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Home Theater sales, calibration, & service
We sell CRT projectors and
other
home theater
products & accessories, including
calibration tools for all
display types. We also offer hundreds of
free home theater tips,
as well as a discussion forum. Why
CRT? With true blacks, real contrast ratios beyond 40,000:1, and colours that do
not drift, people still choose CRT projectors for home theaters and movie mixing
studios where HDTV and Blu-ray playback quality is paramount. Carefully
refurbished and tested, our projectors will provide you with thousands of
problem free hours of service. Since 1985 we have worked on over 5000 projectors
and stock lots of spare parts. We offer trade-ins and can advise on what's best
for you.
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Latest News
Radiance "Video Processor Amnesty" trade-in
program
February 3, 2014
Interested in upgrading to a
Radiance 2041 or
2042 video processor? To sweeten our
trade-in deal, we've just increased the trade-in allowances
on many models as follows:
Radiance XE: $1000 -
Radiance XS: $900 (Up $100!)
Radiance Mini: $800 (Up $150!) Radiance XD: $800 (Up $300!) Lumagen Vision: $600 (Up $100!) Crystalio: $600 (Up $100!) DVDO VP50 or iScan Duo: $600 (Up $100!)
See
here for the complete list. These trade-in discounts come off our already
discounted CurtPalme.com prices, making them the
lowest prices ever available. We ship
worldwide.
Why upgrade my current Radiance to the new line?
If you have an older Radiance, the primary reasons
for upgrading would be the larger CMS (729 points
verses 125) for doing
automatic display calibration with ChromaPure,
and integrated
Darbee DVP™ image enhancement technology,
allowing adjustment on a per-input basis (often
Blu-ray requires less enhancement than broadcast TV,
for example).
The
Radiance 2041 and
2042 also increase the maximum output resolution
to 4K UltraHD at 24/30 Hertz. Ideal for maximizing
image quality on 4K displays as you completely
bypass the internal scaler and do all image
processing in one location: The Radiance.
Many of you reading this have a Radiance already,
but consider trading in that other scaler you put in
the second TV room, and putting the new Radiance
204X in your main theater, and your old Radiance
into your second TV room.
For complete details see our
Radiance order page.
More Information »
Projectors for sale
January
11, 2014
See our
CRT Primer to read why CRT projectors are still used where
reliability and picture quality is paramount. Our
Projector Rankings page will show you how they
stack up. Not sure what
projector is right
for you? Email Curt
for help!
Happy New Year, everyone. The CRT business has
been very busy this past fall, and continues to be
very busy into the new year. Two significant changes
in the CRT world have actually increased my business
in 2012 and 2013 over years previous to that, and I
attribute this to the following:
It appears that sometime in 2012, Barco
discontinued, or at least limited their support
for CRT projectors. I noticed a significant
increase in new customers that use CRT
projectors for commercial and industrial
applications. These customers include
planetariums and military/flight simulator type
customers on a worldwide basis. While new
simulators and planetariums are using Sony,
Christie and Barco digital sets, the cost to
upgrade is significant, and the 10+ year old CRT
projectors have lots of life left in them still.
With Sony introducing their 4K digital
projectors, I’ve seen many high end home theatre
clients pulling out their high end CRTs and
switching, which has led to a surplus of Barco
909/Runco 1200 and Sony G90s. To put it in
perspective, 7 years ago, finding a good used
G90 was like finding the holy grail. In 2012 I
purchased 20 G90s, and sold 19 of them. In 2013
I brought in over 30 Sony G90s, and well over a
dozen Barco 909/Cine 9 projectors. CRT is alive
and well, and more affordable than ever.
Barco 909 chassis/repairs
Given that there were relatively few Barco
909/Cine 9 sets sold into the consumer marketplace,
finding parts was exceptionally difficult a couple
of years ago. The Sony G90 was in a similar
situation about 5 years ago, very few sets had been
scrapped, making spare parts very hard to find. In
2013, I was lucky enough to acquire the original
hard copy of the Barco service manual, and I spent a
number of days troubleshooting and repairing the
various boards within the chassis. One board that
always eluded repairs was the main
microprocessor/CPU board. I had several defective
CPU boards here, all waiting for me to have some
free time to run through them. Over the holidays, I
put aside 3 full days to work on nothing but Barco
909 boards. I am very pleased to say that I found a
couple of inherent issues with the Barco CPU board,
and managed to get 3 out of 4 boards running fine
again. Solid as a rock. I’ve identified what I
believe is a minor design issue with the CPU boards,
and will incorporate this fix that I’ve come up with
into any 909/Cine 9 projector that I sell.
I also managed to receive a number of spare 909
chassis boards, specifically the horizontal and SMPS
(power supply), which are common failure points of
the 909 chassis. I therefore have plenty of spare
parts, and while I’m not quite ready to sell boards
outright yet, that may change in the near future as
I get more boards in. The main thing is that I can
now support the Sony G90s and Barco 909 sets as well
as I can any other CRT projector. Once I am in the
position to outright sell some 909 boards, I will
send out an email letting everyone know.
Onto the list of projectors for sale!
(Qty 2)
NEC XG75
/ 135: I recently managed to acquire two
brand new green tubes for the NEC XG sets. Since
VDC got out of the CRT business a couple of
years ago, finding mint condition, let alone new
NEC tubes was very difficult, and I now have a
couple of NEC XG sets in great shape, good for
another 10,000 hours of life in them. I can put
these green tubes into whatever set I have in
stock, I still have about 12 XG non LC sets
here. I will modify the vertical board to
prevent the chance of tube implosion caused by a
failed board, and will supply the full service
remote as well as a ceiling bracket. $1100.00
each. -
(Qty 1)
NEC XG110LC:
I have one only very good condition original
tube XG110LC with ceiling bracket and remote for
$1100.00 as well.
-
(Qty 1)
Barco Graphics 808s:
Brand new tubes. Only one of the two that I had
is left! High resolution brand new Sony tubes,
1080p capable. Quiet and reliable. $1400.00
(Qty 4)
Marquee 9500 Ultra
/ Vidikron Vision 1: With the load of
new old stock 9” tubes that I purchased from
April to June of 2013, I have two sets of 9” LC
tubes left in stock to be put into Marquee
projectors. I have three 9500 Ultra projectors
in stock, and one Vidikron Vision 1 with the
piano black finish case (pictures
here). You have your choice of new or
used tubes that are in perfect shape. One
excellent example of a very low hour 1999
vintage, 1 owner 9500 Ultra is
here on eBay. I’ve put in a new green
tube, but at 1600 original hours, there was no
need to change the red and blue tubes, allowing
me to reduce the price of the set. Pricing of a
9500 Ultra ranges from $2800 to $4000 depending
on the chassis hour count, how many tubes I
change, and the condition of the case. If you
already have a 9500 with worn tubes, I am
selling off some of my used tubes at very
attractive prices, either directly or on eBay. Brand new tubes.
Same as the 9500 LC above, but with a newer
chassis (by about 4 years) with extra geometry
control and improved video section. $3500.00 -
(Qty 4)
Sony G90: As stated above, I have no
less than 4 Sony G90s in stock currently, with 3
more coming in within the next 2-3 weeks. Since
I retubed a number of Sony G90s in the fall for
customers wanting all new tube sets, I now have
two sets of very low hour (between 1800 and
3000) G90 tubes that show little/minimal wear.
For someone wanting to get into a high end 9”
set, I can sell a low hour Sony G90 with
original tubes for $2500. This includes a remote
control and a new Dallas chip as well. A G90
with a new green tube installed, and near
perfect R and B tubes, the price goes up to
$3500, and with all new tubes, it’s $4500.00.
I’ve sold many G90s in the last two years, and
was actually out of stock for a couple of months
this year as I’d sold so many sets, but now they
are back in stock! I have a limited number of
ceiling brackets as well for an extra $200,
although it’s relatively easy to make up your
own ceiling bracket.
(Qty 6)
Barco 909/919/Runco
1200: Currently I have two Barco 909 in
stock, two Barco 919 and two Runco DTV 1200s.
The Runcos came out of a 1 owner house, where
the projectors were in a stacked configuration.
The one set has 3500 hours on it, the other has
5300 for some reason. Both are in excellent
cosmetic condition, work 100%, and will get my
circuit mods done to them before selling them.
The Runco DTV 1200s have the coloured red and
green C elements in them, and have the added fan
circuitry to make them a bit quieter than the
909 and 919 models. The Barco 919s are designed
for curved screen use, but I can modify them for
flat screen use easily. The 909s are in good
shape as well. I recently bought 6 new in the
box green high resolution tubes, and have new
and used R and B tubes as well. I can configure
these sets to anything your budget will allow,
from completely good used tube sets to
completely retubed projectors. Pricing ranges
from $3500 for a worn tube 919 that is great for
spare parts use, to $9000 for a fully retubed
top of the line Runco DTV 1200. If you want the
best CRT projector there is, bar none, with
ridiculous amounts of sharpness due to the
enhanced focus and astig circuits and controls,
this is the set to get.
Email me!
Wishing you all the best in 2014!
See my
eBay summary for more listings.
Questions?
Email Curt!
See All CRT Projectors »
NEW 2014 GUIDE: ChromaPure Grayscale & Color Calibration for
Dummies
December
30, 2013
After many months of work, our new
2014 edition
Grayscale &
Color Calibration for Dummies Guide is now
available!
This guide is for the home theater enthusiast
who wants to get the absolute best picture out of
any TV or projector. It will show you how to obtain
the most accurate colors possible on any display
regardless of what sort of technology it uses
(Plasma, LCD/LED, DLP, SXRD, LCOS, CRT, etc). It
doesn't matter if it's a 20 year old analog model or
the most recent 4K projector or TV. They will all
benefit from calibration.
Our previous guide was written in 2008 and
focused primarily on the calibration of CRT
projectors. This new guide focuses on the calibration of
newer display technologies such as digital
projectors and flat panel TVs and includes
information on the finer controls offered by these
newer display devices, especially in the areas of
gamma and color calibration.
To best take advantage of these newer features,
newer, more advanced
ChromaPure calibration software
is used as it is better suited for today's advanced
displays. ChromaPure offers the following advantages
over the software used in our previous guide:
Easier to use and more intuitive, with a
built-in workflow. Advanced grayscale, gamma, and color
calibration tools. Comprehensive reporting tools (the previous
software did not include reporting features).
Technical support: ChromaPure is a
commercial product that is continuously updated
and comes with lifetime support. Greater support of meters, including newer
professional quality colorimeters and
spectroradiometers and increased accuracy on 10+
specific display types. Support for signal generators including 3D
signals from
AccuPel signal generators.
Ability to perform completely automated
calibration when used in conjunction with a
video processor such as the
Lumagen Radiance or
the
DVDO Duo, including color calibration of up
to 729 points (instead of only 6) for greatly
increased accuracy. Automated calibration allows
anyone with little or no training to fully
calibrate their display with almost no user
input. Just setup a few simple options, click
Auto-Calibrate, and then just go have a cup of
coffee while the process completes. In less than
10 minutes your display will be full calibrated
to professional standards. The package of tools
does all the work for you and this guide is not
needed.
For years we've been saying that a guide for
ChromaPure is not required as it is already
easy to use, intuitive, and includes a built-in
workflow to assist new users. That said, everyone
works differently and some prefer a written guide.
We hope you find it useful.
This guide also makes use of the new
ChromaPure Calibration Disc that includes
all of the test patterns necessary for display
calibration. The disc is included for free with all
Display 3 PRO bundles, and is also available
for
sale separately.
Questions?
Email Kal!
More Information »
New 3D Glasses
December
30, 2013
We've expanded our
3D glasses line-up to include
many new models.
Universal/adjustable 3D glasses are still
available that work on just about any 3D TV or
projector. This includes the popular line of Optoma
3D projectors (HD25, HD25-LV, HD33, HD3300, HD83,
HD8300, GT750, GT750e, etc) and JVC projectors that
have 3D built in and a 3D VESA sync port (X3, X7,
X9, X30, X35, X55, X70, X75, X90, X95, RS40, RS45,
RS46, RS48, RS55, RS56, RS60, RS65, RS66). Our
3D converters are supported if you
wish to turn your 2D display into 3D.
3D glasses for Epson Home Cinema 3D projectors
are now available that work on Epson models 750HD,
3020, 3020e, 4030, 5020UB, 5020UBe, 5030UB, 6020UB,
6020UBe, 6030UB, as well as Epson European models
EH-TW550, EH-TW9100, EH-TW9100W, EH-TW8100,
EH-TW6100, EH-TW6100W, and EH-TW5910 (to name a
few). These glasses will also work when paired along
with the original Epson ELPGS03 glasses that came with the
projector. Why spend $80-$90 for Epson glasses when
you can get these for half the price!
New
lightweight DLP-Link 3D glasses are
available too. These are specifically meant to be
used with DLP-Link enabled 3D Ready DLP projectors
from brands such as Optoma, Benq, Viewsonic, Acer,
Mitsubishi, etc. Available with either
rechargeable batteries (up to 40 hours of
use per charge), or with inexpensive
replaceable button batteries (up to 100
hours of use per battery).
Last but not least,
smaller kid-sized DLP-Link 3D glasses are
now also available in two colour choices.
Questions? Email us at
3Dexperts@curtpalme.com
More Information »
CEDIA EXPO 2013 Show Report
November 16, 2013
CEDIA EXPO is one of the leading trade shows for
new home technology including home theater, home
automation, home security, home networking, and
more. It was in Denver Colorado this year and
featured more than 470 exhibitors and 17,900
attendees from 84 countries.
There was a bewildering number of vendors from
every facet of the home theater industry, and as
usual, there was the interesting, the over the top
ridiculous, and the routine.
Forgive me for sounding a bit cynical, but after
having attended any number of trade shows over the
last 30 years, yet another ceiling or wall speaker
by yet another company claiming significant
advancements over their competitors, yet seeing the
same 'made in China' sticker on the back of said
speaker, I tend to be a bit jaded.
Visit our
CEDIA EXPO 2013 Show Report for more
pictures and comments. Did you attend the show? feel
free to post your own pictures and comments.
More Information »
Old News »
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