Damn "Cheese-Grater" Lines!!!

 

New member
Username: Technophobe72

Tennessee USSA

Post Number: 2
Registered: Dec-05
I got a new a/v switch, new splitter, new cables, and, after reading David Massey's advice to another poster, switched out my year-old and over-worked GO + VIDEO combo with my sister's, which had hardly been used.



The first couple of weeks, everything seemed fine, and I did a lot of dubbing. BUT NOW, IN SPITE OF ALL MY BEST EFFORTS, THE DAMN "CHEESE-GRATER" LINES ARE BACK!!! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!! :-(



So now I'm asking, for the second time, DOES ANYBODY KNOW WHAT CAUSES THE DAMN THINGS?!!!? Surely somebody else has had this problem besides me.



They're only on Channels 3 and 4, the channels that VCRs come through on, but they're there whether either of my combos is turned on or not.
 

Gold Member
Username: Samijubal

Post Number: 2103
Registered: Jul-04
What are you watching, cable, antenna? How is everything connected?
 

New member
Username: Technophobe72

Tennessee USSA

Post Number: 3
Registered: Dec-05
I've got an a/v switch that's mounted on my entertainment center, about six inches below my TV set. The TV is plugged into the top port of it, by way of a standard cable, and, on the bottom are two video cables, running from there to the backs of my two combos.



The splitter itself is on the shelf below the two combos, with two coaxial cables (black with gold washer thingies on the ends) running from the "OUT" ports of it to the backs of the combos, and the actual cable wire (black like the others, but with cheaper-looking metal washer thingies) coming up from the floor through special holes cut in the back of the entertainment center, plugged into the "IN" port.



Everything is plugged into a power strip on the bottom shelf of the entertainment center.



I've got some photos of the configuration that I took with my Mom's digital camera that I'll try to cut and paste into this, but considering my *VERY* limited computer skills, it probably won't work:



Attachment 1: Dec wiring 001.jpg (image/pjpeg)

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Attachment 4: Dec wiring 004.jpg (image/pjpeg)

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Attachment 7: Dec wiring 007.jpg (image/pjpeg)



If, however, you are unable to click on the URLs and get the photos to come up, I can send them to you in e-mail form, which would probably actually work.



Otherwise, I hope I've described it well enough for you to understand.



Right now, the "cheese-grater" lines are gone, but, when they do appear, they appear whether I've got the combos on or am just watching basic cable with my TV remote.



For some reason or other, when I change the channels with my TV remote, Channels 4, 5, and 6 won't even come up unless I enter them manually. :-/ If I just hit the "up" or "down" arrows, the channels skip from 3 to 8. Whether that has anything to do with it or not, I don't know. But it's kinda weird, either way.



Right now, instead of the "cheese-grater" lines, my sister's combo is just doing a lousy job of copying, basically. I tried to copy a DVD the other day, ----a brand new, excellent quality DVD---, and what happened was, whenever the screen would go to black, there would be all these little white dots and gashes running up and down the picture, kinda like a an old pre-rec (store-bought) VHS that's starting to go bad, even though I used a brand-new Maxell tape. :-(



And, Friday night, when I taped something off of C-SPAN, the same thing happened: the picture had a kind of jittery quality to it, like it had been shot with an unsteady camera, and, about every 40-60 seconds, I would see a white gash on one side of the screen or the other. :-/



So, the one thing that I know for sure is this: WHATEVER IS WRONG HAS *NOTHING* TO DO WITH MY SONY COMBO.



Either the heads of my sister's former combo are extremely dirty, (In which case, I may just be S.O. L., since the cleaner tape I've been using to clean my VCR heads was made back in 1988, and, in terms of its outward appearance, is even dirtier than 90% of the VHS tapes that I own. :-( ) or, more likely, there is some kind of electromagnetic interference going on, due to the way my stuff is hooked up.



Are the individual cables not supposed to cross or touch each other? :-/ Because, with the way my equipment is configured, I'm afraid that can't be helped. :-(



Anyway, I hope I've been able to explain things to some degree of clarity.



I usually tend to probably give out more information than is necessary, and write these rather lengthy posts, which tend to get ignored on these types of forums.



I guess I maybe went a bit too far in the other direction with this last one, but, I'm afraid the whole situation is just pretty danged complicated, and simply can't be explained in three or four paragraphs.



Thanks in advance for your help. :-)

 

Gold Member
Username: Samijubal

Post Number: 2160
Registered: Jul-04
If using coax cables, make sure they are screwed on tight, they won't ground right unless they are tight. If possible, use RCAs from the combo to the TV, the picture quality will be better and the audio will be stereo, with coax it's mono. Try autoprogramming the channels on the TV to get 4-6. If you're using RG59 cable, you could try RG6 instead, the loss is much lower with RG6. To copy DVDs, you need a stabilizer. Recording problems are pretty hard to pinpoint without seeing the recording and the machine.
 

New member
Username: Technophobe72

Tennessee USSA

Post Number: 4
Registered: Dec-05
All of the cables are screwed in tight. I checked.



The cables I'm using from the combos to the TV are just called "video cables". That's what it said on the boxes, anyway. It says "RG59/U" on them, and they are light grey in color.



What does an RCA cable look like? Do they sell them at Radio Shack? I got all the others at Wal-Mart....which might be part of the problem right there. How much do they cost? I only need about three feet.



How much do those stabilizers cost?



The weird thing about copying DVDs, though, is that, the first two or three that I copied did fine. They were all copied from the DVD player to the VHS of the GO + VIDEO combo.



The thing of it is, though, you weren't just kidding about the combos made by that company being cheap pieces of you know what. ;-( Half the time, when I would try to play a DVD on it, even if it was brand new, the machine would reject it as a "BAD DISC". :-/ And my sister's, being an identical model to mine, though considerably less used, does no better.



And the new Sony combo I've got is rigged so it can't copy DVD to VHS. :-(



So, what I've been doing, the last few times, is playing the DVD on the Sony and taping it on the GO + VIDEO. And, ever since I've been doing that, the picture has been looking all grainy and jittery on the finished product. So I guess it could just be the video cables causing the problem. :-/



The one thing I can't figure out, though, is why it would do the same thing when just taping something off of basic cable. The video cables don't even come into play with that scenario. :-/



Are they still making head-cleaner tapes for VHS?
 

Gold Member
Username: Samijubal

Post Number: 2176
Registered: Jul-04
I think they still make head cleaning tapes, they don't do a whole lot. RCA cables are what's used for stereo equipment, CD players, etc. They should be used to connect the record and play machines. If you are looking to do DVDs, a burner for the PC would be better and cheaper than a good stabilizer. You can get a stabilizer for $20 plus shipping, but they aren't very good for DVDs, just VHS. A good stabilizer is around $70-$100 or more. You can get a good burnrer for about $40.
 

New member
Username: Technophobe72

Tennessee USSA

Post Number: 5
Registered: Dec-05
Hmmm....I think I see what you're saying about the "RCA cables". They are what I referred to as a/v or "piggyback" cables. That's what I've always used for dubbing from one combo to the other.



They actually came with the GO + VIDEO combo when I got it. They fell in the floor a couple of times, and got walked on, so, last December, I replaced them with the ones that came with my sister's combo.



So.... I don't think that could be the problem, anyway. Not unless there is some particular brand of a/v cable that you use that does better than the generic one that GO + VIDEO puts in the box with their combos. Is there? :-/



When you said "RCA cable", I had assumed you were referring to the brand name, but I guess you must've thought I was connecting the combos with one of those gray wires with the gray and red ends on it that only gives you mono sound instead of stereo.



But, no, I had the red/yellow/white a/v cable all along. The kind that's used for stereo equipment has a bigger prong at the end, and wouldn't fit the ports on my combos.



I'm not really that interested in burning DVDs, though. Most of them have anti-copying protections encoded into them, anyway, and, being the cyber-illiterate that I am, I wouldn't have the foggiest clue how to get around them. :-/



What I am interested in doing, more than anything, is copying DVDs onto VHS, and vice versa, if possible.



You see, the whole reason I wanted to get two VCRs in the first place was to make "theme" videos. (For example, putting all of the filmed versions of ALICE IN WONDERLAND, HUCKLEBERRY FINN, etc. on a series of Maxell VHS tapes, in chronological order.)



That and to upgrade the many movies I had originally taped on "cheapo" VHS tapes (Polaroid, JVC, Sony, etc.) over the years when I had DSS satelite onto Maxell tape.



Ultimately, I would also like to transfer everything I have on VHS now over to DVD, assuming I live long enough to do it, that is. ;-) (I've got thousands of movies, averaging about three for every six-hour VHS.)



I saw this combo advertized in a Wal-Mart flier that claimed it had both a standard DVD burner and a thing that would transfer VHS onto a DVD-R disc.



Considering that it was in a Wal-Mart flier, I'm assuming that that one is probably a cheap piece of crap, but are you aware of any high-quality machines that can do that? Just curious.



Also, I hate to say it, but now the damn white gashes and grainy-looking picture are on practically EVERY channel I turn to, whether I've got the combos turned on or not. :-(



So, now I've come to the conclusion that either my TV is just started to go out on me, or, otherwise, either the a/v switch and/or splitter need to be replaced. :-/



But I just got the splitter and a/v switch last December, so to have to replace them this soon seems a bit ridiculous. :-(



At any rate, I know all the connections are good and tight. I checked them.



The only other possibility is that maybe the cable that connects the TV to the a/v switch is going bad? I have no idea how old it is. I've been using the same one since December 2004. It was one of my grandpa's rejects that he brought down with him.



The TV is a Sanyo, and I got it in February of '05. It shouldn't be going bad this soon, either. :-(



Grant it, I spat on the screen a couple of times, but I've done that with every TV I've had since I've been living down here. You know how it is. Sometimes you just can't restrain yourself. ;-) lol.



Problem is, I'm afraid that, to try to wash off the spit stains with a wet cloth would probably do more harm than the spit itself, especially since this one, like my last one, has a lot of little sound holes on the bottom of the console.



That's probably what messed up the audio on my last set. Water got in those sound holes when I was trying to clean the spit stains off the screen. My Dad was able to get it fixed fairly cheaply, and he has it now.



Is there a particular brand of splitter and a/v switch that you swear by, or are they all pretty much the same?



A guy on another forum told me that a/v switches were "notoriously unreliable", but I don't know whether he knew what he was talking about or not.



At any rate, it seems like kind of a waste of money to be buying a new one every month or so, if they're THAT unreliable. :-/
 

Gold Member
Username: Samijubal

Post Number: 2425
Registered: Jul-04
I used a video switcher for a year or more without any problems. It was just a Radio Shack so it wasn't high quality or anything. Try connecting something that's having problems straight to the TV and see what it looks like, if it's fine, then it might be the switcher, if it still looks crappy, then it's not the switcher. The more equipment any signal goes through, the weaker the signal will be. Everything should be connected by the most direct route possible.
If you want a DVD recorder, buy it seperate, combos are far more problem prone than seperates. If any of the tapes are copy protected, you can't do them on a combo without a seperate VCR anyway. If any of the tapes are copy protected, you'll need a stabilizer to copy them.
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