I went from an old CRT TV and very basic cable to a brand-new Sharp Aquos HDTV.
I plugged the cable coax into the coax connector on the back of the Sharp and turned it on. Instead of getting anything useful, I see a weird random pattern of colored lines, like some sort of avant garde computer art. Pushing buttons on the remote does nothing. For a moment, I hear sound, then that dies too. I don’t see any obvious damage on the outside of the box.
Is this new HDTV DOA, or is it a problem with my cable? The service coming through the cable is still analog, as far as I know; my old TV was a 20-year-old Sony and I put the cable directly into the back of it without a cable “box” in between.
I’d call Sharp but they are closed for the day; apparently people need help with their TVs only during working hours.
Check the setup. Is the HDTV set up for cable?
Of course, if you can’t even get to the setup menu, you may indeed have a DOA.
Is your cable digital? If so, can the TV receive digital cable? If not, you’ll still need a digital cable box.
I don’t really know how cable works in the US, so this may be a stupid question: Is your new TV tuned to an analogue channel, or is it on a channel expecting a digital connection? Flick through the channels and see if things change.
You need to get a digital cable box. Or better yet, Tivo.
I have contacted Sharp and sent them pictures of the screen. Based on my observations and the opinions of others I have asked, I am pretty sure that the TV was DOA. Two people have reported similar problems, but assured me that Sharp is quite responsive in fixing the problem.
It’s not been a good year so far.