Freeview HD reception troubles?

[FreeLitres]

I hope someone can help with this one.

We got our first ever HD TV yesterday (Samsung 46 inch LCD)

Yesterday we were watching all the HD channels without a problem (BBC1 HD, ITV HD, etc). In fact, they looked amazing!

However, late last night, the HD picture started going really blocky and glitchy and now it is totally un-watchable. The sound is just as bad and keeps cutting out and glitching.

I phoned the Samsung help line and they told me to re-scan the channels and then to do a factory reset. I have done both these and the problem is still there.

I went into the menu and identified that the signal strength was ok (65 to 90/100) but I has a high bit error (2000). Note, this is only on the HD channels as the other channels are fine with no bit error.

Any ideas what might be causing this?

[FreeLitres]

But everything was perfect yesterday.

Why has it all gone to pot today?

We hae friends arriving soon and I was hoping to give them the full HD demo

[FreeLitres]

I think I have identified the problem -

Dodgy coaxial cable.

I noticed that if I held the cable near to where it attaches to the TV, the HD picture would get better. by moving/flexing the cable to a new position it was possible to get the picture back without any glitches at all! I imagine that there must be a break in there somewhere.

I'm definately buying a new coax cable tomorrow!

[FreeLitres]

R60EST said:

Do you have a redundant satellite dish at your property ? You can get a freesat box for <£100 , which will give you a back-up source as well as some channels you don't get on Freeview. You can also get bbc iplayer on them via a network cable and itv player coming soon

Nope - don't have a dish. Our new TV is quite flash though and has a internet connection. I can play YouTube and IPlayer videos - some in HD!

My TV before this was about 20 years old, so I am quite smitten with my new one!