[rmcgirr83]

Well, I finally got th pt-42pd3 on Friday and have noticed a few things that maybe someone can help me with.


When watching Cable and Sat last night I could distinctly make out three horizontal lines making thier way up the display. They were not followed by any others and then would repeat after about 5-10 secs. Not very distinct but I could see them. This happens in dark areas/scenes. Does not occur with the DVD player.


After a while, ~20 minutes, I could not see them anymore. Does this sound like a grounding problem? I setup the unit with Avia for brightness, color and tint as well as sharpness. Anyway I can test for a ground problem (I have a multimeter, but electricity scares the crap out of me). I am going to hook the VCR directly into the unit when I get home tonight, instead of through the receiver. Hope I don't have to get a new receiver.


The unit is plugged into a tripp lite 2400 lcr, a line conditioner/surge suppressor and I am using composite hookups through a JVC receiver as my VCR does not have s-video.


Anyone have any thoughts that I can try? So far PQ on Cable is better than what I had before. On Sat some channels are MUCH better, most better. On DVD, words alone can not describe what I feel (it is awesome looking, even with my 3+ year old panasonic DVD-A120.)


Waiting for the wall mount but I have taken a pic of the setup so far.
http://www.avsforum.com/photopost/sh...=1&thecat=998.


Thanks guys and gals.

 

[oferlaor]

Sounds like a problem I had a while ago (you should change your topic, as "scan lines" mean something else to us videophiles).


Mine was two faint lines rolling up the screen at a rate of about a full loop that took about a minute.


I did a search on the net for "ground hum" and "ground loop" and came up with LOADS of different suggestions. On my system it happened on both satellite and DVD. Both satellite and DVD units were "Groundless" (i.e., no ground on their power cable).


I tried switching polarities on those cables and the DVD came out fine. I couldn't get rid of the satellite ground hum. It drove me nuts.


I was just about ready to pull my system apart and rebuild all the cabling from scratch when I found the problem. It was a bad grounding connection on the plasma itself! As soon as I replaced the power cord on the plasma, things were perfect!


The general instructions for trying to resolve this are:

1. Make sure everything has a proper ground.

2. Try using the same source jack.

3. Try reversing polarity on ungrounded jacks.

4. There are special (I forgot their names) plugs that connect the zero to the ground and should reduce ground hum.

 

[rmcgirr83]

Thanks, I will pull the unit out once again. By "switch" polarities, do you mean flip the power connector around? I can try that. I also read in another post that someone's VCR was causing havoc with the receiver. As mine is right underneath the receiver, I'll give that a try also.


I tried the "plugs" that connect between the cable(s) and the source and that didn't help at all. In fact I couldn't get a signal through my sat when the plug was installed (they said that they were good for cable/sat).


How did you find the bad grounding plug on the plasma? I'll try switching things around on the tripplite to see if that cures it.


Thanks for your help.

 

[oferlaor]

Other Rich,


Yes, flip the cable around.


Try unplugging anything non-essential, you might find the culprit that way. It can also be electronic noise induced from a neighbor, a nearby transmitting antenna, or noisy dimmer or Neon.


It took forever to figure out that it was the power plug on the plasma. The whole story is documented in this forum, do a search

 

[rmcgirr83]

Picked up a receptacle tested at True Value. Went home and all (every stinking mother one of them) passed the "plug in the wall" test. Then I rearranged all my equipment (put the VCR with the Sat box, receiver with the CD Player and DVD player) and replugged them all into the tripplite LCR2400 (all the two prong plugs have a the one that is wider than the other and hence will only go in one way). Grouped all the power cords together. Grouped all the video cords together and grouped all the audio cords together. Not one cord is crossing within 2" of a different type cord.


Turned the set on and TADA, no more lines. I think it was actually the power line from the panny crossing the Composite in cord from the receiver causing the lines. Anyway all is fine, now.


As I will be mounting this on the wall and running the cables in-wall, do you have a good reliable source for a better shielded and longer power cable for the panny? Recommend any for composite and component?


Thanks for your help and I look forward to your replies.

 

[oferlaor]

Other Rich,


Try bettercables and avcable. Both good reliable companies.


I'm glad you worked it out