Sony Trinitron KV-27TS20

16 year old tv. Check the back of the set for two adjustment holes. One will be for focus, the other will make it too bright. See if you can adjust the focus any better. If not the picture tube is probably toast.

A loose connection is usually oneof the easier repairs to make, but not always. (Especially if it is in the shadow mask). Easy money. Turn the board upside down, remember it is very fragile and will shock you. The big red wire will hurt bad. Try not to unhook any wires if you don't have to but if you do make sure you know exactly where they go. I use a sharpie sometimes. A good light and look closely at each and every solder joint, starting with the larger ones and you will be able to see any obvious cracks.Keep your tip clean with a wet sponge and resolder any suspect connections. Inspect your handiwork very closely and if you bridge two joints together remove the excess solder with solder wick. Reassemble and tap on the board to verify no bad connections. If there are, repeat :o)

But the first thing you should do is read read the faq. Sam is The Man. Good luck. Scott

This set at one time had a fantastic picture, but over time and a couple of household moves the picture quality isn't what it used to be. Manufactured in 06/1990, I am soliciting opinions as to whether I should have it fixed or just go get another set.

Two main problems are 1) Overall brightness is no longer very good, even with the brightness knob all the way up. I have calibrated the set using my own eyes and also using a DVD calibration disc -- they yielded roughly the same settings. 2) Overall focus isn't as sharp as it used to be either, but it is very fuzzy along the outside edges of the screen. I can't read the news tickers at the bottom of the screen very well at all, it just looks like cotton balls.

The only reason I'm even thinking about repair is that a few weeks back my young son was running in front of the set and the picture became as clear as the first day I had it! This lasted for a couple of weeks then went back to being fuzzy.

Any ideas? I've heard about bad solder joints and maybe the dynamic focus isn't working. Please help.