Should ghosting be an issue with CRT HDTVs?
 

So I've got a 30" Samsung DynaFlat CRT HDTV. It's not a Slimfit...it's one of the bigger, older grey ones that I don't think they make any more. Anyhow, I was having some issues with it, so the service guy came out and looked at it, ordered a new board for the TV and installed it last week. I just hooked it up now (it was in storage over the summer, and I have since returned to school where I'm using it again). Anyhow, on a dark screen, the various little displays that pop up when you change picture mode, screen size, etc. have a very noticeable amount of ghosting (if that's the correct term). Basically, it looks like the image is faintly duplicated or smeared directly to the right of the actual on-screen display. The same is also apparent with light colored text on dark backgrounds. To my knowledge, this was never a problem before. I'm wondering if maybe I'm just now noticing it for whatever reason, or if the technician, who seemed pretty clueless to me, messed something up when installing the board.

Not only is there this ghosting problem now, but i can see very faint, thin lines running diagonally across the screen when the screen is dark and the lights are out. I know for a fact that the TV didn't have this problem before. Does anyone here have enough technical knowhow to propose why this may be happening?

As it stands, I've had to schedule another service appointment for the guy to come out and look at it again. At this point, I'm really hoping he just gives me the option to get the thing replaced, since I paid for the 3-year at home repair agreement. The whole thing is really starting to anger me, and any help from you guys would be much appreciated.

I've never seen ghosting on a CRT RPTV. You may want to recalibrate it before worrying about it though as replaced components usually necessitate that.

But what is there to calibrate aside from the usual brightness, contrast, sharpness, etc., without going into the TV's service menu? Cause none of those standard picture adjusment parameters make any difference in the ghosting.

Also, it's not a rear projection TV, just a standard CRT.

What source are you seeing these issues? The diagonal lines might be caused by some type of ground issue. Are there other items plugged into the same plug? Do you have any light dimmers in the room?

The issue is most apparent when watching a DVD, but even with the DVD player turned off, the lines are still there. I had the TV plugged in to a surge protector with some other sources. As a means of checking, I went ahead and plugged the TV directly into the wall, and the lines are still there. No dimmer switches in the room.

You would have to physically unplug devices from the TV to check for grounding problems. But ghosting of menus (these are the TV's own menus, right?) sounds bad, grounding shouldn't be able to affect that. Since you just had service, get them out again. Something is wrong.

Yeah, I'm talking about the TV's own menus. I scheduled an appointment to have the guy come look at it again, and because I'm pretty sure he has no idea what he's doing, I'm just going to see if I can return the TV and put the money towards a replacement.