The tuner on the Philips DVDR 70 can be finicky.

When it works, it's got very pleasing colors.

But if you've got a channel with a signal that's a little off, you get crackle and even white bands (where the subtitles are) across the screen.

That happens with one of my channels, that airs one of the series I record. Only occasionally and for a moment or two at a time.

From what I've seen around the net, it also happened in the UK, one of the BBC channels on Sky. For more than one user. And more than one unit with the same user.

Now, I remember a while back when another channel had a problem. At the time I thought the sound was too loud. My TV would have a problem, with some crackle (much less disturbing than the DVDR 70) more or less all the time. My VCR's tuner handled that channel without any problems, so I'd watch that channel through the VCR. Ah, now I remember back even further, when one channel was really bad. And it would get worse when there was a lot of white in the picture. Seems this is something that happens now and then...

But my question is, exactly what causes it, and is there some way you can fiddle with settings on the DVDR70?

Is the problem with the cable company or the satellite feed?

And why don't they fix it?

Since I've had a problem of that sort with two tuners, it should stand to reason that quite a number will have problems, though not necessarily those who trouble shoot the network. Imagine that? A user complains, the cable guy checks his TV. Nothing's wrong, so he tells the user that he's imagining things. Or that something's wrong with his TV.

Hmmm, even though some TV's will be fine, the cable or satellite companies should at least acknowledge that there are products on the market that are finicky and expects a perfect signal...