AKB? I also have the problem of video going away and returning on its own. I saw the post you made about AKB and turned down the adjustments on my tv, but the light still flashes 5 times. What is AKB? Russ

Shimmering can be caused by a number of things.

The first that springs to mind is electromagnetic interference. Speakers, amplifiers, florescent lights in close proximity can cause this. I even saw a TV that had been fixed to a wall adjoining the next door neighbours who had put his TV in exactly the same position and the interference passed through the wall.
Try moving the TV location away from all sources of interference (including Cable boxes, Video recorders, etc.) Does the problem change or go away?
Is the TV grounded properly? Interference needs to be siphoned off to a ground. if you put your hand around the cable that feeds the TV a video signal does the problem change or reduce?

Another issue may be some form of video post-processing going on causing the shimmering. Some forms of image smoothing software built into the TV can cause this. So try shutting down any features on the TV, does the problem go away?

On a big TV that is fed a low resolution video stream you will always see what the industry calls "artefacts". These are distortions caused by the transport compression of the video signal. there is no way around these except for receiving a better resolution picture stream.

hi!!!!

try to check the power button
may clean could fix
try to open it use tools then unscrew
then check the power supply if it is ok
or replaced the power supply

The picture tube is right on the edge of working with the set's AKB, or auto cathode balance. All Sony tube TV's use AKB. AKB is a circuit that attempts to compensate for aging of the picture tube (among other things), and if the tube isn't conducting enough (due to age), it will intermittently blank the screen or, in severe cases, not allow the picture to come on at all. But if you are comfortable taking the back off of the set and making a minor adjustment, you can probably restore the picture for a while longer. Take the back off, turn the set on to a blank channel (receiving snow). You will see a large gizmo with a thick red wire coming out of it going up to the glass on the picture tube. That's the high voltage (a.k.a. flyback) transformer. On this transformer will be a small knob labeled "Screen." If you turn this control ever-so-slightly counterclockwise, the screen will blank off immediately. But if you turn it just a bit clockwise, it may fix your problem. Don't go too far with this control, just enough to make it work. This is DANGEROUS FROM HIGH VOLTAGE, so make sure you have a qualified tech help you do this.

Hi,
5 times blinks shows incorrect white balance (AKB) error. TV needs Screen Volts (G2) adjustment.
Take off lower front panel, find Focus Block that has 6 control knobs, adjust Screen volts of each CRT (red-green-blue) and problem will be solved.
Be Careful while working in TV.
Let me know if you have further question.
Thanks.

Yeah, seen that more times than I shoulda in the last 4 years. The red picture tube has a cathode to heater short. That means it's no good. That red picture tube is no longer availible. But all is not lost. There is a company that rebuilds those tubes reasonably. Most reputable tv shops will know this. The ones I've done cost around $450 out the door. One minor hitch is that with all the shipping involved the job usually takes about three weeks. That can be expidited but then the price goes up.

Just fixed mine with the same problem you all described:

http://www.somelifeblog.com/2007/06/sony-projection-tv-red-line-repair.html

The Blue SCREEN setting is too high. These adjustments are located inside the TV behind the front panel. There are two screws behind covers and then a wooden panel to remove to access the adjustments. The leftmost set are for BLUE, the middle are GREEN, and the right are RED. The top row are FOCUS and the bottom are SCREEN. Focus will focus/unfocus the tube and Screen will adjust the power of that tube (there are 3 tubes, one for each color). If Screen is adjusted too high, horizontal lines will appear (my TV had red lines, but I played around with the knobs and saw that it could happen on any of the colors). Additionally, if SCREEN is set even higher than that, the tube could go so high that it turns the whole screen that color (in your case, blue). If this happens the TV will shut down, probably due to either overheating or overvolting. To fix this issue, turn the appropriate SCREEN dial down until the lines go away. In your case, you want to turn the lower left dial down. Don't turn it too far down, if you turn it more than necessary the TV can give you an AKB error (noted by the STANDBY light flashing a sequence of 5 blinks).

Hi!

Five blinks means - AKB circuit (automatic kine bias), the timer/standby indicator blinks for about 30 seconds then goes to the self-diagnosis function. Something is wrong with the video. Check video out, Q705, 732, 761 and other components on the C board, also check Q218, 219, 220 on the A board. In addition, unit could be in IK blanking, try turning up screen slightly.

Please rate this solution as FixYa if found useful.

Thanks
Rylee

If still under warranty or if you have no electronic repair experience you should take the set back to the shop or to a repair person. Some of the solutions described below can be dangerous, TV's are very hazardous to service. Even when plugged out, TV's can store very high voltages. The five blinks(count them again just to be sure) is an error codes that stands for the following: "FIVE Blinks---AKB circuit (AKB), the timer/standby indicator blinks for about 30 seconds then goes to the self-diagnosis function. Something is wrong with the video. Check video out, Q705, 732, 761 and other components on the C board, also check Q218, 219, 220 on the A board. Also unit be in IK blanking, try turning up screen slightly." So what is the AKB? It is Auto Kine Bias; a circuit that holds the video OFF until the picture tube (kinescope) is warm enough to run video. So, if there is trouble within the AKB it may not be turning on the crt. Or, the crt could be cold, or there could be power supply problems (which I favor because the audio is gone, too, which means it is not a "video only" matter). Therefore, I do not favor replacing the C board (or A board as indicated in the url above). I favor finding out why the AKB circuit is not functioning. It is necessary to get the set to come ON long enough to make sure the crt is heating up. You may have to manually defeat the protection circuit and force the set to come ON. If you can find the ON relay you may be able to hold it ON manually - at least long enough to find out more symptoms, but not too long or some further damage may occur. Go to: http://www.schematicsforfree.com/archive/?path=Sony%2FVideo where you may find a schematic or service manual for this set - or one that is close/similar enough to be of great value. Last comment: Some sets will, upon failure of the AKB function, after a few seconds, go into diagnostics - which is similar to protection. So, the audio may be working okey. Turn the set on with the volume up; if you hear audio for the until the set cycles into the flashing light routine it means the audio is really good. So, check that carefully. You may have to do a hard reset to cause the AKB function to reset. So, do this: Unplug the power cord for 4 hours or more. That will reset everything. Hope this helped, or gave you a general idea, but please don't take a further step unless you know the safety issues involved. Good luck

You need to find out why the set is blanking the video. In order of being common: 1. AKB circuit. AKB circuit is seeing a very unbalanced crt and blanks the video. To fix replace the crt. 2. Loss of vertical deflection. 3. Problem on the data or clock lines. If you can change channels and the volume, this is ok. 4. Loss of h-sync return pulse to the micro or jungle ic.