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April 7, 2008
DIGITAL
VIDEO ESSENTIALS: HD BASICS
For the first time ever, good calibration discs have dropped under $20! If you have an HD set or are thinking of getting one, this inexpensive disc is a must-have! While not written for any type of display in particular (it covers them all), the disc is very CRT projector friendly as Joe Kane goes on and on about how fantastic CRT based displays are and how the ultimate goal of any display is to get it to "look as good as CRT". We couldn't agree more! ;) Video content includes 1080p material and the audio tracks are lossless Dolby Digital TrueHD for the absolute highest quality possible. Calibration tools both for beginner and advanced users are in included, plus a new audio commentary with Kane and cinematographer Allen Daviau with even more guidance. 
Every single test pattern you could ever possibly need is provided, including those required to set greyscale correctly with the $60 Spyder2 calibration sensor (highly recommended!). Correct greyscale is one of the biggest, most effective upgrades you can do for your home theater. With recent price drops it's now also one of the least expensive ones too! We'll have a step by step procedure for beginners in an upcoming newsletter on how to do this. Order your Spyder2 sensor and test disc in either the Blu-ray, HD DVD, or Standard DVD version to get ready! There is also a ton of demo material (in 1080p) that you can use to test the capabilities of your display. The commentary lets you know what to look for and where displays typically have problems.
ORDER NOW FROM AMAZON (Blu-ray version) - On sale for $16.95!
MESSAGE FROM
CURT
Here’s another list of projectors. I’ve got a lot of new sets in for this listing, the website has been updated and there are many high end 9” sets here. It’s been a very busy last few months, thus no newsletter directly from me in a while. The requests for parts and repairs is at an all time high as other resellers are getting out of the business, While I now also get daily requests to repair digital sets and flat screen displays, I’ve done some research, and unlike CRT projectors, the digital units are designed to be completely disposable. More and more I’m getting stories about how someone’s digital set broke right outside the warranty period, and the manufacturers are not backing their displays. I’m still very comfortable selling 15 year old CRT projectors, knowing that they will last for years to come. Just a final note regarding the HD DVD players and HD DVD discs that are being blown out at super low pricing: Any of you that don’t have any immediate plans to jump onto the Blu-ray bandwagon should get an HD DVD player for your standard DVDs. I’ve seen a 25-30% improvement in details and clarity when comparing a regular DVD player. The scaling and up-converting circuits in the HD DVD players are superior to that of regular DVD players and just about any standalone scaler more than 2-3 years old, and you will see an improvement in your image. Just a couple of notes regarding emails that I get in daily:
New Projectors and other goodies While the list of sets below has changed as far as the actual sets go that are in stock, the model numbers have not. At this point save for select model numbers, I have virtually every make and model of set in stock, and also have many more parts sets in stock to service existing units. Select new projectors that are in stock are listed below. (Qty: 1) NEC GP 3000: I’ve got one good working excellent example of the pre- PG series of NEC sets. Tubes in excellent shape, setup remote included. This is a full data grade set, capable of up to 720p. 600 lumens, EM focusing tubes. $200.00 (Qty: 6) Barco Retro 808s projectors: These are CRT projector chassis that were used in rear projection video cubes. These were all used in the same place, and all have about 3000 hours on them. No visible wear on the MEC tubes (retro sets all used the rebuildable MEC tubes, not the Sony ones), with special short throw lenses that will shoot about a 50” wide image maximum. I’m selling these for far less than I normally would, $750 per set. At this price you can convert a front projection Barco 808 set to LC (you’ll need to source lenses that will give a larger image), or buy these sets as spare parts for an existing unit that you might already have, or buy these for the tubes, which can be dismantled out of the LC housings and installed into standard FP mounts. Your choice. I will be picking these up next week, they are currently in Seattle, and I will most likely be scrapping a few of them for parts and for the tubes. I’ve sold a number of these with great results, there’s only a few left! There are some pictures of these sets here. 
(Qty: 4) Barco 1209s: These are late model high end 9” sets that came out of a flight simulator at the Johnson space center. I’ve taken out the custom circuitry and converted several of these to flat screen use as I’ve done many times in the past. The sets are in excellent shape chassis and case-wise. As with most flight simulator projectors, 7 of these have strange wear patterns on the faces of the tubes. Most cannot be used for home theater use as is, and will need the G and B tubes replaced. The reds are fine and show no wear. One of these sets shows no wear at all, and while I suspect that the tubes were changed in this machine shortly before I received it, it may be that this set was a spare and was left in standby mode for most of it’s life. All of these sets have the improved electronics and video boards over the older plain 1209 projectors. Included with each set priced below is a remote control programmed with all of the Barco codes. 1200 lumens, 135 Khz scan rate, etc. Barco’s equivalent to the Marquee 9500 Ultra, Sony G90, etc. Sharper LUG tubes come stock with these sets, July 2000 build date, very late model sets. IRIS 3 cameras are installed in these sets as well. Optional convergence on green control module is also installed.
All sets above come installed with HD 10 lenses, I can upgrade you to GT 17 lenses for an extra $400.00 
(Qty: 2) Ampro 4200 Low hour sets, one is ready to go, I’m working on the other. Similar to the Barco 1209 below, these sets came from an a/v rental company that put few hours on them. The memory battery has been replaced, so the original hour count has been lost, but I’m guessing there’s well under 2000 hours on these sets. No wear on the tubes, the cases could use a paint job but are in good shape. 1080p ready, 1200 lumens, wired Ampro remote included. $2500.00. A great way to get into that high resolution of 9” sets.
(Qty: 2) Barco 1209: I managed to get a great score on a couple of ex rental Barco 1209 projectors c/w very nice road cases. I’ve looked at one, it has... ready for this? An original 565 hours on the chassis and tubes. The set is perfect! 1080p ready, 1200 lumens, HD 10 lenses. The case is in minty shape, as it was always stored in a road case. I’ve never had a 9” set with this low of an hour count. I’ll look at the second set this week, but I expect it to have a similar hour count. Heck, this set is priced at less than the price of three new tubes from VDC! I’ve got it on eBay here. The second set will be listed shortly. 
(Qty: 1) Marquee 9500 Ultra: This is another late model top of the line 9” set. A rare single owner set, it has just over 1000 original hours on it. Zero wear on the tubes, an almost mint case (a couple of very minor marks, nothing really worth mentioning), original remote, original ceiling bracket, original manual and heck, even an original case. Included is an HDMI Moome card as well. Everything you need for instant 1080p happiness! I’ve run the set for 50 test hours, but this set needed nothing. $8000.00 (Qty: 1) Marquee 8500: Late model (June 1998). I got it cheap, I'll sell it cheap. The tubes are in good shape, the green is about a 7, the blue an 8, the red a 9. All mods (LVPS and anamorphic mod) done. Late model motherboard with the smaller vertical/convergence board connectors. I thought for a second the set was an Ultra, but it's not. Case- rough. Side panels aren't too bad, a couple of marks on it, but the lid and lens cover are scratched and should be repainted (or not). Remote and power cord included. Tube pictures here. $1500.00 plus shipping. 
(Qty: 1) Sony G90: While I now have a test chassis in stock as well to back up G90 sales (and to combat the insane high pricing of Sony’s G90 repair rates), I have one excellent condition Sony G90 that’s ready to go. Hard to find in good shape, this is an absolute top of the line 9” set. The tubes are in great shape, a tiny bit of wear on the green, no visible wear on the R and B tubes. c/w original remote and power cord. 1080p ready, 1300 lumens, an unbelievably sharp image. $7300.00. (Qty: 1) NEC IPS 4000Q line quadrupler/scaler: This has been my personal scaler from 2000 to 2007 when I switched to a Lumagen that I won at a home theater meet. This unit was bought new by myself. It has a number of resolution outputs, wireless remote, and a total of 7 inputs including one component (480i) and one RGB passthrough. In excellent shape, I’ve got the original manual here for it as well. When it was new in 1997, it retailed for about $12,000.00. I’m selling mine for $400.00. Look for updated lists of sets as well in the regular area of the 'Products for sale' section of the website. I’ve gotten some really good sets of tubes in for lower end sets, so all areas of the sales section have been updated! Incoming!
Marquee 8500: unknown shape. Xbox360 Repairs
As is well documented on the internet, the Xbox 360 consoles have been plagued with the ‘red circle of death’ failure. This causes the machine to shut down completely, and the power/diagnostic LEDs on the front of the 360 console turn red.
Note that I cannot repair other Xbox 360 faults at this point such as intermittent reading of discs, bad power supplies, controllers, etc, but I perhaps will in the future. Send me an email if you want to send your Xbox 360 in for repair. If you're shipping it to me, make sure to follow these instructions Reel to reel tape recorders I’ve been ramping up my repairs once again on reel to reel tape recorders, as I was repairing and refurbing these long before I got into CRT projectors. Keep checking my eBay listings for a full list. Thanks for your support!
HOME THEATER QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Got a topic you'd like to see covered? Email us at webmaster@curtpalme.com. _____________________________ Q: Can the new Moome NEC XG-FULLHD HDMI card be used in a NEC PG series projector? A: Unfortunately no. The Moome NEC XG-FULLHD can only be used in the NEC XG series and clones (such as the Runco DTV-991 and DTV-991 Ultra). The PG series does not have any slots for cards like the XG series, so a built-in card solution for the PG will never be possible. External solutions such as the Moome EXT-HD and HDfury are the only solution if you wish to add an HDMI input for your NEC PG projector. _____________________________ Q: Is the RTC2200 component to VGA converter available with BNC outputs instead of a VGA connector? Similar question: Is the Moome EXT-HD HDMI to VGA converter available with a VGA output instead of BNC? A: Unfortunately, no. Both devices are only available with their respective output connectors (either VGA or 5-BNC). The EXT-HD used to be offered in both versions but sales of the VGA unit were poor so that version is no longer offered. If you need to convert from one connector style to the other, simply use a high quality VGA-to-5BNC breakout cable. When good cables are used there is no degradation in the image quality. We've driven our setups with resolutions to 1080p/60 and there is difference compared to going with straight 5BNC cables. We've also used the "GREEN" 5BNC breakout cable that ships with the HDfury Basic and Advanced Kits. The cable is also available for order separately and is a very short high quality cable custom designed by the HDfury engineers. It can be ordered separately on the HDfury order page by ordering "One Extra Item". _____________________________ Q: I have recently purchased a NEC DP 1200 projector to be used from the floor. Unfortunately the unit has been programmed for ceiling use. How do I flip the image? A: The procedure is described in the user manual. We have hundreds of CRT projector user manuals in the Tech Tips section of our site, available for free for anyone to download. Whenever you have a question about your projector, the best place to check first is the official user manual. _____________________________ Q: Is there any way to add a power supply to the HDfury Gamer Edition? A: Unfortunately, no. It is for this reason that the HDfury Gamer Edition is only meant to be used with the Playstation 3 and XBOX 360 directly connected to a display. Both of these sources are known to carry enough power over the HDMI cable to power the Gamer Edition correctly. While the Gamer Edition is identical to the 'regular' HDfury and will work correctly with hundreds of other source devices, the fact that the power supply cannot be added means the HKmod only suggests that the Gamer Edition be used with these 2 gaming consoles. Setups with longer HDMI cables, receivers, or other sources should always consider the HDfury Advanced Kit to ensure the setup works as intended. Higher resolutions require more power as well. Many have found that to achieve 1080p, the power supply is required. _____________________________ Previous popular Q&A's:
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March 18,
2008
POPULAR FORUM TOPICS
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To be perfectly upfront, Microsoft is
repairing these under warranty, and on
July 5, 2007
announced that the red circle of death
problem will be covered for 3 years from
the date of purchase, and they will
repair this problem/partial design flaw.
So why am I offering the repair as well,
you might ask? Well, as it turns out,
the turnaround time for Microsoft can be
anywhere from 3-8 weeks depending on the
repairs required. In addition, if your
Xbox 360 has been opened already and the
Microsoft tamperproof sticker has been
removed or altered, Microsoft will not
even look at your machine! So for those
that have hacked into the unit,
Microsoft will not repair these
machines, period. I’ve also heard that
at least some of the returned consoles
that were repaired under warranty have
failed again shortly after being
received from being repaired at
Microsoft.
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copyright (c) 2008 Curt Palme. All Rights Reserved.
