Reasons not to sit too close to your TV! (nothing to do with your eyes)

I will show how I am affected physically when I'm near a TV.
The conclusion to draw is up to you.

I am using my patch cable for my guitar, which is connected to a device called guitarport. It allows me to record myself directly to the computer. However, instead of plugging my guitar in, I am using my hand.

Link to the video

The sound you are hearing is an effect, and when there is no input, as you'll see, the effect is not heard. When there is input, it will be heard. (I can change the effect to any sound, so if it's hard to hear, I can make it acoustic instead).

As you see in the video, when the tv is off, nothing is heard. When I hold the end of the cable, you hear little pops, but the effect is not heard.

I then turn on the tv and you can start hearing the effect in the background. Something is there being picked up. Just for this sake, let's call it a "wave". I then turn off the tv again and the wave are not heard. I hold the end of the cable again to show that I am also not generating anything.

I then turn on the tv, while holding the cable. As you start to hear the wave, I move my hand closer to the tv and the wave seems to get louder. I then start touching the cable with my neck and cheeks and back of the neck. You can still hear the wave. When I move the cable away from my face, nothing is heard. I then turn off the tv, and you don't hear anything anymore.

So I have some questions:

What are we hearing?
Is it heat?
If so, why don't we hear it when I touch my hand?

Whatever this "wave" is, is clearly affecting me somehow, as you can only hear the sound when the tv was on, regardless if I was holding the cable of if it was just close to the tv.

What were you not aware there's a photon gun in your television sets???

I was...

electronics.howstuffworks.com...

You can make your own blaster if you know how!!!

If this photon gun is blasting light beams/rays towards me, I should be able to hear the sound as I move the cable further from the tv. The characteristics of a wave is that it flows outwards correct? If I move the cable further from the tv screen slowly, I should still hear this 'wave', but I don't.

When I am still far away from the screen to not hear anything, it's only when I touch the cable that you then hear the sound. I believe this is not a wave, but more of a frequency. This same frequency is being picked up by my body, hence when I hold the cable, you hear the sound. As soon as I turn off the tv, still holding the cable, the sound stops.

In my opinion, this frequency from the tv does affect you, but not the area around you, as the only times you hear the sound is when the cable is against me, or close to the tv screen.

Originally posted by quintar
If this photon gun is blasting light beams/rays towards me, I should be able to hear the sound as I move the cable further from the tv. The characteristics of a wave is that it flows outwards correct? If I move the cable further from the tv screen slowly, I should still hear this 'wave', but I don't.

That's because the light photons are being absorbed by the picture tube, the photosensitve coating on the front of the picture tube, and this is what provides the picture.

Oh, by the way...

What is it you're doing there???

Is that just a guitar cord hooked up to a amp???

I think the sound is kinda cool and I'm wondering what it might sound like if we were to put that sound through some pedals. Let me know what you're doing there please...

reply to post by Incarnated


like I said, it's just a patch going into the device and then a USB connection to the PC.

The application that comes with it contains lots of effects and then different amps for each the effects.
I was actually recording and found that I can get a 'beat' with this awesome pulse if I just hold the end of the patch cable.

I then realized that I only 'make' that sound when the tv is on and started my little experiment...

GuitarPort

Wow.
Don't you realise just how large a magnetic field your crt puts out?
Quite large enough to drown out the little one put out by your git pickup.
You are basically plugging the cable into a large antenna----You.
Use a pci card for your inputs and shielded cables.
Much better and cleaner signal and lower latency.

And yes, I do. running an Maudio 10/10 and Sonar.



[edit on 1/21/2008 by gotrox]