[Diztinct]

Hi! I'm a happy owner of a Sony 1030. It's a later model that scans to 32 Khz, plus I have glass lenses mounted, so it's effectively a 1031.


Currently I'm running 960x540 and feed it via a HTPC with a Radeon-card and Powerstrip. I have a 15 meter shielded CAT-5, VGA to scart, and a simple electronic circuitry that does composite sync, so it's not done in software via Powerstrip.


I have two problems with the projector that I have learned to live with, but I would be very happy on any advice to get rid of them.

Problem 1:


I have slight ghosting on the whole image. If I for example look at the mouse pointer I can see about three vague "shadows" to the right of it, similar to this . It's not really noticeable in movies, but of course I would like to get rid of it. The projector has always been like this for the six years that I've owned it, regardless of what cable I have used. I don't think that it's the video cables fault, even though it's 15 meters long (I've had much shorter cables too). A shielded CAT-5 cable should not give ghosting, from what I've read.


The weird thing is that there is something with the Scart connector affecting the ghosting. If I fiddle with the scart contact of the video cable, I can get really severe ghosting. Sometimes it happens by itself, and then I have to gently push it around a little to find the spot with nearly no ghosting ("normal"). I didn't have this problem with my previous cable. That one had a slightly different gold plated scart contact. _Maybe_ it didn't happen because the scart pins where slightly longer, or something, but I can't really see any length difference. I think the problem lies with the female scart contact on the projector itself, though. Could there be some kind of oxidation, you think? Could I fix it, and could it potentially be the reason for the slight ghosting that I can't get rid off?


On the eboyztoys-page with the excellent 1031 guide, the author describes a similar ghosting problem that he solved by tightening the screw on one of the heat shields for the tubes. I have tried this before, though, and it didn't seem to help for me. Also, there is obviously something with the scart connector affecting the ghosting.


There does not seem to be any ghosting on the internal test pattern, which also suggests that there is ghosting on the actual video signal somewhere.

Problem 2


Before the projector has been really warmed up the picture now and then pops into a slightly "wider" mode. It stays like this and after a while goes back to normal. Usually it does this now and then, back and forth until (I guess) it is warmed up for real. Then it stays in the normal mode.


When it pops out and becomes too wide, there is also a slight analog noise in the picture that is most easily seen in white areas.


I don't know for sure when this started happening, but it might have been after I did a raster leveling adjustment and adjusted the width coils on the DA-board around two years ago. Could it be related to the width coils (this is my main suspicion)?


When the picture is too wide, if playing around in Powerstrip, the picture can for just a second snap back to normal, and then back to wide. Could it be related to scan frequencies, porch or something similar?


Has anyone experienced similar behaviour? Is there something that can be adjusted to fix this?


Any suggestions, on both problems are extremely welcome!


Thanks in advance!

 

[pcCinema]

Your cable is causing the ghosting, you've already proven that yourself. CAT5 really is not acceptable for long runs of video, but many have used it succesfully for short interconnects.

You could make a short breakout and then use quality coax for the long part.


The width changing is a symptom of the horizontal deflection transistor failing. It can spot burn your tubes on occasion when it does finally fail for good. curt palme's site or eboys will have directions to fix it.


You may be running beyond the specs with your input signal which is why the transistor is failing. What refresh rate? I hope you're running 48hz at that level but even still that could be beyond spec.


Troy

 

[Diztinct]

Thanks for the reply!


Ok, you think it's the cable. But what about the ghosting-problem with the scart connector? Do you think that is also the cable? I have been thinking abour resoldering the cable with a gold plated scart connector of the exact same type that I had before (when I didn't experience this severe ghosting that happens with the scart connector).


I'm actually running 49Hz, but I will lower that to 48Hz then. Thanks! Do you think the problem would disappear if I ran even lower refresh rate, or is it too late?


Sounds scary with burning the tube

Sorry, but by fixing this, do you mean replacing this transistor? I checked around on Curt's site but couldn't find anything related to this. If you have an URL I would be happy for it

You don't think lowering the width via the width coil could help?


Thanks again for the reply!

 

[Curt Palme]

I have NEVER heard oc CAT 5 cable being used for unbalanced video lines. Never. It can be used with an Rx/Tx at each end to turn the video signals into balanced lines, but replace that cable!


I disagree with the H output transistor though. I haven't heard of a transistor being on the

'verge' of failing. They either work or they don't.

 

[pcCinema]

I bought a fixer 1031 and it had that issue with the widening raster size randomly. I figured it had to be deflection or hv and since it was only changing width I assumed deflection so I replaced the transistor (and also re-capped the power supply). It never had a problem again. Maybe re-capping the power supply could have had a hand but again I would have expected both h and v to have been changing size if it were a voltage or hv issue.


I've heard of lots of transistors going bad but not totally failing. (Though I haven't done a lot of the work myself, I tend to read a lot more than I do.) Smearing, ringing, weird intermittent problems. There used to be a resistance test listed somewhere for that h transistor that if it was out of range it said replace it, but mine was in range and I just replaced it anyway. Curt has done more work on these than I have though, so if he has a better answer I'd certainly try anything he suggests.


Maybe it's just that you're still running out of spec and overheating it.


Bad cables and ghosting go hand in hand. CAT5 is crap for video no matter what anyone says to the contrary, except as I said for a short breakout or something and still that will depend on what frequency you try to pass. Loose connections in the cable can also cause ghosting but still replace cable and connector. Doesn't need to be fancy stuff, this is a pretty low bandwidth pj anyway. Gold isn't going to help.


Certainly lowering width if you mazimized it can reduce temps and may have an effect, but usually the sony's are fine with maximizing raster. Don't do less than what the manual states though, no point in wearing the tubes wrong.


I thought it was eboystoys that I had seen pics of the transistor on but I probably got the part number and info here in the archives. Curt didn't have a site back then.


btw recapping the power supply is ALWAYS a good idea while you're in there anyway. Don't skip the little caps, they are the problem most often of not powering on or only staying on for a few seconds. They are surely beyond ready for replacement at this age.


Troy

 

[Diztinct]

Oh, ok. I read this long ago, and the idea to make this video cable out of shielded Cat 5 came from a thread on this forum, included below. I'm a bit confused now...

RGBHV over shielded Cat 5 success!


I'm an enthusiast on a budget, rather then wealthy videophile

If I were to make a new cable, VGA D-sub to Scart, what sort of cable would you recommend me using instead? Something that doesn't cost an arm and a leg, hopefully

Curt, if you don't think it's the H output transistor, do you have any ideas for what it could be instead?


I'm thinking of lowering the width slightly via the width coil and see if it keeps the width then. Maybe it's having difficulties coping with the maxiumum width and the heat of the coil, or something. Even though it seems to work best when completely warmed up, funny enough.


I guess exchanging that transistor couldn't harm, at least, and it seemed to help for you, Troy.


I'm not an electrician and don't know much about electrical components, but my brother is an electrical engineer, and if someone points me to any components I should order and replace, he should be able to help me.


Sorry for my ignorance, but what is recapping?

I'm Swedish and not familiar with the expression...


I hope my old darling isn't dying on me...

Thanks, guys!

 

[pcCinema]

Recapping means to replace all capacitors. In this case the ones on the power supply board which is under the lenses.


I know people have reported cat5 is fine, I still am not buying it. You've tried it, and your results confirm it's not working for you. Maybe your run is just too long who knows. Now that I think about it you said 15 meters? That's around 50', longer than that thread even said would work.


At 50' you need quality cable with proper termination. Even a standard cheap vga cable made to handle video can easily show problems at that length. Why do you need 15 meters anyway? Can't you rearrange things to cut that length down?


Maybe both problems could have something to do with your crazy long cat5 cable.


Troy

 

[Diztinct]

Oh, I thought 15 meters would be ok. I think I've read about people using that in other places.


Before this one I used a factory made "real" VGA-cable, ca 6 meters long, I would guess (for projector use), that I had resoldered to scart in one end. I had the same slight ghosting with that one, but I didn't experience the more severe ghosting that seem to have to do with the scart. Before that I had a 1,5 meter VGA to scart cable with the same ghosting on the pj.


15 meters is a bit more than I need, but I have the PJ ceiling mounted, the cable mounted in the ceiling, down the wall and to the HTPC further away. I thought 15 meters length would be fine, so I made it a bit longer than I actually need just to be safe.


The widening of the picture happened before as well, when I used the much shorter factory made cable, so I don't think it has to do with that.


What I plan to do, like I wrote before, is to try decreasing the width via the width coil, to see if it solves or affects the width problem.


I will also start thinking about a replacement cable, although that problem doesn't feel as critical. But as I said, of course I want a plan for how to solve it

 

[Vic C]

The only way you can use cat 5 is as Curt said. Using a "cat 5 driver"


I have used them made by AUDIOPLEX for component video and they work perfectly. No loss and they say you can go as far as 200 feet with no loss. I have never even gotten close to that length but have had awesoem results using the drivers. I know they make them for S video, composite and component. I dont think there is one for RGBHV. You can problably use to componet drivers to use for RGBHV and it would work.

 

[Matt Mirocha]

I bought a VGA to 25 pin cable from DaGamePimp over three years ago for my 1031. It was made from nothing more that CAT5 cable the he soldered the ends on. Cable was 35 ft long and I had no issues. Picture was never as sharp as I would have liked but I figured it was my own fault at setting the thing up. Later on I thought I'd upgrade the cable from reading post like above so I bought and Extron box and made 4 bnc cables from high quality quad shield coax. To my disappointment the picture look exactly the same.

 

[pcCinema]

"Picture was never as sharp as I would have liked"


That's just the 1031q, it never was as sharp as any of us would have liked.


No cable will make it sharper, but ghosting will go away with a better (or just shorter) cable. There's a huge difference between 25', 35' and 50'.


Troy

 

[sander0809]

Hello Diztinct


in a post you wrote:


Currently I'm running 960x540 and feed it via a HTPC with a Radeon-card and Powerstrip. I have a 15 meter shielded CAT-5, VGA to scart, and a simple electronic circuitry that does composite sync, so it's not done in software via Powerstrip


can you tell me wich simple electronic circuitry did you use

and where did you get it from


Greetings


Sander