Trouble with 20" Samsung TV (TXR2035)

[mikeys2k5]

I recently purchased a Samsung TXR2035 20" direct view SDTV to bring with me to school. Once I had it out of the box, I turned it on and the TV looked fine from a distance. Upon closer inspection, though, I noticed slight bending, or distortion around the edges of the screen. To get a better idea of what was going on, I plugged in my Playstation 2 to the TV via component cables to see what the issue was. As it turned out, I the picture was even worse with the PS2. The bottom bowed up visibly about a centimeter or more, and the right side was slanted, and also bowed out about a centimeter or more. I figured it was a bad TV, and calling samsung, confirmed that it was a defect. I returned it to the store I bought it from (Curcuit City) and exchanged it for the same unit. Sure enough, when I got home, it was the same thing, almost as bad. Now the left and right sides were distorted, and top and bottom were fine. After calling samsung again, they said I could contact one of their service centers. This would be fine, except I would have to box the TV back up, drive it to the service center, and then wait 7-10 days for it to get fixed. With working and school, I really do not have time for this. I was wondering if there was a way to adjust the TV via the service menu to fix the picture, or am I just out of luck. Everyone I have talked to told me to go with Samsung over Sony or Toshiba's simmilar offerings in my price range, but at this rate I am at a loss as to what to do.

I have attached some pictures of the problem and a picture of the service menu with no values changed.

If anyone can help out, I would be greatly appreciate it. Also, if you have another suggestion of a TV in my price range (~$200) that WILL NOT have the same problems, and is not any bigger than 20", I might exchange it for that. Also, this only happens when using my PS2 or Gamecube, not when watching regular TV.

Thanks,
Mike

[Josh7289]

To me, what the problem seems to be is that the picture is tilted very slightly counterclockwise.

The black bars are not a problem, as those result from the fact that the PS2 outputs video underscanned, and your TV just doesn't overscan enough to cut off those black bars.

[mikeys2k5]

Ah I see. The same thing happens with my gamecube, but not with my X-Box, DVD player, or regular TV signal, so I guess it is normal. I did a little searching, looks like there is no fix for this on my TV because you cannot adjust per-input. I guess I cannot complain though, it was only $169.

Thanks for the reply!

[Josh7289]

Yep, that makes sense. Both the GameCube and PS2 output underscanned images, while the Xbox does not. DVD players and normal TV signals usually fill up the whole screen, though.

All of these components do the same things on my TVs as they do on your TV, too. ^^

[mikeys2k5]

At least the GC and some PS2 games have adjustments so that I can center the image, so it is not so bad. The first unit I purchased had serious problems with the bottom of the screen also, not related to the underscreen. I am just glad that I have a square image I guess, even if it is a bit underscanned. :)

Thanks again!