"hum bars" with FTR9964 (e-box) and Comcast HD box

[mwc81199@aol.com]

Help!

I recently hooked up Comcast digital cable + HD through the AV 4 ports on my e-box (component video cable) running to my 32" plasma (32FD9954) and have been getting "hum bars" on every channel, but especially HD ones. I tried running other sources (DVD, playstation 2) through the same input and get no interference. I called Comcast and they tested the line and determined that I was getting some sort of "back feed" or interference from some of my A/V equipment. I even tried a Monster Power HTS400 "Clean Power" surge protector and that didn't help.
However, I thought as a last chance effort I would bypass the e-box all together and hook straight into the monitor through AV 3 (still component video) and low and behold, no hum bars. Do I have a bad e-box or has anyone heard of any problems like this? I would like to continue using the e-box for all the features such as active control, APAC, etc.
Any advice would be appreciated, thanks

[mogens]

Hi,

Had written a lengthy reply to you - but somehow it dissapeared!!!! Anyway, I have the same TV and the e-box 9954, and used a couple of hours this weekend to adjust my previous set-up from 2 months ago when I moved here and bought it.

What resolution are you using from your Motorola 5100 box? I've had same problem with "stripes / inteference" noise on the picture from HDTV channels, but only in 1080i resolution. In 480p I didn't have the problem. (in case you don't know, you can set the resolution on the Motorola 5100 by putting it to stand-by and press "menu" - this will lead you to a set-up screen for TV format and resolution. If you already know this, pls. disregard. I only found out myself this weekend, as I was not home myself 2 months ago when I had Comcast installed, and the wife didn't pick this up ;-)

If you're using 1080i resolution directly from the Motorola box into the TV using RGB (AV 3 on the TV - use good video cables), I doubt you'll want to use the Philips box anyway - trust me!! The picture if absolutely stunning! Even if you manage to run the signal through the box, it's likely to degrade it to some extend - and as I recall, a number of the socalled picture enhancing features doesn't work in HDTV mode anyway.

As I've experienced it (and in my unqualified personal opinion ;-), the Philips box can repair the signal slightly on bad TV signals (of which there are more than a few on Comcast!!), but on good signals the "price" is not worth it in my opinion - and on HDTV the features are limited. On a seperate note - how are you hooking up your Philips box to the TV?

I also tried to hook the TV directly from the Motorola 5100 box via DVI - that was not a success. I would have though that would give the best signal possible!

Good luck - although I believe this wasn't much help to solve your problem.

Best regards Mogens

P.S. As info to you, although this monitor has DVI, you can't use it for HDTV as it doesn't have HDCP (high definition copy protection) - no reason you spend the same money on more than one DVI cable as I've done .......