My Zenith television with a 25EC58 chassis has a ghosting picture. What I mean is NOT multiple images. You can see in the pictures that the people have a distinct black outline on the left side and a white outline on the right side. On one of the pictures, you can see that the horizon actually goes through the person's body in the foreground. Somethimes, the outline thickness is enough to completely wash out a small image, such as subtitles on TV commercials. I noticed that this problem mostly comes up when there is a large contrast of light in a single frame, such a s adark object on a light background.

My guess is the AGC Delay, but I tried adjusting it with no success. I noticed when I move the dial all the way clockwise, the outlines become thicker (with a fuzzy snowstorm). Also, the intensity varies depending on what picture is shown. I hooked up a cable box to the TV, and the picture looked fine when I turned the weather report on. When I turned on a hockey game, the picture got completely washed out. When I connect a VCR, the picture almost always starts to "ghost". Another reason I think the AGC Delay is part of the problem is because the picture tends to swerve at the top of the screen. Again, instensity depends on what movie I put in. There is no problem with the tape or VCR (it was tested on another TV). Occasionally, the picture divides the colors into horizontal stripes across the screen (see picture). I usually fiddle around with the tuner and AGC delay to fix it, but after I fix it, it appears again when I change the channel momentarily, and back again.

Please note that the color issues and swerving picture are not major problems, they only come up from time to time. I thought it may help knowing that to diagnose the initial problem (the ghosting). Also, the AGC Delay might have nothing to do with it. Based on what I know about this TV, it is just an educated guess. Please let me know your thoughts on how to resolve this issue.

Is anybody out there familiar with using videokarma.org? I posted this same thread, but haven't had many people look at it. Am I doing something wrong? Here's the link:
http://www.videokarma.org/showthread.php?t=254093

Looks as though you have your varactor set to the wrong frequency.

The folks at VideoKarma are a bit snooty at times. Just let it go.

I would have to ask first of all what is your video source? If it is a clean source, then you could well have several problems with the tuner and IF stages in that TV

It should work infinitely better than that, these sets had a very high quality picture when they were new, and this one is totally unwatchable from what I can see in your photos.

I would start by swapping out the IF strip for a known good one, then look at the tuner and some of the other modules in the video section.

The once in a while color bar condition is probably just an adjustment of the 3.58 AFPC which only takes a few seconds and should be covered in the Zenith factory service data for this chassis. It only has to be off a tiny bit for that to happen since it does seem to lock in eventually.

Actually, I did get a few responses at Video Karma. I will keep a look at it from time to time.

I mostly use a VCR for a video source, not a very clean source. But I did hook up a DirecTV box to it with slightly better results, but it didn't fix the problem. There is definately something wrong with the television. Besides, if I am going to use this TV often, it will be with a VCR. I have a collection of about 350 VHS videos.

The color problem shown in the first picture only happens occasionally with certain tapes. Other tapes work fine. That is what confused me.

Also, the picture is not as bad as it appears to be (with exception to the first picture color issue). If the pictures seem blurry or grainy to you, it is probably because of the bad camera I used (and the VHS tape is about 25 years old). It is watchable, just the ghosting that I described gets a little annoying at times. Keep in mind that I am only looking at the black and white outlines around the images.

Could anybody describe to me what a "varactor" is and how to set it? Is the IF strip a module on the top of the chassis? If so, does anybody here have a replacement. Feel free to sell me any parts that you think would help this TV, I am more than willing to give it a try. Sorry about my little education in electronics. I would appreciate it if anybody could describe in detail what these parts do and what they look like. Thanks

The varactor is the tuning assy that has the little white knobs to adjust each station. They are a little tricky to set. First shut off the afc control 2nd go down to the second white knob and tune in channel 3 if thats what your vcr is set for while running a known good tape till you get a good picture. 3rd turn on the afc switch. These sets if tuned with the afc on will give you crazy problems. I was a zenith dealer in the 70's and seen this many times.

Thanks for your posting. I already adjusted the fine tuning. I just didn't know it was called a "varactor". I think the problem I am having is something on the inside. When I bought the set, I replaced a blown high voltage tripler. It is likely that some other parts shorted out, since the TV was smoking when I first plugged it in!

Where was it smoking from?

It was smoking from the high voltage tripler. I don't know exactly how all of these problems could happen with it just from that one part. I was told from the previous owner that the picture looked fine and had no troubles before it blew up. Either he was not telling the truth, or the HV tripler did cause all of this damage.

Are you serious? You posted here complaining that you've had little response to something you posted there less than one hour earlier? (Posted there at 7:15 PM, here at 8:10 PM.)

I guess they should all have been eagerly waiting for your post.

In all seriousness though, you need to be more patient. The people on both these forums are not all at their keyboards 24 hours a day. Both forums have lots of people willing to offer free advice, and there are far more people active in TV over at Videokarma than here. But asking at both is fine, you'll likely get more assistance that way. Just give them more time to come across your thread and join in.

The previous owner could well have been telling the truth about the TV. Parts do go bad just from sitting. If I found a new in box TV from the 70s I would not expect it to work properly. I once bought a never sold TV from the late 50s and it had several bad caps.

That chassis has a type of solder connection that was problematic. I would tap lightly with the handle of a screwdriver on the IF section to see if the symptoms change.

wiscojim,

Sorry if that bothered you. Usually in antique radio forums, I get at least a couple views within the first 30 min. (not replies). It was the first time I was using video karma, so I thought I didn't post it the right way. I am still getting used to it. Turned out somebody on that site was very helpful.

That video problem sure looks like a bad electrolytic cap in the video chain to me. Have you esr'd all the small electrolytic caps on those modules? Just like radios, check the caps first! Also those small pots are prone to get intermittent, need to spray contact cleaner in them.

With that bad of a picture I was thinking it may be problems in both the IF and tuner stages. The first step is to get a clean signal into the TV, then go from there.

I don't know very much about troubleshooting these TV's from a component level (capacitors). I was hoping that I could just swap the entire module. Does anybody have the IF module for this chassis? There are also some adjustments on this module. Does anybody recommend changing these adjustments, or will that cause more trouble?

What about the two large silver capacitors on the chassis? One is tall and round. The other is short and oval. Would anybody recommend changing these.

Overall, I cannot work on small parts very well or solder anything to the modules. I would much rather replace any larger assemblies. If I cannot find the parts, I would leave the TV as is, otherwise I will probably make it worse. What is my best bet?

Do not adjust anything in the IF strip. Without the proper test equipment and the knowledge needed to perform alignments you would only make the problem worse.

The large filter caps are not the problem.

I recommend that you leave this TV as is until you find someone who can do the work on it.

The problem with that is, nobody is willing to work on a set this old. A repair shop would charge me to take a look at it and say they can't find the parts. Do you think I could just swap the IF strip, or will a new one need adjusting as well?

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I strongly recommend that the electronic problems in the IF and/or tuner be corrected BEFORE any adjustments be attempted. I doubt that just installing a new IF strip would solve all the problems.

I would try to narrow it down, unplug the IF lead from the tuner, then feed a composite video signal to the video board.

Not sure if the PP would be correct, but at least could tell if its before or after that test point.