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General discussion

Ever heard of TV damaging audio output of other devices?

Jan 15, 2005 3:41PM PST

I bought this Sharp Flat screen tv model #32F641 a few months ago. I don't know if it is coincidence, bad luck or the TV. But the audio output of my Toshiba DVD player and my new Tivo DVR have both been damaged. The DVD player was damaged when I initially set up the TV. I thought that I must have done something wrong. Which surprised me becasue I have set up lots of home entertainment systems without ever damaging anything. Oh, and I have a degree in EE also Wink But the red flag did not go up until my brand new DVR lost all audio too. I am convinced that the TV is emiting some feedback signal into my other equipment. So, now how do I protect my other equipment? Is there such a thing as a home audio output buffer? Something to protect my other componenets. I contacted Sharp, but I really don't expect to get anything from them. Any suggestions, thought, experiences?

Discussion is locked

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Audio Problems
Jan 16, 2005 10:47PM PST

No offense but EE's are the worst when it comes to hooking up electronics. Wink kind of like having the electrician pre-wire your home theatre room. But, that aside, uless under some strange situation you hooked up the audio output of your DVD and TIVO into the audio output of your TV this shouldn't have happened. Try the DVD player on another TV to make sure it isn't the unit itself. Make sure you have the audio out going into the audio in on the tv. Are you using some sort of surround sound?

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Audio Output
Jan 17, 2005 4:18AM PST

Yes, I know we are all theory and no common sense Grin.
The thing that is so wierd and really makes me think it is the TV, is that in the case of the DVR, everything was fine. I've been watching tv and Tivo for weeks. Then we have a power outage and now the audio output from the DVR is shot. Of course everything is pluged into a power strip surge protector. The only thing pluged into the audio output of the DVR is the TV audio input. In the case of the DVD player, it was the S-Video output of the DVD player into the s-video input of the TV. That one is pretty hard to screw up Happy. So my theory is that the TV audio input is not prperly grounded or the impedace is not really matched. Ther result being that the TV is discharging through the audio input. Of course this should NOT be happening, but two of my components are damaged.

To answer you question, yes I have a surrond sound system, but it is not currently hooked up because my receiver was in for cleaning. So in both cases the component was pluged directly into the TV. Also, as far as the DVD player, it appears that only the S-video output was dammaged. So the component audio is still working. However, in the case of the DVR all audio output is gone.

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RE:
Jan 17, 2005 5:56AM PST

Ok, now I have a better grasp of this, so..you did have some power problems? Even if it was just the power going out and coming back on when they prime the switch at the electrical station this creates a swell and sag of the electrical current. I think you may have been the victim of a power surge. Even though you may have a "surge" protector you probably got zapped and electricity usually takes the path of the least resistence. Unless you had an actual line condition like Monster, Panamax or the likes it is possible you have some damage.

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social engineering
Jan 18, 2005 10:12AM PST

The question is not "what", but "why"

Use some social engineering.

Tell whoever that your box whacked your TV in a suicide bomber fashion and get a new one. Use this new box as a subject to figure out if it's your TV or the box that killed those connected. If the box bombs out then it was (probably) the TV. If otherwise, it was (probably) the other box who was to blame. In both cases you will need to replace part(s)after you find the problem.

Use your resources.

PS: Video is completely unrelated to audio as it is routed elsewhere.

PSS: Your grammer sucks A$$ for a person with a degree. My grammer sucks too, but I don't yet have a degree ;P