I was telling one of the guys at work about this forum and he asked if I could post a problem he was having.

He has a 36" Sony CRT TV that is 5 years old (4:3, not a widescreen). He said that it has a black bar at the bottom of the screen about an inch wide that runs across the entire length of the screen. When he's watching ESPN it doesn't allow him to see the second line of copy.

It could be some sort of simple adjustment problem, but if it is covering up the lower line of copy instead of just squeezing/distorting the whole picture, could it be a dead area and more symptomatic of a bigger problem? It sounds like the lower one inch of the screen isn't being scanned. Yes? He didn't know if it was worth getting it fixed or wait around till he had enough money for an LCD or plasma set. Any thoughts?

Thanks.