need help w/ projection tv color problems ... (1 Viewer)

[Kerry_Hayes]

Hey everyone ...

I've got a 46" rear-projection GE TV that I need help with. It's about 4 years old but I want to try to fix it instead of getting a new TV. ($$!) Here's my problem:

In the lower right corner and bottom of the screen, I get a bad red "reflection" (for lack of a better term) of bright or white images on the screen. It occurs mostly when the picture has white or bright colors in the middle to lower right of the screen. When the screen is black or very dark, the red "reflection" almost disappears. I call it a "reflection" because it mirrors what is on the screen (i.e. if the screen has a bright white circle, I'll see a bright red circle shape in the lower right corner - if the screen has a bright white square, I'll see a bright red square shape in the lower right corner).

I am pretty good with electronics, etc. so I would rather open up the TV and fix it myself instead of hiring a repair person (as long as it's not unbelievably complicated), but I need some advice on where to start. Any ideas or suggestions? Anyone had this problem before? If so, is it something I can handle myself or is it more serious? Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[John S]

Did this get worse gradually?

Or was it working then, snap out of the blue started doing this?

 

[Kerry_Hayes]

It's been this way for a while, so I don't remember how it originally occurred, but I believe it gradually got worse. At first, it was just an inconvenience, but now it's time to do something about it. Any thoughts?

 

[John S]

I had the same set for many years, I never had to do anything...

I don't even remember now if you can do a manual convergence on it?

I think that is all you need to do really, is a manual convergence, may only be able to be performed on this set from the service menu though, and I don't know how to get into the service menu on it at all.

 

[Matthew Todd]

Definitely sounds like the red tube convergence is off a bit. Basically what's happened is the red, green, and blue tubes do not line up on the screen just like they should. You might need to get into the service menu to adjust it though.

Matt

 

[Kerry_Hayes]

Thanks for the advice. I'll take a look and see what I can do.

 

[Kerry_Hayes]

I checked the convergence and that's not the problem. It's still got a pretty heavy red glare in the lower right corner when there's a bright object nearby on the screen. Could the red tube be out of focus? Would it need to be replaced? Any other ideas?

 

[ChrisWiggles]

Perhaps it's something like lense flare, or light spill inside the cabinet.

 

[Matthew Todd]

Hi Kerry. It may possibly be out of focus. Do you have a digital camera that you could take a quick picture of what's happening? It might help us better understand what's going on.

Matt

 

[Kerry_Hayes]

Hadn't thought of that ... I do have a digital camera. I'll take a picture of what I'm talking about and post it here. I won't be home until tomorrow (1/17) but I'll get a pic up here as soon as I can. If you guys don't mind checking back here tomorrow, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks for your help.

 

[Kerry_Hayes]

OK ... Here's a couple of pictures of what I'm talking about:





I paused a DVD on the intro logo because you could really see the red glow. The logo took up most of the center of the screen, but you can clearly see a red glow that mirrors the bottom and right of the image on the screen.

Also, today I noticed something else. If I bounced up and down on the floor to slightly shake the TV, the red glow would wobble as if something was loose, even though the rest of the image did not.

Any thoughts?

 

[Matthew Todd]

Hey Kerry. The pictures really help illustrate (I think) what you're seeing, although I'm not sure what would cause something like this. Hopefully someone who's familiar with this will chime in.

Matt

 

[John S]

OK, that is not convergence....
I think your mirror may have shifted some.

Can be tricky unless when you get it a part and you see some way obvious issue with the mirror mounting.

That is a pretty whacked issue, I have not come across anything remotely like that in quite a few years of experience with different HT rooms and setups.

Other than this the images and colors look relatively normal???

 

[Kerry_Hayes]

Yeah, other than this red glow, all images and colors look really good.

Is this something that I may be able to work on myself or should I talk to a TV repair person? As I said originally, I feel fairly confident working with electronics, etc. and making some repairs and adjustments myself. I just need a little advice to get me headed in the right direction.

 

[John S]

Unless it is a cheap fix, your probably better off bite'n the bullet and moving to an HDTV.

Take it a part, I still think your mirror may have shifted somehow. It doesn't take much shift before some like this could start to show up.