Don't dump your CRT RPTV! - Page 104

Michael, could you do a shot of the SAME pic in both formats for us, so we can AB them? And is this upconverted via HDMI or via a hacked Oppo doing component?

The real test is whether upconverted via component on an HD DVDP is as good as upconverted via component from a hacked Oppo or vice versa. Or my hacked Samsung 841. Or my non-hacked LiteOn LVD 2001, which puts out 1080i on component effortlessly and with no hacking necessary. When it's working - mine failed and I have not had a chance to get at fixing it, so it's in mothballs for now...



You can't upconvert via component with an HD DVDP without several hundred in add-ons to transcode the HDMI to component, so that's not on the table in this discussion -

Awesome pix, BTW! You finally have your blacks clamping to black correctly, with crystal clear optics both on your set and on your camera. And a great focusing job, considering your cam is prolly auto focus, that was my downfall on my earlier pix -

I just want to reach out and touch Jessica on that first one...




Mr Bob

Maybe Oppo has decided they've had enough of this misnomer! Wouldn't blame them -





Mr Bob

Anything after their initial entry model year - the xxx03 series, which was not quite ready for prime time - would be a marvelous buy in a Mit.

Keep a full screen 16x9 white or gray pattern with you when you shop, to examine it for screenburn, and get verification of relatively low usage hours, rather than having had it be used as the baby sitter all day and night every day.

And that it has not been in Torch Mode forever, which is what is Mits's default setting for contrast.

Remember, midpoint is already 80-90% up, on the Mit contrast bargraph. Halfway up is around the 35-40% mark.


Mr Bob

You got it.

I was working on one of those years ago on my Texas cal tour at the time, and we got that pic scorchingly good looking, played with the color decoding, the sharpness, it's all there in the Designer Mode. Till it went down, and it took the owner a couple of months before it was back up again. He delayed reporting it till he had gotten his ESP in place, which he had been working on doing and just hadn't done yet, so he got it serviced on his ESP plan.

I like those sets a lot -

You might call Tosh directly and see what they can do about sending over their most qualified tech for your area -


Mr Bob

No change in video quality that I know of. That Mit built-in ATSC tuner delivers 1080i like nobody's business, as good as anything else I have seen out there.

The 813 is an awesome unit, as long as you don't try to change anything about the sm Br settings, and just use the best User setting for detail in dark areas. For my 517, which I believe is the same chassis, that is Br 41-45, Contrast -21. You might be able to get away with -18 contrast since you have the glass mirror and I have the mylar one.


Buy one that is no fault returnable, and try them out against each other -


Mr Bob

Works now, the Aeon pic. Looks great!

1. Your series can look every bit as good as the Elites. I have cal'd many of both and can say that unequivocally. The only real difference I see in them is in their cosmetics. The pix on both look equal to each other, after I am done with them. The service manual applies to both, with minor changes, nothing important or material.

2. Don't think so. Have not seen them in action on a Pio, but with HD they are usually completely bypassed with the "Passthru" option, even on Faroudjas and Runco Controllers. For transcoding from 1080i to p maybe, but this is a non-issue for CRT RPTVs, as they do only up to 1080i anyway. Which is all but non-discernable from 1080p, and definitely not worth going out and buying new, for.

3. I would stay component. Have not seen any noticeable/visible diffs between the 2 yet. And you have more capacity - color and tint - with component.

4. Pre-aging of CRTs and the higher potential for screenburn are the only real issues here. Put up a screen-filling all white pattern to look for screenburn, like a fade to white. If you don't see any, you're in great shape and have literally YEARS of pristine service ready for you out of your set still, once fully cleaned and calibrated.


Mr Bob

The sidebar screenburn will be the same width as the difference between 4x3 and 16x9 on your screen, when an SD commercial is up there, in 4x3 on an HD program. On a 57, that means around 5-6" wide, not half an inch. Half an inch could be your line of demarcation, tho. Sometimes they run a black bar for around 3/8" on each side - sometimes one's wider than the other - between the 4x3 material and the gray sidebars.

This is a fixed image as well.

For that kind of usage, you have to be very diligent in your screenburn watchfulness. You have to put your contrast down to about half whenever there's 4x3 up there, if it's not being stretched to fill the screen.

Torch Mode is DEFINITELY out, when running the set that many hours a day.

Be definitive about what kind of material needs to NOT be stretched, and keep all other material stretched out to fill the screen at all times. The news does NOT need accurate aspect ratios. Stock tickers need LOW contrast at all times, far lower than midpoint. Commercials do NOT need correct aspect ratios. All non-essential viewing should be done on a screen-filling aspect ratio like Zoom, or Stretched.

Only you finest viewing - a great movie, the Oscars, the Grammys - should be accurate in their aspect ratios, and of course if these are in HD already, they already fill the screen completely anyway.


Mr Bob

Depends on the quality of the display. 1080p in the Kuros and the FHD 1 and the 150 and the Panasonic HD plasmas has made great leaps and bounds in the past few years. Pio has a great writeup they display at CES, extolling the virtues of deep blacks, and they have been doing marvelous research on how to get their blacks deeper and deeper, always chasing the CRT blacks we have now and have had since the beginning. They have almost caught up, if you can afford them.

Several plasmas in the past few months have passed my stringent standards for grayscale, and have been declared by me to be ready to go OOB, as long as you pick the proper color temp in their user modes. At which point I only charge a minimum charge of travel plus $150 for checkout and I'm outa there, saving them the difference between that and what a full cal woulda cost. So not all displays need grayscale calibration OOB anymore. The manufacturers are finally getting it - videophiles want true to life pix by having the whites be the correct cream white - not artificially "Brighter!" pix, by having the whites be blue-white.

OTOH, there are other brands that look so pasty and unrealistic, that I could never live with them. The cheaper brands have kept producing flat panels just like the expensive guys, and you can really see the difference.

Sony's OLED tech has actually SURPASSED CRT in black levels! They offer an 11" model of flat panel for $2500 that has a million to 1 contrast ratio! It is truly stunning. They have made one as big as 27" now, but it is their prototype and that one's not in production at this point. It may be awhile before we see anything close to a big screen in that arena.

To answer your question, yes. If you can afford it. I knew 3 years ago from seeing what was at CES then - my first 1080p fixed pixel display, by Toshiba, and the fact that NO CRTs were being pushed that year, DV or RPTV or front projection - that CRT's days were numbered in the marketplace. I could view the 57" displays they had there from around 6' away, which is unheard of in CRT that has not been fully supertightened. And around 10' away on Panny's 103" plasma from 2 years ago, with mesmerizing colors and blacks. Hey, if you got $70,000, I am sure they'll fix you right up!

This year the head of Panny spoke, and evidently even at that price, they now have over 3000 of them out there in the world, cranking away every day!

Then he unveilied the unheard of - they rolled out the brand new biggest plasma panel in the world - the 150", with 2000x4000 resolution, twice that of 1080i/p HD. From my distance away in the audience, it looked stunning. Have NO idea how much THAT one is gonna cost!




Mr Bob

Sometimes the Hits run out of room to move. They also are very starved on their capacities, and need cajoling.

Go back and forth sometimes, and whatever offness was presenting itself rights itself.

There's also ways to average peaks out, given in the sm.

Don't expect Hits to always be true to form. They need extra attention sometimes. Going back and forth until things settle down usually does it for me -


Mr Bob

Be sure and jump around to the surrounding points and back, also.