Hey. I have a 32" RCA TV that I've had for almost 5 years. Today, when I turned it on, the picture went concave on the left and right hand sides.

The RCA website recommends pulling the power for an hour and trying again -- I just tried it (at least 50 minutes) and nothing is happening. The picture is still concave.

Suggestions??

i have the same thing i have a mistubis 32 inch tv and im having the same problem i just bough a panisonic dvd player and then traded it for a jvc and having the same problems

Seeing that it's an RCA TV and about 5 years old, if it has to go to the repair shop I'd suggest looking into getting a new TV if possible. RCA used to make good TVs, but for the past few years they seem to make disposable units and I don't know if it would be worthwhile to get it fixed.

That said, I wonder if the screen could be degaussed to take care of the problem?

That's what I'm thinking. I think I spent around $500 for the unit, and I'm very willing to just ditch it.

Do you know of a way to degauss the screen? The only thing the RCA website recommends is a 'hard reset' which involves unplugging the TV for an hour.

Degaussing is usually a repair shop thing. They take a very strong electro magnet and run it over the screen. I've read where a bulk tape erasing magnet may also work, if you know someone who has one of those.

Actually degaussing is done each time you turn on your TV and has nothing to do with a magnet. The use of a magnet is to fix problems such as when a magnetic speaker gets to close to your TV and screws up the colors. The bowing of the picture would seem to indicate a voltage problem either with the tube itself or the supporting electronics. Being a RCA and seeminly a major repair cost I would also suggest you look for a new TV as well. And stay away from any RCA/Thompson TV's! Look at Toshiba, Sony, and Panasonic for some very good/solid TV's.

Yeah, I've seen the effects of running a magnet on a TV before. It leaves a nice orange/green mark where you stuck the magnet.

(For the record, I saw this at a friends house as a kid, never happened to any of my TVs)