Sony TV help

[vash23n]

Hope this is the right place for this. Since there is only one other topic here I don't think anyone will be too upset. I just got a Sony Trinatron TV set via dumpster diving and I had a couple TV related questions. Not that this is any true guarantee, but there was a sign on the side that said Free TV, works Great! I live in an apartment complex where a bunch of rich college kids have a habit of just putting stuff on the sidewalk because they don't feel like lugging it home. In other words, I am not trying to waste anyone's time as this thing MAY work.

I feel the problem might not be too hard to fix. There is a bit of problem with color purity on the left side of the set, esp in the top corner. It is not too noticeable unless you are obsessive like me, so I don't think there is anything really wrong with it. I read on a repair FAQ that sometimes this problem can be caused by moving the set a little too rough. Right now I am trying to manually degausse (sp?) the set by turning it on for 1 minute and then off and unplugged for 20 minutes. Any other suggestions. I know you can buy manual degaussers, but I would like to not spend money. I tried a refridgerator magnet, but it didn't really work as I didn't know what I was doing other than waving the thing around. Could it be something more than a degaussing issue? If so, any suggestions before I scrap the thing?

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

A TV repair shop can get that fixed up in a few minutes, it's caused by having a magnet or other magnetic object on or near the set.

[noiseredux]

yes, what mod_man said. It's a pretty common problem, caused by magnets (usually inadvertently from speakers placed too close).

[Hobie-wan]

Depending on how big the TV is and whether or not you still have a CRT monitor handy, the poor man's way to degauss a TV is to the the TV and monitor face to face. If there's a manual degauss on the monitor, to that a few times with a 30 second breather intebween. Some monitors would do a degauss every startup, so you can just turn them on and off a few times with a pause intbetween. You don't wnat to use a magnet as others said, that will actually make it worse because it is a constant pull. Degaussing actually flips the magnetic field back and forth.

Fun picture of a degaussing wand in action and bonus videos of people messing up CRTs with strong magnets.

[vash23n]

Depending on how big the TV is and whether or not you still have a CRT monitor handy, the poor man's way to degauss a TV is to the the TV and monitor face to face. If there's a manual degauss on the monitor, to that a few times with a 30 second breather intebween. Some monitors would do a degauss every startup, so you can just turn them on and off a few times with a pause intbetween. You don't wnat to use a magnet as others said, that will actually make it worse because it is a constant pull. Degaussing actually flips the magnetic field back and forth.

Fun picture of a degaussing wand in action and bonus videos of people messing up CRTs with strong magnets.

yeah I am trying the power on and off with a space in between thing. I wish I had the money to take it to a shop because it is a nice sized set and there is no way to afford another. I think the main thing I am annoyed about is how damned heavy this thing was to carry. Having to carry the thing back down three flights of stairs again is dreadful. I did hear about holding a monitor with a degaussing function up to the TV, but I don't have a monitor that has that function anymore.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

Depending on how big the TV is and whether or not you still have a CRT monitor handy, the poor man's way to degauss a TV is to the the TV and monitor face to face. If there's a manual degauss on the monitor, to that a few times with a 30 second breather intebween. Some monitors would do a degauss every startup, so you can just turn them on and off a few times with a pause intbetween. You don't wnat to use a magnet as others said, that will actually make it worse because it is a constant pull. Degaussing actually flips the magnetic field back and forth.

Fun picture of a degaussing wand in action and bonus videos of people messing up CRTs with strong magnets.

yeah I am trying the power on and off with a space in between thing. I wish I had the money to take it to a shop because it is a nice sized set and there is no way to afford another. I think the main thing I am annoyed about is how damned heavy this thing was to carry. Having to carry the thing back down three flights of stairs again is dreadful. I did hear about holding a monitor with a degaussing function up to the TV, but I don't have a monitor that has that function anymore.

The maximum you'll ever spend to repair a CRT right now is $100 guaranteed, and that's only for major problems, something like this should only cost you the security deposit (usually $25) and maybe a few dollars extra if it has any other issues.

Plus it's a Trinitron with either a Steel or Titanium Aperture Grille which means you'll have a much brighter image and never have any convergence issues for the life of the set when compared to most any other tube tech such as the more common plastic shadow masks used on 90% of all other CRT TV's.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

Also check the TV's menu to see if it has a 'global sync' or other such setting as aperture grille based CRT PC monitors as unlike plastic shadow masks aperture grille CRT's will retain a sync with their last global position and magnetic north so re-syncing the whole set and using it's individual corner sync may be all you have to do.

[vash23n]

Forget it! Hehe, I got so obsessed and aggravated I just said eff this and threw the damned thing out. It is only like a 27 in compared to my 23 in that I have had for over a decade that has never had any issues. I will save my time and effort for the next 70 in plasma super thin TV that gets thrown in the dumpster .

Thanks for the tips anyway guys!!

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

Forget it! Hehe, I got so obsessed and aggravated I just said eff this and threw the damned thing out. It is only like a 27 in compared to my 23 in that I have had for over a decade that has never had any issues. I will save my time and effort for the next 70 in plasma super thin TV that gets thrown in the dumpster .

Thanks for the tips anyway guys!!

For shame!

At least get an X-RGB for that plasma screen!

[Hobie-wan]

yeah I am trying the power on and off with a space in between thing.

I think you misunderstood, maybe not. You'd need to put a CRT monitor face to face with the TV on and turn the monitor on and off or activate the monitor degauss. Unless of course the TV has a degauss hidden in the menus somewhere, but a lot less likely than CRT monitors.