[underdog64]

Do hi end aftermarket power cords make a picture improvement on Plasma and LCD screens the way they improve the sound on Amps,cd players etc?

[rollo]

underdog64,

               They most certainly do. You do not need the best, just make sure it is well shielded.
               You will also obtain a much better picture and sound with a better power line conditioner. The Richard Grey around $250 used is a winner. If that is too much try a Monster 3500 series. I use both in different rooms to great effect.

  rollo

[SET Man]

Hey!


   Hmmm... don't know. My system use either stock or 12ga that I got from Home Depot

  But I do agreed with rollo that a good shielded cord is a good start.

    And I do have Monster Cable HTFS 1000 power conditioner/filter that I picked up from eBay cheap. And yes I do see some improvement in picture quality . Also, I do have some split ferrite core/beads over AC and all video cables and this help also.... pretty surprising for a such a simple and cheap little things.

   Than again I'm one of those people who just can't see myself spending $1000 for an AC cord to be hook up to TV

Take care,
Buddy

[mjosef]

Interesting Q... never tried it... now I wonder.

[TomS]

Jim Weil tests his designs of the Sound Application power line conditioners on a Sony XBR tube TV.  His take on it is that the eye is a bit more sensitive to differences than the ear.  I tried one on mine and it indeed improved the picture a lot, but at $5k it cost twice as much as the TV 

[Jampot]

When we were winding up our minijam in DFW a while back I asked brj if he would lug his power conditioner upstairs to the games room and try it on the TV (also a Sony crt).

The effect of the conditioner on the music wasn't 'obvious' - it could be seen immediately on the TV.

Too bad Brian wanted to take it home

Jim

[grsimmon]

Sorry to resurrect this;  I used the search function and this is the best thread I could find to address my current question.  I am getting rid of all the stock power cords in my audio system and replacing with DH Labs and/or Tributaries power cords (so far really happy with the results).  Should I do this for my tv as well....?

I have a Sony LCD tv and the stock cord has a cylinder integrated into the cord that just says "noise filter."  Anyone know anything about this?  Any danger / potential damage to the tv if I replace it with an audio cord that lacks this filter?  Anyone else replace the stock cords on their LCD / Plasmas?  What kind of results did you get?

Thanks in advance! GR

[BobM]

Try throwing a Felix power conditioner on your Plasma or LCD. Inexpensive and easy to build. Makes a nice improvement.

Enjoy,
Bob

[satfrat]

Try throwing a Felix power conditioner on your Plasma or LCD. Inexpensive and easy to build. Makes a nice improvement.

Enjoy,
Bob

Easy for those who know what they are doing with circuit board soldering. For the majority of us who have never held a soldering iron,,, maybe not so easy? 

I have no doubt that a properly built Felix power conditioner would be a huge improvement over that stock power cord with a ferrite magnet. I don't think a simple power cord switch would drastically improve the picture from what you already have. Why don't you simply replace that stock cord with what you already have in your system and find out? That would be a start anyways. I'm pretty sure any type of power conditioning along with an upgraded power cord will help that picture.

If you have had an ISF-calibration done to your TV, anything you do in the form of power conditioning or power cord replacement will throw the calibration off. In fact I would highly recommend an ISF calibration over any form of power conditioning in finding the best possible picture for your set. Ideally (and what i've done), you do both! Hope this helps somewhat,,, 


Cheers,
Robin

[BobM]

It's scary that all the TV manufacturers don't have their "normal" setting calibrated to ISF when you buy them. Not sure why they wouldn't, but that's the case.

There is a website, www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com that does reviews of plasma and LCD TV's. If you're fortunate enough to own a model that they reviewed they give you the setting changes that you can make yourself within the menu options of the TV to approximate the ISF calibration standard. A very nice improvement in picture quality is to be had by doing this, indeed.

Good luck,
Bob

[Bob in St. Louis]

It's scary that all the TV manufacturers don't have their "normal" setting calibrated to ISF when you buy them. Not sure why they wouldn't, but that's the case.

Just like the loudness wars started in jukeboxes, the brightness wars* started in electronic chain stores. At this point in time, no TV manufacturer is going to pre set them correctly. It would pale (pun intended) in compairison to a customer looking at a wall of TV's at BestBuy.

Just my opinion.

Bob

* I just made that up. 

[nathanm]

You can counteract any hue shift of the picture by adding a complimentary-colored cable jacket.  So if your image is skewing towards green, get a magenta-jacketed cable.  Likewise if the image is too dark you'll want a whiter cable jacket.  If the image is blurry you can take a razor blade and shave off the round rubber jacket so if forms more of a square shape to sharpen up the image.  But be careful with woven cable jackets as they can often cause moiré\herringbone patterns on certain images.

[satfrat]

Here's a inline power conditioner that might be worth looking into. I know nothing about this product myself but I've read good things about Triphazer speaker & line conditioners for years. I've never heard anyhing about Triphazer in an AC application other than it's a passive conditioner as they all are. I found this same product on Ebay for $99 so the asking price of $85 isn't much of a deal but it still might be worth looking at fwiw. I think the retail price is $399.

http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cl.pl?homevdeo&1213408436
http://www.triphazer.com/power.htm

Here's a 2002 Audiogon review from Audiojerry on this product, a well known audiophile that I've conversed with:
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/frr.pl?raccs&1029444610&read&3&4&



Cheers,
Robin

[PhilNYC]

I've not tried it on an LCD, but there's no question that power conditioners improve the picture quality on plasma and crt televisions...I've tried many, and all made significant improvements.

That said, I've not tried upgrading the power cord, not because I didn't want to try, but because on the plasma TVs I've had and the way I have them set up, I've had problems fitting a stiff power cord into the IEC inlet...

[giantsteps]

You can counteract any hue shift of the picture by adding a complimentary-colored cable jacket.  So if your image is skewing towards green, get a magenta-jacketed cable.  Likewise if the image is too dark you'll want a whiter cable jacket.  If the image is blurry you can take a razor blade and shave off the round rubber jacket so if forms more of a square shape to sharpen up the image.  But be careful with woven cable jackets as they can often cause moiré\herringbone patterns on certain images.

   


  Frank