo, or DonkeyKong and whatever. I was keeping an old Zenith tube TV from 1980's as a backup for current tube TV. It had the wood grain paneling and the little doors that flipped out to reveal the knob controls.

But I was tired of storing the thing in my house, so I sold it quickly for $50 to a very happy customer. Five years ago you had to give an old tube TV away, or pay to have someone recycle it, lol !

And yes, my windows 7 computer is still chugging along, lol.

 

[Koolau]

I knew I was old when I realized that I had carried my last tube TV into my house but needed help carrying it back out many years later.

 

[jim584672]

Tube TVs can't even tune OTA channels. I know some old guy who pays for cable so he can have a tuner box for his old TV. I got that $10 tuner box from the FCC when TV went digital.

 

[bbqcoder]

Yes, I confess to still using an old tube TV, and liking it.

Actually, I do have a 5 year old flat screen, which I have hooked up to my cable. The picture is different, but not necessarily any clearer, imho. Larger, yes, but that doesn't do anything for me. And the sound is definitely not as good as the sound on my old tube TV.

It's true that the sound is not as good but you can fix that by getting a sound bar or something similar. It's so much better to be able to mount the TV on a wall and have it take less space. Not having to move something that is heavy is a bonus!

Thanks, GenXguy. It turns out that old CRT tube TVs are in demand these days, for use by gamers who want to play retro video games like Mario Brothers, Nintendo, or DonkeyKong and whatever. I was keeping an old Zenith tube TV from 1980's as a backup for current tube TV. It had the wood grain paneling and the little doors that flipped out to reveal the knob controls.

They have devices that do a good job of taking old tech and enabling you to connect to modern TVs. One example is this little box from RetroTink.

2X-Pro | RetroTINK

The RetroTINK-2X returns in it's Pro form! Everything that was great about the original is back plus new improvements and features: Professional injection molded enclosure Inputs: Component, S-video, Composite (shared with the green jack) at 240p/288p/480i/576i Output: Digital Video Automatic...

www.retrotink.com

Personally I have the Nintendo Switch which has a really nice library of older games (NES, SNES, N64, etc) that are emulated. Works very well. You can also emulate games using a PC. No need to save the old tube TV for retro gaming.

 

[John Galt III]

Tube TVs can't even tune OTA channels. I know some old guy who pays for cable so he can have a tuner box for his old TV. I got that $10 tuner box from the FCC when TV went digital.

I got two of those digital-to-analog converter boxes back then also. No cable needed for that, of course. All free. I get about 15 OTA channels, some of which I don't get on cable. At first I only got about 6 channels but they have been adding channels over the years.

 

[John Galt III]

BBQcoder, thanks for the soundbar suggestion ! I hadn't thought of that.

 

[triangle]

....
Actually, I do have a 5 year old flat screen, which I have hooked up to my cable. The picture is different, but not necessarily any clearer, imho. Larger, yes, but that doesn't do anything for me. And the sound is definitely not as good as the sound on my old tube TV.
....

Part of the 5 year flat screen not being clearer that the CRT could be the increased size of the screen, but likely the main reason is because of using a cable connection. Your recent cable company channel upgrade might be addressing this issue in part, but often a compressed signal is transmitted over cable to the set top box. A signal that looks bad when compared to over an air (OTA) broadcast or something like Netflix/youtube. For example, I can watch a NFL game over a homemade antenna that was sharper and clearer than my relatives who had a expensive cable TV package and set top box.