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dturco

the 9500 is just on with no image or pattern being displayed.

It appears the green tube is always emitting light like a flashlight. It has always done this. On the DVE pluge pattern I can only get 2 black bars to appear.

What gives? It will not display video black on the screen on the DVE disc, more like video Gray. Confused

garyfritz · Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 12088 Location: Fort Collins, CO

Sounds like you need a calibration. If you set the colors to D6500, so it reads 6500K at IRE 30 or so, then all the tubes should light up at about the same level. Then it's just a matter of setting the BRIGHT to have it cut off at the appropriate level.

If you don't have access to a colorimeter (though with a 9500 I'd invest in an EyeOne or similar, it's cheap compared to your projector) you can eyeball it and get somewhat close. Display one of the 0 IRE patterns from DVE and adjust G2 on each tube until they just cut off. That should get you in the right ballpark for low-level color settings. For the high-level settings you'll have to display a bright area (say 70 IRE or so) and adjust the DRIVE for each color (actually for just B & R, leave G at some reasonable setting) until it looks "white" to you. But an EyeOne would be much much better.

Some projectors have two low-level settings -- G2 and something else, I forget what -- and the G2 sets the exact cutoff for each tube. On the Marquees the G2 corresponds to the "something else" on those other projectors and it doesn't have a separate cutoff setting. But normally you should be able to get them all lined up so they all cut off at approximately the same time.

dturco · Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2009 3:44 pm Post subject:

Thanks Gary.

My green drive is set to 90, and G-2 is 62. Red drive 35, G-2 >72, Blue drive 50, G-2> 73. This is very close to what the 9500 reset to when initialized and what Tim at Etech Phoenix' site recommended.
I'll try lowering the green drive .

garyfritz · Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 12088 Location: Fort Collins, CO

62 is already a pretty low G2, but it depends entirely on the tube. As the tube ages, it gets more "tired" and you have to boost the G2 to get the electrons flowing.

Possible clue: it looks like your R and B G2's are pretty darn high. I wonder if they're getting fried, and that's why the green kicks in before they do?

No, don't drop the green *drive*. That controls the top end, like CONTRAST. The G2 controls the low end, like BRIGHT. If you lower the green drive you'll just mess up your higher-IRE colors (by reducing the green component) without significantly changing green's low-end behavior.

You *really* don't want to be cranking around with those things without understanding what they do, or you're going to end up with some really hosed colors. I *strongly* recommend you get yourself an EyeOne (or even a Spyder if you're cheap like me Smile

) and read up on Kal's "Calibration for Dummies" guide. That's the way to get your colors right -- and in the process you'll probably also fix your low-end problems.

dturco · Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 2:53 am Post subject:

Thanks again Gary.
The Green tube was replaced, it has 4500 hours on it roughly, while the red and blue have 11,000 or so. I was thinking that was the reason for the disparity. I think I am going to get an Eye One or put out a call for a real calibration very soon. I just bought the Unisturt to ceiling mount the 9500 over this weekend.

I like your subtlety on really and strongly. Wink

schmoe · Joined: 30 Mar 2008 Posts: 374 Location: Seattle, WA

dturco

schmoe · Joined: 30 Mar 2008 Posts: 374 Location: Seattle, WA

How did you connect the 550 to your Mits? HDMI or Component? I'm guessing component. And I'm guessing your 550 connects to your 9500 via HDMI to your Moome card. Assuming all that's true, then the likely culprit is probably a Colorspace setting on your 550. Go into the setup menu for the 550 and see if you can find anything regarding colorspace. The options go by different names, but you usally get three choices:
1. "YCbCr" or "YPbPr"
2. "RGB Video" or "RGB Limited" or "RGB (16-255)"
3. "RGB Computer" or "RGB Expanded" or "RGB (0-255)"
It sounds like you are using option #3. You really should be using either #1 or #2 (personally I prefer #1). If you try #1 or #2 and you still can't see the BTB bar at any brightness level, then either your 550 clips it all in cases (ick) or the Moome clips it (which I doubt- I have the newer Moome and it doesn't clip). If your HDMI passes through an audio receiver before it gets to the 9500, it too could be playing tricks with the colorspace. Look for similar settings in the receiver and set appropriately.

dturco · Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 10:14 pm Post subject:

The Sony is connected by a HDMI in all configurations, to all displays. On the Mitsubishi it is a HDMI to DVI.The Sony is set to auto for the YCBCR / RGB. I have also tried all of the different YCBCR and RGB settings individually too. I am using the older moome card straight from the sony to the 9500 via HDMI it does not go through any processor at all. The sound is sent by analog cables to my Integra AV-9.

The 9500 has also has all of the Mike Parker Mods. Could this be making the signal hotter than usual and throwing of the standard settings during a reset?

dturco · Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2009 2:22 am Post subject:

Schmoe you were right about thr Sony being the problem for the Pluge. It was not set to auto it was on something else. Put it back on auto the black bars all 3 are now showing on the 9500.

The screen is still bright during idle though.

schmoe · Joined: 30 Mar 2008 Posts: 374 Location: Seattle, WA

Glad you figured one part out. I'm no help on the brightness issue. Mine seems bright at "idle" too. I haven't yet done color calibration or gamma setup, so that may be why.

dturco · Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2009 7:28 pm Post subject:

Now that I have the pluge issue under control can someone weigh in on the lack of total black at idle? Gary Fritz' answer seems very likely the issue. So anyone else?