Strange Picture Warping - TV Issue or Something Else?

[stiltzkin]

I'm having a bit of an odd issue that's hard to describe, and since I'm playing on a CRT I can't effectively take pictures of this effect. Basically most of the game systems that I have hooked up to a 32 inch Toshiba CRT that is new enough to have component inputs (I can provide a model number if needed, but that's probably not important) is displaying most of the output from my game systems in an odd way. The effect varies from system to system (details below), but generally what I'll see is a gradual curving of the image on the right side of the screen. From the top, the image will start off being flush against the edge of the TV as you would expect. About halfway down, it will gradually start curving in toward the center of the screen, and once you hit the bottom it will have visibly curved in at least an inch. I did some testing with each of the systems hooked up to this TV, and this is what I found:

Super Famicom (component) - Curvature on right as mentioned above
PC Engine (component) - Curvature on right as mentioned above
PS2 (component) - Extreme curvature on both left and right sides
XBox (s-video) - Seemed ok
Gamecube (s-video) - Slight curvature on both sides
N64 (s-video) - Seemed ok

So as you can see there seems to be no rhyme or reason to what does it and what doesn't. I'm guessing that this can only be an issue with my TV, since I've tested this without running the systems through any switch boxes or capture devices (just straight into the TV's inputs). The only thing that gives me pause is that some systems do it and some don't. Anyone have any thoughts? Thanks!

[Niku-Sama]

Sounds like the geometry of the TV is getting out of whack. Probably age related, could be caps going bad attributing to it to. Component able crt puts it squarely in the era of the capacitor plague.
Probably have to find a service manual to find the adjustments inside the TV to fix it

[RP2A03]

It is also possible that the yoke has shifted.

[understatement]

When you ran the systems directly to the TV were the cables you used still close by the other systems cables? The reason I ask is because it sounds like a problem I'm having, now that my rat nest of system cables has gotten so bad that on most of my systems the picture curves and even rolls around at times. I'm not 100% sure because I haven't had time to reorganize everything to test it but the most likely thing is the cables are getting outside interference from the other cables. Unlike digital where there isn't really anything that could interfere with the signal it's much different with analog where a host of things can screw with the signal. So it could be the quality of the cables insulation is letting in interference from the surroundings or the length of the cable might be too long for the power output of the system if you're using aftermarket cables. There's a few other things that can interfere with the signal but I think those are the two main ones. If you test and rule out outside interference then it might be the TV. Good luck, hope this helps.

[stiltzkin]

I actually had that same thought and unhooked the s-video cables running into the TV, to make it so the component was the only set of cables going to the TV. Given that the problem still persists in that state, I don't think this has anything to do with it. Shockingly there was still a guy who services CRTs in my area, and when he looked at it he seemed to think that any issues would be board related. Since there isn't going to be much of a chance of finding a very specific CRT board, he recommended the same thing I was thinking which is just find a new one on Craig's List or something. Sadly CRTs with component are not the easiest thing to find in my area, even on Craig's List.

When you ran the systems directly to the TV were the cables you used still close by the other systems cables? The reason I ask is because it sounds like a problem I'm having, now that my rat nest of system cables has gotten so bad that on most of my systems the picture curves and even rolls around at times. I'm not 100% sure because I haven't had time to reorganize everything to test it but the most likely thing is the cables are getting outside interference from the other cables. Unlike digital where there isn't really anything that could interfere with the signal it's much different with analog where a host of things can screw with the signal. So it could be the quality of the cables insulation is letting in interference from the surroundings or the length of the cable might be too long for the power output of the system if you're using aftermarket cables. There's a few other things that can interfere with the signal but I think those are the two main ones. If you test and rule out outside interference then it might be the TV. Good luck, hope this helps.

[Gameguy]

Rather than trying to replace the board, it may be possible to try and repair the board. Lots of electronic repair shops only know how to repair items by replacing entire boards rather than actually repair the parts on a component level. It could be something as simple as failing capacitors causing issues.

It's the same with computer shops. If the problem is capacitors failing on a motherboard, most would rather just replace the entire motherboard rather than replace the caps.

Just a last option to try before trashing the whole TV.