RCA 36 CRT overscan

[shoe]

I received a 10 year old RCA 36" TV and the picture extends vertically and horizontally beyond the screen. How do I adjust or fix it? There are no controls visible on the outside of the set to do this.

[zaphod7501]

RCA is definitely not my speciality but the first determination is wether the overscan is normal or abnormal. Normal overscan can be fiddled with but abnormal would need a repair, possible serious. Does the screen size change noticeably with brightness? Are you losing scrolling text on the bottom or game scores off the top? channel logos off the right side? If you can still see these things then you might access the "service menu" and adjust height and width to reduce overscan (you can't eliminate it completely on a TV, especially one that doesn't have a great power supply circuit).

With some sources like VCRs and some stations you will start to see unacceptable artifacts at the top and bottom and bowing on the sides if you reduce the size very much at all.

I have not read many RCA manuals lately, so a forum dedicated to TVs might be able to help. Modern TVs have all of their adjustments stored in eeproms which usually require some front panel button or remote keypress combination to get into. (Sony even has some sets that use the same chip we use in JP1 remotes -- my first modded remote was with an old Sony eeprom and cut down circuit board connectors)