mchaney9900,
Many of the symptoms you describe are consistent with some DVR boxes. The likely culprit is HDCP technology, which blocks the picture from being sent in the event it detects that what it's hooked up to isn't a panel. For whatever reason, the box detects a change, and then reconnects. If you turn off the box and turn it back on, and it works, then it's most likely the cause.
I'm not trying to pass the buck. That connection could be happening from either end, and I don't have a definitive technical explanation beyond why you're seeing what you're seeing. But sometimes, a box swap has resulted in a fix.
--HDTech
Just puschased the LN52A850 about 30 days ago. It is hooked to FIOS verizons Motorola HD DVR QIP 72161 set top box. The problem is that I am losing the picture for one or two seconds and the screen goes snowy, no sound and then the picture comes back on. This happening at random intervals which are becoming more frequent. Now sometimes the picture goes out and stays out until I turn the set off and back on again to get the picture back. I called Samsung and they said they didn't know what was causing the problem and could send a tech out, but if the problem was not the TV I would have to pay for the service charge. I than called Verizon to see if they knew what was causing the problem and was told that This was a well known problem with Samsung and Verizon and they were both working on a fix. I have three other TV is the house with Verizon boxes that do not have this problem. Although they are not HD DVR boxes. I'm a little dissappointed that Samsung told me that they were not aware of this problem. Verizon told me there was a temporary fix, which was to hook up the TV with component cables as apposed to the HDMI cable that I am currently using. I went out and bought new component cables and was not satisfied with that fix. It did cure the problem, however I might as well be watching a black and white TV. I worked for hours trying to adjust the picture color to no avail. Is anyone else having this problem? Is there a fix in the works? Please help!

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