Does anyone watch Spike TV?

Spike shows reruns of CSI most nights, and since I've only been watching this show for a coupla seasons, I've taken to watching the reruns and catching up. Anyway, my reason for asking is-every once in a while the screen suddenly looks "digitized", or "pixelated". Like a character will all of a sudden be covered in big squares of the previous screen. I'm not describing it well, but does anyone else watch this channel, and if you do, have you noticed it as well?

I wonder if it's the channel itself (Spike), the source material (the CSI reruns), or my cable provider (Comcast, egular service, not digital).

-Wm.

I would blame Comcast. They have,IMHO,the worst service of any company I have dealt with (including present employer). /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

In the fall and spring sometimes when the sun is directly behind the satellite, you can get solar interference/blackouts that look like what you described. Even if it's not daylight when this happens to you, the program may be 'delayed' from a prior time.
The other situation may be bandwith. I can't prove this but I believe that sometimes cable companies run low on bandwidth and steal it form what they feel are little watched programs/times.

I'm fairly certain SPIKE routinely digitally "speeds" up their programming. Watch carefully and you'll sometimes detect otherwise smooth movements get jumpy every couple of seconds as the video jumps ahead briefly. I used to see it on some network broadcasting years ago - and complained to the networks about it. The wrote back and explained they were time-editing the programming and it shouldn't be detectable (yeah right, that's why I couldn't see it).

I rarely see it much these days, but I see it on spike constantly. I'm using Direct-TV by the way.

Thanks for the replies-at least I'm not imagining it.

aerog-I'd love to go to DirectTV or Dish, but I live in an apartment and the only service I can get is Comcast (which costs more than the dishes!). Same for getting high speed internet service-AT&T will gladly give me a phone line, but no high speed internet....if I want that I have to shovel more cash at Comcast.

-Wm.

William,
What you're experiencing is low-quality signal, which happens on digital cable (and mostly on the digital stations.) I had this happen a couple times.

This is due to "upgrades" in the system that actually hinder service in homes with low-quality signals.

What you need to do is call Comcast and request that they come and fix it. Since the problem probably started happening around a system upgrade, they won't charge you. They will install a signal amplifier. I had one installed and it fixed the problem.

BTW, I've found comcast to have absolutely excellent service, but the service centers are regional, and the Olympia, WA group is absolutely outstanding.

Sammy,
I'm glad you are able to get good service from Comcast. A couple of years ago we subscribed to digital cable service with On Demand. EVERYTIME we want to watch a movie we have to call them and have them reboot our system. I have done this at least half a dozen times. The picture quality is good on the TV with the converter, but every other TV has poor picture. Sometimes on some channels it's nearly unwatchable. It's very frustrating having to deal with these people. I would go with "The Dish" but I don't want to go thru the hassle of switching over. Oh well, got that out of my system. $0.02 /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

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I'd love to go to DirectTV or Dish, but I live in an apartment and the only service I can get is Comcast

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Not necessarily. If you have a decent view of the southern sky, a balcony or patio to set a dish on (doesn't have to be a permanent installation, could be a small post in a bucket of concrete or something), then you can put Dish-TV or Direct-TV in without any big problem - and contraty to what many homeowner's/condo/apartment associations would love for you to believe it is permitted by federal law.

On the other hand, if you need cable for the internet (etc) then it's probably not worth the effort anyway /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I'd love to go to DirectTV or Dish, but I live in an apartment and the only service I can get is Comcast

[/ QUOTE ]

Not necessarily. If you have a decent view of the southern sky, a balcony or patio to set a dish on (doesn't have to be a permanent installation, could be a small post in a bucket of concrete or something), then you can put Dish-TV or Direct-TV in without any big problem - and contraty to what many homeowner's/condo/apartment associations would love for you to believe it is permitted by federal law.

On the other hand, if you need cable for the internet (etc) then it's probably not worth the effort anyway /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

I have none of the above, plus I live on the ground floor. The dish would probably get stolen the second I set it up. What I really wish is that there were simply other providers to choose from than Comcast, as Comcast pretty much sets the pricing to whatever they want.

I can't say anything about Comcasts customer service, as I've not had any problems yet (except the weirdness with Spike, which didn't occur at all last night anyway!).

-Wm.

Oftentimes the problem is actually in the house. The digital cable requires such a larger throughput of information, that older wiring and jacks can be the problem.

In my house, every room has a cable outlet, but behind each outlet was essentially a T/splitter connector. These splitters were old-school cable types, so they were too restrictive.

If you're having the pixelation or noise, or the box has to be reset, first try replacing the box, then also have them come to the house to test signals.

Don't have a cable box. The building's already wired for cable, so all they had to do was activate the signal and plug the telly into the outlet. A lot of apartment buildings around here are already wired, which is convenient and often leads to new tenants not having to call the cable company for several months because they usually forget to shut the signal off. Coworker of mine had free cable for over a year!

-Wm.