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General discussion

new 46a650 - channels flick on and off when i change them

Feb 9, 2009 5:21AM PST

i finished setting my my new 46a650 over the weekend. connected the HD cable box with an HDMI cable and the HD signal from time warner in nyc. picture looks great, as i hoped and as it did in the stores i looked at it in person. sound is fine as are the black levels. the only issue i have is that when i change the channel, either with the up arrow or typing in the channel number, the channel will appear for a split second, then the screen goes black for 2-3 seconds, than the channel comes back for good. i know that waiting a few seconds for the channel to show up is not the end of the world, but after a few channels of this, it can get pretty annoying. i'm not sure if this is a tv problem or a cable provider problem. it seems that when the channel first clicks in then goes off, the tv is looking for a satellite signal and the channel returns when it finds one? i figured i would check around to see if anyone else has this issue? if not, time warner is getting a call.

and does the channel number / time stamp / input box always appear when you change the channel or is there an option to turn that off somewhere? couldn't find it in the settings menus.

thanks.
-rich

Discussion is locked

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channels flick
Feb 9, 2009 7:17AM PST

Rich,

What is likely happening is that the cable box is performing a handshake issues to ensure that the signal is going to a display (television) rather than an unsupported or unauthorized device. It's an HDCP (copy protection) measure that we are required to have. The delay may just be part of this process.

The short burst of picture is the initial indication that the television is receiving the signal, and that's likely followed by the authentication.

The channel stamp that appears at the top is designed that way. There is no way to turn that feature off.

Hope that helps!

--HDTech

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channels flick - that's what i figured
Feb 10, 2009 12:48AM PST

hi and thanks for responding. i noticed last night that a few of the channels click right in, but most have this delay. is it something that once the tv performs this handshake for a channel, it keeps it in memory and doesn't need to do it any longer for that channel? but i think i also noticed the delay when i went back to a previous channel a few times. none of my friends or family in nyc with time warner have this issue and i didn't read anywhere about it when researching the a650. will it eventually go away or will it always be like this?

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channels flick
Feb 10, 2009 10:25AM PST

escalante98,

Welcome to the forum.

Changing channels will not "learn" over time, so from what I gather, it may be a delay in the handshake that is inherent between the television and the box.

--HDTech

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Same thing but with a DirecTV HD box
Feb 9, 2009 10:31AM PST

My TV does the same thing. However, the reason it happens on my TV is that I have my DirectTV receiver setup to use "Native Resolution" of the source channel. If I scan up or down, every time I tune to a channel that is in a different format, the screen goes blank, usually I get a "searching for signal" (from the TV, not the satelite box) for a second, then comes back on.

With direcTV, I have seen 480I for SD, and both 720P and 1080I for HD. I could setup my box to "force" only 1080I and I used to watch it that way, but, I have recently seen some very convincing arguments that 720P can give better quality then 1080I. So I recently changed it to use native format instead to see if I agree.

Not sure if this is what is going on with your set, but it might be something to look at. One test might be to try tuning between two SD channels, then between two HD channels and see if the same thing happens (just make sure they both use the same format HD format as I get both 720P and 1080I and possibly 1080P)


PS Samsung tech, as a suggestion for for future firmware, can you suggest a longer "timeout" period when the input signal drops out before putting up the "Searching for signal" error message?

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Yes.
Feb 10, 2009 4:57AM PST

The_Pickle,

Read and suggested. If you want people to comment on that suggestion, place it in the "WishList" thread, and I'll be happy to pass everyone's support up the chain.

--HDTech