Static, argh!
July 7, 2006 10:01 AM Subscribe
Why do I get an extreme amount of static on my TV when I have my computer connected to it?
Ok, so I have an nVidia card with tv out. I have an S-Video to RCA cable. Computer to TV, I can barely watch it there's so much static. DVD player to TV is perfectly fine. So it's not the cable. What else could it be? I've been googling for a few days but I can't find anything. Is this the cards fault? Do I have some weird interference gremlins? Thoughts?
Ok, so I have an nVidia card with tv out. I have an S-Video to RCA cable. Computer to TV, I can barely watch it there's so much static. DVD player to TV is perfectly fine. So it's not the cable. What else could it be? I've been googling for a few days but I can't find anything. Is this the cards fault? Do I have some weird interference gremlins? Thoughts?
Response by poster: I feel like I should know what that means, but I don't. In practice, does it just mean plugging both the box and the tv into the same outlet?
posted by aeighty at 10:24 AM on July 7, 2006
posted by aeighty at 10:24 AM on July 7, 2006
kind of--not necessarily the same plug, but the one next to it. Or use a power strip and plug them both in. both plugs should have 3 prongs, otherwise this would be a waste of time.
posted by lester at 10:41 AM on July 7, 2006
posted by lester at 10:41 AM on July 7, 2006
Have you tried swapping out the cable for another one, maybe a known-good one? A cable that's about to fail or that is improperly shielded can pick up a lot of noise, which makes the display look staticky.
posted by ikkyu2 at 12:54 PM on July 7, 2006
posted by ikkyu2 at 12:54 PM on July 7, 2006
Response by poster: I've taken the same cable and connected it to the dvd player with excellent results. I've also tried another cable. These cables are cheapies though ($5?) so I suspect that don't provide any shielding. I'm going to try what lester is suggesting later tonight. Plus I'm goign to try to move the video card to a different PCI slow (yes, I'm getting desperate).
posted by aeighty at 2:26 PM on July 7, 2006
posted by aeighty at 2:26 PM on July 7, 2006
It is probably a video card problem. Try another TV-out capable card, hook a different TV up to this card, or if you have TV-in, try looping your TV-out onto your TV-in.
There have been a lot of ground loop related questions in the past. They get a little repetitive, but it is worth reading through a couple of them. Also, they are mostly about audio, that makes surprisingly little difference when it comes to solving the problem though..
Finally, you can have a ground loop problem between two prong devices. Once a conducting path becomes long, with a lot of stuff connected to it, you can no longer rely on the assumption that every point on that path is at exactly the same voltage. That is essentially what causes a ground loop, and there is no need for that conducting path to be labeled ground.
posted by Chuckles at 2:37 PM on July 7, 2006
There have been a lot of ground loop related questions in the past. They get a little repetitive, but it is worth reading through a couple of them. Also, they are mostly about audio, that makes surprisingly little difference when it comes to solving the problem though..
Finally, you can have a ground loop problem between two prong devices. Once a conducting path becomes long, with a lot of stuff connected to it, you can no longer rely on the assumption that every point on that path is at exactly the same voltage. That is essentially what causes a ground loop, and there is no need for that conducting path to be labeled ground.
posted by Chuckles at 2:37 PM on July 7, 2006
Does the symptom change if you wiggle the connector at the video card end? Bad connection is the most likely problem with the video card, I think..
posted by Chuckles at 2:38 PM on July 7, 2006
posted by Chuckles at 2:38 PM on July 7, 2006
Response by poster: Thanks Chuckles. I understand very little of what you've said but I'm going to read through the link that you've provided.
Wiggling the connector makes no difference. BUT, moving the rest of the cable makes quite a significant difference. It's not static free, but features become distinguishable instead of pure random noise.
posted by aeighty at 4:35 PM on July 7, 2006
Wiggling the connector makes no difference. BUT, moving the rest of the cable makes quite a significant difference. It's not static free, but features become distinguishable instead of pure random noise.
posted by aeighty at 4:35 PM on July 7, 2006
Sounds like your cable is bad then. Can you describe it in a little more detail? Maybe post a picture, or find a similar cable online somewhere (google image search sometimes works really well for this sort of thing). Did it come with the video card?
posted by Chuckles at 5:13 PM on July 7, 2006
posted by Chuckles at 5:13 PM on July 7, 2006
Err.. You probably just need a new one, but if you describe what you've got somebody might be able to help you find the best choice. Along that line of thinking, does your TV have s-video in at all, or the single RCA plug labeled video-in (which is actually composite video-in).
posted by Chuckles at 5:16 PM on July 7, 2006
posted by Chuckles at 5:16 PM on July 7, 2006
Response by poster: Well, it's an Svideo to RCA cable. I've tried connecting this same cable to my dvd player and it works perfectly fine. I've read through the grounding loop threads, I'm going to verify what is plugged in where. Maybe it is the culprit!
posted by aeighty at 5:35 PM on July 7, 2006
posted by aeighty at 5:35 PM on July 7, 2006
Response by poster: ...oh and the TV doesn't have a video in. It only has coax in. The cable is actually connected to a VCR, which is connected (via coax to tv). So it's DVD-VCR-TV or TVOUT-VCR-TV. I've ruled out the VCR as being the issue because DVD-VCR-TV chain works perfectly well. Argh.
posted by aeighty at 7:06 PM on July 7, 2006
posted by aeighty at 7:06 PM on July 7, 2006
Response by poster: Tried it on a different TV (different house, different outlet). Perfect picture quality with the same cable. Definitely some sort of intereference there I guess. I'm going to try it with a surge protector.
posted by aeighty at 9:26 PM on July 7, 2006
posted by aeighty at 9:26 PM on July 7, 2006
Just the cable though, right? Not the whole computer..
The surge protector might help a little, but it probably isn't the solution - always worth a try if it doesn't cost you any money though.
How does the audio-out from the computer sound?
Try disconnecting everything except the video cable from the computer, and see if that helps (well, not everything, mouse and keyboard don't matter, and you will need power, but definitely disconnect the audio and VGA/DVI port).
posted by Chuckles at 9:36 PM on July 7, 2006
The surge protector might help a little, but it probably isn't the solution - always worth a try if it doesn't cost you any money though.
How does the audio-out from the computer sound?
Try disconnecting everything except the video cable from the computer, and see if that helps (well, not everything, mouse and keyboard don't matter, and you will need power, but definitely disconnect the audio and VGA/DVI port).
posted by Chuckles at 9:36 PM on July 7, 2006
Response by poster: I tried the whole computer - it worked. I'll try removing all the cables but video, thanks for all the suggestions!
posted by aeighty at 1:15 AM on July 8, 2006
posted by aeighty at 1:15 AM on July 8, 2006
Response by poster: And now the conclusion. Turns out my cable modem is leaking something. Putting about 10 feet between the modem and the computer cured all the static problems.
Weird eh?
posted by aeighty at 10:39 AM on July 9, 2006
Weird eh?
posted by aeighty at 10:39 AM on July 9, 2006
Yep, pretty weird! Especially if the DVD player was very near the computer (and hence the cable modem too?!?).
posted by Chuckles at 1:35 PM on July 9, 2006
posted by Chuckles at 1:35 PM on July 9, 2006
Response by poster: Yeah. I have no explanation.
My plan: 32" LCD for xmas :)
Thanks a lot for all the suggestions Chuckles.
posted by aeighty at 1:06 PM on July 10, 2006
My plan: 32" LCD for xmas :)
Thanks a lot for all the suggestions Chuckles.
posted by aeighty at 1:06 PM on July 10, 2006
Just to confirm though, for my own interest..
The DVD player, the computer, and the cable modem were all sitting close together initially, is that correct? And the problem was finally solved by moving the cable modem away, about 10 feet. Was the computer between the cable modem and the DVD player, or something? Also, it is a cable modem, rather than DSL?
Anyway.. I'm stuck with an old TV that doesn't even have composite video-in as well, it is a big pain running everything through a VCR..
Your very welcome, for the suggestions.
posted by Chuckles at 2:08 PM on July 10, 2006
The DVD player, the computer, and the cable modem were all sitting close together initially, is that correct? And the problem was finally solved by moving the cable modem away, about 10 feet. Was the computer between the cable modem and the DVD player, or something? Also, it is a cable modem, rather than DSL?
Anyway.. I'm stuck with an old TV that doesn't even have composite video-in as well, it is a big pain running everything through a VCR..
Your very welcome, for the suggestions.
posted by Chuckles at 2:08 PM on July 10, 2006
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by lester at 10:07 AM on July 7, 2006