Our Avant has developed a problem with the picture. Periodically waves of black, or actually just darker colors pass through the picture top to bottom. Here is the weird part. If I set the satellite box to output a 4x3 image, such that there are black bars on the side of the picture the problem disappears. Problem only exists with a 16x9 setting so that the entire so that the entire area of the screen has a picture. If, however, a commercial comes on, or a program that is broadcast as 4x3 but with black bars on the side with the channel logo in the bars, the problem is still nonexistent. So, when picture fills the entire screen, problem exists. When there are black bars on the side, either due to the satellite settings or the programming being broadcast, the problem does not exist. Any thoughts?

As a first step I would try to find out which component of the system causes the problem - the SAT box or the AVANT.

(Crosscheck - using a different sat receiver connected to your Avant)

Sorry, I left that out of first post. I did try the sat box from our BV 7-55 with the Avant and the problem was still there so it does seem to be the Avant. I suppose another couple of tests I could try is connecting a DVD player and seeing if problem is still there and perhaps connecting the sat box with S Video cable instead of the component cables.

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Is this a first?  LOL  A question that nobody has an answer for? None of the experts here have an answer?  

I would try changing the SCART cable. I recently bought a long length, supposedly high quality cable on e-bay and the picture was terrible with dots and stuff similar to how you have described - if the cable is dud then it won't matter what the source is. Do you get the same problem on analogue or VCR - if this is the case then it's something in the TV.

Thanks for the suggestion!  We are in the US so no scart but I have changed the cables we use and the problem is still there.

Indeed, the U.S. Avant is very different from the Avant used in the rest of the world.

Early models of the U.S. Avant are plagued with a faulty component input. If you're using the component connection, that could be the problem. There is a kit for a serviceman to fix this, but I understand it to be rather costly. There are two typical symptoms of this component problem: (1) dark and light banding and/or (2) a magenta hue to the picture. Since the Avant is 480p rather than 1080i, I use both the component AND s-video connections and set the resolution of any connected devices to 1080i. Doing so sends the 1080i signal through the component cables (which is okay for the projector) to the projector BUT automatically switches down to 480i through s-video for the Avant. Since the integrated BeoSystem 1 in the U.S. Avant does some great video processing on 480i signal but not 480p signal, I find that this solution give the best picture.

The one exception to this solution is the Apple TV, which does not have an s-video connection and must be set to output at 480p through component cables.

Thanks!  I will try the S Video as a solution. Thanks for the information about the probable cause of the problem.

I tried the S-Video both with the satellite box and with a DVD player. Same problem with both. The picture through the S-Video is mostly black and white snow, although through the snow it is possible to see the faint outline of the picture rapidly moving from top to bottom repeatedly. I think our avant must need some major repairs, or replacement.