Flat Panel Electrical Problem With Directv - MASSIVE SPARK!

I need some help or stories from people who have experienced the same issues. I will try to cover everything in detail... please bare with me.

I have had Directv since 1996. One of my two receivers was the original Sony unit. The other was a more recent D10. I had them both hooked up to older tube style TVs.

I recently bought two flat panel TVs (Panasonic TH-50PX80U, Samsung LN32A450). I started hooking up the Panasonic plasma to the old Sony receiver downstairs. I had everything unplugged (except for the D10 receiver upstairs). As I was hooking up the cable it sparked as it touched the back of the receiver (this was the cable from the TV to the receiver, the cable coming from the dish was already hooked to the receiver). I didn't understand where the electricity was coming from since nothing was plugged into the wall. I remembered the upstairs TV was still plugged in and both cables met at the dual LNB on the dish. I ran upstairs and unplugged everything. Once I retried to hook up the plasma downstairs there were no more sparks. I plugged everything in and turned it on. POW! Then there was a huge cloud of smoke coming from the old Sony receiver. I unplugged everything and unhooked the cables going to the TV. Luckily the plasma did not fry with the receiver.

After going upstairs and plugging everything back in I noticed there was no signal from the satellite. I tried a new dual LNB, but no luck. I then tried my old single LNB dish, but still no luck. I figured something in the D10 fried when the Sony receiver fried because what are the odds that two previously working dual LNBs and a single LNB were all bad.

I called Diectv and they scheduled an HD satellite dish install (three weeks later). Today the Directv installer came out. We got the plasma hooked up without a problem. When we were hooking up the LCD there was a massive spark while plugging in the cable from the receiver. Unfortunately it fried the LCD. We hooked up the old tube TV and it worked just fine.

I packed up the LCD and exchanged it at the store. I unplugged the plasma and its receiver. I then hooked up the cables to the LCD (with the power cords unplugged). Once I was ready to plug the power in it made another huge spark at the wall power plug. Keep in mind the downstairs receiver and TV were unplugged at the time.

After some testing I noticed the people who wired my house had the hot and neutral wires switched. I corrected that problem and retried. Another huge spark. At this point I gave up and figured I need help. I plugged the old tube TV in and am watching that just fine.

I explained what happened previously to the Directv installer and he said he had never seen this before and didn't have an idea as to what was going wrong. I am confused as to whether to call an electrician or a TV repair guy.

Cliff Notes: Hooking up plasma TV in place of a tube TV fried the receiver. Hooking up LCD TV in place of tube TV fried the LCD.

Can anyone shed some light as to what in the world is going on with the flat panels? I just don't understand.

Kinda what I thought, but the fact the flat panels had problems but the tube TV's didn't had me scratching my head.

A fact I am getting hung up on I failed to mention on my first post.

When I was plugging the LCD TV to the wall and got the spark, it was actually from a plug-in strip. Both the Directv receiver and the TV were plugged into it. As I tried to plug the cord coming from the strip into the wall, the ground "blade" came in contact with the screw head that holds the cover plate on. I know for a fact the screw is grounded. The spark came from when they touched. No other blades made it into the plug in. There is no way a ground touching a ground should spark (especially enough to blacken the whole cover plate and melt the screw head).

I tested the ground at the wall plug and it is a ground. In my mind that would mean there is a short or a power source coming from the TV/receiver. I haven't tested it to see for sure.

I am afraid am electrician will not know enough about TVs and end up ruining something.

I have replaced the outlet and wired it correctly (hot to hot, neutral to neutral). That is as "code" as I can get that particular outlet. The power strip works for everything but the LCD TV. Plugging the receiver and TV directly into the wall outlet causes the same sparking. Using a different power strip has the same sparking results.


Very good point. I have touched the cable shielding and did not receive a shock. For some reason this condition makes itself known only when I try to use the LCD TV.

As suggested, I will contact an electrician. I just wanted to get as many opinions on this subject prior to making the call, especially if someone else out there has had similar issues.

I did get this resolved, but after lots of work and money.

I located every plug on the circuit and replaced every single one (testing along the way). After that I tried again and still got sparks. So I had an electrician come in and look over everything. He came while I was at work and collected $100 from my wife and said I had everything in good working order. I got home only to find the TV not plugged in. I asked my wife if he tried the TV and she said he refused. He was only there to check the circuit. When I tried the TV again... SPARK!

I gave up and my TV became an expensive wall decoration while I just watched the old tube TV. A week went by and my wife was complaining about her cheap dremel-type tool giving her a light shock. I looked at it and noticed frayed wiring, so I threw it away. As we talked she admitted to me she had it plugged in the whole time on the same circuit I was having trouble with (even after I told her not to plug anything in that circuit). I was curious if that could have had anything to do with my problem. Sure enough I tried the TV and no spark. I have been enjoying my TV ever since. Very strange and frustrating, but it is all good now.