Power conditioner needed????

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.

congratulations on your perseverance John. This is hardly the first time that someone has resolved an issue without really understanding exactly what happened & why. I was thinking though, if you have further problems with the DVD player you could (1)replace it or (2)have it serviced (for possible degraded capacitor in the power supply) or (3)try an AC line isolation transformer, for power to that offending component only.

I had some screwball/intermittent noise problems with my computer, which I unsuccessfully tried everything that I could think of to fix. I ended up buying a small-ish (3 amp) isolation transformer on EBay for about $25. It was originally designed for homeuse medical equipment. What this does is float the power supply such that neither side of the AC line connects to household grounded neutral. Easy fix, but I don't know what / why either.

This is Solder meister and I see that the Breaker Panel was mentioned.And yes many times when you have lose connections in a house this can cause the electrical system to interfere with audio and video equipment. I would recommend tightening your screws every say 3 yrs to avoid this. If you are comfortable and you are qualified to do this as getting across the wrong connections can be shocking. Also if you are building new or have access through a basement or open wall you can run separate electrical line to your home Theater system 15 amp should work fine I have personally one to the equipment rack one to the Sub and one to the Projector and house lights. It works wonderfully but not all have this option. Good Luck.

I had a similar problem that manifested in my Acoustic Image electric Bass amplifier yet every thing else on that circuit seemed to work fine. Being a switching amplifier the low or lack of VAC caused the amp to completely shut down and reboot. Even with a digital multimeter running in the receptacle it showed no interruption.

Running an extension cord powered by another circuit to the amp proved successful which meant there was a problem somwhere in that circuit. I began by opening every receptacle box and removing the receptacle enough to examine them, working back to the breaker. A receptacle in the garage, where a work bench once stood, was charred and providing a minimal contact with the wiring.

There's an answer for every electrical oriented issue. Most of the time it is found out for what it really is. sometimes it isn't.

usually it's one of three things... an opened ckt which equates to no power. A resistive connection which equates to an over draw of current to operate a thing, usually causing breeakers to trip routinely. or a ground somewhere on one leg or the other of a ckt.

A faulty wiring device can be any of or all of the above.

I think the ground loop issues, or seeming ground loop issues stem from the service itself. In some areas the neutral bus and ground bus at the service/meter are tied together.

Adaptive connectors which attempt to emmulate one they are not, like XLR>RCA, if not wired according to the way the maker of the item says, might well cause issues.

Reversing polarity along the way in a homes wiring can be problematic. Likewise, cables not terminated at either or both ends can be issues.

The fix often rests in going back to the last thing one has added or changed prior to the noticed descrepency.

Everything was fine until I plugged in the whosit to the whatzit.

...until I added cable.

.... got this new so & so... yada yada...

If it isn't obvious, like loose connections, burned receptacles, etc. just start at one end and go thru to the other. problems are normally at either end. Feed or supply. If not, ya just gotta check out the middle. visual inspections well reveal 90% of what the issue truly is.

DVI does not have as many conductors in it as HDMI does. The cable itself could be bad, or the source might not like being converted, Or the display/receiver might not dig it.

I use a DVI to HDMI adapter, and run HDMI CABLE instead of using a dual terminated cord.

it works great off the pc video card to the Onkyo rec. $5 from Dcables in TX.