I am aware that there was a thread on this issue that closed a couple of years ago, but I am having the problem now and am looking for solutions. I live ~ 17 miles Southwest of Baltimore. I have an outside antenna (ClearStream 2Max) on my roof pointed to pick up mostly Baltimore stations. I have the Tablo 4th Gen 2 tuner model. I use the Fire TV 4K Max Stick. My unit is connected via WIFI and I have Verizon FIos 1GB service. So I get reliably good signals on WMAR(2-1), WRC(4-1), WTTG(5-1), WBAL(11-1), WBFF(45-1) all the time. However WJZ(13-1) pixelates horribly most of the time. Every now and then the signal from WJZ will be clear and solid, but eventually it pixelates and breaks up to the point of losing the signal and I get the message unable to decode the signal. Is anyone else in the area having this issue, and if so any recommendations? I am aware that it was thought that when the repack was completed and WJZ switched too RF 11 the issues would be solved. But at least in my case the issue is not solved and I am looking for a solution since CBS (specifically WJZ) is our favorite news station. Thanks for any recommendations.
Just to confirm, do you have inline amps or the tablo amp enabled? If so, disabled 1 at a time and or all of them and retest. The signal could be coming too hot.
Thanks for your reply. I do have an inline amplifier installed but the Tablo amp is disabled. When I get home this afternoon I will remove the inline amplifier and test the signal.
Thanks
WJZ is still on the VHF spectrum and therefore may require a specialized antenna. Does yours support VHF frequencies?
Yes my antenna picks up VHF signals. WBAL is VHF and it picks it up fine.
Well, I tried disabling the inline amp. which didn’t correct the pixelating. Then I enabled the Tablo amp. That didn’t correct the problem. Then I disabled both the inline amp and the Tablo Amp. No success. Will keep investigating.
Have you tried doing any channel scans between antenna settings?
Yes channel scans after each antenna settings change.
Just to update you on this issue. It is still there. But what I have been able to determine is that it seems to occur at the same time each day. I have been monitoring this for a few days in a row and have discovered that when I turn the TV on about 4 PM, WJZ displays perfectly (no pixelating) . So I watch for a few hours and all is fine. Then about 8PM it starts to pixelate and continues at least until I go to bed about 10PM. The next day it repeats the pattern. At least it has for the last few days. I am going to observe this for a few more days and try to analyze what this means. It might be that WJZ is changing its broadcasting at certain times of day and it affects viewers in certain areas, like me. SO it may not be a TABLO issue but we will see.
When this happened with a previous user, it turned out to be interference from unshielded garden lighting. Given the hours that it tends to occur, you may want to investigate other things that get turned on in the evenings.
LED lights in fairly close proximity to an antenna have been known to cause issues as well. If you get the interference, consider turning off all lights inside and outside and see if the interference still happens. If it goes away, you probably have a LED bulb causing the interference.
Pixelating has nothing to do with Ethernet/WIFI (buffering does). When diagnosing TV signal issues its antenna signal which has many many variables. So eliminate the variables. Connect your antenna directly to your TV and do a scan. Then see if your TV will show the signal quality (many do) for reference. Based on your distance to the Baltimore tower it should be very good (maybe too good). For this test do not use a 2 or 4 way splitter or any amplification. Watch CBS TV directly from your TV. This is the baseline. Let me know how it goes. Go to https://www.antennaweb.org/results and put your specific address in to see what you should expect via TV signals.
Does an LTE filter only improve UHF reception, or does it improve both UHF and VHF reception?
An LTE filter cuts off all signals above 600 MHz, which is the upper edge UHF channel 36. See Channel Master LTE Filter. Channel 13 is Hi-V(HF) in your area and should not be affected by LTE interference. Go to DTV Reception Maps | Federal Communications Commission for more information.
WJZ (13-1) should be one of your strongest stations. You might need to try repositioning your antenna and trying to go directly into your TV to see if the TV tuner is better. Experiment a little and eliminate as many variables as you can.
A strong signal outside the normal tuning range can still cause problems if there is no form of filter, external or built in. It can overload any circuitry and cause distortion.
So I have been some extensive testing over the last week to try and narrow down what is causing the problem. I connected the antenna directly to my TV and the pixelating was there. I did some steps to eliminate every possible source of interference that I could think of. I believe I have identified the culprit as some LED lights on the 2nd floor hallway. It is really strange because there are LED lights in the Family Room on the first floor where the TV is and those don’t seem to have any effect. However the lights on the 2nd floor hall way seem to produce the pixelation within 30 seconds of turning them on, and it stops within 1 minute of turning them off. I am going to replace those LEDs with some other bulbs and try to confirm this.
As far as signal strength goes WJZ is not among my strongest signals, WMAR TV (2) is. This is consistent with my Rabbit Ears report for my location. The Hi-VHF stations (WJZ, WBAL, WUSA, and WJLA are among my weakest signals. So thanks for the suggestions
Once you eliminate the external LED interference, you may want to make sure you have a good quality coax (RG6) cable and connectors from your antenna to your Tablo. You can also get interference via the coax and cable connects. My house is 34 years old and the original coax and connectors were garbage. I have not yet tried RG11 coax but if I move my antenna from my attic to my roof I’ll probably use RG-11. It has less signal loss (2.5 dB/100 ft).
What was the manufacturer of the LED bulbs?
I can’t read the manufacturer’s name on the bulb I believe it was a bargain bulb from some mail order place that I can’t remember. Anyway, they are gone now. here is a picture of the LEDs I got rid of because the interfered with my OTA signal
jperiod, I remember Tyler the Antenna Man advising someone years ago about LED Bulbs and VHF reception. The person didn’t want to remove them then due to the amount of the investment. Hopefully, removing the LED bulbs fixes your issue.
I have not experienced the pixelation since I removed the bulbs. Now, about the buffering…