Haunted TV! what th'...???

[woodman]

a couple of years ago we got a good deal on a "reconditioned" RCA TV at a local appliance store. it's worked great until recently ... now, every once in a while, it just turns itself off!

it's disconcerting when it happens during a show or game, but usually it blinks out when the show is transitioning to commercial or from commercial to show. it may not happen for hours, then happen every 20 minutes or so for the rest of the night.

so .... has the Bermuda Triangle shifted to the northwest? is our house built on an ancient burial mound? has some electronic hoodoo infected the TV to the point it needs a tinfoil hat? or is there a logical explanation?

[Southern Ill]

Call TAPS....Ghost Hunters!!

I was watching the other night with my daughter and they was having a little Celtic Jam session......SOund pretty good too.

[Telehackster]

"They're ba-a-a-a-ck!"

[SMPTE]

The part of the circuit that provides power to the tube has some how gone faulty (probably).

What's probably happening is: The amount of power needed for the gun does down when it goes to black, then when it comes up the pull is more than it can manage and it loses power.

Best guess? The big caps in the power supply have gone south.

It can probably be fixed.

[SixStringSlinger]

I had a CD player go whacky on me once, but then I had Robert Johnson in the CD changer, so I have an excuse.

[Daddydex]

I had an RCA TV a couple of years ago that used to just start changing channels by itself. I watch some pretty crappy shows but...

Dan

[Nick JD]

Reminds me of a funny story, Woodman.

I was living in a beach suburb called Bondi in Sydney a few years back in a small apartment building on the second floor. We looked across and down to the people living on the first floor of the apartment next door.

One night while me and my roomies were bored I was kinda "checking out" the neighbours and I could see their TV. I noticed it was a Sony. I looked at our TV. It too was a Sony - pretty much looked like the same model, if not the same run of models.

So I grabbed the TV remote, pointed it across and down through the two windows (probably twenty or thirty feet) and hit the red "off" button. Their TV flicked off. Me and my roomies watched them get up and check it all out, turn it back on, discuss it a lot and then finally sit back down and watch their program again.

Whereabouts we turned their TV off again . By this time they were very confused and I had nearly wet my pants with laughing so hard.

When they were out we would change all the settings on their TV. The best one was at 2am we would come home from the pub, turn on their TV, quickly mute the sound and then turn it up really loud and then un-mute it. Watch as all the lights next door went on and they sleepily unplugged their TV.

Man we had a lot of fun until they found out. They were so relieved that their house didn't have a poltergeist that they found it funny.

How close is your neighbour's house? Remote control frequencies often overlap...

[Jakedog]

You may have cross talk going on. It sounds totally implausible, but I have actually seen it happen. If you have a neighbor close enough, with a remote, or even a garage door opener or somehting similar operating on your TV remote's frequency, it may be affecting your set.

I once stayed in a hotel suite while on tour. Three rooms, three TV's, all on the same remote frequency. We drove each other bonkers before we figured out what was going on.

EDIT: Nick types faster than I do!!

[sean79]

Originally Posted by Jakedog

You may have cross talk going on. It sounds totally implausible, but I have actually seen it happen.

What's funny is that woodman's neighbor is probably complaining to someone right now about how his TV keeps turning itself on every 20 minutes or so after he shut it off.

[garytelecastor]

They're Hhhheeeeeerrrrrrreeee!!!!!!!!!

[garytelecastor]

Originally Posted by sean79

What's funny is that woodman's neighbor is probably complaining to someone right now about how his TV keeps turning itself on every 20 minutes or so after he shut it off.

Now dat's funny right der, I tells ya, dat's funny!!!!!

[woodman]

we're on a big lot, at least 60 yards from a house in any direction, so i don't think it's the crosstalk syndrome (although that would be a hoot!). so far, i'm leaning toward SMPTE's theory about the power supply ... but i still may try the tinfoil hat!

[garytelecastor]

Originally Posted by woodman

.... but i still may try the tinfoil hat!

I wear my tinfoil hat everywhere. It keeps the CIA and Home Security from reading my thoughts and transmitting those horrible voices.
It's also quite stylish.

Attachment 13114

[SMPTE]

Originally Posted by garytelecastor

I wear my tinfoil hat everywhere. It keeps the CIA and Home Security from reading my thoughts and transmitting those horrible voices.
It's also quite stylish.

Attachment 13114

You get picked for jury duty alot don'tcha?

[1293]

Originally Posted by garytelecastor

I wear my tinfoil hat everywhere. It keeps the CIA and Home Security from reading my thoughts and transmitting those horrible voices.
It's also quite stylish.

Attachment 13114

I wear mine everywhere too, but the voices are still getting through. I think I need to step up to some Reynolds Heavy Duty. That's what I wanted to use in the first place but the voices talked me into the cheap store brand. I should have known better.

[SixStringSlinger]

Originally Posted by 1293

I wear mine everywhere too, but the voices are still getting through. I think I need to step up to some Reynolds Heavy Duty. That's what I wanted to use in the first place but the voices talked me into the cheap store brand. I should have known better.

Yo gotta make sure the shiny side is on the outside.

[Tele Fan]

Just remember if you have metal fillings in your teeth no amount of tinfoil hat can protect you. You have to rap the foil around your teeth.

[neocaster]

My grandparents lived in a neighborhood very close to the Philadelphia International Airport. About 20 years ago, everybody's garage doors started randomly opening themselves. It turned out that some navigational radio frequencies from aircraft and towers were bleeding into the openers' range. There's a lot of this, like wireless land-line based phones sharing spectrum space with wireless network interfaces. Sometimes I wonder if there's anybody paying attention at the FCC.

Edit - Added: There's a nice toy at www.thinkgeek.com called the ninja remote. It's a small remote that scans through multiple code sets until it finds one that works on a device. Then you have a remote on your keychain for the tv/stereo/cable box... Lots of fun. (Mrs Neo dropped one in my stocking a few years back)