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Power conditioner needed????

Here's the deal. The picture on my 56" Samsung DLP has a green tribal graphics pattern that comes and goes. It is there with satellite or DVD source. I turned appliances on and off. I have flipped breakers on and off. At one point, the only breaker that was still on was the one for the TV. Finally with just the one breaker on, the distortion went away. I slowly turned breakers back on one at a time and there was no sign of the problem returning................until 30 minutes later. I went through the whole ritual again to no avail. Finally around 2AM the problem went away only to return the next day. I have concluded the problem must be with some electrical thing a neighbor is using. That is my best guess at this point, but I don't know squat. What I know for sure is I cannot track the problem down to anything in my house and it goes away late at night. The house is in a semi rual community with underground utilities.
I took the TV to another house and left it on for 3 days. No issue at all.
So, here is the question................do you think a power conditioner will help? If so, which one?
baffled

Showing 3 responses by baffled

baffled OP
106 posts
 
Thanks for the responses. There are no dimmers in use. Good suggestion though............I forgot all about that one. I did not even think to disconnect the sat. system. I assumed since there is distortion even when I am only using the DVD player, that eliminates the sat. TV. I suppose if it is a grounding problem it will be there as long as the sat. cables are connected. Since this is a weekend lake house, I will have to wait a few days to give that one a try.
The dry ground rod theory is interesting since the ground rods are under a covered deck. Hmmmm...that could even be a safety issue. Dang. Just dang.
baffled OP
106 posts
 
Thanks Bob! You lost me at "balun", but I understood most of your advice. I am going to start with removing the sat. box and DVD player altogether. If all is well, I will add back in the DVD and go from there. I am also going to check the neighborhood for Amateur Radio antennas. I am going to try watering the ground rods as well. (under cover of darkness, of course)
And then there is the nuclear power plant only five miles away.......
baffled OP
106 posts
 
Finally...............the solution! When my Oppo DVD player is connected to the TV with the DVI to HDMI connector, there is distortion whether the player is turned on or not. The problem is worse when the player is turned on. Using the component connection eliminates the problem. It took HOURS of trouble shooting to figure this out. Now, the question is why. I tried grounding the Oppo box and cable...........it made no difference. I see no difference in picture quality using either connection, so I am ok with leaving things as they are, but I can't help but wonder what went wrong. The set up was unchanged for about year and then suddenly the distortion appeared. Even when it is at it's worst, it comes and goes.
Thanks to all who have helped with suggestions. Without your help, I would have run out of things to check and given up.
Btw, while going through the breaker box I did find several loose connections. A worthwhile undertaking if you are qualified.
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