Comcast/Xfinity breaking my TV's

[AhmedIlyas]

Hi all! Trying to get help and opinions from different outlets and do value your opinion on this.

 

I have 2 boxes:

 

• DVR
• Bedroom/satellite box

 

2 weeks ago or so, the xfinity technician replaced my aged DVR box. The reason was that it stopped displaying any output after a software update it seemed. Very strange.

Even after swapping the satellite box with the DVR box (as this was happening in the bedroom TV), no difference.

 

The only way I was able to get something was connecting the Coax “Antenna” from the TV to the cable box and I got output. Poor but it’ll do.

 

Tech came and replaced it with a newer gen box. Everything seemed to work just fine.

 

The next day, TV stopped working completely in the sense if, it was flash when switching it on and disappear. You can see the Amazon fire TV home screen for 0.25s or less. This is an Insignia Fire TV.

No matter what I did, nothing worked. I can hear sound but no picture – blank screen.

 

Even if I plug in my laptop to the TV, it would not detect the TV. It tries to connect but fails and cannot find the other display.

I unplugged and pressed the TV power button for 1 minute to try to “Reset” it, but no dice.

 

Furious.

 

Today, I got a new TV. (Same brand, newer model and actually a good price for a bigger one!)

It was working fine.

 

I switched it off… went away for a few hours and come back.

 

Nothing appears. I can hear sound but no picture. I see the TV is turned on as it is not fully black but you can see the whiteness on the entire screen.

I tried to reset it again using the same method (at least I hope that is the same method). I unplugged everything and did not even plug in the HDMI cable but nothing – I do not even see the home screen or the Amazon FireTV start screen.

 

Comcast are saying, of course, that there is nothing wrong with the box (this is over the phone tech support).

 

Um, I am not going to spend another $xxx on a TV for their box to brick it!

 

Anyone know what is going on here? What am I doing wrong? I have 2 bricked or semi-broken TV’s.

I have another TV coming in 2 weeks time for the bedroom to replace the one that seems to be broken. This one that I bought today was for the living room (since I did not have one for the living room.. thought I would buy one).

 

I refuse to believe the new TV already developed some fault with the same characteristics as the bedroom TV and it was working before I switched off the TV.

 

[Chris Pratt]

There is literally nothing the cable box can do over HDMI to brick or otherwise damage your TV. Since the problem persists between different TVs and different cable boxes, it's probably a cable issue. The HDMI cable has poor shielding or signaling, or the length is too long, etc.

[LogicalDrm]

-> Moved to Troubleshooting

[AhmedIlyas]

@Chris Pratt - thanks. But I have been using the same cable for a long time without issues. I even have other HDMI cables and still the same issue so... its not to do with the HDMI cables. The fact that it happens on 2 different TV's, one old and new... with different HDMI cables... and that it started after a new cable box swap out 2 weeks ago which caused my first TV to be bricked.. yeah, it's all too funky for me.

 

Just very confused.