TV screen constantly goes to black for a few seconds

[SandiCW1]

It only happens on one of our TV's, but it's getting pretty annoying. It happens on all different channels and at all different times. It only goes to black for a few seconds and then comes right back on. Only the picture goes black. The audio never goes out. I've checked all the cables and everything is secure. Could it be the box? Any ideas would be appreciated.

[logan81 · Accepted solution]

If you could do one thing for me it would greatly help in diagnoising the problem. With your TV on press the guide button. your guide menu should come up and it leaves a broadcast window in the upper right hand corner. Leave it like this until the screen goes black again and answer this question, Does the entire screen (including guide) go black or just the broadcast window (upper right corner, the actual tv program). If the entire screen goes black then I can guess that it is your HDMI cable (cable connect the box to the television) that has gone bad. If only the broadcast screen goes black then it is a problem with the video signal coming from Verizon equipment. Hope this helps, let me know if I was confusing.

[SandiCW1]

It's  taken me a while to reply because I don't generally watch that TV. My parents, who are 78 and 82, watch this one. The amount of time the screen goes black is so short that they haven't been able to get the remote and hit the Guide button before the picture comes back again. I was watching with them today and even I wasn't quick enough, but once I pressed the guide button, the whole screen was black, but then the whole guide screen came up. It's hard to tell if it was still black after pressing guide, or if there was just a split second delay when I pressed the guide button.  I'll keep trying to catch it at the right time, but I may just swap out the HDMI cable to see if it makes a difference. That seems easier than watching Mom and Dad's TV shows with my finger on the remote.

Thank you

[Smudge3]

logan8: We were having this same problem and came across your post. We didn't even think about the HDMI cable, but after following your advice- it seems that we need a new one! Thank you so much for taking the time to help. 

[boldfresh]

Thanks so much for this simple troubleshooting suggestion. A changed HDMI cable seems to have done the trick. 

[ezdraft]

What if you are using a TiVo box with cable card? How do I troubleshoot?

[LawrenceC]

As this thread is now over two years old, it will be locked in order to keep discussions current. If you have the same or a similar question/issue we invite you to start a new thread on the topic.