I am a computer/AV tech who has been around electrical some, enough to know that I'm not an electrician. I'd like to hear some ideas on why I have a persistent 40 to 50+ VAC present at my signal grounds of any VCR or DVD players in my site's video distribution system. It is introduced by the VCRs and DVD- it is present when the devices are completely isolated except from house power. Since seven or eight devices all agree about this I hesitate to think this is a mere coincidence. (I've only checked them in my building so far) But what I'd expect the problem might be seems to not be the problem- the building 115VAC appears to be wired with the polarity correct. Unless Hot is really neutral, and Neutral is hot, but ground is tied ONLY to hot??? I have no verified earth ground handy to reference against. This scenario would seem to be a real stretch. Our district electrician pronounced all to be normal. This can't be THAT complicated, yet I don't get it. I know we don't need that much voltage present in the distribution network, and I don't like getting bit when working on it. Any ideas?