My HDTV picture has suddenly started to not look so sharp. I thought my set needed a little Avia tuning. As I started to tune it, when it came to brightness (blackness) I could not longer see the moving bars on the brightness part. My HD channels are not as crisp and almost look like the sharpness is cranked way up. It's very subtle, and it took me a while to finally figure out the picture was off. My TV is about 7 years old already, and someone told me I need to replace the CRT's. I"m confused and now that I notice the problem, that's all I can see.

bumpity bump

I have the 65 inch version of that set. It sounds like the focus is out. Each CRT needs to be focused by hand. Also the CRTs need to be cleaned. Have a ISF tech do a calibration on it. I use Chad:

http://www.hdtvbychadb.com/

If standard user RGB convergence, or electrical and lens focus doesn't cure it, it might be clouding of the fluid between lenses/CRTs. Various threads here this year (and archives) cover fluid replacement procedures and clouding tests. CRTs themselves are rarely at fault. Good idea to try various inputs, such as DVDs/STBs, to ensure it's not just a STB or input circuit that's failing. -- John