Black rectangle on TV screen

Do you have the TV's user manual? There's probably a menu setting that's been changed. If you don't have the manual, most of them can be downloaded from the TV manufacturor's website.

Sounds like they were playing around in the TV's menu to get the Playstation to work. Try checking the closed captioning settings, or see if the menu has a "revert to factory settings" option.

yeah I'd say it's one of the closed caption settings if it is a black box that goes across the bottom of the screen.

I'll bet your TV has "picture in a picture" that allows you to watch two channels at a time.

Look on your remote for a button that says "PIP" or something like that, you might be able to turn it off from there.

If not, go into the menu and turn it off.

My TV has PIP and it took me forever to get that thing off the screen once it got turned on.

Closed captioning doesn't make a black box across the bottom of the screen -- if the caption setting is on, it's obvious, with words. If the program isn't captioned, it's nothing (no wordless black box.)

Maybe it's closed captioning for the blind and is scrolling braille letters. You know, like the braille on drive up ATM machines. :wink:

A friend of mine had this problem. She simply would press the button that turned closed captions on or off and the rectangle would go away. There weren't any captions in the rectangle, but the problem was definitely tied to the caption function...

Well, my DD fooled with the Closed Captioning settings and sure enough, the black box went away... only to be replaced by closed captioning! And the area where the captions were was not the same as the black box... the b.b. was much larger; it covered so much of the screen area that the picture didn't make much sense.

So she continued to meddle with the settings, and we now have a functioning TV -- except that the time is always visible in light blue at the bottom right corner of the screen...

unplug the damn thing and turn it on its side then , turn it back to its base and replug it in. This often reinitializes any programs that control the damn thing. .

Oh yeh, if theres a clock battery in there to keep the time function during blakouts, take out the batteries. This will really kick in the initializing mode and maybe wipe out your problems. Cant guarantee but , hey, it cant hurt.

If this works out, you come back here and tell the world about farmers advice.

What color is the cabinet?

The plastic shell of the TV is black. The cabinet it's sitting in is antique white...

I'll be back after DD comes home and we tip it over. It's a bit too heavy for me to tackle alone.

I believe what farmerman was getting at had nothing to do with tipping the TV over - I think he was referring to what is called a "Hard Reset", accomplished through an extended period (several minutes at least, overnight is generally good) of the unit being disconnected from mains power - unplugged. Often, this will cause the unit to clear all previously user-defined settings, re-initialize and present its setup menu when next powered up and turned on.

From what you've said so far, it seems to me there is no other explanation than a display settings issue; something, overwhelmingly likely available through the set's menu, is affecting the display. I suggest again you locate and consult the set's user guide/owner's manual, which, if you don't have a hard copy, should be available through the set vendor's website support pages, and even if not, should be something you can order from the vendor.

When all else fails, Read The Fine Manual - always a good place to start

I'm having the same problem
Have you been able to fix this problem?

I've had the same problem for several years on my Sony TV connected to Dish Network. Some stations are worse than others (WB, Fox News, etc) and some shows have been getting increasinly worse (Saturday Night Live, Today Show).

The box is easy to clear, but getting very annoying becasue on some shows is reappeas about as fast as you can clear it. Sometimes there is even text or charecters that show up -- for instance, on Saturday Night Live, you can sometimes make out some of the title ($@!urday Nigh#@!#$@ L--# for example)

Had the same thing....went into MENU and changed "Subtitles" to "off" and "Opacity" of boxes to "transparent" rather than "black". Unfortunately, 4 phone calls to various BBuys people couldn't get that simple answer. Didn't know it was on this setting -- came from factory that way. Hopefully I won't see the block any more. Odd, though; the box didn't show up until last month (had tv for 5 months) and it changed size and got larger. The box did show up during only certain shows, but wasn't there the entire show...and went off during commercials....so it seems linked to CCaptioning. I'll let you know if the new programming doesn't work.

Hey Soz - my closed captioning options on the remote will put a black box on the screen sometimes with some kind of jibberish I do not understand...it says text 4 or something like that...I have to press my cc button until I get the closed captions options back to 0.

That's what happens to mine too...the kids usually push buttons on the remote - and make all kinds of crazy things happens...they do that with the computer too...I have to keep a close eye on them.

Go to Menu, select Closed Caption Text and turn it off. Make sure all other Closed Caption options are turned off or you will see printed representations of the dialog. My Panasonic achieves this turned off state when "Closed Caption Off" is displayed. Stripey the Cat...

Thank you! Turning the caption off worked on my Samsung...

GP in Jamaica-
I had this problem for months and just decided to make a serious attempt to fix. I googled "black box on tv screen" and found this link. Your advice really helped- it was the closed captioning that caused it. Im knowing watching Australia Vs. Germany with no black rectangle. Thanks a lot!

I have a satellite provider (Bell) and tried everything with the TV menu and Satellite menu to no avail....Finally I powered down the satellite receiver using the main power button (or unplug it) and when I turned it back on, it cycled through the usual configuration and within a couple of minutes I had my screen back to normal!!! I guess it reloaded with a correct configuration this time.