Discoloration on video monitor (TV)

[Stull]

I have a Panasonic CT-1388YD video monitor with some discoloration in one area of the screen. See the attached picture for an example. Any idea if this is fixable? It shows up regardless of the input (it has 3 coax and one S-Video). I bought it new in box, so it's always been this way for me..

[sirpaul484]

It is fixable, but you'd need a degaussing wand to do so.  Just follow the instructions with the wand, and it should be fixed.  Unless, of course, said monitor has a degauss function built-in... In which case, use that.

EDIT: Here's one on a website I found: http://www.sourcingmap.com/hand-held-crt-picture-tube-degaussing-coil-repair-screen-degausser-p-1454.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=froogle&utm_campaign=usfroogle

[Stull]

Cool, thanks for the info. The unit is called a "video monitor" but it's really just a tube TV, so it doesn't have any degaussing functions. Unfortunately that wand is 220, so I'll have to find another model..

[RedWolf]

Yep, degaussing is what you need.  If I need to degauss a monitor that doesn't have that function built in (most old ones don't), I use an electromagnetic mass tape eraser that my father bought from Radio Shack in the late 1980s.  It works very well.  You have to turn it on and slowly pull it away from the screen.

Just keep speakers (and other things with magnets) away from the monitor in the future -- they usually cause discoloration spots like the one seen in your picture.  Magnets mess up CRTs because they can magnetize the metal shadow mask that sits just behind the surface of the screen.  That screws with the CRT's electron trajectories and produces discoloration.

Here's a somewhat related note of trivia (though this is not your problem, Stulll): Have you ever tilted a CRT monitor on its side and noticed that the colors change?  That's because the Earth's magnetic field is bending the electrons' paths in a way that is making them hit the wrong phosphor colors.  If you degauss (which essentially recalibrates the thing), the colors will be fixed.  Cool and crazy stuff.

[Stull]

Yep, degaussing is what you need.  If I need to degauss a monitor that doesn't have that function built in (most old ones don't), I use an electromagnetic mass tape eraser that my father bought from Radio Shack in the late 1980s.  It works very well.  You have to turn it on and slowly pull it away from the screen.

This is good to know; it looks like tape erasers are a lot cheaper than degaussing coils on eBay. I'll find something!

I also can't help but think of this from Fight Club:



(And as an aside, I wonder how many kids just don't get this scene nowadays..)

[sirpaul484]

I was thinking of recommending that, but I didn't want to, because I was unsure if it actually worked, so I didn't want to give bad advice which would have potentially ruined it.