CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

kamilm94 · Joined: 04 Jul 2016 Posts: 16 Location: Poland, Wrocław

Hi,

A while ago I bought Barco Graphics 800 for cheap with spare, new factory red lamp, control unit [the black long metal box] and a box with few spare modules... so i guess I'm ready to make mistakes? Very Happy

And god damn it it's HUGE like hell, also heavy like hell. I had Seleco SVT-150, which was broken and i gave up repairing it [free electronic parts yay], and it was pretty big and heavy too, but this thing is two times that[u].

My problems for now is:

-how to maintain it? some conservation? Can i put it later somewhere where are no heaters AND don't care what winter will do to the electronics? Pretty naive i know, but I want to be sure, so I'll got possibility to move it.
-how to change firmware / main program? I got it with german firmware and i understand just two words maybe.
I bought RS232 cable, not crossed. Not really sure if this one is proper.
-I've downloaded all the stuff I found on your main site here:

http://www.curtpalme.com/Barco500_Downloads.shtm

And, besides the manuals, there is "Barco CRT Control Software for Windows" which doesn't really work with windows [I got Win 7 64 bit, but tried to run it on virtual machine with Windows XP with no success unfortunately Sad

].
I guess that this program will let me change the firmware to the english one?
If somebody got the backup of the english file please put it here in this topic, so I can download and have normal language Very Happy

.

-I'm trying to configure the image anyway, by looking at the english PDF downloaded from your site, and hoping that german words means the same thing. NOW I'm stuck with angle adjustment. From what I read i need to loose some screws around the tubes, so by rotating them [like in the focus setting, but -these screws-] I will rotate the whole image?

-Aaaaaaaand the last one. I CAN'T HOOK IT UP TO MY PC Sad

I have no idea how. My friend got a laptop with VGA out, and his laptop recognized the projector, but my PC not. I got Radeon HD 6850 with 2 HDMIs and 2 DVIs.
I had my PC plugged into analog input of my monitor for really long time, so i know the converter [dvi -> VGA] and graphics card works, but for some reason, the projector on my pc is unrecognizable Sad

. Don't really know what to do.

I'll REALLY appreciate any help.

Regards

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Sat May 27, 2017 4:35 am Post subject:

Unforunately I threw out all my Barco 800 stuff as I didn't have a call for it at all. What I would do is simply follow the manual that you've downloaded and follow it, and ignore the writing on the screen.

you really need to run this beast with a computer with VGA out. The other thing is, the projector needs to see negative sync, which most likely is not coming from your computer, all new computers are positive sync. You therefore need something like an Extron 203 box, that has a sync inversion function. It will take the VGA input and force negative sync on the BNC outputs. Those boxes are cheap on eBay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Extron-RGB-203-Rxi-with-ADSP-Pulled-from-Working-Station-Good-Condition-/201896526556?hash=item2f01f882dc:g:s5QAAOSw5UZY9mTs

hopefully someone here has an old 800 in their basement, and maybe they'd be kind enough to send you the controller board, or at least the chips out of it. Beware that some firmware revisions may not work. Also, find an XP computer to try and run the software. Win 7 with XP emulation will probably not work. remember, this projector came out in 1989, and was discontinued about 1992! Smile

cmjohnson · Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Posts: 5180 Location: Buried under G90s

My suggestion, if you want to enjoy the beauty of CRT projection, is to get something like a Sony D50 or 12xx series Sony unit, or maybe a Marquee 85xx with good tubes. They won't cost very much. Even the top gun 9" machines are pretty cheap these days,
but you can get an 8" machine in great shape for under 500 bucks these days. Maybe even a Barco 808.

There are problems associated with having the OLDEST models that make them hard to have any fun with, as I am sure you have already found out.

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Sat May 27, 2017 5:17 am Post subject:

He's in Poland. It's not like they are a dime a dozen there! Smile

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Sat May 27, 2017 5:27 am Post subject:

Try 1024x768@60hz from the PC. Most of the time by default 1024x768 is negative sync on the horizontal and vertical.

kamilm94 · Joined: 04 Jul 2016 Posts: 16 Location: Poland, Wrocław

Hi

So here is an update:
I got the software to work with my PC, but since I don't have any image of the firmware, I'll just have to wait I guess.
image: http://imgur.com/a/oXqFT
Also I got it to work with my graphics card. Yesterday evening [or today night?] I tried to mess around with resolution, and in the meantime
I got an idea to isolate that projector, so it could be the only graphical output aaaaaand... voila! ...Kind of.
The picture was shaky as hell, the only visible part was the upper area with only few pixels of height, and when I tried to minimize the window,
the projector gave up at the same moment, displaying some error message in german.
It disappears after one second so I don't even know what is the problem.

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Sat May 27, 2017 2:04 pm Post subject:

Actually compared to North America, CRT projectors are pretty rare in Europe, that's why they sell for so much! I'll go even further, the capital of CRT projectors is the US, for every 100 or so I bought out of the US, I'd buy one or two in Canada, so it's the same up here.

You definitely can build your own sync inverter, by all means!\

The reason the Fury is expensive (now discontinued) is that it was HDCP compliant. you have no idea whether any Chinese made box will pass a bluRay signal, although they should work with a PC output, as there is no HDCP encryption if a PC program is used. Try it, but be prepared to be disappointed. Very Happy

BTW, I read german, if you want to post a screen shot of the error message, I'll translate.

jbltecnicspro · Joined: 23 Apr 2016 Posts: 512

I didn't read all of the thread in its entirety in detail, but your graphics driver should have an "Advanced" tab or something like that in which you can set up a custom resolution, including the sync polarity, on your VGA output. I know that my nVidia control panel allows this, and I've seen Intel control panels that offer this kind of granular adjustment. Not sure about AMD but at one time the company they bought out (ATI) was considered the king of VGA outputs for consumer graphics, so I'm assuming they can. Dig a little bit into your graphics drivers control panel.

There should be no need for you to build a sync inverter.

kamilm94 · Joined: 04 Jul 2016 Posts: 16 Location: Poland, Wrocław

jbltecnicspro · Joined: 23 Apr 2016 Posts: 512

I see that you have "composite sync" checked under the Synchronization tab. Uncheck that and see what it does? RGBHV does not use composite sync. It probably won't have any affect though because I think that may just enable composite sync if you have the option. Who knows...

Also - Powerstrip is a 3rd party application and may not always be guaranteed to actually affect the parameters your trying to affect. What kind of graphics card do you have? Here's a screen shot of Nvidia's control panel:

kamilm94 · Joined: 04 Jul 2016 Posts: 16 Location: Poland, Wrocław

Hi again,

Sorry for leaving this topic abandoned, but not really. I was just busy with my studies.
In fact, few days ago I was able to work it again and guess what. All I was doing, was pressing 4th button [sync. on green] instead of 5th [sync. on H V pins]. I felt so stupid. Embarassed

What was my new problem was getting good frequency to achieve 1080p and i [progressive doesn't really differ from interlaced one but i might see that a bit wrong because for now, i don't have cinema-like room].
ANYWAY my big problem now may seem to be really easy and basic.
I'm stuck at tubes configuration. Speaking in detail, raster configuration. Why am i mentioning tubes? Well, in the owner's manual, there is written, that you have to look into the tube [first the green one], reduce contrast [im decreasing it to 0] and increase brightness [I did it to the max], AND THEN adjust, by pressing arrow keys on remote, the center of the whole picture [raster? as it is named] while staring inside.
The process I'm talking about is here:
http://www.curtpalme.com/docs/BarcoGraphics800_User.pdf
on the page 51.

Well for me it seems to be illogical, because:
1. You don't have ANY reference inside of the tube, where the center is.

My solution to that was to use that as the reference, and overall center, so later i can put red and blue color onto it.

2. What is the point of this? Why do I have to look into the tube? Why isn't it used as my assumption tells me. In the menu of that model there is no such thing like "move the image" or so. Normally anybody would assume that it's just basic centering???

That does make a problem I think, because later, i'm adjusting convergence, and the blue color seems to be always few centimeters wider than green and red, and a bit taller i think. [that thing is weird too]. Even if I configure it as nice and clean as i can, there is a big blue wing on the left side. Not sure if I should cut it off by blanking settings [the last step in geometry configuration], because when I change the resolution in PowerStrip, image from PC will be there, In the zone where I cut picture off a bit [to get rid of unnecessary blue thing], so blanking is pointless.

Overall image at the and looks not so sharp, especially at the bottom and in the corners. I have no idea how the dude from here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iayWJ1_xros

did it so well. No sh*tty quality at all. Is it because of HDFury? Since i found out that i don't need that. I have no idea what's the secret. Long hours of configuration?

Also focusing in the corners is done with the srews UNDER the tubes, like the instructions says. Someone who had that projector before me, wrote same numbers behind certain screws [referring to the instruction i hope], but completely above the tubes, and under that giant cover. Furthermore, there are no screws under the tubes.

That thing... is hard to configure, but I hope it will be at least rewarding Very Happy

. Why I won't get rid of that almost 30 year old thing? Because I love to mess around with old electronics. It's just that. When I screw up something, and the fume will start showing, then I will think about throwing that into garbage.

Regards,
Kamil

km987654 · Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2017 12:06 am Post subject:

jbltecnicspro · Joined: 23 Apr 2016 Posts: 512

Kamil, I strongly suggest you read the definitive CRT setup guide on this website before proceeding any further:

http://www.curtpalme.com/CRTSetupGuide.shtm

After you're done with that, watch this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCmhC1p5ANw

In that video, they do a Sony VPH-1292 (which is way more capable and complicated than your 800) but you'll still get the idea.