Is it possible to fix this this CRT TV?

[Mad_Hatter]

I still love this CRT TV, and I want to get as much years out of it as I can. It's a HDTV, so I can stream movies from my laptop to this with awesome picture via HDMI. But I can also play these old video games on it without it looking bad. And I still have those good ole CRT refresh rates.

It was already repaired by Best Buy back in 2009 via extended warranty, but they did not really do a good job.

Here are the problems:

1) It is warped on the left side. Anyway to fix this?

Here is a photo of the problem (stretched to 16:9):

I can just zoom the picture if I am streaming something on my computer. But that left side get's annoying when console gaming.

2) Not sure if you can notice it, but there is more black space on the left side than the right side. I notice it in games when some of the hubs are cut off and stuff. So I think the picture tube is uneven or crooked inside. Anyway to fix that? So I can get the entire picture on the screen evenly?

Photo of the problem:

3) The brightness and coloring kind of sucks too. I have to adjust the brightness to 100/100 and keep the contrast low (30/100) to get the best picture for me. If I were to change the contrast to 100, the screen is a little more bright and colorful; but, it makes some things really dark and hard to see. I'd rather keep the contrast at 30. And when I switch it back to 30, the screen goes black and I have to give it some time to restore the picture.

Here is a picture of when I have 100 brightness and 30 contrast:

Here it is with lower brightness and 100 contrast. Not that much of a difference even though the settings have been changed drastically. The only difference is that the darker areas of games and movies are really hard to see.

Here is a photo of when I put it back to 100 brightness sand 30 contrast. It is dark, and I have to wait for the picture to get it's brightness, color, and contrast back.

4) I have to adjust the tint to +10 red as well, because if I don't, the coloring looks really yellow.

It was never like this when it was new. Only after it completely broke and after it was repaired by BestBuy. I tried telling them, but I couldn't win the fight.

I would not care if I could just buy another one of these. But HDTV Widescreen CRTs are kind of hard to come by. And i am going to miss this baby like hell if it breaks.

EDIT: Totally forgot to put the make and model. Going to add it here just in case someone needs it in the future:

LG 32FZ4D | 32 Inch CRT HDTV Widescreen

[AppleQueso]

Most of that sounds like stuff you can fix via the service menu. Just look up the model of your TV and try to find the code to access it.

It'll give you access to all the controls you'd need to do things like adjust geometry, screen position, fine tune color adjustments and such. Be careful in there though, as it's possible to cause real damage if you mess with the wrong settings too much.

I'm not at all an expert, but the behavior you describe when you adjusted the contrast tells me there might be some other hardware issues at play. Service Menu should allow you to tweak picture settings until you have it the way you want, but if things really are going south you might want to start keeping your eyes peeled for a replacement TV.

When you make geometry and color adjustments, I'd recommend using some sort of calibration tool instead of trying to eyeball it. Look up "240p suite," it's available as a Dreamcast ISO. That should help you calibrate everything.

[Cronozilla]

If you start to experience extreme bowing, that usually means the IC's are burnt and need to be replaced. But, what you got there isn't remotely extreme, it's barely even noticeable. It could just be some geometry data got reset which can be fixed in the service menu.

[Mad_Hatter]

Wow. Never new about this service menu stuff. There is too much stuff here I don't know about.

Thanks for the info guys!

Lot of complex stuff in here I don't wanna mess with. And there is no default option in that menu. So I don't wanna mess with this stuff just yet. I might try a specific website based for this kind of stuff. Do you guys know any?

I selected vpx 3226 thinking it will take me to a list of items, but it just did some crazy stuff. Had to hard reset the TV.

Also, when I use the service menu it just takes me to a default static input, so it is really hard to calibrate the tv using static.

[AppleQueso]

Yeah, don't mess with settings that you aren't sure about, stick just to the color and geometry adjustment related ones. You might want to write down the current settings in case you need to reset any of them later.

[Cronozilla]

Yes, you do need to be careful in service menus ... you can lockout the entire set, change values on components that will damage them, etc.

If it doesn't let you choose the input while you're doing it ... you'll just need to make sure whatever input it goes to has a video source.

[Mad_Hatter]

I was able to get the entire picture on the screen now. That was the first priority. My huds and ty station logos are no longer cut off.

It is not perfectly flat and even (only really noticeable on the corners and sides). But much better than before.

Thanks guys.

[Mad_Hatter]

It turns out that I need some sort of calibration cable or device for this TV to actually have a source while using the service menu.

Anyone know where i can get such a thing?

i looked online, and i could not find anything. It might be old school kind of stuff.

[CRTGAMER]

It turns out that I need some sort of calibration cable or device for this TV to actually have a source while using the service menu.

Anyone know where i can get such a thing?

i looked online, and i could not find anything. It might be old school kind of stuff.

Though the specialty equipment will help to really teak the TV, you can adjust without them. As mentioned earlier, be very careful which settings you play with due to possibly killing the TV. Different from the normal screen adjustments of a regular Menu of the TV or computer monitor.

Sony TV Hidden Menu Service Codes. Have care if using this you can brick your WEGA!
http://www.avsforum.com/t/531494/the-so ... iscoveries

As for your missing pictures in the OP, were they deleted by Image Shack? This is another reason why I hate cloud photo sharing sights, no permanence. You could direct post them here as a reduced size attachment.

[noiseredux]

this thread reminded me. I need to fix the overscan on my CRT.

Here's the service manual: http://elektrotanya.com/sanyo_ds24425.pdf/download.html

I can see how to enter the service mode, but I'm a bit confused on how to actual fix the overscan. Can anyone decipher for me?