[lexmarks567]

anyone know anything about TVs

I have a 1988 RCA TV(digital). Im going to say its about a 20+ size off hand. the picture is wavy on the sides. its like compressed on the sides and is all wavy on the sides.Thats the best I can described it. theres no controlls for H-hold just V hold and that did not solve it. Any suggestions.

[hewee]

Yea I know you got a 1988 RCA TV(digital) and bet it is a 19 or 21 inch. If you can fine a tv repair shop to look at it and better yet look at it for free then maybe if it is not the tube it could be fix without costing to much. But look at the price of newer tv's today that can be better and in feb 2009 your need a tv with a digital tuner when everything is changed over to high HDTV or a settop box to covert things over or a cable box to watch your tv.

http://www.dtv.gov/consumercorner.html

[lexmarks567]

hewee I don't know how to take it but it sounds like you mad at me for asking if it can be fixed I know nothing about repairing TVs alright all I want to know is whats the problem and if i can repair it. a repair shop I 100 % know there not going to look at it cause of its age

[telecom69]

This is not something you can repair yourself,it needs all sorts of testing equipment and a knowledge of TV'S to put right it could be almost anything,and in view of its age,its not worth repairing....take a look at this site to see whats involved and you will see what I mean http://www.penders.cwc.net/otltbeht.html

[Jedi_Master]

Originally Posted by lexmarks567

the picture is wavy on the sides. its like compressed on the sides and is all wavy on the sides.Thats the best I can described it. theres no controlls for H-hold just V hold and that did not solve it. Any suggestions.

Howdy folks...

I used to work on tv's a loooong time ago...my best guess would be a bad filter capacitor somewhere...

[lexmarks567]

heres some more info

Model FPR722TR SERIAL 739330285 its a 26 inch.and was made in 1987 not 1988

[hewee]

Originally Posted by lexmarks567

hewee I don't know how to take it but it sounds like you mad at me for asking if it can be fixed I know nothing about repairing TVs alright all I want to know is whats the problem and if i can repair it. a repair shop I 100 % know there not going to look at it cause of its age

I was not mad at you and still not mad at you so sorry if I sounded that way. I don't know anything about tv's either. I do know there are some shops that will look at them for free or a small fee and then if you have the work done the fee you paid would given back in the repaire cost. My dad had things go out on his older tv I think 3 times and being a big 27" floor model they had the guy come out. It was a nice tv and it was fixed twice and did not cost that much. The 3rd time it was the tube or another high cost part so they got a new tv. But over all I think they had the tv about 20 years and your close to that.
So I posted the added info for you to look at in case the repair is high. No matter what you do tv will still change in Feb 2009. Plus don't forget even if the cost of repair is not too bad the set is old and other parts can go out.
Like I got a 13" Hitachi tv that has the best picture. I mean a really great picture. But the tube is going out. Be nice to fix it but I don't know how much it would cost. I got it in the eraly 80's and unlike your that is digital it has 12 buttons that you turn for the channels. I could of gotten a sony where you just have the up and down and number buttons for the tuner but all that was new then so I went with a tuner I knew I could adjust.
But that Hitachi tv and I mean it in more way then watching it too because I used to work out of town and stay in the empty or model homes and sleep in a sleep bag to save money and I took that tv with me and put the pillow between the tube and front seat and put the seat belt on it and it went around with me about 3 years or so.
Only bad thing was that it is a small 13" tv so you got to be close to it but it has a better picture then a bigger tv and great color too.

[kiwiguy]

The "wavy" at the sides would suggest that the power supply has lost some filtering, or some other failure is causing the mains frequency (60 Hz) to interact with the frame frequency. Almost certainly a hardware failure.

Realistically at 1987 or 1988, the repair cost may be uneconomic. I just trashed a 29" set here of 1999 vintage as the cost of repair would be most or all of the cost of a replacement set. And considering that I am also a qualified TV engineer, that would not include labor. (I do not service TV's for a living)

The problem is, that unless you have a shed full of spare parts (which I don't), buying components to try substitiution repair can get very expensive. Hence I repair by replacement.

In NZ, a new 21" set with 2 year warranty can be bought for less than US $120 including tax, so I would expect even lower prices in the US due to economies of scale.

CRT TV's are being dumped on the market here at ever lower prices as flat panel LCD's eat into the market share.

[bdimag]

http://cgi.ebay.com/RCA-26-LCD-Wides...QQcmdZViewItem