Today on startup, my sister’s TiVo exhibited a weird strobing effect: fast moving faint green and red horizontal lines that appear whenever the television is played through the TiVo. The picture is almost completely drained of color too, even when we watch “live TV” through TiVo.
It happens on all TiVo screens and on playback of TiVo’d programs, but the second the video selector is switched from TiVo to a straight television signal, the TV’s image is perfect.
She hasn’t made ANY recent changes to the TiVo unit or to its connections lately. One day it’s working, the next it’s messed up. This evening, we re-started/rebooted the system, without luck. The TiVo unit still records, but the video image is similarly affected. I checked the connections, but all are good.
The TiVO is a bit over 1 year old. No other symptoms. It is connected to a good voltage suppressor and she doesn’t recall any thunderstorm activity. No other electrical components are affected.
This is really just a WAG on my part, and I am too tired to try to confirm this theory through googling, but perhaps there is another electrical device creating interference? (the screen patterns sound like interference to me) It seems plausible that it could only affect the Tivo and not the TV itself- especially considering many people have their video recorders, game systems, etc., stacked up in a cabinet with the TV in a different position. Is there a new electronic goody in there somewhere?
I’d always try the connections first though. I know you said they were all good, but it may be worth a second look. (Do the connections fit well? Is there an extra cable you can replace it with to test? etc.)
Interesting re: the interference theory. The only thing I forgot to mention is that she noticed that one of her speakers in her basement office in wasn’t working. I moved the lines a bit–away from an electrical line–and voila!, the speaker came to life.
But how could an RF/electrical disruption in a stereo speaker only affect TiVo and not the television picture (without TiVO)? That doesn’t make sense.
BTW, the problem today is not so much strobing as a picture almost devoid of color. Good reception, no color. This happens on all frames and when live television is watched through TiVo. When a direct television pictures is viewed, the picture is perfect.
I have Replaytv. It sometimes goes to black & white. I fix it by making sure all the connections are good (I think it’s the S-Video connection that gets loose).
When you say you re-started/rebooted the system did you actually unplug the power? I’ve had similar problems with my TiVo (Series 1) and unplugging the power for a few seconds always corrects it.