Any TV Gurus Here ... Question

[Midnight Rambler]

My Sony TV just went beserk, and I'm not sure if it's the damn Time Warner cable or my TV.

Was watching the CART qualifying (whew, Tracy and Andretti were flying, 235MPH lap _average_), when all of a sudden I got this big "surge" and a crackling zap of white light through the middle of the screen. The TV's picture appears to still be normal, but when I pull up my "cable menu" on the TV screen, it is shrunk down (should be almost full-screen, now at about 1/2) and also displays what appears to be severe pincushioning on both sides. The TV picture does not have these aberations.

Any ideas on what happened?

Thanks ...

 

[ltk007]

I watch a lot of TV, but know nothing about it.

 

[Mday]

any storms in the area?

call the power company to see if a surge occurred (unless you have the TV plugged into a surge protector).

the cable signal has data and video\audio streams... it could be that one of them went nuts, and are trying to make you go blind...

it's a conspiracy between the catv company and lens crafters.

 

[Ulfwald]

Picture tube may be going bad. Let it cool down overnight and then turn it back on.

 

[kamiam]

let me get this straight... this problem only shows itself when you pull up the onscreen menu??? not during normal operation??? the flash of light and crackling zap leads me to believe you had a "short" in the crt but it sounds as if the short "burned" itself out...as long as it dosn't happen again and the colors of the pix look ok,then your crt will probably be all right... as for the shrunk menu and the pincushioning problem, if it is in the tv's circuitry,then the problem should manifest itself at all times...not just when you pull up the onscreen menu...is this menu part of the tv or an onscreen menu from a cable box?

 

[Midnight Rambler]

Onscreen menu from the cable box.

Cable company is coming today. Hope it's their box and not my Sony.

 

[ObiDon]

I hope it's not your Sony too. Sony stuff usually comes right back from the shop or it's in for a 4 month minimum