CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[andre#4]

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I have found a couple nice units which are very far away. Vidikron, electrohome, 8" units. The units are very cheap to buy, but freight cost will double my expenditure. I wonder, can these units survive a long freight journey now that they are 10-20 years old and out of warranty? I really want to get the wonderful images from a crt projector, but I am afraid I am 10 years too late. If I buy one, will I need to buy up extra tubes now if I expect to be able to keep using this unit for (ever) a long time? I also found barco tubes for $200 each online, brand new. I wonder if I should buy them just because they are so cheap, figuring I can eventually get a chassis to fit them when someone throws one out. (Seems crt items are quite often in the category of "please take this off my property, so I don't have to pay someone to remove it"). If tubes are $500 to rebuild etc. I thought the $200 price was a steal. Trouble is I don't know what sets will fit those tubes. I usually do the repair labor myself.

I quite enjoyed reading Curt's web page. I only hope enough nutcases disobey society, and refuse to throw out their crt projector. Thanks for any help, I appreciate it.

Andre.

[macgyver655]

Where in Pa./NJ?

[draganm]

no, barco 701 tubes won't fit, they are ES focus for one thing and if your really looking at Vidikron electrohome based machines like Vision 2 or Vision 3 they are 8" tubes Panasonic 180DMB22 electromagnetic focus.

Tube are everything, their condition is key. Luckily HT projectors are the least likely to have a windows desk-top burned into them.
Yes the machine will survive shipping on a pallet. What won't service the freight shipping is the nice Fiberglass case Vidikron put on it. Your best bet is pallet + Gaylord box + foam-in-place packaging.
Probably looking at , at least, $250. for the packaging and $250. for the freight.

[Curt Palme]

$200 each could be a steal, or a waste of money. Need the tube numbers or the BArco part numbers before making that decision.

[Curt Palme]

$200 each could be a steal, or a waste of money. Need the tube numbers or the BArco part numbers before making that decision.

[UncleWill]

Andre, if you wait and sit tight, deals will pop up in your area.

[andre#4]

I see, so we need to know if tubes will be replaceable, if it is gonna need $4000 worth of tubes, it's a waste of time and money? What if the tubes were all new, then I guess it would be a good deal to part out, cause it's full of 4000 worth of tubes.

Are the new Sony tubes still available? Non Sony tubes still rebuildable? I wonder how long it will take for the rebuilding company to sell that $2million tube rebuilding machine to a Chinese firm for $50,000. Seems that happens with most expensive machines in this hemisphere.

Yes it makes sense to wait. Sometimes it's difficult to see a $30000 projector sell for the price of 2 tanks of petrol when I love watching film more than anything else, and I can't stand watching big pixels botching everything up on a hi def tv set. I'm not even able to set up a crt system yet anyway because my room is not ready. (so I watch a confounded LCD panel)....so it would be in storage for some 6 months.

Thanks everyone,
I am located near route 80 @ PA/nj border.

[Curt Palme]

What model of projector is it? I've got piles of good used tubes.

[Curt Palme]

What model of projector is it? I've got piles of good used tubes.

[jeffslife]

Don't mess around prices are falling, get a nice 9 inch PJ. You wont regret it.

[CIR Engineering]

You will see Marquee 9" projectors come up really cheap from time to time. A 9500LC would be good, but a 9500LC ultra would be better.

During the recession it was not uncommon to see 9500LC's with good tubes for $500. They are higher now, but good deals can still be had.

In 8" machines I personally would strongly prefer the NEC projectors. Their higher models really perform well and have excellent focus and bandwidth. They won't be as bright as a 9", but the NEC have good beam control so if you push them a little they still can go pretty bright.

craigr

[andre#4]

Found a 8500 (not LC) but only 8 years old with 5 year old tubes, green tube worn 30% or less. From usaf flight simulator. Would cost me $500 including freight.

Also found a new old stock Panasonic 105. Very old but I like the idea of being first to use it. (if it could even function). A totally manual analog es focus set, but could do 1080 i rather dim, but I could do a 84" screen. Might use it as a bedroom set in theory if I was serious about consider it at all.

I have always had good luck with new old stock items. Even bought my car new old stock @28 years of age. It has performed flawlessly without any updates. (belts, hoses,are not failing. I find that interesting. Of Course that doesn't mean the projector would do the same.

I guess the 8500 is best of those 2. Or maybe I should try to find a new old stock late model 9" or 8" set. I suppose they will still be floating around in a year or two. I wonder when they will be totally unsupported though. Maybe once the gov'ts and corps liquidate all crt assets, support will fall away? Once the value of these becomes only a couple hundred each, will anyone stock parts or even have tools to service this obsolete technology? Or will it be like classic cars, with adequate support hiding in the woodwork?

I haven't looked much recently. Couple years ago I looked unsuccessfully, but I'm trying again. Thanks guys.

[Curt Palme]

For the most part it all depends on tube condition. Most chassis will last 100K hours+ if you really wanted them to, but simulator sets usually will show weird signs of wear due to static images. I've got a couple of nice Barco 1209s left with good tubes, out of a planetarium for $800 each. That's a full blown 9" set good for 1080p.

you can take your chances on ebay or some other site, but unless they are local, there's no telling what condition they are in. Manufacturers other than VDC are no longer supporting any CRT, but I've got enough parts left for pretty much everything out there for 10+ years.

I wouldn't look at anything under an 8" EM focusing set at this point unless it's free and local. That Panasonic 105 dates from 1988, and isn't even worth looking at.

Barco 808, Marquee 8500, NEC XG, etc and better are all still decent performers.. as long as the tubes are in good shape. I've got over 100 projectors in stock, and really want to get that down to 50 or so. I just threw 4 lower end sets out this week again.

[Curt Palme]

For the most part it all depends on tube condition. Most chassis will last 100K hours+ if you really wanted them to, but simulator sets usually will show weird signs of wear due to static images. I've got a couple of nice Barco 1209s left with good tubes, out of a planetarium for $800 each. That's a full blown 9" set good for 1080p.

you can take your chances on ebay or some other site, but unless they are local, there's no telling what condition they are in. Manufacturers other than VDC are no longer supporting any CRT, but I've got enough parts left for pretty much everything out there for 10+ years.

I wouldn't look at anything under an 8" EM focusing set at this point unless it's free and local. That Panasonic 105 dates from 1988, and isn't even worth looking at.

Barco 808, Marquee 8500, NEC XG, etc and better are all still decent performers.. as long as the tubes are in good shape. I've got over 100 projectors in stock, and really want to get that down to 50 or so. I just threw 4 lower end sets out this week again.

[macgyver655]

[andre#4]

Stroudsburg area yes.

[draganm]