I have a new Panasonic(Omnivision) tv/DVD/VCR and there is a large black square that fill 2/3 of the screen. The sound is fine, and when I go to menu to try and fix things the square goes away for a minute. What do I do?

Shauna, May 2004

I have the same problem. Mine is a bit older. It's also an Omnivision, but it's about 6 years old, and just a TV VCR Combo. It has worked very well for this entire time, and all of a sudden, 2 days ago, this big black box covers up 90% of the screen. If I make anything happen on the screen (IE: Click info on my satalite, change channel, look at time) The box vanishes for as long as the task is performed. In other words, I click time on my remote, the black box vanishes, the time and date go up, and stay for about 5 seconds. When the time and date finally go away, the box comes right back.

This happens when I watch TV or VHS, or even when I plug in my DVD player.... Very odd. Tubes going out or something??? Can't afford a new TV at the moment.

Kyle, May 2006

Is your TV language-capable? Some TVs can do closed-captioning in Spanish, and you may have this feature enabled on your set. You may have to go into the menu to disable it because the TV is looking for CC data on programs that aren't broadcast with it, so you get this empty black box where the translation would normally be. I've seen a few TVs come into my shop for this very reason.

Jim Lee, May 2004