I commented on this and he agreed, saying they finally learned their lesson. And then he tested the cable for signal strength/loss. I was surprised at the quality of the connector used - it what top quality. A Cox tech came out and re-terminated the cable into the box. I have to say, however, that 2 years ago I had a problem with my DVR/cable box. I asked if your neighbors are having the problems too - did you check?Īnother reason to make your own cables - or at least install your own terminations (connectors). At the very least take care of the splitters. So I wired my house for cable and Ethernet - then put up a new ceiling.Īnyway, my point is, if your cabling is old, and especially uses RG-59, and if planning to stay in that house for a few more years, rewiring may be worth it. I was furious - until I realized I could see all the floor joists for the main level upstairs. That's a very good thing.Īnd right about the same time as that storm, my 30 year-old basement ceiling collapsed. This means I have a straight run, no splices or splitters until it gets to this centrally located closet. When cox came to restore my cable, they put in a whole new cable, leaving me enough slack inside the house to come directly into my middle bedroom/office closet. I had no power for 5 days but that's a different issue. This storm took out 1000s of trees and tree branches including a big one that took out my power and cable cables. The first was a severe storm that came through. I had two unfortunate events that ended up being blessings in disguise. These days they use much better connectors and splitters (if needed) on the outside of the home too. If the drop goes back many years that cable should be replaced too. They need to measure the signal strength entering your home. I would start insisting Cox send a tech out to the house too. The advantage to making your own is if you need a 12 foot cable, you don't have to buy a 25 foot factory made cable. Cheap crimpers will cost you more in the long run, and contribute greatly to high blood pressure and hair loss. This requires a set of "quality" crimpers and some good F-Type coax connectors. So, for example, if you have a 3 way splitter going to the bedrooms but only have two mini-boxes feeding off that splitter, the signal strength is still being divided 3 ways even though one split is unused. Note that unused splits still sap signal strength. You want to use the minimum number of splits and splitters from there. The other feeds all the TVs in the house. I have one 2-way splitter on the coax coming into the house. I think you should get a pad and pencil and map out your cable network. If your house was wired a long time ago, it may use RG-59 coaxial cable. Plus, high definition requires more bandwidth. Splitters don't actually wear out, but they do corrode over time, get full of dust and dirt (and kitchen grease). Analog also had a stronger signal strength and was more tolerant of deviations. That tells me your current splitters are old, and most likely only 1000MHz (or less). Since you are talking about this problem appearing with 3 different mini-boxes, and now you say "warm" instead of "hot", I don't believe this is a heat problem, therefore I don't see how the fans would help.Īnalog went away a long time ago. I have had to do it 3 times over the years with my Cox main cable box/DVR and a couple times to get new remotes - typically in and out in less than 5 minutes. I have never had a problem exchanging devices. How close is your nearest Cox store? If not too far away, just take it back and tell them you want a different one because that one keeps outputting distorted video. I agree that blowing a desk fan onto the box should reveal if heat is a problem. Did you have these boxes last year at this time? Any problems then? Or is this a new problem? This suggests your home is not air conditioned. The fact you say "boxes" - suggesting we are talking about more than one - would suggest to me they are not "over" heating since the odds of more than one failing at the same time would be pretty low - but not impossible.Īre you really saying this distorted video and audio is happening with more than one box?Īre you absolutely sure the coax cable to the mini-box in good repair and securely fastened? And have you swapped HDMI cables? "Hot", in terms of electronics, means to me I can smell " that" smell of overheated electronics, or I cannot keep my hand on it indefinitely without it becoming very uncomfortable, or I would not want my little grandkids to put their hands on it. Without actual numbers, "Hot" is a subjective word. I also have Cox and one of their mini-boxes.
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