OTA stuttering on Sony TV - Only some shows

[protivakid]

I live in MA where NBC just switched from WHDH to NBC Boston as of Jan 1st. It is being broadcast over 3 different towers and the one I can get is WMFP (a mirror of WBTS) UHF 18 Virtual 60-5.

This channel works fine on 3 of the 4 TV's in my house which are 1080p. However, with my oldest tv, a 720P Sony kdl-32l4000, I see a lot of stuttering. It does not seem to be a reception issue, it's more of a lag like the video slows down and then quickly tries to catch up. Similar to watching an HD movie on an old pc that is not powerful enough. This happens every few seconds. The odd thing is it does not happen with every show, just some shows and commercials while others are fine

I tried to make sure all image processing options were turned off such as "cinemotion" and such but that did not help. Is there a chance the station is broadcasting some shows in 1080p and my 720p is just lagging trying to downscale?

I can sometimes get another NBC station (WJAR) and when I flip to this one the same show will display just fine. It's only the NBC Boston station that I have this issue with.

I have seen a few others having a similar issue when google-ing but no real steps to solve it. Any help is appreciated. Hoping it's not time for this TV to be retired.

[rabbit73]

I answered your question here:
http://www.avsforum.com/forum/166-lc...l#post49549257

Your previous thread on this forum:
WBTS WHDH - Anyone else in MA about to lose their NBC?
http://forum.tvfool.com/showthread.php?t=16180

It's hard to keep track of your problem when it is spread out on different treads.

[protivakid]

Originally Posted by rabbit73

I answered your question here:
http://www.avsforum.com/forum/166-lc...l#post49549257

Your previous thread on this forum:
WBTS WHDH - Anyone else in MA about to lose their NBC?
http://forum.tvfool.com/showthread.php?t=16180

It's hard to keep track of your problem when it is spread out on different treads.

Hi rabbit73,

I appreciate your help but this is a completely different issue. I have taken steps to now pull in the signal that I was having an issue with in the other thread. Now that I have the signal, one of my TV's is having an issue processing it which is what this thread is about.

[rabbit73]

Understood, but your background information helps others who are trying to help you, which is why it is best to keep it all on one thread.

It would have been even better if you had posted both problems on the Help With Reception thread where more people would see them:
http://forum.tvfool.com/forumdisplay.php?f=7

I have taken steps to now pull in the signal that I was having an issue with in the other thread.

What steps have you taken? If you are willing to share that information about how you were able to improve your reception maybe we can learn something from it.

I addressed your NEW issue on your AVS ihread. Did you see it and read it?:

Originally Posted by rabbit73

It is possible that the tuner in the KDL32L4000 isn't as sensitive as the tuners in the other TVs or maybe the signals coming to that TV are weaker because of a longer coax run. It might make a difference with marginal signals.

The tuner in my KDL22L5000 isn't quite as sensitive as the tuner in my 32R400A. Can you switch TV locations to see if it is the TV or the signals?

To test tuner sensitivity, I use an inexpensive adjustable attenuator and a splitter to see which tuner drops out last as I make the signals weaker.
http://www.avsforum.com/forum/186-co...l#post48473881

If it is the signals and not the TV, we might want to look at your tvfool signal report:
http://www.tvfool.com/index.php?opti...pper&Itemid=29

Did you find that my answer for your NEW issue about differences in tuner sensitivity had no merit?

I have 5 Sony TVs, and each has a Diagnostics Screen giving signal strength, SNR and uncorrected errors. I have made tuner sensitivity tests of all 5 using a professional signal level meter (SLM), so I have a good understanding of the differences in tuners.

Did you find that my answer about switching TVs to see if it was the TV or the signals to that TV location had no merit?

Is there a chance the station is broadcasting some shows in 1080p and my 720p is just lagging trying to downscale?

I also said that NBC on WMFP has been scaled to 720P. Did you see that?
http://www.rabbitears.info/market.ph...&callsign=wmfp

Hoping it's not time for this TV to be retired.

I don't think you have made enough tests yet to jump to that conclusion.

When I bought my Sony KDL22L5000, the BestBuy tech said that the L5000 series had a better tuner than the L4000 series.

[protivakid]

Originally Posted by rabbit73

Understood, but your background information helps others who are trying to help you, which is why it is best to keep it all on one thread.

It would have been even better if you had posted both problems on the Help With Reception thread where more people would see them:
http://forum.tvfool.com/forumdisplay.php?f=7

What steps have you taken? If you are willing to share that information about how you were able to improve your reception maybe we can learn something from it.

I addressed your NEW issue on your AVS ihread. Did you see it and read it?:
Did you find that my answer for your NEW issue about differences in tuner sensitivity had no merit?

I have 5 Sony TVs, and each has a Diagnostics Screen giving signal strength, SNR and uncorrected errors. I have made tuner sensitivity tests of all 5 using a professional signal level meter (SLM), so I have a good understanding of the differences in tuners.

Did you find that my answer about switching TVs to see if it was the TV or the signals to that TV location had no merit?
I also said that NBC on WMFP has been scaled to 720P. Did you see that?
http://www.rabbitears.info/market.ph...&callsign=wmfp
I don't think you have made enough tests yet to jump to that conclusion.

When I bought my Sony KDL22L5000, the BestBuy tech said that the L5000 series had a better tuner than the L4000 series.

I know in some forums people get pretty upset if you post a different question under the same topic or in the wrong forum section. I was trying to as best I could place this. I didn't when posting think it was a signal issue as the content comes in, to me it looked more like a TV issue but I am no expert.

To improve signal I just tilted the antenna some and played with the rotator to dial it in. The signal is not as strong as WHDH was but it does come in at least while the leaves are off the trees in the northeast.

On AVS I saw a reply from "Otto Pylot" was that you? The reply mentioned tuner anomalies which if that was the case I didn't think there was much I could do to correct.

I have not swapped TV's but the Samsung TV I have is in the office next room over which has just as long of a coax run and no issue. Still I will try swapping and report back.

I also took a video last night with the diagnostics screen up. You can see the video slow down and then skip a few frames to catch up multiple times in the short video.

https://youtu.be/f8Lt22e8uKA

[rabbit73]

Thank you for the video with the diagnostics screen showing; very helpful.

I think you are correct; it doesn't look like a weak signal problem.

I suggest you post it on your thread at AVS.

Set the camera color balance to daylight or cloudy to reduce the blue cast.

To improve signal I just tilted the antenna some and played with the rotator to dial it in.

Thank you for confirming that tilting can help. Some people doubt that it can help, but my experience says that it can, even with an LOS signal across water.