CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[JustGreg]

Guys,

I picked up one of (CRT) Ben's red tubes (stock 180) for my 8500 and just spent the last hour scouring the web for a break-in procedure. There's a current discussion at AVS but it appears to be geared toward breaking in 3 new tubes not just one.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1150908&page=2

Obligatory stupid but necessary questions:

1) For the all white field I would want to pull up all white and then choose just the red tube yes? I'm not seeing what could be gained from exercising the G&B tubes. They have very minor burnin and I'm not trying to mask that anyway so....

2) There are 3 distinct steps in Jerry Arseneaus' chart. I get that. One thing not mentioned is rest time in between. I suppose I can simply power the pj down after each step but is there any danger, or gain, in NOT giving the tube a rest?

And a general blue tube question...the phosphor is ~8/9 but the gain required to achieve good G2 must be ~70. Definately not to the specs in the procedure at Tim's site.
It's nice and sharp for blue, if I do say so myself, but does this indicate a poor breakin or a previous P14 overvoltage?...and can it be corrected by reconditioning (if it's not weak/damaged filament related)?
With the price of tubes lately I probably won't even attempt to recondition it but some things I just GOTTA know.

Thanks.

[Curt Palme]

I know this has been argued a lot, but with new tubes, my belief is that they do not need break in.

If you want to regardless, then what I would do is disconnect the HV lead of the G and B tubes out of the splitter, and run only the red tube.

Put up an all white field (can't use the one in the Marquee as it shuts down after some time, use an external DVD, either in loop or pause mode (again making sure that the all white screen stays up over time), turn off any onscreen lettering for obvious reasons, and start at 30 brightness and contrast.

Defocus tube tube to the max, run at 720p or higher, and max out height and width to 100.

Run that for 12 hours, then every 12 hours bump up contrast and brightness by 5. WHen you hit 80-85 or so, you're done.

That's what I've used, and it's conditioned rebuilt tubes just fine.

[Curt Palme]

I know this has been argued a lot, but with new tubes, my belief is that they do not need break in.

If you want to regardless, then what I would do is disconnect the HV lead of the G and B tubes out of the splitter, and run only the red tube.

Put up an all white field (can't use the one in the Marquee as it shuts down after some time, use an external DVD, either in loop or pause mode (again making sure that the all white screen stays up over time), turn off any onscreen lettering for obvious reasons, and start at 30 brightness and contrast.

Defocus tube tube to the max, run at 720p or higher, and max out height and width to 100.

Run that for 12 hours, then every 12 hours bump up contrast and brightness by 5. WHen you hit 80-85 or so, you're done.

That's what I've used, and it's conditioned rebuilt tubes just fine.

[JustGreg]

Thanks much Curt. That's one thing off the list.

Now if someone wants to reply to the book I wrote in another thread regarding keystone...

[Tim in Phoenix]

Guys!


I have done over 120 Marquee retubes, and usually run in white field for fifteen hours at contrast 10 or so. I cannot see the benefit of blasting new tubes at high contrast, nooooooooo.


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