CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[CasetheCorvetteman]

Gday people, i just found this forum a little while ago and thought id join up and say hello

I dont know where you would normally put introduction threads on this forum so i threw it in here.

Im from the east coast of Australia, about 1 hr north of Brisbane (about 55 miles)

I recently scored myself a rather beat up looking old Sony VPH-1001QM SuperBright, it has spent the past 7 years of its life living underneath a band stage, laying on its back, covered in all sorts of rubish that the lazy band members tend to throw under the stage instead of in the rubish bin.

Even though it lived there that long, and had been dropped on its back before it got put under there, it did indeed work perfectly when i first fired it up, although when i got it home and went to clean it all out (which made the picture about 3 times brighter, ill get to that bit soon) i noticed the convergence had stopped working on the horrizontal plane, vertical still working fine.

The internals were actually VERY clean, however the area infront of the tubes (especially between the green tube and its lens) were quite dusty, and the surfaces showed the unit had a very bad case of smoke inhailation.

Apparently the cooling glycol corroding the housing is pretty common on these, but this one seems to be perfect, the glycol is crystal clear. The red and green tubes (especially the red) are pretty much perfect, but the blue is very worn, ive been told thats pretty normal too.

I did some searching and found Curt's website, contacted him, and i must say, the man's service is 2nd to none. (Thanks mate )

I also have 2 LCD projectors set up in my house, both Epson, 1 EMP S4, and 1 EMP S5, both of which i thought were quite great for such low end units til i saw what could come out the front of a dirty old Sony CRT that i couldnt converge properly!! (i did get it very close by moving it back til the colours lined up)

Im looking forward to getting this old dog up and running properly so i can set it up to play my NEO-GEO games on, the fact its 480i wont matter for that

[Mr. Green]

Now you've done it. You're hooked. You'll have the "upgrade itch" in no time. Welcome to the club.

If you think 480i looks good, wait until you get a projector that can do a nice 720, 1080i or even 1080P. From my understanding NEC CRT's are pretty prevalent in Australia. Try and hunt down a 6 or 9 PG Xtra.

You should also post in the main CRT Projector thread. Most guys look at that one, especially if you need help. The nice thing is you have a lot of guys here that have owned (and own) the sony 10XX projectors.

[CasetheCorvetteman]

Well you might be right, we were planning on maybe putting in an Epson TW2000 in our new house when its done, but i am starting to think we might put in a real projector instead

I stuck with a CRT computer monitor as long as i could, and although i did cop abit over it from some people telling me to get an LCD, im yet to see an LCD monitor that would do what that CRT could, i always said CRT was better, so im glad i found this place to prove i wasnt totally mad in still believing in CRT for top notch clarity...

[CasetheCorvetteman]

You might also be right about the NECs over here being more common, there is currently one on eBay for $1,550 buy it now, a 9PG i think it was.

The Sony SuperBrights were pretty common in sports bars and pubs over here years ago.

I have a mate that uses eBay quite alot ready to bid on a Sony 1031QM for me with a start of 99c, and no reserve.

[Mr. Green]

You'll find some arguments either way. I love my HP w2207h monitor.
http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/product/31696/review/w2207h.html
It makes me happy, but for movies. Nothing but my little (for CRT) NEC 9PG+ does the job (until I can upgrade). My buddy is waiting for delivery of his digital 1080p Sanyo projector. He's bringing it over for a side by side comparison. It supposedly boasts 50,000-1 contrast and my NEC only 15,000-1, but with my box 1040... I have true BLACK... I can't wait to see the difference. Even if his beats mine He'll have paid more than twice that and my tubes will outlast 5-7 of his bulbs... IF his projector lasts that long.

[Mr. Green]

Keep your eyes peeled for more NEC's. I bought my 9PG+ from Curt and I think it was well worth it. I think the only main difference between the PG and the PG+ is the point board, which is nice for fine adjustments. Most guys say if you you do a proper setup, you don't need it. I tried for a long time to do it without it and well, I need it.

For $1550 it had better be mint tubes and low hours. See where it is though. If you can view it in person, you have an advantage.

Mine won't resolve 1080p, but from what I hear, 1080p is soft on the PG series so not to worry about it. 1080i looks amazing and is easier on the old boards. Even upconverted DVD's on my PS3 look incredible.

Sorry, I keep editing my posts, but it's 2 Am and I keep forgetting things.

[CasetheCorvetteman]

Hahaha!! No worries about the edits mate, i caught onto that after my first reply

I just posted some pics in the CRT section of my tube faces.

I think youll be suprised at how well your old dog stands up to that new Sanyo, that 50,000:1 contrast ratio his has is dynamic, not static, so in reality, it probably wont be any better then yours, and you will still have a black level he can never reach without turning off his Sanyo or putting a piece of thick cardboard over his lens

My boss at work just bought an Epson TW1000, i havent seen it in action yet, but i have seen the TW2000, although it was bloody good, it sure didnt look like a 50,000:1 contrast ratio to me, so id love to know what the static contrast ratio is on it!!

[Mr. Green]

I agree. He's actually mad at me right now. We were talking about contrast ratios. My LCD TV has a 10,000-1 and his TV is 15,000-1. When I pointed it out that he should never compare the image black to the shiny black casing he noticed his 15,000-1 was not better than charcoal grey. Maybe I shouldn't have pointed it out... I hope for his sake that his projector fares better in the black department. He has no interest in tweaking a CRT and has a limited budget, so he'll have to live with his decision for some time.

I'm hoping my old beast blows his new projector out of the water. I should find some time to fine tune it some more over the next few weeks. Kitchen floor and baseboards in the house come first though. I just tore out the kitchen tile so I'm committed.

[Mr. Green]

Ok, I edited the last post 5 times... time for bed.

I check here every day, so I'll be around.

[CasetheCorvetteman]

Youll be right mate, the only thing he will have over you is the ability to view 1080p, however he wont be able to view regular DVDs nearly as clearly as you can.

The CRT computer monitor i had was an LG F700P, only a 17 inch, was burned in quite badly after about 6 years, still, it would display 1600x1200 @ at least 75Hz, and would also do 1920x1440 @ 60Hz, athough after coming from 75Hz or higher the 60Hz would seem to flicker abit (Which didnt matter on Battlefield Vietnam, i dont remember having a setting for the frequency in there) It was dead flat on the surface, and certainly looked to be dead flat on the inner surface too.

One of my mates still has an F700P, but he wont part with the damn thing.... Took me to talk him into buying that over an LCD 4 or 5 years ago, and no way i can talk him out of it now!! Hahaha!!

Have a good one mate

[AnalogRocks]

[AnalogRocks]

[CasetheCorvetteman]

Thanks mate, the F700P i had spent most of its time with the windows desktop on the screen, and usually stayed on 24 hrs a day, so the burn in was from the task bar and the messenger/skype windows. You could clearly see them and who was mostly online when the monitor was turned off!!

The LCD i have now is not real great when compared to that old CRT.

[AnalogRocks]

Tsk tsk, screen burn? That's what the screen savers are for. That and I turn the power off when I leave my desk. Been doing that since day 1.

[AnalogRocks]

Tsk tsk, screen burn? That's what the screen savers are for. That and I turn the power off when I leave my desk. Been doing that since day 1.

[CasetheCorvetteman]

Yep, i never used it from day dot. Shouldve, couldve, and probably wouldve, but i didnt. It was pretty badly burned, but not really noticable when playing games on it.

It did add some character though....

[kal]

Welcome!

I've moved this thread to the CRT PROJECTORS forum as it's definitely CRT projector related (not off-topic). You'll get more people reading it that way too.

Kal

[kal]

Welcome!

I've moved this thread to the CRT PROJECTORS forum as it's definitely CRT projector related (not off-topic). You'll get more people reading it that way too.

Kal

[CasetheCorvetteman]

Thanks Kal