Wavy Lines

[tunaman]

I have a 32" Pansonic HDTV 32HX41 (I think) and when in component mode watching tv through the cablebox(1080i), or when watching a DVD (480p) I can see wavy lines moving from right to left across the screen. I cannot see them in the color picture, but I can see them in the black bars at the top of the screen. If the picture shows an extremely dark scene however I can see the lines. They appear as a wave of black color that alternates from shades of dark grey, from the darkest color the tube can display to something a bit lighter. It moves fairly fast with probably 10-20 of these waves going across the screen each second. Any ideas on what this is and how I can fix it so I get a perfectly stable screen with nothing to distract me from the picture?

PS: other than that I love my TV!

[57U]

Welcome to the forum. It may be some sort of AC (alternating current) inductance. Try to make sure your power cords are not right next to the component video cables (at both ends).

Also, if you've got some very inexpensive component video cables, you may wish to try some better ones (buy them somewhere that you can take them back if they don't solve the problem.)

This problem can also be exaggerated if your TV is not set up properly - check out the FAQ section on the home page. See the post "what you need to do to your new HDTV".

That's all I can think of for now. Maybe someone else has some other ideas...

[tunaman]

Thanks for the welcome. I will check out the power cords near the cables when I get home tonight from work. As far as quality goes, I am using Acoustic Research component cables in conjunction with a Cyberhome Progressive Scan DVD player. I know my DVD player is not the best but it works and it was only $70... Are AR cables of good quality or should I go with something better? Any reccomendations?

[57U]

The ARs are good cables. You may wish to check the connections to make sure they're secure, by removing and reconnecting them. Also see if you can minimize the exposure to power cords (even if only for an experiment).

When trying to track these things down, it's often best to "eliminate" all the other possible sources by taking them out of the equation, especially if it's not too much work...

Then, one by one, you can bring them all back into play.

[spaceman_spiff]

I would not bet the best performance on an inexpensive DVD player. If you have a friend who has a different (>$150) DVD player, try hooking that to your TV and let us know if you see any improvements.
DVD players $150 and above should give you fairly decent performance.
I also use AR component cables, they have been great to me.
Good luck !:)

[57U]

spacist, I thought about that too, but he said the problem existed on his 1080i cable box signal too, so I ruled out the player (perhaps prematurely).

If you're running the connections "through" an A/V receiver, make sure you try "direct" connection.

[spaceman_spiff]

Bummer, didnt notice that.
I noticed this on HTF.
'You do have the black level set too high. And the white level is too high as well. '
I know this is not much help, but you could try.