Black Bar on one side of plasma screen

[ymp619]

I am having an issue that according to many TV guru's, they have not seen before. I all of a sudden have a black bar on the left side of my 42 inch plasma screen. It's a Samsung PPM42S2. The screen is like it is shifted to the right 6 inches and the black bar is on the left. I have component cables going from my TV to my HD Cable box and S Video from my TV to DVD player. I took the component cables and got them replaced brand new. I then plugged them from the TV directly into the DVD player and the black bar disappeared. I then plugged the S video directly from the TV to the cable box and there was no black bar. The cable guy has come and was not able to fix the problem even when we switched out the HD box to a new one. All the settings are correct in re: to Aspect Ration and Output format.

Does anyone know what it could be or how to fix it? The cable guy thinks the TV is not picking up the output format from the cable. Please help.

[Tom41]

Re: Black Bar on one side of plasma screen

Does the TV have options to alter the V-size, H-size and screen position (like PC monitors)? The settings might have become corrupted somehow, and need adjusting again. If you can't find anything in the menus, it may be hidden somewhere in a service menu - my old CRT TV had one of those; you had to short two pins inside to get it to come up.

[arneson]

Re: Black Bar on one side of plasma screen

Could the black area be a picture in picture with no picture?
Has the set been calibrated?
Have you found the master reset?

[chipper]

Re: Black Bar on one side of plasma screen

If you say that you replaced the input cables and the black bars were gone afterwards , then the cables were defective as a result of being "pinched" under the set or furniture (torn inside or compressed together) , or it may have been a pet that chews.

I had a similar problem with my dog , he liked getting shocks from the main plug-ins on anything. He was actually funny , when he got a shock he would look at me and seem to smile about it. He never ran away , he just got excited about it. Well , he was a mutt German Shepherd from a auto scrapyard litter (gaurddogs), with a black face. Kinda wild puppy , but a damn major burdon cuzz he could scale a 8' fence when he was six months old in 2 moves. (he needed 10' to keep him in)

The same thing can happen with cats , they dig their fang teeth into the power or component cords , causing interference in the lines. Heaters can also cause this same problem , especially the electric types that span under a window , the air conditioning can also apply by damaging the cable innards from dampness and redrying over and over. (Ends show tarnishing)

Component cables have evolved over the years , with GOLD PLATED ends and whatnot , but there used to be some cable manufacturers who were trying to redesign the pivoting characteristics of the (wire & plug connection with slits) , this could also sometimes cause interference problems in lines that seemed to have loose wire to plug end pivoters. I have replaced quite a few that had no apparent signs of damage , but were defective from simple usage.