I just got a new TV. A Memorex MT2024. I don't have cable or anything, The TV is connected to a VCR which is connected to a powered amplifier box. The box's other output is connected to a small TV in another room. The input is connected to the apartments ( common ) roof antenna.
Now the first few years of using it with my old TV, the roof antenna seemed to work fine. In the fourth year, during heavy rains some UHF stations would have poor reception, up to the point where they became unwatchable. When my upstairs neighbor did some renovation that problem seemed to suddenly go away, but a new one showed up.
Most of the stations would be fine.but two would sometimes be good and sometimes be bad. Like they were picking up some noise from some electrical appliances. My other TV seemed to have problems too experience. That's when I got the powered amplifier. That seemed to help but didn't fix the problem completely.
Sorry for all the background. I just wanted to be thorough. Here is my problem. On some channels, there is a horizontal band maybe
1cm thick. It starts at the bottom and scrolls up (takes about 5 seconds). I looks like someone tied a string to the right side of the tv and pulled at the band. It's obvious on the stations that get bad reception, a little less obvious ( but still obvious) for stations that get very good reception but not perfect reception.For stations with perfect reception, the band is still there but it looks different. It looks like a decrease in the brightness settings for the width of the band.
Before I noticed this problem, I spent a couple of hours watching a tape and was toggling the tape and live sports. I noticed the bad image after I shut off the VCR. I can't say whether it was there before or not. The thing is that I see this band only when I am using the TV's tuner. When I use the VCR's tuner I don't see it.
After a while I tried disconnecting the TV from the VCR and plugging in an old TV antenna, the effect mostly goes away. I say mostly, because if you look carefully you can see slightly darker bans scrolling up the TV. It is a little more visible during dark scenes, or when the TV goes black. Then you see a pattern of black and slightly less black scrolling up the screen.
The thing I need most is to figure out whether or not this is the fault of TV, since if I take it back I want to do so as early as possible. Knowing exactly what is wrong would help. Any kinds of tests ( like connecting an old antenna ) that help me narrow down the problem. If it's not the TV but some kind of TVI figuring out what it is ( and hopefully how to get rid of it ) would be a big help. Should I replace the amplifier box?
Thanks