JasonGabler
Auditioning
- Joined
- Oct 1, 2004
- Messages
- 14
After learning about ground potential differences and reading a few articles on HomeTheaterForum and other places, here was my original problem and here's how I fixed it:
When I first set everything up (Infocus X1, Motorola digital cable, Sony HTiB, non-HD TV, and Playstation2) I had _two_ horizontal lines slowly scrolling up my screen from grounding issues, one stronger than the other. I could even see the weaker line on the TV when the X1 was on but not projecting. Then i also had a sea of diagonal lines from power interference. Even with component cables I made from twisted pair cat5e the problems weren't solved (cat5e has no shield, although the signal itself was somewhat better overall). Anyhow...
Originally, I kept my X1 ungrounded with an outlet adapter. Not only did this not help with diagonal lines, it left my expensive projector unprotected from power spikes, etc.
The first thing I did was to ground the CATV shield. Fortunately the power outlets in my apartment are (for the most part) properly is grounded and the CATV line comes through the floor near one of them. It was late at night so I didn't run to RadioShack to get a CATV grounding block ( radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product%5Fid=15-909 a mere $4), I simply soldered a wire to the outter connector of the CATV line and then crimped on a terminal to the other end which I put under the center screw on the faceplate of the outlet. Bam! The more prominent horizontal line was gone!
In one fell swoop I got rid of the second horizontal line and all the diagonal lines. I purchase a 25ft VESAComponent RCA cable on eBay. ( I also just found them on the Web here: cablemakers.com/hdtv_svga_cables.htm ) A Python double shielded 25ft cable only $25! The thing worked WONDERFULLY! I am guessing because of proper chasis grounding on the cable the last horizontal line went away on the projection screen and on the TV. Then because of the good quality shielding all the horizontal lines disappeared. I had my old cat5e cables quite far from power sources and in-wall power lines and nothing helped like the proper shielding on the Python cable. Even when the electric city buses and trains roll by, its crystal clear.
I hope this helps someone.
jason
When I first set everything up (Infocus X1, Motorola digital cable, Sony HTiB, non-HD TV, and Playstation2) I had _two_ horizontal lines slowly scrolling up my screen from grounding issues, one stronger than the other. I could even see the weaker line on the TV when the X1 was on but not projecting. Then i also had a sea of diagonal lines from power interference. Even with component cables I made from twisted pair cat5e the problems weren't solved (cat5e has no shield, although the signal itself was somewhat better overall). Anyhow...
Originally, I kept my X1 ungrounded with an outlet adapter. Not only did this not help with diagonal lines, it left my expensive projector unprotected from power spikes, etc.
The first thing I did was to ground the CATV shield. Fortunately the power outlets in my apartment are (for the most part) properly is grounded and the CATV line comes through the floor near one of them. It was late at night so I didn't run to RadioShack to get a CATV grounding block ( radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product%5Fid=15-909 a mere $4), I simply soldered a wire to the outter connector of the CATV line and then crimped on a terminal to the other end which I put under the center screw on the faceplate of the outlet. Bam! The more prominent horizontal line was gone!
In one fell swoop I got rid of the second horizontal line and all the diagonal lines. I purchase a 25ft VESAComponent RCA cable on eBay. ( I also just found them on the Web here: cablemakers.com/hdtv_svga_cables.htm ) A Python double shielded 25ft cable only $25! The thing worked WONDERFULLY! I am guessing because of proper chasis grounding on the cable the last horizontal line went away on the projection screen and on the TV. Then because of the good quality shielding all the horizontal lines disappeared. I had my old cat5e cables quite far from power sources and in-wall power lines and nothing helped like the proper shielding on the Python cable. Even when the electric city buses and trains roll by, its crystal clear.
I hope this helps someone.
jason