When I turn on the PS3, I see a thick transparent line/bar slowly rolling up the screen. When it reaches the top, it starts again at the bottom. It's most noticeable when the screen is black, and it's always present whether there's a disc in the system or not. This rolling bar is not present when I use the Xbox 360, and I use the same universal component cables for both systems. I'm thinking there's something wrong with my PS3 (not the TV or the cables) because I've tried 2 sets of component cables with both systems. I use a 3rd set to connect a digital receiver to the TV, and when I watch TV through this receiver I don't see the rolling bar. What is wrong with my PS3? Anyone else have this problem? Is there a fix for it?

Sounds like a ground loop problem. I had the same thing when I first got mine.

On the official Playstation forum someone explained the causes and fixes better than I ever could. Hopefully it's OK to link to other forums (I didn't see anything about it in the rules). http://boardsus.playstation.com/play...read.id=844938

I had that problem with my projector as well. In my case I narrowed it down to interference from my furnance in the attic (the component cables were going right next to it). I ordered some Monoprice in wall rated cables and that solved the problem.

Sort of a rolling wave, top to bottom? I have it to, I think I notice it on both 360 and Wii, so it's probably my receiver? I don't know if I have it on DVDs or not, I may.
Is this harmful to any hardware, or just an annoyance? (ie, fix it now! or I have a little time?) Looks like the first thing to try is another outlet.
If this is what my problem is, thanks for the post and the link to the fix, I'll have to do this. It is annoying, especially on the dark scenes.

I had this same problem with an upscaling dvd player. My bar was vertical and went from right to left. Turned out is was because my tv is 720p and I had the player set to 1080. When I set the player to 720 it went away. Don't know if that helps.

A ground loop is an electrical problem in your house. The best answer is to fix the problem, not circumvent it. Many people (like in that link above) offer the suggestion of "fixing" it by defeating the grounding in your cable/sat line. Or breaking off parts of your electrical cords! Ouch! Poor suggestion.

Finding it can be tricky, but for most people it really is as simple as properly grounding your cable/sat line outside the building.

Oh, and it is really just an annoyance. Plenty of time to fix it.

So it's a ground loop problem. Thanks for the comments. I'm curious, though, why I don't see the same annoying bar when I use my other equipment on the same TV. All of my equipment is plugged into a Monster power surge protector, and it all sits next to each other. Shouldn't I get the same ground loop problem from my other electronics as well?

Not always. Ground loops can partly be dependent on your equipment, not just the wiring in the house. some equipment can defeat the problem, or make it worse, with their internal wiring. And some interconnects can block them, and all sorts of other little things.

Even though it is the PS3, unplugging your cable box from your receiver might make it go away. Sometimes it's something seemingly unrelated that shows up the problem. I read a comment once from a guy who had it only with a certain 4 machines interconnected in a certain way. TV, cable, receiver, DVD or something like that. Unplugging any interconnect between them took the loop away, so did plugging them in differently.

Ground loops are apparently most common on the PS3 because they use a standard computer 3-prong connector (w/ the extra ground plug) where as most CE equipment only uses a two prong connector.

Here is a very good post detailing the problem and the simplest solution (removing the ground prong from the equation). It's a pretty informative post by an EE with a lot of good information.

Thanks for the input. Turns out it was because I recently connected cable TV to my TV set. When I disconnected the coaxial, the problem went away. I mainly use this TV for home theater, so I won't miss cable TV on that set (analog cable on a 55" rear projection TV looks like sh!t anyway).

Yup CATV is grounded as well. Seriously though, removing the ground prong from the PS3 (by cutting it off or buying an adapter) is a painless fix.

No. And I very much wonder about an EE that would recommend removing the grounding from an appliance that the mfgr thinks needs to be grounded. Hey, let's remove all the shielding from the electrical wires too, and then pray there's no fire.

Just go outside and ground the cable line properly. (grounding block for the cable to run through, green wire to the electrical pole) It shouldn't take much, unless your cable line comes into the house a long way from the electric. Most are very near, if not right next to each other. I usually see cable lines all hooked up for grounding with the blocks and everything. Everything except the $.50 wire to the electrical pole. Dumbass cable guys is why.

Do they really think it needs grounding or did they just use the standard "HP Style" power cable that all computers use? I'm quite sure they are just using standard computer power supplies and didn't bother to change the cable.

I know you know this, but the whole point of the grounding prong is in case the hot lead becomes disconnected and electrifies the case. The extra ground is so the electricity flows into the ground, instead of you when you touch it and manage to ground yourself. Last I checked though, I thought the entire PS3 case was plastic, which would make conducting electricity through it pretty difficult, no?

It's a computer, it needs it. I haven't torn one apart, but I'm assuming there is a metal structure inside, and plastic isn't that thick. Always pissed me off when I kept getting shocks from plastic-wrapped laptops with no ground wire. (external change to DC eliminates it, I think) Nearly fried the damn thing a couple times in winter when it's dry. I had a metal lamp that I kept plugged in just to touch to ground myself every time I sat down.

And I still get them from my DVD player since it only has 2 wires. I really gotta wire it myself. Just stupid on a good player with a serious chassis.

Although I suppose it would be worth it to see if there even are 3 prongs attached on the machine. Those power cables can be the same shape and only 2 prong.