Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Kurtz]

Got a 3 year old Korean TV, "old school" as in it's not thin style digital/HD.

Some time last year, the screen went from normal, to kind of a concave/convex look and half the screen image is off to the side and you can't see it. It's like it's been magnified, so you can't see what's happening on the side of the screen.

Confused? well it's kind of hard to sum up. It's like the ratio or scale has changed, and the sky TV guy who hooked up my MEGATV pass said it requires some kind of after service.

Anyone know what the problem could be? it's not something that can be fixed via my remote.

Perhaps it's something to do with new technology that my TV hasn't been converted to use, and well, I'm quite out of it these days with new tech.

[Gatsby]

Are you sure it's only three years old?

The "old style" are called CRTs - cathode ray tubes. They use magnets to deflect a stream of electrons shot at the phosphor screen. If you have a strong magnet near the TV, it will distort the picture. Sometimes only having a magnet nearby temporarily will leave distortion, but that's more a 1960s problem. The answer was degaussing, using an electromagnet to neutralize the magnetization of the TV.

There are also were recessed controls on the back of the set to control the alignment of the shape of the picture. I doubt they are still accessible, probably you would have to take the cover off these day. If you do take the cover off, be careful what you touch, especially if it is turned on. We're talking thousands of volts here, which could electrocute you.

From what you describe, it sounds like it is just plain broken. TVs are cheap enough that you would normally just buy a new one and toss the old one. I have never had a TV go bad in three years, but then my sets spend most of the time turned off.

I had a new 27 inch Samsung TV in my previous apartment. The whole picture was tilted, so it was running downhill from left to right. The color was uneven over the picture, with a hotspot near the middle. In the States if you bought a TV like that, you would return it. This got me thinking that either the school had bought a B stock TV, or Korean TV manufacturers save their B stock components for domestic consumption, and export their good stuff.

[Kurtz]

I think you might be right, I think it's fooked. When I look at it in the dark, and there is a black background, I see curved rainbows on the screen when everything should be black. I didn't think a relatively new TV could be cactus after such a short amount of time with not much use.

Guess I'll just have to put up with it. I don't really want to fork out my own money for a new idiot box but if it gets much worse, I might need (well my handler) to call the Daewoo after service centre .

[hanguker]

Just post an AD on this site and you'll have many offers from people wanting to get rid of their old-school TVs. You'll easily get one for <$50 (about the price of a repair).