Mitsubishi 1995 cs31205 32 inch tv

I have a similar problem using an older 20" flat screen standard definition TV. (not High Def). I can see a little of the picture but more than 2/3 is covered by the black. My model is LC-20SH7U.
I used sharpusa.com "contact us" section.
Hopefully I get some kind of reply to report what they say.

Is closed caption turned on? (and the channel doesn't have any captions) Turn it off.

You can likely buy a replacement remote here:
Remotes.com
'Universal' remotes exist only in your dreams; there is no such thing since the manufacturers cannot agree on a basic code set that would work with any set. None of them can control every function of every brand and model made.

Go into the menu and turn off Closed Caption.

I have a large black square obscuring the picture. You can see the picture in 1 inch border around the black square. If I reset the input switch, the black square disappears for about one second (the picture is momentarily perfect) and the black square appears again. It is not the cable box because I wired the cable directly into the tv. The same thing happens when I try to play a DVD. Any insights????

Turn off your closed caption...
Bill

It's the closed captioning. The reason it doesn't go away when you press the "caption" button is because there are four option for closed captioning: Text 1, Text 2, Text 3, and Text 4. The fifth option, which has no designation, is the "off" option. Using the remote, just click on the "caption button until the option has no designation.

Mine was a large black rectangle in the middle of the picture. It's not like Nina3's problem.

I have a Sharp Tv that had the same problem with a large brownish or black square right in the middle of the screen. It only left about an inch around the edges that you
could see the picture moving in behind the big black block or square.I have DISH sat-elite and the book recomending that I check and see if the "caption settings" were on
or off. They were on. I turned the caption settings off and the large square diappeared.

Mitsubishi list this problem and has a solution of replacing several small surface mounted caps and diodes. we have tried this repair 5 times and only successfully done it once. so replacing what is called the formatter board part # 930B924002 for around $ 350.00 usually repairs this type of failure, However changing this board is a time consuming thing and takes a lot of Patience. It is buried deep in the set and several other board have to be removed just to get to it

Turn off the closed caption on the TV set. Someone has turned on that feature. Good Luck