Why is the EAS message displayed on my TV screen too small to read?

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Lido
Lido Posts: 3 Spectator
edited May 13 in TV Equipment

Both of my set top boxes work fine when watching television but when there is an EAS message, I can see "EAS" displayed on the set top boxes, but the EAS message displayed on the television screen is in very fine (way too small to read) print in the upper left corner of the TV screen.

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  • William_M
    William_M Posts: 1,113 ✅ Verified Employee Moderator
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    Hi @Lido, welcome to our community!

    Have emergency alerts always displayed with small text or did it change at some point? Which guide version do you have? Are you able to share a picture with what they look like?

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  • Lido
    Lido Posts: 3 Spectator
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    The alerts have displayed normally for the past 28 years. We noticed the change within the past 3 months or so. We have the i-Guide - wide screen version. I could take a snapshot of the screen next EAS message, whenever that may be. The message appears in the very top left corner of the screen but the text is unreadable. If you get close to the screen, you can tell it is text.

  • HT_Greenfield
    HT_Greenfield Posts: 734 Contributor
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    Kind of a long shot, here, but, since we're talking about i-Guide, especially if the box so happens to be an Arris/Motorola DCX, enable Closed Captions and see if those are out of whack too and, if they are, hit the PICTURE-IN-PICTURE ON-OFF button on the remote and see what mode it is that flashes on the TV display. Hit it twice in short order to jog it from one mode to the next and repeat if needs be until you have single full-screen Closed Captions and see what happens with the EAS messages from there. Otherwise, i'm looking forward to the photo.

  • HT_Greenfield
    HT_Greenfield Posts: 734 Contributor
    edited May 3
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    Correction: my previous suggestion was dead on arrival. My bad.

  • Lido
    Lido Posts: 3 Spectator
    edited May 12
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    As requested, here are some pics of my EAS message. I believe Spectrum is sending me bad message transmissions somehow since it appears exactly the same on 2 separate televisions that use 2 different set top boxes. Notice the Set Top Box below the television displaying "EAS". This emergency alert occured on 01MAY2024. 2350 CDT. If a tornado alert was sent, we would never have known.

    20240501_235051.jpg
    20240501_235110.jpg
    20240501_235059.jpg

  • HT_Greenfield
    HT_Greenfield Posts: 734 Contributor
    edited May 13
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    All i can figure is that an EAS out-of-band message encoder can encode and deliver a fault-state dialog like that. Who knows whether the dialog is referring to the encoder itself or to, if not from, a message generator upstream from it.

    You've made Spectrum aware of the fault. Now i'd also make your county IT department aware of it and, even if the fault isn't on their end, they can also make Spectrum locally aware of it from their end.

    Otherwise just curious if that last line says "Dasdec login:" or what.

    Ref.:🔗https://www.reddit.com/r/EmergencyAlertSystem/comments/p2lo1p/eas_failure_on_air_a_friend_sent_me_this_a_few/

  • HT_Greenfield
    HT_Greenfield Posts: 734 Contributor
    edited May 14
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    Or should i say: it looks the kernel fault state of the Dasdec EAS message encoder is somehow being conveyed in lieu of the EAS message that would be conveyed if not for the fault state. Just keep in mind that they could literally be testing some aspect of the periodic test process itself and the reason the text is so minuscule on 4K UHD is because the native resolution of it is designed for a much lower resolution console monitor. Either way, this, too, shall pass and thank you for sharing that! ☘️

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