This probably isn’t a good sample, as I only watch Futurama and Family Guy, but at least once during each broadcast on Adult Swim I see bright red splotches that appear for about 5 seconds then disappear. They aren’t in any certain place on the screen - they appear, seem to intensify, then go away.
I’ve never seen them on any of my other cable channels, but every night during Adult Swim they show up at random times during those two shows. Surely this isn’t some form of copy protection?
I’ve never seem them during the Sunday night line-up (basically the only night I watch Adult Swim), but I’ll keep an watch out next week (when they muck up the Sunday line-up yet again…)
Are they blocky blotches or blobby blotches? Blocky would be almost certainly a digital artifact such as a bad connection or similar glitch in a satellite or digital cable hookup. Rounded, blobby shapes would be something else.
They’re more blocky than blobby, but not like what you get when a digital signal reaquires. I have expanded basic cable anyway, not digital, so if that’s it it’s on their end…
I was seeing red blocky blobby blotches, so I lowered my dose slightly and they have gone away. The Nine-Headed Buddah still parachutes in from time to time, though.
Even though I’ve seen all the episodes a million times, I’ve watched both of those shows on Adult Swim several times recently. I never noticed any dots on my DirecTV.
It doesn’t seem like it would make much sense as a copy protection, either. All of the episodes of both series were capped when originally aired on Fox and have been floating around the Internet for years.
It still sounds like digital compression glitches.
Even if you don’t have digital cable, the satellite feeds are still digitally compressed. If enough of the data is lost, the unrecoverable parts of the signal can take on rather interesting geometric forms. The first time I saw one while under the effect of hallucinogens, I was more interested in the artifacts than the actual programming…
The glitch color doesn’t have to be black, though that’s the only color I’ve seen.
It’s a collection of cartoons aimed at older viewers, airing at night and after some warnings for unwary parents who might let their kids stay up extra-late.
