Chromecast causes some interference with Over The Air Reception

greatgoogly

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I've "cut the cord" and use an outdoor antenna with my 4 year old Sanyo HDTV. I noticed once I hooked up my Chromecast to the TV that my reception on several channels became less stable. Basically every few seconds a I'd get a hiccup in the signal where the picture would pixalate and/or the audio who stutter. Once I removed the Chromecast from the HDMI port the TV reception went back to normal. Not a big deal but if I'm going to watch OTA TV I now need to remove the Chromecast from the television.
 

Devlyn16

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I've "cut the cord" and use an outdoor antenna with my 4 year old Sanyo HDTV. I noticed once I hooked up my Chromecast to the TV that my reception on several channels became less stable. Basically every few seconds a I'd get a hiccup in the signal where the picture would pixalate and/or the audio who stutter. Once I removed the Chromecast from the HDMI port the TV reception went back to normal. Not a big deal but if I'm going to watch OTA TV I now need to remove the Chromecast from the television.


How is the antenna connected to the TV? IF it is another HDMI port try switching them around.
 

greatgoogly

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How is the antenna connected to the TV? IF it is another HDMI port try switching them around.
the antenna is connected via the coaxial connection. The other HDMI port is used to feed video from my computer. I'll try switching them and see if that makes any difference.
 

donc13

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I've "cut the cord" and use an outdoor antenna with my 4 year old Sanyo HDTV. I noticed once I hooked up my Chromecast to the TV that my reception on several channels became less stable. Basically every few seconds a I'd get a hiccup in the signal where the picture would pixalate and/or the audio who stutter. Once I removed the Chromecast from the HDMI port the TV reception went back to normal. Not a big deal but if I'm going to watch OTA TV I now need to remove the Chromecast from the television.

Make sure the coax connection from your antenna to the TV is tight AND that the shield on the coax (where it enters your house) has a proper ground/lightning arrestor installed.



Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk
 

DudMc3

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I had the same symptoms for the past couple of weeks. Perfect OTA reception on my PC through a TV tuner, but periodic hiccups on the TV. Running out of things to try, I turned off the wireless router. The hiccups and other symptoms increased. Interesting! When I unplugged the Chromecast the interference stopped immediately. So, when I turned off the wireless router, Chromecast must have stepped up its activity, attempting to restore its connection. I have RJ-6U cable running the 4 feet or so between the back of the TV to the signal splitter; not the quad-shielded variety. The Chromecast is plugged into an HDMI connector which is only 3 cm away from the coax connector. So, even if I had a quad shield RJ-6 conductor there might not be enough shielding inside the TV unit to protect the OTA signal from the Chromecast's RF emission. Despite some expertise in this area I didn't think to suspect the Chromecast's Wi-Fi radio to be the culprit.
 

Carl Edwards4

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just got a Fire Stick and I'm having the same issue. The Fire Stick is creating interference with my over the air tv antenna signal. My signal goes out, tv loses the picture every 10, 20, 30 seconds or so and never has before. I unplugged the power supply from the wall and the interference stops. I unplugged the Fire Stick from the power supply, the power supply still plugged in, interference stops. It's not the power supply, it is the Fire Stick. It's emitting the signal interference. I'm thinking this is not a coincidence that both Chromecast and Fire Sticks have the same issue?
 

DudMc3

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Bummer to hear about Fire TV Stick apparently causing the interference, this is precisely the symptom I experience with Chromecast. Do you have another HDMI port on the TV to try? Perhaps internally there is more shielding around a different HDMI port. Another thing to try, which I haven't, is to purchase a short HDMI extension cable and have the Fire TV Stick dangle a few feet away from the OTA antenna coax cable.
 

Carl Edwards4

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yeah, I've tried moving it around to different ports and that didn't help and now I'm waiting for an hdmi adapter to get it away from the tv. I did talk with FireTVStick support and of course they're totally in the dark about it, don't want to admit the issue. Typical "support" response.
Update: I'm also seeing an issue with FireTV Stick causing interference with my wi fi security cameras. Broken images with Fire Stick on, not so with it unplugged.
 
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Rukbat

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Since there's no harmonic relationship between 2.4GHz and any TV channels used in the US, Chromecast has to be putting out a dirty signal. I don't have a spectrum analyzer any more, but if anyone has, it might be interesting to see if there's anything like a spectrum coming out of the Chromecast, or if it's more like an unmowed lawn. (The noise showing up on spectrum analyzers and radars is called grass.)
 

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