Hey, y'all --
I have been called into a finished installation that went well with the previous company until the subwoofer hum could not be solved. Turnd out the cable ground introduced it, so sub hum and hum bars on the plasma are gone now.

However, when the plasma is switched to its composite or component input, there is noise in the picture. It is clearly visible when there is no video at all (proper Brightness and Picture settings yield a dark gray, not black, screen when there is only sync present), on dark images or solid blue screens. It looks like dots fluttering or flickering. Sometimes the dots faintly form into lines in different portions of the screen. When that happens, the patterns do not move, just flicker.

The plasma is a 42" Panasonic professional model, the A/V receiver a Yamaha RX-V1300. This noise did not change at all when I lifted the cable ground to eliminate the sub hum and the plasma hum bars.

It occurs to me that maybe this is high-frequency garbage coming in on the video lines or the video ground, and that ferrite beads might help, and I would appreciate any input/experience you might be able to share.

Any hints?

Thanks!

Sounds like you failed to install the Magnetic filters on the Power Cable. Most plasma's come with them in the box, but they often get overlooked.

Also, a Monster Power Conditioner with level 3 filtering helps a great deal with plasma interference.

anyone have any luck solving this problem on the sat input--is there a device--tried both monster 3000 and 5000 series but i'm assuming those cable,sat and ant connections are not filters and only surge protectors.

Maybe the magnetic filters.
Try A Richard Gray Power Co. line inductor 400

Please note that I did not install the unit I am having a problem with, so I did not define how it was to be wired.

I installed a Panasonic pro unit today, and noticed that the instructions tell you to use the ferrite beads/rings/cores/whatever on computer connections.

They supply one for VGA, one for RS232, and one for an audio cable. My suspicion that they might help the picture is not on the minds of Panasonic when they include these ferrites.

The power cord has a ferrite built into it.

It is nearly impossible to get a Monster or other 3 level filter behind the plasma and still outside the wall...it is not legal to run power cords inside the wall...so my best bet looks like it might be an Ikea surge suppressor....

I'm in a similar situation. somebody elses noisy plasma and I haven't been given the time to really track it down yet. At first glance it still seems to be a ground loop. The noise goes away when you disconnect the S-vid cable and doesn't come back right away. Jenson S-vid isolation transformers will be going in on the next visit. The legal, but not easy, resolution for the power is to have an electrician run the outlet to a "male" receptacle in the wall behind your main equipment. Then you use a normal six foot or so appliance cord to plug into the male receptacle in the wall and your power distribution, whatever it may be. This will help the ground loop situation and give you the option of some decent power treatment. Last time I looked at Richard Gray's stuff it was way over priced for what little it did.