Problem with Green Horizontal Lines, DIRECTV

[K1219]

Hello! I was wondering if someone could help me with a problem that I’ve been having with DIRECTV since it was installed at my new home a year ago. Horizontal green lines have been popping up all over the screen. It isn’t the cables, as it happens with both of our installed receivers. It isn’t the TVs, because I’ve recorded the green lines and captured the frames to my computer. A DIRECTV technician is coming to look next week, but I have a feeling that they won’t quite understand what I’m talking about or why these lines bother me. They pop up every now and then throughout the day… sometimes a whole lot at once. I’ve noticed these on my brother’s DISH signal as well. When I lived in a different town, I didn’t have this problem with DIRECTV.

Here are some photographs of my problem. I captured them from a black and white movie, because that is when they are the most noticeable. To give you an idea of how often this can occur, these four frames are within the same minute.

(Please click each image for a closer look at the green lines)

11652

11653

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Thanks! I’d really appreciate any advice on what could be causing these lines.

[rlgold88]

I never seen that before I would defintely record the green lines to show the tech. Is everything grounded properly. maybe some RF interference.

[K1219]

Thank you for the reply. I’m not sure if everything is grounded properly. Would that be something that I could check on my own, or should I ask DIRECTV?

[litzdog911]

Welcome to DBSTalk!

This is certainly not a common problem. You've done quite a bit of troubleshooting already, but I'm wondering ....

* How are your DVRs/Receivers connected to your TVs?
* Does the problem change if you change video connections (SVideo, HDMI, etc)?
* Does this happen on all channels?

[K1219]

Thanks for the welcome!

Yes, I’ve tried all kinds of different connections. The better wires I use, the sharper/clearer the green lines seem to get. I’ve tested different cables on my other TV and receiver, and I get the same results. That’s why I think it must be coming directly from the receivers. DIRECTV ran separate lines to each box, and I’ve noticed that the green lines pop up at different times on each one. We never have them pop up at the same time on both receivers.

So far, I’ve tested coaxial cables, a/v cables and S-Video—green lines with all of them. I would try component, but the DIRECTV receivers only have hookups for these three.

[HDTVsportsfan]

Wouldn't this be some type of grounding problem?

[litzdog911]

I'm stumped :confused:

[hiker]

Sunspots? :D

[davring]

I have read of this before, similar interference. IIRC it was induced by AC voltage between the dish and the receivers. Are your infeed lines from the dish near any 110/220 volt lines in your home? Looks like a 60 cycle pattern on a scope. Might be worth checking into.

[jimmyv2000]

Get yor self an outlet tester and test all your outlets for proper ground.
If all your outlets are properly grounded you can try to BYPASS your surge protector to see if that eliminates it.
If not i may suggest but it is pricey is RG-6 Quad shield cable with solid copper core:D
That works great in high electrical interference situations.
Another possibility could be radio interfernce from a nearby transmission tower(Police,Fire,Sheriff,or other source)
just a few suggestions hope this helps:D

GO PATS!:D

[hiker]

Why would a outlet grounding problem cause this? Most DirecTV receivers do not have a 3 prong plug so it doesn't use the ground. Could be missing or improper dish/coax grounding?

I've never seen any mention of electromagnetic or radio interference with satellite signals. Only sunspots and rain, trees or similar obstacles.

[swedishcancerboi]

Why would a outlet grounding problem cause this? Most DirecTV receivers do not have a 3 prong plug so it doesn't use the ground. Could be missing or improper dish/coax grounding?

I've never seen any mention of electromagnetic or radio interference with satellite signals. Only sunspots and rain, trees or similar obstacles.



D10's, D11's, H10's, R15's, R10's, HR20-100 ( I believe ), SIR-S300W's, and I think some RCA's all use 3 pronged plugs. if the lines scroll through the image, I will bet you do have some interference coming in through, usually, the ground.

Just because your IRD or TV doesn't have a ground prong, doesn't mean that the interference can't reach the TV/IRD.

If you have everything plugged in to a surge protector, try adding a grounding isolator (they have many different names, it is basically a 3 prong to 2 prong adapter) to the surge protector plug. Remember that through the ground, everything in the house is connected so that a microwave in the kitchen can affect the ENTIRE system. They are inexpensive (less than a dollar) and you might need to have a couple so you could try multiple pieces of equipment.

start with anything near your TV's that is 3 pronged.

the interference could be coming through something like your stereo, traveling down the cables into your television, then traveling through the cables to your receiver. Since the IRD's are on the same dish, the interference could then travel down the coax to the other receiver causing the same problem.

Next time it happens, walk around your house and see if something powered up at that time (blender, flourescent lights, dishwasher, furnace, Air conditioning....etc). You just might find that some appliance is causing problems.

In the end, remember that all grounds are bonded to the neutral, so it is possible you won't be able to isolate the issue, but you should be able to find out what is causing it.

sometimes you have to REMOVE the satellite grounding to resolve.

[K1219]

Thank you for all of the suggestions! I really appreciate them.

Yes, I live downtown—so high electrical interference could be the problem. This didn’t happen when I lived downtown in a different city, but we would loose our signal at times. My DIRECTV receivers are three pronged, so I will also check the outlet grounding possibility.

A DIRECTV technician is coming tomorrow. I will be sure to post if we come up with a solution to the problem. (I hope we will!)

Katherine

[litzdog911]

Keep us posted. I'm still stumped.

[K1219]

The DIRECTV technician came Monday, but the green lines came back shortly after. While he was here, the technician took a look at the screen shots I captured. He quickly said it was an electrical problem and went out to our satellite dish. A few minutes later, he came back in and said that a wire had been loose, so the problem should be fixed. There may have been a loose wire, but I guess that wasn’t the source of the problem.

I’m beginning to wonder if all satellites (DIRECTV, DISH, etc.) have these green lines from time to time, but most people don’t notice them because they aren’t watching black and white movies on Turner Classic Movies. It’s hard to notice them in color.

Oh well, I’m going to keep troubleshooting. All of the outlets are grounded. I tried a three to two-prong converter, but that didn’t seem to help. I guess it could be some kind of interference since I live downtown.

Thanks again for all of your suggestions! I will keep trying to fix the problem… if it can be fixed.

[premio]

[QUOTE=K1219;1372204]Hello! I was wondering if someone could help me with a problem that I’ve been having with DIRECTV since it was installed at my new home a year ago. Horizontal green lines have been popping up all over the screen. It isn’t the cables, as it happens with both of our installed receivers. It isn’t the TVs, because I’ve recorded the green lines and captured the frames to my computer. A DIRECTV technician is coming to look next week, but I have a feeling that they won’t quite understand what I’m talking about or why these lines bother me. They pop up every now and then throughout the day… sometimes a whole lot at once. I’ve noticed these on my brother’s DISH signal as well. When I lived in a different town, I didn’t have this problem with DIRECTV.

Here are some photographs of my problem. I captured them from a black and white movie, because that is when they are the most noticeable. To give you an idea of how often this can occur, these four frames are within the same minute.

[QUOTE]

What Cables? Component or HDMI? I know you've eliminated them as the cause, but wether the transmission is occuring digitally or analog can make a difference.

Are you apt to use a multimeter on the coax lines? To unplug from the receiver and see if any voltage is on the line with the LNB's not reciving power from the receivers?

Maybe try only having 1 receiver connected instead of the other, as the receiver could be sending bad voltage up the pipe so to speak?

Just random thoughts.

[litzdog911]

....

I’m beginning to wonder if all satellites (DIRECTV, DISH, etc.) have these green lines from time to time, but most people don’t notice them because they aren’t watching black and white movies on Turner Classic Movies. It’s hard to notice them in color.

.....


Sorry that your problem was not fixed. I can assure you that this is not "normal" or "typical".

Keep us posted. I'm still stumped.

[WoolwichME]

I’m beginning to wonder if all satellites (DIRECTV, DISH, etc.) have these green lines from time to time, but most people don’t notice them because they aren’t watching black and white movies on Turner Classic Movies. It’s hard to notice them in color.

FWIW, we watch a LOT of Turner Classic Movies (also a lot of B&W movies on FMC and MGMHD) and haven't seen this. Sorry you're having this problem and hope you can find and fix it.

Mel

[K4SMX]

...... They pop up every now and then throughout the day… sometimes a whole lot at once. I’ve noticed these on my brother’s DISH signal as well. When I lived in a different town, I didn’t have this problem with DIRECTV.......
.....and I’ve noticed that the green lines pop up at different times on each one. We never have them pop up at the same time on both receivers.
The DIRECTV technician came Monday, but the green lines came back shortly after. While he was here, the technician took a look at the screen shots I captured. He quickly said it was an electrical problem and went out to our satellite dish. A few minutes later, he came back in and said that a wire had been loose, so the problem should be fixed. There may have been a loose wire, but I guess that wasn’t the source of the problem......
This does appear to be an electrical "noise" issue of some type, and it's significant that your brother, whom I assume lives somewhat near you, experiences this issue using an entirely different satellite provider. That could indicate the problem is with your electric utility.

Perhaps others can post their recommendations with the various models/manufacturers of power conditioning equipment, which is designed to filter such anomalies in the 120 VAC.

However, it's also possible that there is an electrical device in your home (as well as possibly your brother's) which is generating electrical noise. You should check this out before blaming the power company. You can test for this by going through your electrical panel and turning off circuits one-by-one to isolate any such equipment when you are seeing the "green line." Equipment with motors/compressors are a prime suspect, although you should include all your circuits. (Sorry about having to reset all your clocks! :) ) Electrical motor/compressor noise appearing in your otherwise normal video usually is not an RF frequency issue, which would show up as pixelation, but instead is actual distortion in the 120 VAC, which flows through the power supply circuits right into the video output.

Neither of the above theories adequately explain why you don't see the problems simultaneously on both receivers. However, it's possible that whatever is causing the noise is in fact present simultaneously at both receivers, but they don't succumb to the point of actually showing the interference simultaneously.

You never specifically covered how your grounding system is installed. Do you have grounding blocks on your coax lines? Is your dish grounded and how? That would be useful information. That said, proper grounding won't necessarily correct this type of problem, but improper grounding should be corrected as a logical first step.

[samrs]

If you have phone lines connected...

[litzdog911]

On the theory that it might be noise coupled via the electric utility ....

Is your equipment powered with an uninterruptable power supply (UPS)? A UPS should provide isolation from electic utility noise. Might be worth a try. A good quality 350VA-500VA UPS costs under $50.

[K4SMX]

On the theory that it might be noise coupled via the electric utility ....

Is your equipment powered with an uninterruptable power supply (UPS)? A UPS should provide isolation from electic utility noise. Might be worth a try. A good quality 350VA-500VA UPS costs under $50.
Well that is the question. My impression from very little research, since I've never had the problem, is that equipment which actually conditions and filters AC power for something other than voltage spikes is not inexpensive and is not included in your average $50 UPS. I'm sure there are folks here with computer infrastructure responsibilities who know a lot more about the issue of dealing with "trashy power" than I do. That said, it's certainly a good idea to have a UPS on all DirecTV receivers, and mandatory for DVR receivers.

Meanwhile, lets see if the OP possibly has a local noise source and not jump off that bridge before we come to it.

[K1219]

Today I did a new test. I watched a movie and recorded it (on my DVD recorder) at the same time. I usually notice the green lines through my DVD recorder overlay, so I decided to watch it straight from the receiver. When I watched the DVD I recorded, I noticed lines popping up at times when I didn’t recall seeing them throughout the film.

I thought I had seen the green lines when my recorder wasn’t connected, but now I’m beginning to wonder. I had questioned whether my DVD recorder was going bad and causing the problem a long time ago, but the only thing that stumps me about that theory is the green lines on my sister’s DVR—usually noticed on movies that she has recorded. Could it be possible that my recorder and her DVR have the same problem? I could believe it with my 4+ year old recorder. The DVR has been acting up, too. It will look as though it is recording at times when it isn’t and will sometimes try to delete movies right in the middle. We have already requested a new DVR. I’m wondering if that, along with a new DVD recorder on my end, might solve the trouble.

Then again, I could have missed those green lines during the movie… but I really don’t I did.

I hope that will be the solution— If it is, I’ll feel silly for not figuring it out long ago!

Thanks again for the suggestions! I will keep you updated.

[litzdog911]

Certainly you should remove the DVD Recorder from the equation. Disconnect it for a while until you can verify that it's the cause of the problem.

[RobertE]

Just my $0.02 worth.

If the lines appear in the same spot during a recording, then the interference is causing an issue somewhere bet the sat itself up to the point that the data stream is recorded to the HD.

If the lines do NOT appear in the same spot, then the interference is somewhere between the data being read from the HD up to and including the display itself.