kjb86 Posted September 30, 2012 Share Posted September 30, 2012 Hi there,Purchased a new house in May. Had Control4 installed by dealer. HC-800 running whole-home automation. I've had 2 major issues that get very frustrating, and the dealer hasn't really solved my problems. I was wondering if anyone on here had any idea as to why these issues are happening.1) Interference - when I say this, I am talking about when the TV is on, and certain lights are on but dimmed, the TV has some major interference issues (picture flickering, audio cut in/out). This TV is in the living room. These lights are affected by the kitchen (both pot lights and island lights), outside patio lights, dining room lights. It's very frustrating because if watching TV I can't dim the lights to conserve energy. I am not an electrician, but I don't see how a light can affect a picture on a TV.2) Cable Box with SRT-250 - One issue I am having is a severe slowness with the cable box. Sometimes pushing Guide on the remote doesn't even bring it up. It constantly freezes up on me at times as well and I have to completely reboot the system. Flipping through the guide is slow and sometimes stops responding. I checked the IR heads and they match up with the IR in the cable box. Could anyone have a hint to explain this issue as well?Thank you for your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prabeau Posted September 30, 2012 Share Posted September 30, 2012 I had the same issue with my Sr250 and it turn out it was the batteries……should you be so lucky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjb86 Posted September 30, 2012 Author Share Posted September 30, 2012 unfortunately no, that did not solve anything when I did have to change the batteries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogdvr Posted September 30, 2012 Share Posted September 30, 2012 When you say TV, what is playing on your TV, over the air stations? DVD player? Cable box?. Details are important here.How is that item connected to your TV.Can you reproduce this problem with every light you listed. Do they all have to be on for it to happen? does it happen every time?No one can accurately diagnose "when watching my TV I get interferrance" without alot more informationBrent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avittech Posted September 30, 2012 Share Posted September 30, 2012 I would bet you are using an hdmi balun to your tv and have not used shielded cable or hdbase-t balun. What are you rebooting? The cable box or control4? Do you have any control4 lighting? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digitaltrader Posted September 30, 2012 Share Posted September 30, 2012 I would bet you are using an hdmi balun to your tv and have not used shielded cable or hdbase-t balun. What are you rebooting? The cable box or control4? Do you have any control4 lighting?I agree, then number one cause would be an HDMI balun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjb86 Posted September 30, 2012 Author Share Posted September 30, 2012 When you say TV, what is playing on your TV, over the air stations? DVD player? Cable box?. Details are important here.How is that item connected to your TV.Can you reproduce this problem with every light you listed. Do they all have to be on for it to happen? does it happen every time?No one can accurately diagnose "when watching my TV I get interferrance" without alot more informationBrentHi Brent,It happens with both the DVD Player and Cable box.It's connected with an HDMI Balun (Binary).Every light that I did list affects the picture and audio. In fact, there are even more things. The gas stove top when being lit interrupts the picture, as well as when the bathroom fans (any of them in the house) turn off. Igniting the fireplace also causes the interference. They don't all have to be on. Just any one of them at any given time. And it does happen every single time.Sorry for the lack of information with regards to the first post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjb86 Posted September 30, 2012 Author Share Posted September 30, 2012 I would bet you are using an hdmi balun to your tv and have not used shielded cable or hdbase-t balun. What are you rebooting? The cable box or control4? Do you have any control4 lighting?Avittech, you are correct. It was hooked up with a Binary HDMI Balun.When you say shielded cable, which cable are you talking about? I can verify what is hooked up.When rebooting, I have to reboot the cable box. And yes, I have all control4 lighting. Only thing control4 i don't have is HVAC as I never bothered to get the thermostat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjb86 Posted September 30, 2012 Author Share Posted September 30, 2012 Just to report back.The Baluns are Binarys and the matrix is the B-300.HDMI cables are Monster HDMI's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avittech Posted September 30, 2012 Share Posted September 30, 2012 Those baluns are very susceptible to lighting interference. You are supposed to use cat6 shielded with no keystones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgbrown Posted September 30, 2012 Share Posted September 30, 2012 It could be a grounding issue. You can try using a ground lifter with you TVs power cord for testing. It is not recommended you run this way as there is a potential safety issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjb86 Posted September 30, 2012 Author Share Posted September 30, 2012 Those baluns are very susceptible to lighting interference. You are supposed to use cat6 shielded with no keystones.After poking around, I can definitely tell you the dealer did not use shielded cat5 cable.Does that mean the entire house would have to be re-wired with shielded? or Just shielded cable going into the matrix? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexasBill Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 Those baluns are very susceptible to lighting interference. You are supposed to use cat6 shielded with no keystones.After poking around' date=' I can definitely tell you the dealer did not use shielded cat5 cable.Does that mean the entire house would have to be re-wired with shielded? or Just shielded cable going into the matrix?[/quote']I would go shielded into the matrix and see if that solves the issue.Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avittech Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 And it sounds like your cable box has an issue and should be replaced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avittech Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 Just shielded on the baluns Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjb86 Posted October 1, 2012 Author Share Posted October 1, 2012 Just shielded on the balunsok i'll go buy a small length of cat6 shielded tomorrow for the balun on this tv and see if it makes a difference. Just got to figure out how to wire it into the IR head I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digitaltrader Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 The best solution is to replace the hdmi balun with a HDBaseT HDMI unit and it will solve the issue as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjb86 Posted October 1, 2012 Author Share Posted October 1, 2012 The best solution is to replace the hdmi balun with a HDBaseT HDMI unit and it will solve the issue as well.would that work with the binary matrix? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digitaltrader Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 The best solution is to replace the hdmi balun with a HDBaseT HDMI unit and it will solve the issue as well.would that work with the binary matrix?It would work only if the output out of the matrix is HDMI and not directly to a cat5. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digitaltrader Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 The best solution is to replace the hdmi balun with a HDBaseT HDMI unit and it will solve the issue as well.would that work with the binary matrix?It would work only if the output out of the matrix is HDMI and not directly to a cat5.The SNAP AV HDMI matrix is full of issues and not know to be a reliable unit as compared to HDBaseT products. It is equivalent to a mono price unit for the CI market. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjb86 Posted October 1, 2012 Author Share Posted October 1, 2012 would that work with the binary matrix?It would work only if the output out of the matrix is HDMI and not directly to a cat5.The SNAP AV HDMI matrix is full of issues and not know to be a reliable unit as compared to HDBaseT products. It is equivalent to a mono price unit for the CI market.Good to know. My dealer all along has seemed to be not really knowledgeable. They only gave me the Binary version because the original component matrix didn't have the proper drivers for the 800.How and where could I get some better equipment then (like the ones you've listed) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogdvr Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 It would work only if the output out of the matrix is HDMI and not directly to a cat5.The SNAP AV HDMI matrix is full of issues and not know to be a reliable unit as compared to HDBaseT products. It is equivalent to a mono price unit for the CI market.Good to know. My dealer all along has seemed to be not really knowledgeable. They only gave me the Binary version because the original component matrix didn't have the proper drivers for the 800.How and where could I get some better equipment then (like the ones you've listed)What?Please expand on that statement. (if you don't mind) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjb86 Posted October 1, 2012 Author Share Posted October 1, 2012 The SNAP AV HDMI matrix is full of issues and not know to be a reliable unit as compared to HDBaseT products. It is equivalent to a mono price unit for the CI market.Good to know. My dealer all along has seemed to be not really knowledgeable. They only gave me the Binary version because the original component matrix didn't have the proper drivers for the 800.How and where could I get some better equipment then (like the ones you've listed)What?Please expand on that statement. (if you don't mind)Sorry my bad for poor communication.When the dealer first came to the house, the original matrix was a CE Labs component matrix. For whatever reason (I think they remember saying they were having issues with drivers) it would not work. That's when they ordered the Binary HDMI matrix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogdvr Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 Oh ok.switching from component to HDMI is a BIG step, and should only be done when necessary.Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digitaltrader Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 I have been using the Atlona HDBaseT matrix without issues. There are drivers in the C4 database as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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