Top TV Issues With Easy Fixes

If you have an HDTV you will run into this.The picture has probably been "stretched" and/or "zoomed".If you have HD from Cable or Satellite you probably have a button on their remote that will alter the size of the picture. They use different terms to label this button, it could be something like "aspect" or "picture size", etc. Your TV will also have a similiar option (although you might have to go into the customer menu on some models) as well and the combination of the two could realy put the picture out of whack.Hitting these buttons will cycle through the various options until you find the combo that works best for you. You will definitely cut off your picture if you stretch and zoom a non HD (standard definition picture).Why? Because it basically is trying to make it into something it is not. Standard definition pictures are in a 4:3 aspect ratio (basically a square shape and why you see borders on either side while in "normal" mode) and turning it into a rectangle shape 16:9 aspect ratio which HD is.So when you do that something has to give and it is the outer edges of your picture. So checking your TVs picture mode will help make it more natural looking and less apt to cutoff when viewing non hd programming.

When digital pictures have a problem they will freeze or have little squares, (known as tiling) the picture may even go black.Most of the time this a result of a failure outside of the TV either your service provider has an issue or if you use an antenna you may have weak signal. Call your service provider to have them check your signal quality and converter box. For antenna users you have a signal meter option in newer TVs with a digital tuner and also in many of the new digital boxes for antennas.. Some automatically show the signal meter briefly when you change channels, others you may have to go into your customer menu to use it. But it should tell you how good the signal strength is and its quality. If they are borderline you will get poor performance. The TV is only as good as the signal it gets.

If you have a HD cable or satellite box and are using the green,blue and red video cable (known as a component cable) sometimes one of the wires on either connection (box or tv) has worked its way loose. You can still have a clear picture but the color will look off. A quick way to verify before you tear into the web of wires in the back is to either hit the menu button for the TV (not the cable or satellite) if the color looks ok in the menu it most likely is a loose cable or bad box. You could also try one of your other inputs you have hooked up like your dvd. If the color looks ok on these other inputs it points the problem back to the component cable or box.Now if the color DOESN'T look any better (and doesn't look good in the tv menu) it's quite possibly a TV issue. Normally if you have one color dominating it's probably gonna be a costly repair.The older rear projection sets usually have bad picture tubes that cause that. You may also see thin horizontal lines in the picture too.The DLP or LCD projection sets that have this symptom have what is known as either an "optical block" or "light engine" (these units are the projectors that the lamp plugs into) that has probably failed.Sony had to extend their warranty on some of their lcd projection sets (its due to expire sometime in 2009 I believe) so if you own one you might get lucky. Contact them and they can help you set up service if you qualify.
Well that's it for now, hope this helps! Take care.