My dell laptop is left at home these days plugged into my tv and router to serve as a netflix box and a dvd player (our dvd player bought the farm a little bit ago). Internet media plays fine, with no sound issues. But as soon as I put in a dvd--and sometimes when I'm just listening to music with itunes--the sound sent out to my tv contains crackles and pops. And if I click the mute button built into windows media player, a harsh-sounding tone is sent to my tv. Unclick the mute button, and I get the crackle and pops over the dialogue. click the mute button again and I get a harsh tone, but this time at a different pitch.

Any thoughts on what's going on, and how I can fix this?

(p.s., I've been able to avoid this issue by using the stock dvd player that came pre-loaded on my dell. But I've experienced the sound distortion using both itunes and windows media player. I've tried using each without any other program running, and I still run into problems.)

possibly using cheap(er) cables? i get a lot of interference/noise from my 1/8" - rca cable i use to run sound from my laptop to receiver, especially during "quiet-times" in my media usage.

the cable is on the cheap side, and i attribute *my* problems to that.