To continue the trend, I need help with a big screen TV.

Since my dad bought his monster widescreen TV, he's bestowed me with the 60" big screen that it replaced. The only trouble is that it appears to have some problems.

The main one that I don't know how to fix is with the video. Here's how I would describe what's happening: say you have a picture on the screen entirely made of thin vertical lines about 3 inches from each other. the lines in the middle, say, 75% of the screen are straight. But after that on both sides the lines become progressively wavier, but mostly in the middle of the screen (horizontally). I do not have a good hand for computer graphics or I'd attempt a drawing.

What is causing this? is there anything I can do about it, perhaps, for free?

Also, is there a good way to tell which remote codes will work with certain products in a company's line? For example, I used discrete codes for my dad's new TV in his Pronto, but they're from a different TV. I want to try to do the same thing with this older TV. I can't imagine why Sony would make it this difficult to use discrete codes for their devices. I mean, why hinder your customers, who just spent $5000 on your product, with a remote that doesn't do everything that the TV is capable of??? I now have his Pronto set up for discrete control of power and all 8 inputs. Grr. Sorry for the rant...

Have you tried tweaking geometry? Not just the stuff on the menu but maybe adjustments internal to the set as well. I assume there aren't any sources of magnetic intereference.

Haven't done that. I'll check out what I have available to me when I get home tonight. Thanks.

If there is magnetic interference, which is a good point since it does look similar to that, then it's happening in both of the set's locations (where it has been for its whole life and now its new life in the basement), and occurred within the last couple years (I forgot to mention that the set is about 12 years old now). So basically, I don't think this is a problem.

You could find it's age related (that is capacitors drying out). If you can find a service manual you might find this symptom described along with a probable cause.

Is this a CRT set? CRT-based projection televisions require that their geometry and convergence be adjusted before the picture is straight and square. How much control you have over this process depends on the brand and model of TV set. Some brands only allow these adjustments in a hidden service menu that you can't get into without knowing the secret handshake. Others have a built-in feature that uses a little CCD camera inside the set which does the bulk of the work automagically for you. What brand and model is it?

If you don't have any experience adjusting the set's geometry, you will probably be able to get it "close" without professional help. But the extra step of getting it "perfect" takes special procedures by someone factory-trained as a calibrator.

As an example, I know all the service menus on my Mits set, and I know what they do, but I can only get the geometry and convergence about 99 percent there. Even with some great "secret" tips I got from a professional calibrator, I can't get the red and blue guns 100 percent perfect on the extreme edges. Now, anyone else looking at the set would think it looked perfect and wouldn't notice the variances I see, but I'm really uptight about these things.

Oh, and Andy is right. Sometimes a failed component within the set can cause the problem you describe. On my set, for example, it's a common problem for the convergence IC's to die.

It's a Mitsubishi VS-6017R. It's been a great TV, but yeah, I'm sure what I'm seeing, and most of the other problems, are age-related like you say. There are some focus and color issues too.

The other odd thing was that when we watched TV, there was a very, very thin line of static at the very top. That's the only way I know how to describe it. I think that during DVDs it might have shown up from time to time as well, but as a solid white or something. It's extremely slight, so it didn't bother us too much, but if my mom could notice it, it wasn't past visibility

That's probably the closed captioning information you're seeing. Like static, but more organized? It just means you're seeing too much of the top of the frame. Adjust your TV to cut it off above the viewing area.

As it is, I sometimes see it, as I have my TV cutting really close on it, and one of the local TV stations shifts their whole frame down quite a bit every once in a while. I'm sure it's a bug on their end,

Could be. Do you mean it could be off slightly? Wouldn't I have to be off by a wide margin to see the top edge of the signal?

The closed captioning appears directly above the picture. Different TVs cut off different amounts of picture; usually the better TVs cut off less. So if you have a good TV that's wandered out of alignment somewhat, it could just be a minor mistake.

It's a Mitsubishi VS-6017R.

Ah. Then definitely, definitely, definitely redirect all questions to the Mitsubishi forum at www.hometheaterspot.com , they can help you out.

Be prepared to supply digital camera photos of the problem in question, it makes it much easier for folks to help you diagnose and fix problems.

Thanks, Tony. I think I might ask about the discrete codes for now, then ask about the problem after I've tried messing with it a bit