[the_rookie]

I have a Mitsubishi VS-4551, and for several years now it has been bowing inwards the picture literally like a bow about an inch upwards at the center.

Also, the sharpness, and true white has been slowly fading, to a grayer color. And now, on the left hand bottom corner, i think the red, green, blue guns aren't aligned anymore, cuz its not very sharp at all, and is shadowing things. White is very blurry, and objects when paused are blurry as well.

I was wanting a Hi-Def plasma. But read in a post that you guys prefer older CRTs and stuff.

Well, I was wondering, how much would it be to re-calibrate the TV, and in the end is it worth it? Cuz I can buy a brand new Plasma, 50", bigger than this one, for 1500, compared to fixing an older 45", thats not HD.

 

[tenzip]

It sounds like your convergence ICs may be going bad. You may want to post in the appropriate section of the Manufacturer service and support forum, and see if you can fix it yourself for not too much coin.

Pictures of the screen, showing the issues you described, are helpful, too.

 

[lcaillo]

This set is at an age (14 years) where the CRTs are near the end of their useful life. It is also typical to have a couple of dozen of leaky caps showing up at this age in this model. It will likely cost over $500 to get the set into good working order, and calibration would not give great results on this set anyway. It is not HD, had small CRTs, and only marginal ability to converge with good geometry.

I would move on to a new set. The VZ2 chassis that Mitsubishi used in this one was not one of the high points in their history.

 

[the_rookie]

Well, last night I spent about 2 hours cleaning the inside of the TV.

I unplugged it, spent like 20 minutes looking for a screw driver...than spent another 20 trying to find all the screws i had to take out to take off the back... Well after that I saw lots of cobwebs. And alot of dust on everything.

At first I used my super fine lens cleaning cloth...but it didnt work, so i put water on it and tried to use... IT made it way worse. So i ran across the street and bought windex. And experimented with it, i found if i wiped down the mirror, lens', and inside screen, than wiped them down with a dry paper towel RIGHT after I wiped them with windex, that there was almost 0% Streaks, and so forth.

Than i repeated a couple times cuz each time the paper towel was still brownish, than I put everything back together.

AND MAN! Is it looking sexier than ever! Oh my god, i got rid of most of my burn in images, As well as blurryness. The brightness of the colors enhanced by 500%, and its far more rich than it has ever been. Besides the slight bowing...i think it reduced , it looks brand new almost.

 

[redfury]

Nothing like cleaning something out once in a while....something most people fail to think about. Those sets still get all the environmental debris in them and it slowly accumulates. How many computers are out there right now, being throttled due to heat because the CPU heatsink is clogged with dust?