[DaveInVA]

I made the mistake of purchasing a BV1600 HDTV off fleabay several months ago that was supposedly near new and working but of course when it arrived it wasn't. It had a shorted green crt (Gee SD146's never do that do they? ) On the positive side it does only have 1265 hours on it and it looks like new. I finally got sround to putting another green crt in it and of course it had the C element for a HD10 lens and BV1600s have TOC7's. I tried it anyways at first and sure enough you can't get corner focus so had to change the C element from from the shorted tube (glad I didn't toss it out). So now I have a low hour BV1600 up and running and yes I know its not an EM machine but I hoped it would be an improvment over the BD801 I recently sold. Guess what, its not. Don't know if its the cheap plastic TOC7 lenses or normal for the SD146 CRTs but its not as sharp as a BD801 with 3400 hours and same screen, room, equipment etc. Its to soft to see scan lines even at 480 ( well just barely ) and only other choice is 1080i as this thing only has about 34k bandwidth and it looks to soft The BV1600. Also the BV1600 has less convergence zones than a 801. It only has one large block for each corner whereas a 801 has 4 zones in each corner. I guess I was hoping it would throw a better pic as I also have a Barco 1100 that needs CRTs and HD10 lenses (that I have) but now I am not sure its worth messing with. It has a higher bandwidth and better lenses but I am wondering if its going to be worth it as it may be only marginally better than the BV1600 HDTV. Anyone have any experience with these 2?

On a side note, I also made the mistake of buying a set of 3 SD146 CRTs and HD10 lenses from Fleabay and the guy was only 1 state away and figured what could go wrong? (What was I thinking?!) This guy sent each CRT in its own small box (only slightly larger than the CRT) stuffed with shredded newspaper and one piece of foam wrapped around the end of the neck. They went USPS and when they arrived 2 of the 3 boxes had holes punched through them and what was left of the necks poking out through the holes. One box had also come open spilling out shredded newspaper. I emailed him and he emailed me back once stating he didn't want neg feedback but never answered any more of my emails to him. Yes I know it was stupid of me to buy these off ebay (again, what was I thinking?)


Dave

 

[gn2]

The mistake was the damn shredded newspaper, it packs up in shipping and lets the item jostle around AND gets hard. Shredded newspaper should be banned as a "packing material". Bubble wrap will save your stuff.

Too bad about how it all turned out. If you want to go to the trouble, the HD's will most certainly be better lenses.

 

[techman707]

Quote:

Originally posted by gn2 The mistake was the damn shredded newspaper, it packs up in shipping and lets the item jostle around AND gets hard. Shredded newspaper should be banned as a "packing material". Bubble wrap will save your stuff. Too bad about how it all turned out. If you want to go to the trouble, the HD's will most certainly be better lenses.

My experience with tubes is that the bell is indestructable, BUT, NOTHING should come in contact with the neck of the tube. Even the tube manufacturers stopped putting foam in the box around the necks. The current method is to support the bell and leave the neck suspended in air and not allowing ANYTHING to come in contact with it.

 

[DaveInVA]

Yes and whats worse the seller won't respond to my emails. He didn't even bother to mark the boxes Fragile or Glass (of course that might encourage rougher handling by USPS). I just hope the 1100 has a better pic then the 1600 (once I get the tubes and lenses on it). Guess I need to save my nickels and dimes and break down and buy a nice 9" that IS EM. With all the money I spent on the last 4 projectors I could have had one already...



Dave

 

[gn2]

Negative feedback may be in order if you can't get any response from the seller.

You won't get any insurance if the packing was so bad, either.

Sorry for your loss(is that the appropriate phrase here ?)

PS: I don't really want to say anything like "told you so" but really, the only people who say a 9" ES machines look good are people SELLING them, OR people who've ONLY had an ES machine. Really, there is NO comparison between EM and ES. The crappiest EM machine will be better(sharper) than the best ES machine, in my experience.

 

[techman707]

I hope you at least left him negative feedback.

 

[DaveInVA]

Paul,

I agree an EM machine will always beat a ES machine hands down assuming both are in good order. I was just gonna use the 1600 or 1100 until I saved up enough to get a decent EM machine and was hoping the 1100 would at least be as good as the BD801 I sold. After firing up the 1600 and finding its not quite as sharp as a BD801 with 3400 hours (It has 1265 hours) now I am not sure I want to even mess with rebuilding the 1100 as I am afraid its only going to be marginably better than the 1600. Its ironic they call it the BV1600 HDTV when it really would only be good for someone watching line doubled 480. Fortunately I still have enough good CRTS to rebuild the 1100 without the ones I just got ripped off on. I just wanted those for spares in case one of mine was bad etc.


Techman,

I haven't left negative feedback yet as I wanted to give him a chance to make things right but since he won't even respond to emails anymore I have no choice but to leave him negative feedback and try a dispute with through Paypal for what little good that will do. He only answered my first email and basicly said "I don't want neg feedback" but never offered a return/refund etc and never emailed me again after that.



Dave

 

[gn2]

If you haven't already done so, get his contact information from ebay. You should be able to get an address and phone number since you completed a transaction with him. Sometimes, people respond better when you get them on the phone and actually speak to them in person.

 

[DaveInVA]

Just as an update on the CRTs I received damaged from an fleabay seller due to incredibly poor packing, I went to get his contact info and found he is "No longer a registered user" so I guess they got so many complaints on this guy all at once they removed him. My only recourse now is to do a complaint with Paypal...


Dave

 

[modawg73]

Dave,


I was bidding on those very tubes/lenses. The lenses do make a whale of a difference on the corner focus (I borrowed a buddy's hd-180's.) Let me know if you want to sell the parts of the BV 1600. I have $400 in mine, and it worked great for a couple of months, until a lead shorted out. Then when I fixed that, I got a scan fail message. Oh well.


It works great for what I do (Watch TV, and Play Video Games).


I also bought mine on ebay, and the scammer got his in the end. I ended up charging it back (the green crt was shorted, and he assured me he'd give me my money back, then went incommunicado). I am glad to report that he lost money on the deal.


Anyway, if you'd like to part with any of the parts, let me know.


I still have a dream, and the 1600 is better than no big screen (my wife isn't too happy about it not working, and getting another one may not be an option)


Good luck,


Ken

 

[DaveInVA]

Ken,

I have my BV1600 fully functional as I used a green crt I got from another AVS member. I was bidding on the other crts and lenses because I also have a Barco 1100 that had none. I am working on getting that one functional now.

The BV1600 I have also had a bad green crt when I got it (Seller claimed it was working fine). The good news is that it only has 1265 hours on it. I plan on selling it as a whole working unit with manual etc. It still has the T07 lenses on it. I tried the HD10 lenses on it but they will not focus without changing the "C" elements on all 3. I don't have to much in it.


Dave

 

[Curt Palme]

I'll be shooting you an email later today...


Curt

 

[RoBro]

Hi,

I did not know that the C-elements of the TOC7 and HD10 are different.

Is it the radius of curvature???

Roland

 

[DaveInVA]

RoBro,

It must be. The replacement green crt I put in originally had a HD10 so when I put thr T07 on it there was only focus right in the middle and everything else was unfocusable. I had to take the "C" element off the dead green CRT, glad I didnt throw it away.... The T07 lenses are flat on the back lens and the HD10 are not. The "C" elements must be different to account for that I guess. Visibly the "C" elements look much the same but I didn't try measuring the radius or depth...



Dave

 

[modawg73]

Dave,


I was able to get good focus on my BV1600 when I simply swapped the toc7s for hd180's. I didn't have to change the C element. I would be surprised if that were the case. I know the 120s (HD-10L i believe) shouldn't be any different. I didn't get good focus on the corners on the TOC's, but I thought that was just a weakness of the lenses, with only one adjustment. Can I get tighter corner focus if I change the c elements on my crts?


Could the lack of focus be caused by something else?


What do the experts think?


Ken

 

[RoBro]

There are different types of HD10 for different throw distances.

Maybe they can only get a proper corner focus inside their throw range.

But on all these the C-element is the same.

I wonder if the HD10 family has a greater range to adjust corner focus so they can adopt to a TOC7 C-element but not vice versa....

Roland

 

[DaveInVA]

I was able to prove the "C" element was different. When I replaced the green CRT in the BV1600 that CRT came out of a unit that had HD10 lenses. When I put the T07 lens on this CRT I could not achieve corner focus. If I put a HD10 lenses on that one CRT it would get corner focus. When I put the "C" element from the original dead 1600 green CRT on the replacement CRT then the T07 acheived the same overal focus as the original tubes and T07 lenses did. With the other "c" element and the T07 lens in place it was WAY out of focus in the corners. In order to make the 1600 work properly I had to put the "C" element off the original CRT in. I'm sure the 1600 would work far better with HD10 lenses but I didn't feel like swapping all the "C" elements. The HD10 lenses I have are the standard ones not the "M" or "L" (long throw) ones.

Maybe the HD180s work ok with the T07 "c" elements.

When I first got my 1600 and posted about it here because I wanted to put HD10 lenses on it someome posted that thay had also tried it and had to change the "c:" elements also to get corner focus with the HD10 lenses so I wasn't the only one with that problem...


dave

 

[modawg73]

Okay,


Now it is starting to make sense to me. I had a green crt replaced as well, and the focus on it was much worse than the focus on the R and B (Which were the original crts). So are you suggesting that if I take off the c element from the original crt, I will get better corner focus with the TOC7's?


Let me know what you think!


Ken

 

[RoBro]

As green makes the most important part of the pic it may be better to get one HD10 for the green instead of changing the C element to the original one...

Does anyone know if the focal length (and so the magnification and throw distance) is the same on HD10 and TOC7?

Roland

 

[gerni g.]

@dave,


this was me.))


the toc-7 c-element has a deeper curvature than the hd-10 c-element.


if you have the hd-10 lenses from your 1001 not in use, i would highly recommend that you put those on your 1600 and change the c-elements too. doing so i also would recommend getting a red & green colored c-element in. you will achieve much better colorbalance.


sadly my green crt shorted after about 5 hours on the ceiling.

the faceplate got a crack from left to right.

i hope that i get a green crt soon.


best regards,


gernot