[freakaftr8]

The CRT might be weak or weaker. There is a fine line where the emission gors south to the point where it starts to effect picture and color quality. If you have any smearing of whites like letters and the such on the screen and turning the contrast (picture on sonys) down takes it away, you could have a weak CRT. Usually Sonys come from the factory with near perfect greyscales, so if the controls were untouched, which are located on the CRT neckboard, and not user servacable unless the back is removed on this model, then I would say the CRT may be getting tired. Now yes like others said you can adjust it out, but thats temporary. There are some instances I have run into in the past where a poteometer has a flat spot on it where the slightest turn will change drastically. But a usual telltale sign of a weak trinitron is color smearing (or bleeding) (usually red) around the whites.