TV/Virgin mystery- any TV experts?

[von]

I'm hoping there might be a TV engineer who can shed some light on my problem. My provider is Virgin; phone, broadband and TV. I have a the V+hd box. A few months back the TV started playing up. When first switched on the sound is fine but the picture comes and goes. It flickers on and off for about half an hour or so then settles down to normal. When this started back in August I first called Virgin's technical help; the operator told me he could test it over the phone lines and informed me there was a problem with the box. They sent an engineer who confirmed this and replaced the box. It worked fine for an hour after he left, then the problem started again. Virgin then sent a second engineer who fiddled about with it and told me it was not the box but that my TV was at fault, that the hd connector was probably damaged and I should buy a new TV. I asked why the first guy hadn't said that and he just shrugged. He removed the hd connector and used scart leads to connect it all. There was no improvement and he left insisting that it is the tv at fault. As I can't really afford to buy a new tv at the moment I am not sure what to do. In my experience with Virgin over the years it's not uncommon to be told different things by different engineers! Also I have found that if I switch on the telly during the afternoon it often works perfectly. If it is a problem with the TV wouldn't it flicker continuously and never settle? Grateful for any ideas.

[ianr]

IANATVE. What is your TV like when using its own tuner and disconnected from the Virgin box, especially at a time when it's been playing up on the latter? Or when using another external input such as a freeview box or DVD player? If OK, and maybe anyway, I would also try whatever substitution tests were practicable: another TV in place of your own; your TV in someone else's Virgin setup; ...)

(This is another one that isn't really an ED issue, innit? It'll probably be moved elsewhere soon.)

[spanglysteve]

Sounds to me like your box is overheating. Is it in a well ventilated place. It is stacked with other boxes?

[Willard]

What Ian said...

[colbol2010]

Von. I have the exact same thing happening. Does the tv cut out intermitently and you have a grey screen for a millisecond? If so I am convinced it has got to do with the signal not being strong enough. I have had SOOO many problems with Virgin over the years to the point where I managed to get the email of the chief exec, which is when they began to take things seriously. Nobody in my road had TV or internet for a month!! We all got together in the end, contacted South London Press, and surprise, surprise, as soon as a journalist called Virgin we had everything fixed within 2 hours.Assuming he is still CEO try contacting Neil Berkett on [email protected] . Good luck!!