SD: Yes, do! It's fun, it's cool. You'll have the same mad scientist thrill your son had. You know you want to. Go on!
Els: Yes, that's certainly it. The degaussing power of the televisions varies widely and sometimes the distortions are too great for the little degausser to fix. I'm glad SD had a happy ending.
btw, I was so eager to help, I made my post after reading only the opener. Oops. I didn't bother to read on and learn that your problem had "fixed itself." Another brick in the road for me. Sorry.