I had purchased two identical Goodmans 28in matrixTVs and coincidently both have now narrow pictures on the screen? I have had them both for six years and they had been purchased second hand then.I am in financial difficulty and donot want to take both tellys into a store only to find that they are both in need of work which will be expensive and not worth the cost involved. If this sort of problem means it is probably the Tube and the telly would only have a life of 8 yrs then why are both tvs the same problem and also my son has one and it has not been used anywhere near the amount the other one has ?? please help

jgfoxylady@hotmail.com, November 2008

Sounds like both tv's would have vertical problems . Why both tv's went out at the same time is odd but some sets do have certain patterns . Sounds like you might have some capitors that have dried out causing your picture to start collapsing. This is common in alot of tvs . Your tubes should be ok as long as the color and brightness have not changed over the years as this would indicate a weak or bad tube . call your local repair shop to see what an estimate would cost or a ballpark figure to fix the set would be . My shop would charge around $40 to $75 depending on the parts it would need . Hope you can get it done cheap , Good luck

James, November 2008