Entertainment Center: TVs, Stereos, VCRs and DVDs - "Bullseye" rainbow on TV--HELP!!

Ok, I don't have the model # for my television (I will have to climb behind the entertainment center to get--but I WILL if it's necessary.) Here's the problem:

We have a Panasonic 31" television (sort of old: circa 1993/4). No problems to date with the color or picture. In the room next to our family room, there is a large hot tub. There is a door in between. We are selling our house and yesterday, our RE agent showed the house and left the cover off the hot tub and the door open between the rooms (also did not turn on the dehumidifier). When we got home late last night, the whole family room felt damp and the colors were messed up on the TV. You can see the picture, but there is a "bullseye" of color radiating out from the center of the screen (a red spot in the middle, green outside of that, and a blue band on the outside). Anyway, after leaving a fan on all night and the dehumidifier going on high, the rainbow is still there. My question (I guess) is this: did the moisture do this to the television or is this just a bizarre coincidence? AND: Will this eventually fix itself or is something permanently damaged? Again, I will get the model number if you need it to diagnose.
You've all been so helpful in the past. I'm hoping this isn't too weird to figure out.

Thank You!! :confused:

It sound like you CRT has been magnetized. Turning your set on from COLD will activate a degaussing circuit, designed to correct this problem. If after a couple of COLD starts it hasn't disappeared then you have a circuit problem.
You can then contact me at.

http://www.fixyourowntv.com

Dakota

(I hope this doesn't sound dumb) By COLD, you mean unplugged from the wall for a long period of time, right? If so, how long should I leave it? I left it for a few hours, but it didn't seem to "reset" itself--it was still on the same video mode setting (which is not the default).
I got the model #CTP-3180SF (and the manufacture date was actually August 1992).
I'll leave the TV unplugged over night. I know that it does eventually reset itself if it's left off long enough. We once lost electricity for a few days and I had to change all the settings (time, channel setup, etc...) when it came back on.

Thank you for the help. I'll let you know how everything works out.

By cold I mean turn it off for a couple of hours. When you get up tomorrow, turn it on for a few seconds. You dont even have to let the picture come on. Then turn it off for an hour and do it again. If that doesnt fix it then it means one of two things. The shadow mask has slipped inside the picture tube. That only happens when the TV has been dropped. Or more likely the degaussing circuit inside the set has failed. If after you try my first suggestion, you still have problems, email me through our web site.

http://www.fixyourowntv.com

Dakota

Well, Dakota's got a good point here, and since you had who- knows-how-many people roaming through the house, I'm sure one of the clowns wanted to be funny and stuck a magnet to your screen. How coincidental it's right in the middle of the screen.

Moisture/humidity has nothing to do with this one.

A few power cycles on-and-off should be able to fix it since it activates the deguassing coil. It 'should' get better the more you do it. Worst case, you'll need to get the screen demagnetized. If it's really a circuit problem as Dakota suggests, it'll probably be limited to a cheap $1 thermistor or an open deguassing coil, but since the picture was okay the day before, this is probably unlikely. OTOH, I can imagine this happening if the coil opened up immediately after power was applied.

When we were selling our last house, you'd be a amazed of how creative pathetic bozos get when going through one's property... it shows how little respect people have for other's property when nobody's around.

I'd make note of the hot tub incident to your RE agent and mention there's no reason to be running it. Who's to say someone didn't use it while you were gone! Better yet, just turn it off at the breaker box along with any other major appliance that isn't necessary to show the property

aaron

Actually, I got a confession from our RE agent that she "may have" moved one of our enormous, old, and, most likely unsheilded stereo speakers in front of the TV to get a look at the cable and speaker hook-ups behind the entertainment center. Bingo. I ordered the degaussing coil, got it in about three days and installed it (really easy) and fixed the problem. Then, like a complete idiot, I didn't something too embarrassing to mention here and fried something on my power board. I'm now testing to figure out what shorted. I SWEAR I had an IQ before I had my kids!
I'm now wondering if the set is worth fixing. It's 11 years old and we just got Directv and you can really see the pixelation(sp?)-same with the DVD player. Would a higher resolution set get rid of that or will all "larger screen" sets look that way? Our two other newer sets don't look as bad, but they are also only 19".
Thanks for the input. I always appreciate any advice.

A new set may look worse on standard broadcast signals but better on DVD's. On small dish satelite, they compress the video to get the most out of the bandwidth. In viewing terms what you see is pixelation in dark scenes. If they show a flashlight on a dark foggy night, you will see rings of different intensity brightness, around the light. It's the nature of the beast.

Dakota