Line Conditioning

For today, we're just going to look at the results from a few test images. As you know from our previous article, we had a lot to say about AC line noise and the importance of conditioning for system stability. To begin this article, I'll now show you the difference between image quality with a high-end AC line conditioner. Like Monster Cable for consoles, the improvement is small and it's up to you to decide whether or not if the improvement is worth the price to you – we're just showing that there is a measured difference.

In these series of tests, we use an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro from the Dual Opteron workstation built in my previous article. The system is always powered through the Monster Power line conditioner. The only difference is where we plug the monitor in. In one case, it goes to a Curtis 9 Outlet Surge Protector with 2163 Joule Energy Rating, and an EMI/RFI filter. This is your run-of-the-mill middle-grade surge protector. In the second test, we plug the monitor into the HDTV AC outlet from the Monster Power HTS 3600 power conditioner.

We used a series of test images and then looked at the histogram output from the full-resolution samples. We're not posting those samples here in the interest of not-wasting-bandwidth. Each image is 2-3MB each and it's really the histograms that tell the story.

Green

Standard Surge Protector

Monster Power HTS 3600

Standard Surge Protector

Monster Power HTS 3600

We start with green because that is where our camera is most sensitive. With a good monitor, you can actually see the difference with your eyes, but it is slight. Looking at the histograms, it's much easier to see what the Monster Power conditioner brings to the table. The areas under the curves on the left are smaller, and the blue and red overlap better, meaning better color neutrality.

Red

Standard Surge Protector

Monster Power HTS 3600

Standard Surge Protector

Monster Power HTS 3600

You really cannot see a difference between the two images off-hand. Looking at the histograms, it's clear that the line conditioner produces a "redder" red in the picture. This is seen not in the big peaks on the left, but the tiny one on the very right on the screen. The low-luminance peaks on the left look paradoxically wider with the line conditioner, but we really have to determine the area under the curve.

Blue

Standard Surge Protector

Monster Power HTS 3600

Standard Surge Protector

Monster Power HTS 3600

The area under the low-luminosity blue and green curves appears to be smaller. The amount of aberrant red is also less with the line conditioner.

Black

Standard Surge Protector

Monster Power HTS 3600

There's no need to include screenshots of black level tests ;). Once again, the line conditioned output is superior, with a "blacker black."

Power Conditioning Conclusion

The differences are measurable, though slight. On the other hand, it is sort of impressive to think that there's a difference (measurable with a digital camera), depending on where you choose to plug in your monitor.

This brings me back to the same discussion I made in the console cable article. Everyone has a home theater and a computer. Not everyone will want to buy an AC line conditioner. We've shown you that, yes, if you want the absolute best possible picture quality, an AC line conditioner can provide a measurable benefit. Whether or not this benefit is subjectively significant enough is a personal decision for you. From our previous article, we've said that we found the differences to be meaningful with a HDTV, and less so with our standard non-HDTV NTSC XBR TV.

Clearly, before you buy a fancy line conditioner, you will want to make sure you also have a good monitor in the first place. The analogy would be spending thousands of dollars on an HDTV, but electing not to wear glasses/contacts if you need them.

For now, we'd recommend getting AC line conditioning for computer stability, and to consider a videophile/audiophile grade line conditioner if you're passionate about your audio and video performance.

Since the Monster Power proved to offer better picture quality, the rest of article is a system powered entirely by the Monster Power line conditioner.