# Can a television be refocused?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-television-be-refocused/197426
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 25, 2003, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-television-be-refocused/197426 "2003-08-25T00:42:04Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2003, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-television-be-refocused/197426/1 "2003-08-25T00:42:04Z")
I have a 9" B&W Hitachi TV that I got when I was 12. It still works well, but the picture is a little “soft”. I know that repairing it will cost more than it’s worth, but I’m curious to know if it _can_ be refocused.
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### Author:  [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2003, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-television-be-refocused/197426/2 "2003-08-25T01:00:01Z")
Sure, and it’s easy. Most all flyback transformers in TVs have two adjustments: one called Screen adjusts the cathode voltage and another is for the Focus. Some TVs even have access to these controls from the outside, on the back of the set. If not, the back cover needs to be removed to do the adjustment. Do not do this if you feel at all uncomfortable about worrking around high voltages, and use insulated adjustment tools, should you decide to attempt it.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2003, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-television-be-refocused/197426/3 "2003-08-25T01:02:08Z")
Cool. I hate to throw things away when they’re reparable. (Heck, I even use _all_ of the ink in disposable pens before I get rid of them!)
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### Author:  [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2003, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-television-be-refocused/197426/4 "2003-08-25T01:08:56Z")
A tip: use a mirror to view the screen while you make the adjustment, rather than reaching around the back of the unit blindly. And don’t touch anything else inside. The adjustment control you are interested in is right on the rearward side of the flyback trransformer. If you don’t know what a flyback transformer is, follow the fat red wire from the forward side of the CRT back towards the board, where it enters the top of the flyback. sometimes the controls have knobs you can turn with your fingers, others have a slotted, hex or cross-shaped notch you need a tool to turn.
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### Author:  [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2003, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-television-be-refocused/197426/5 "2003-08-25T02:01:42Z")
Note: There are Big Bad Deadly Voltages around the flyback transformer. And that’s just the part you’re supposed to go near. Lot’s of deadly stuff elsewhere. _Even with the TV unplugged._ Still scares the daylights out of me and I’ve been working on TVs since the 50s.
Ask yourself: Is this TV worth dying for? Seriously.
Note that there are a lot of [cautions](http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/tvfaq.htm#tvndis) about such matters in the TV Repair Faq. Read them, understand them. Get a new TV (or a $10 thrift shop one) unless you are 100% certain you won’t make the littlest mistake and die.
(I have 2 stereo TVs in the basement from garage sales that could stand a once over cleaning and adjustment. I keep thinking of “better things to do” to avoid that. Guess why.)
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### Author:  [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2003, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-television-be-refocused/197426/6 "2003-08-25T14:58:34Z")
Sounds like its a pretty old tv, therefore you might have the adjusters on the back of the set on the outside. You can also turn down the contrast, that can make the picture sharper.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2003, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-television-be-refocused/197426/7 "2003-08-26T00:53:20Z")
I’m pretty sure it’s in storage right now. I’m heading up that way next week. Maybe I’ll bring it down. If the focus is accessable from the outside, I might try it myself. But if it’s on the inside, I don’t have non-metallic tools and I remember a story a friend of mine told me about his old roommate who made a mousetrap out of an industrial-sized capacitor.
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### Author:  [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2003, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-television-be-refocused/197426/8 "2003-08-26T00:56:12Z")
You can pick up a set of insulated TV alignment tools at a Radio Shack, if there’s one near you. They have a 5-piece set for like $4.00.
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### Author:  [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2003, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-television-be-refocused/197426/9 "2003-08-26T17:18:16Z")
Guns might need a blast too, it can help improve the emissions but you can only do it once or twice.
A small tv such as that will last forever, the screen voltage is not particularly great compared to modern 28" behemoths.