Help! I think my picture is going out.
 

Hello folks,

I'm hoping someone can either confirm or deny what is happening to the picture on my Pioneer SD 532 HD5 through my DirectTV Tivo reciever or DVD player.

Just so you know what HD TV it is:
http://ecoustics.audioreview.com/cat...0_2726crx.aspx

Mine was manufactured in either 1999 or 2000 so it 7 years old.

So basically I have some slight picture discoloration followed by burst of brightness. The picture will fluctate between being really bright (like if it was on "0" brightness and somebody quickly raised it to "+30" brightness). It will stay like that or strobe for a few seconds and then go back to the original brightness level. It does not do it all the time but it is happening more frequently.

Does this mean that the picture is going out? If not what could it be? If so, should I even think about fixing this problem?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks!
Andre

ok, so i take it no one knows and probably are just as confused as I am. I was hoping to figure it out before I moved so I didn't have to haul it. I'm not sure how I would go about desposing a huge tv like this.

A

Sounds to me like one or more of teh bulbs are going. Not uncommon in a set that old. You may need to call a local service shop and have them come out and take a look.

Thanks for the help Brian. I will look into that.

Much appreciated.

Nope. If it happens simultaneously to all three guns (red green and blue) then the tubes should be fine. This is a sign of poor power regulation, probably somewhere in the power supply or maybe high voltage stage. It sounds like an electrolytic capacitor is flaky. The part causing this problem probably costs about 10 cents.

The reality is that it will cost you $100 just to get someone out to your house to even look at it. If you are lucky, and they are competant, you may be able to get it fixed for <$200. That $200 would be a nice start toward buying a modern set.

My recommendation, post the set on Ebay. Slightly broken HDTVs can get around $200.

I would recommend going here:

http://www.hometheaterspot.com/htsth...t=&Board=UBB20

and asking about this. Experts on that set post there and may be able to diagnose your problem. It could be something that has a known cure that you could do yourself.

I appreciate all of the advice. Thanks!

I believe the problem has been solved:
I was living in an aprartment and the past few weeks noticed that some of the lights in the living room (where the HDTV is located) would strobe high and low.

Well, the power went out (not in the whole apartment but just in living room, bedroom and bathroom). The building repairman re-set the breaker but when I turned on my reciever the power went out again. This time he replaced the breaker and asked me to use a different outlet. It was still happening.

I moved into a house last weekend and the HDTV is working fine! (Knock on wood).

Thanks again!

A friend of mine bought a house where the lights would strobe whenever the dryer was turned on. It was almost like a disco! The problem turned out to be a bad connection from the house to the pole. Squirrels had almost chewed through it. The power company replaced it free of charge.

Glad to hear you solved your problem.