Gary, you're exactly right....they're not salesmen...they wouldn't know a good salesman from a bad rapper (and they're all bad in my opinion). I'm the same way as you, I give my purchases many hours of forethought before I lay out the cash. I do my research on-line (including getting expert advice from people like you if possible) before I ever buy anything....drives my wife up the wall but I usually end up with what I thought I wanted. I had not thought about talking to the company as you suggested....very good idea and I'll start doing that now on future purchases. Thanks once again for the excellent advice. If you don't mind, I'd like to save your email and correspond with you whenever I feel the need to get more great HDTV advice....if I become confused by all of the "sales pitch" talk. An HDTV will be my next big purchase....and when I do that will depend on how the Sony tech does with my current set. Wish me luck...I'll let you know what the problem was if he gets it fixed. Did you agree that it's probably the convergence amps that's causing my problem? When I talked to the local tech, that's what he thought it would end up being. He said that was a very common problem....cold solder joints caused by heat at first... then bad amps...he said if you don't fix the bad solder joints quickly...the amps go out too.