I just wanted to relate a recent problem that popped up and my solution.
I recently ended my premium cable service, kept the internet connection. It turned out to work out better and cheaper to get an upgraded internet connection and keep basic cable, no box, and run the cable directly to the TV, so that's what I did.
So, I come home last night and when I get into the living room, the first thing I said is "What the heck is that buzzing noise?!?" On a side note.....the girlfriend didn't even notice it, but it drove me crazy. So in reality, it might have been "acceptable level of buzz" for the average person or someone that doesn't know better.
A little background: I HATE buzz and hum!!! I want and expect to be able to kill my source, max out my gains, put my ear right on my tweeter, and hear dead silence!!! OK, OK, I can't ALWAYS achieve that, but I usually do, and if not then I at least get the noise down to a level that you wouldn't hear it with the gains at a normal listening volume.
Anyway, the first thing I said to the girlfriend is "this is unacceptable"!
By now, some of you have probably already figured out that I got hit with the dreaded poorly-grounded-coax-cable hum syndrome! No problems when coax to cable box and cable box to TV via HDMI. Cable directly to TV = problem. And, the problem persists on every source and even if the TV is off.
Well, after trying a couple of things that didn't work and expelling some choice vocabulary words about making changes to a system that didn't have a problem, I remembered that my power strip surge protector has a coax cable input and output.
I have used this input/output before, and I never could tell that it did anything. Kind of seemed like snake oil to me. But, nothing to lose, so I gave it a shot. Dead Silence Again!!!
So, I can't promise that it will work for everyone and in every situation. But, that surge protector in/out for the cable ended up saving me a lot of stress and hassle to kill a problem that the cable introduced.
