What is wrong with my TV and how much will it cost to fix it?

Factual Questions
1

The TV in question: Circa-1993 26-inch Mitsubishi.
Symptoms: The picture seems to be “compressed” into 3-4 lines horizontally across the center of my screen. It’s really just a thin line of bright light.
Question: See topic

IMHO type question: Junk it or buy a new one? I can’t really see the logic in paying more than 80 bucks or so to fix this. I paid about 500 or so for this new 10 years ago, but a much better tv could be had for a lot cheaper now.

2

It soulds like the picture tube - It would most likely be cheaper to get a new one.

But IANA tv repairman

3

http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/F_tvfaq.html is a good place to look for diagnosing (and even repairing) TV sets.

Sounds like a problem in the vertical sweep circuitry. I strongly suspect that it would cost more than 80 bucks to pay a repair shop to fix it.

4

Check to see if there is a service switch on the back. Throwing this switch into the service position disables the vertical oscillator, collapsing the vertical deflection and giving you a bright horizontal line. Technicians use this to align the deflection circuitry. Even if the switch is not in the service position, it could be defective.

The other obvious possibility is that something is amiss in the vertical deflection circuitry. My estimate: $89.00 labor. Hard to figure a parts change until you know exactly what you need. Could be just a bad solder joint in which case you’d need no parts at all.

Take it to a place that’ll give you an estimate. If you approve the estimate, the cost of the estimate should be deducted from the cost of the final repair.

5

For any appliance, unplug frrom wall for a full minute then plug back in, this resets it. Seems a great time to get a new tv with all the new features they have & some big sales this month.

6

Don’t neglect the possibility that your TV has been possessed by demons, or is being tampered with by aliens or extradimensional beings. (Gotta cover all the bases, you know.)

7

I seriously doubt you could get a “better TV” nowadays in terms of reliability. Don’t expect a set bought today to last anywhere 10 years. (Or the 25 a set I had been using until recently.)