Video distortion of some sort

[xjim1]

Having a problem with my TV lately. I'm seeing squiggly lines follow movement and along the side sometimes. This mainly shows up with SD recordings, and poor recordings can show faces like they're paint by number colors. Sometimes faint backgrounds will flicker, similar to what I've come to know as macro blocking. Streaming is the worst. Isn't noticeable on HD recordings. They are not strictly vertical or horizontal, and no distinguishable color to them.

I've verified it's not my Sage tuner, and even when I pause video, the lines will continue to mildly flicker. I've not found anything useful so far online, so thought I'd post hear. Maybe someone's seen this, and if nothing else garner some better search terms to use.

I'd upload a screenshot but it doesn't show up on a capture.
Thanks for any help.

[Striker:WG]

So just to clarify, you are seeing this when playing back videos outside of Sage as well?

What is playing your source content? A PC or some other device? What is the device connected with? HDMI?

What's the age of the TV?

[xjim1]

Originally Posted by Striker:WG

So just to clarify, you are seeing this when playing back videos outside of Sage as well?

What is playing your source content? A PC or some other device? What is the device connected with? HDMI?

What's the age of the TV?

Yeah, even on the TV's internal tuner on SD channels. That's straight off the antenna. Streaming, etc is on my Sage server. HDMI for both inputs.

My TV is really old, a 46" Sony XBR3. I'm not averse to opening up the thing if I have to. It's been an excellent tv up to now.

[xjim1]

I think the distortion may depend on the resolution of the video/channel. Right now I'm watching Timestalkers on UToob. While the video quality itself is average, UToob shows 'quality' at 720p. No distortion.

[xjim1]

Well, I think I spoke too soon. That movie did have spots of distortion after awhile. Sometimes in the background there are small sections that wiggle and flicker (sorry, can't think of any better adjectives, one of the reasons I've posted here) that remind me of a Star Trek NG episode where the holodeck starts to break down, revealing a small section of the holodeck wall.

Anyway, if anyone thinks of anything or has seen it, I'm interested in how you'd describe it.

[Striker:WG]

It honestly sounds like something is starting to fail. It's definitely something with the TV itself since it occurs with multiple sources.

Do you notice it getting worse the longer you watch? As the TV heats up, it's possible that some old solder joints loosen up.

[xjim1]

Oh yeah, definitely something on the tv. And full disclosure: I sometimes fall asleep with the tv on, but it's always gone thru the screensaver process and shut off after an hour. This time I woke up the next morning and it was sitting there fully lit, probably for at least 8 hours w/no image movement.

I guess I'm hoping someone might say they saw something similar or read about something on a forum somewhere. My lack of descriptive keywords has kept me from digging up anything useful. I have the service manual but this would be my first foray into an lcd monitor. I'd hate to lose this thing, but it's not really worth the effort to haul it to a repair shop (it weighs 75+ lbs), but in tech terms it's become a 'classic', circa 2006.

But I'm one of those people who will peer under the hood anyway, jiggle, poke and tap just to see if I get lucky. If I can suspect a likely culprit beforehand, all the better.