Television Questions - DVD and VCR Questions
Q. My problem is that there are red and blue streaks down the middle of my TV screen. They are not straight, nor are they right next to each other, but I have noticed that they have grown, from what I believe as top to bottom. Also, the TV screen will lose the picture for several minutes while still playing sound, or the screen will flash like it was turned off then flash back on in about a second or two. Is my TV dying?A. It could be a problem with the degaussing circuit. Possibly the screen is magnetized and needs to be degaussed by a service technician. Do you have any large magnets like speakers near the set? Sometimes there are magnetic fields in the wall that causes this. Try moving the set to a different location and see if it affects the problem. It could be that you would need an electric transformer type soldering iron to fix it. To do this you would hold the soldering iron about a foot away from the center of the screen facing sideways. Then turn on the gun and bring it toward the screen, and while holding it an inch away, rotate the gun in circles toward the outside edge. While still holding the trigger, move the gun away from the screen and then release the trigger. If your TV is old, considering the price of them nowadays, you would do well to just replace it if this does not work.
Q. Please explain to me what I need to do to actually use the HD capability! For example, is there something I need to purchase and install, and would this be a DIY project? As a secondary question, I'm wondering what is the best way to identify programming that can be viewed in HD? For example, assuming I'm able to "upgrade" my unit as needed to view HDTV, is there some way to identify - let's say for the coming week - programming that will be shown in HD format so that I can plan my viewing?
A. HDTV Ready means it will display HD but you need an HDTV STB, or Set Top Box. An STB can be from your cable company, if it offers HD, or it can be a Direct, Dish net, or Voom satellite receiver. You don't have to DIY, as the Satellite installers will usually install it for free. If you don't want cable or Satellite, you'll need a stand-alone STB HD receiver for OTA (Over the Air), if your local stations are broadcasting digitally in HD. But for this you will need a UHF (usually) antenna hooked up to the HD receiver. Most people don't understand that they can receive HD locally for free. If you go cable or dish, there will be an on-screen guide, even for HD channels. For OTA, you can go to the major networks' websites and find the HD programs. New ones are added to the line up all the time.
Q. We have a 4-year-old Sony XBR. Recently the picture will cut out every 15 seconds or so for a few seconds and then come back. The sound stays on. This makes the TV un-watchable. The picture is as good as ever when it is on. I don't know much about electronics but seems like a power supply issue. I had repairmen here who said he checked all the components by switching them out one by one and therefore it must be the picture tube. Can a picture tube work intermittently?
A. Sony has a built in protection system (1K protection) whereby the video is muted when the CRT emission gets below a certain level. Since yours appears to be borderline, this can usually be remedied by turning up the screen voltage just a little. Inside the TV, there's a large usually black box with a large red wire coming out the top. There are two adjustment knobs, screen and focus; screen will turn up the voltage. You need to watch the screen while you adjust the screen voltage. Back off the screen voltage until the screen goes blank and then turn it up until you just see horizontal white lines in the picture. Then back it off until the white line just disappears.
Q. I just finished my basement and the electrician put cable for TV into three outlets. This one cable runs all the way to the splitter that currently exists in my house. The main TV cable comes from outside, then a splitter splits it into two to go to other areas of the house. I'm assuming I need to add a three-way splitter now for the cable in the basement. My question is, does this degrade the picture quality at all?
A. All splitters will degrade your video quality. Generally, each split will reduce the power of the signal by 3 dB. Usually you can have around 4 total outputs without needing an amplifier, but that all depends on the quality of the signal you are getting before the first split. Try the cheapest solution first, and then figure out if you need an amplifier if you're not satisfied.
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