TV Picture Interference

[angelstar819]

I currently have an old Sanyo television in my dorm room, and for some reason, at random times, there would be black and white interference. And then after a few minutes to a few hours, it'll go back to normal. I don't believe the cable to be the problem, but my tv. I also have my samsung VCR connected to it. So I can't seem to figure out what the problem is. Please help! Thanks!

[dkerr]

Some questions....

1. Tv or VCR playback, any difference ?

2. old tv ? does it have a rotary tuner, possibily with a inner fine tuning knob ?

[angelstar819]

I'm not sure exactly what you asked me about the TV/VCR playback. But basically, my cable is connected to the VCR which is connected to the TV. If I watch or play movies on my VCR, it would randomly come up black and white interference. I tried switching the cable to connect to the TV itself, but it still has the same problem.

Regarding your second question, what exactly is a rotary thing?

[Mr T]

If the TV has A/V inputs, connect the VCR via the inputs and try tuning from the VCR.. That will rule out a failing tuner. You probably only have one circuit in your room, and it may share with other rooms.. College kids cant afford too many toys that kick out interference. If you have access to a UPS (uninterupterable power supply), they condition your line. Connecting one of those will rule out AC intereference.

Ever happen during a movie?

What channels does it happen on?

[dkerr]

some older tv's had a channel selector on the front of the tv, that your rotated clockwise or counter-clockwise to change the channel, tuners are a bunch of coils that tune and have a bunch of ball bearing (round) contacts on them that turn as you rotate the channel selector, these have the tendency to become dirty, and cause all sorts of tuning problems / loss of color / break up of video, etc. Adjusting the fine tuning may help also, if your tv has one.

Not sure if yours have one, they can be cleaned, but you would have to remove the back of the tv, remove the cover to the tuner, and with lots of cue tips, lint free cloth & alcohol.

Most newer tv's use elctronic tuners.

If you do have a/v jacks that could be one way around it as Mr T indicated, but older tv's didn't have them.