Don't dump your CRT RPTV! - Page 376

Julie -

If you had read some of my writing on the thread that discusses this situation, you'd know I have a virtually fail-safe way of handling this, that has kept me on top of this situation for more than 7 years: I make sure the set works properly when turned on from dead cold, and only gets run for no more than 40 seconds, so it cannot possibly warm up again. And I warn people to not allow it up to normal operating temp again, even once, until fixed properly.

If it no longer turns on again properly from dead cold, I tell the owner that now a troubleshooting session has to be arranged with me on the phone, and scheduled. And paid for, of course. A nominal fee, nothing like what you've had to pay so far.

I have a very careful set of checks and balances that is scrupulously adhered to. If you want to give me a call I'll fill you in on all of it.

In your shoes I would rather buy one of these Elites again on the used market that only had intermittent problems so far and was turning on properly from dead cold - which can be very directly remedied and warranted for life - than to buy something new. These sets are classics with very little that ever goes wrong with them, and no it's not getting any worse with age, no new and exotic problems have cropped up over those 7 years and with the history I have seen with CRT tech, they are not going to. You got a bad one and did not have the experience and intel to be able to avoid the landmines. Would not wish that on anybody.

But a Google search these days brings owners to my info, and I have been continuing to save them over and over and over again, as I have for more than 7 years now. Again, contact me if you'd like the lowdown from square one on what that involves.

b

That really is an awesome idea, and thanks for thinking of me on that! Unfortunately the viability of a market is determined by the comps - always, on all levels of sales - and these days with cheap flat panels there's far too much competition for that to work anymore, when it's Joe Sixpack we're talking about. The resale value of these sets has plumetted unmercifully, leaving the real value being only in the owning of one, not the selling of one. Luckily I can save owners substantial money over buying new, so hopefully my biz here will continue, but reselling used Elites? Don't see a future in it.

Just today tho, I got a call from an owner in Florida who dearly loves his 710. It's the center of his all-matching Elite gold trim piano black home theater ensemble, and he wants to do some stuff on the phone with me then fly me out there, to get it completed. All he needs is a few more co-conspirators to share the travel expenses, so listen up Florida people! An organizer is here, and chomping at the bit to get me out there. Chime in here and contact me directly as well, if you want on board.


It is owners who paid full retail and still love these sets and are willing to keep them up with standard-issue care and feeding that are getting full value out of them, since they are such long lasting sets and were so well designed at the outset, having led the pack as the creme de la creme of HD displays from the beginning of HD in our country 12 years ago. And are still some of the finest offerings out there even now, in terms of the quality of HD you'll see from them, in terms of depth of image, flow of motion and crisp smoothness, whether during motion or at rest.

And the blacks. No other modality touches the blacks of CRT. The Pioneer Kuro plasma matched it for awhile, but Pioneer no longer makes them - has completely gotten out of the HD home theater display business - and its inheritors have yet to recapture what Pioneer accomplished on that level, whether you're talking Sharp Elite or Panasonic, who bought out the Kuro technology from Pioneer. Nobody but Kuro ever matched CRT for the depth of image and palpability you get from CRT's crisp, transparent, inky blacks, and nobody else even comes close.


Believe me, if I thought your recommendation would actually work I would do it in a heartbeat, but that will have to be handled by someone with a lot more sales skills than I have.

Know anybody?



b
Edited by Mr Bob - 10/3/12 at 1:00pm

Sorry Charlie, the entire set must be made 1080p capable, you can't just add a board to a set designed for 33K scan rate and make it capable of 63K scanrate. Completely different, much higher frequency circuitry has to be designed for it to do that, and it would take a lot of R&D to get that far, which would have to be supported later by huge amounts of sales, to recoup that investment.

Won't happen on CRT RPTV tech. It had its chance and the industry decided no. CRT ceiling projectors starting at $20K yes, CRT RPTVs no.

b

PS - could you repeat that info you had on glass front surface mirrors for my 73"? I am chomping at the bit myself to take that plunge now, now that my surgery is over and the required 3 months for no heavy lifting has passed.

"also when try to do the 9 point manual convergence, i cant get red to go over the green reference, blue does fine, but red can go over to the left far enough. also the top left point red gets very "skewed" as in no longer a straight plus but it gets move curved."

I assume you meant to say, "but red cannot go over to the left far enough."

Congrats on picking up a Hitachi! They produce some super fine HD, if you've seen any of the screenshots on this and other threads.

Your convergence circuitry needs to be repaired. Contact me directly if you want the straight scoop about that, and other things about your new set.

b
Edited by Mr Bob - 10/3/12 at 4:20pm

I'm down for a foot massage too. Let me know where to join you!



b

Yes


No


Yes


No


Yes


We can see from your pix that your set is working just fine aside from the convergence problem. Proceed with that and see how it looks. You will need to tighten it up on convergence after the repair and then again after the first 100 hours of viewing time.

b

Chances are your color code is off/not matched up properly on your component hookups. Start there.

b

We're talking strictly patchcord hookup here. If you're missing one of the 3 RCA paths in your component hookup between source and display, that kind of picture can happen. No repairs involved, just making sure the patchcords are all 3 plugged in, and tightly.

b
Edited by Mr Bob - 10/7/12 at 4:37am

I don't, so I can't help you there. But fully calibrated and precisely dialed in CRT makes no apologies to fixed pixel in the crispness department, and is notably better in other areas. I don't have any desire for a Darbee or any other processor. Leave my signal alone! The kind of crispness I live with and get lost in every day - and just got totally lost in tonight while viewing the recent version of Conan the Barbarian (which surprised even me, didn't think I'd get into it that much!) with its luscious eye candy - has been photographed and sent up as screenshots back on page 259 of this very thread, check them out. If you seriously want more crispness than that - my shots of that Maybelline commercial - you must have a better eye than I have.

I did change the timeline in that post - it is now obvious that when properly taken care of, CRT lasts 20 years and longer - which is deathly hard to find in today's fixed pixel designs. I am a service tech, and the new stuff is going down right and left, at sometimes only 2-3 years old. And usually when something goes wrong with a fixed pixel display, chances are good that it's totalled - unless it's one of the real expensive kind, in which case it's worth it to spend the big bucks on its repair. Then when your highly affordable fixed pixel display is totalled, you have to go out and buy new again. And pay sales taxes again, which in and of itself is horrendously expensive.

Not so with CRT. It just keeps going, and going, and going...


I want to amend something I said back then because the tech has now changed so much.

Back then we didn't have an awful lot of 720p or 1080p yet and most of the fixed pixel arena was 480p, which is where my comments came from. 1080p is commonplace now, so I would have to amend my statement to say that fully calibrated CRT allows us to sit just as close as 1080p fixed pixel does. And look every bit as good, in its own way, and better in many ways. Substantially better than most of the readily affordable fixed pixel out there.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program...

b
Edited by Mr Bob - 10/7/12 at 5:17am