tv colors purdy.

September 30, 2005 11:49 AM

what's wrong with my television? can i fix it myself?

I turned out my five-ish year old television today to find out that the color is massively screwed up throughout the whole screen, as if i stuck a gigantic magnet near it.

The odder thing is that the color shifts are in a circular ripple pattern. The center of the TV has a big circle that casts a yellowish shift. That is surrounded by a smaller ring of red and beyond that it's all purple. This makes me think that it's more of a tube problem a magnetic interference. When the TV image is monochromatic the color shifts go away.

It looked fine before I turned it off twelve hours ago. There are stereo speakers next to it but they are magnetically shielded. Nothing has been moved near or around this TV for over a month.

Has anyone seen problems like this? Should I degauss it? How would I degauss a TV anyways (I kept turning it on and off but I dont think it degausses like a computer monitor). Should I just take it into a shop or buy a new one?

posted by sammich to Technology (7 answers total)

You could try a degaussing coil. I had an old monitor that was on the fritz, and the degaussing coil let me squeeze an extra couple of years of life out of it.
posted by nixxon at 11:59 AM on September 30, 2005

Leave it on for a few hours, turn it off then try again.

I've seen weird behaviour with devices after an extensive 'cold' rest.
posted by jkaczor at 12:04 PM on September 30, 2005

If jkaczor's advice doesn't work, and you'd prefer not to buy a degaussing coil, and you have a CRT monitor, you could try to hold a monitor next to the television, screen-to-screen, and activate the monitor's degaussing function. Or, if you've got a power drill, you could try this.
posted by box at 12:22 PM on September 30, 2005

Most TVs and monitors will degauss themselves when you turn them on, but only when you turn them on cold (i.e. Turning it off and then quickly on won't activate the degaussing circuit).
If your TV won't degauss itself even when cold, then the thermistor (the device that detects the hot/cold state) is likely shot. They're cheap and probably easy to replace, but most repair places will charge a significant fee just to open the box.
posted by rocket88 at 1:07 PM on September 30, 2005

ALERT! Before you do open your TV, first find out how to unload/neutralize the HUGE wad of current it stores. Somewhere (here in the green, I think) recently there was a thread about this. You can kill yourself (or be seriously burned/maimed) if you don't do this!!
posted by dbmcd at 1:51 PM on September 30, 2005

The "alert" thread was in the green, here - required reading before you open up your set.
posted by dbmcd at 1:54 PM on September 30, 2005

The problem is indeed that it needs degaussing.

Move any magnetics (like speakers) away from the TV and turn it off and on several times. Most TVs degauss when they start up.

If that doesn't work, get the degaussing coil. It shoudl fix the problem if it hasn't been going on for too long.
posted by Argyle at 3:25 PM on September 30, 2005