CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

karlandreasa

Hi! I just became (a week ago) a proud owner of a barco data 600, my first CRTproj. i have played around with it a bit now, and got at least one question that i could´nt find the answer to:

as you know, this is a analog beast, which means it has hundreds of knobs on a panel, and even more below.
my problem is that i can never get a straigt vertical red/blue line on the screen.

this is what i have done:

1 Disconnected the panel cable that tweaks the picture (as said in manual)

2Rotated the ccoilon the tubes to get a straigth vertical line in white (red-green, blue-green, red-blue for fine tuning) (here is another problem, i ca´nt get a straight hohorizontal and vertical line at the same time, so i figured i´ll just choose one and tweak the other on the panel)

3 lots of tweaking on the small trimputs that are not on the panel to get a nice 4:3 picture as good as possible without the panel:s controls (again red-green, blue-green, red-blue for fine tuning)

4then it´s time for the contorol panel-cable, and the second i put it in, i get 3 small bump´s on the red and blue lines. one in the middle (am i spelling this right?) pointing up and one on each side of the middle pointing down. at least the red and blue behave the same.... one explanation is that there is´nt any controls on the panel for the green tube (but that does´nt explain what i can do about it)

SO: as it is now, i´ll have to choose between a fairly sharp picture in the middle, with horrible picture at the corners and sides (hardly tweaked) or have a blurry picture all over, i mean that blurry so you have to focus your eyes to find the computermouse even with low res.

Anyone who can help?

Tanks!

edit:
I have tried focusing on the horizontal line instead with no improvements

edit2:
I changed format (height) and resolution to 16:9, and the picture is almost bearable even in the corners, but that´s just a work-around...

TWO new questions:
1. quite often (approx once a day) i hear a spark-sound from the capasitors at the back, and the picture blacks out for just a moment, and then everyting is back to normal. is this anything i should worry about? BTW i hear a silent sparking sound all the time from there too..

2. IF possible, how do i change the picture position within the raster-area? It takes up about 5times more on one side...

gjaky · Joined: 05 Jun 2010 Posts: 2802 Location: Budapest, Hungary

Well I'm not a barco guy, but these sets are really old now. I suggest you to move to a newer (digitally controlled) model, but if you want to keep the 600 anyway, then buy spare parts (really cheap) and try to swap boards.
The HV sparking is a really bad thing, it is not getting better just worse and can product strange board failures. You can clean the HV cables, quad etc with denaturated alcohol if they are dusty, it might help, but not magic.

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2011 4:29 pm Post subject:

You need to follow the manual step by step (located on the main site). There are many trimpots on the PC boards within the set that also control geometry and convergence. I would set all convergence controls on the convergence board to 50%, and start from there. Then follow the manual.

THe arcing could be from the quadrupler or the HV leads or the focus section. I have a big box of Barco 600 parts that I'm more or less giving away for the cost of shipping, so if you want a bunch of backup parts, let me know.

karlandreasa · Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2011 8:04 pm Post subject:

ok, thanks for all help so far!

Curt: I may be iterested in some spare parts, but as for now, i´m completely broke, so it will have to wait. maybe, when i have money, i´ll start to look for a digital set (without a burned-in line at the bottom of the blue tube).

I followed the manual and set every knob and trimpots to 50% before i started, EXCEPT for the 2 hidden trimpots in the middle under the "protection-hood" beside a hidden button that makes the picture all fuzzy. should i touch them? and what is that button for?

about the sparking, it´s definetly from the area where the focus and the capacitors are. but it´s almost gone completely since i turned contrast down and brightness up. Should i still worry about it?

Thanks again

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2011 12:13 am Post subject:

Yes, you're prolonging the inevitable, that it blows up completely and possibly nukes your tubes. THE less contrast and brightness, the less current the HV/tubes draw, which is why it's arcing less.

As I said, the parts are yours for literally free, just cover shipping.

karlandreasa · Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2011 8:15 pm Post subject:

SUCCESS! sort of..

I cleaned the HV-cables, the quad, the HV-splitter-thing, and all the components on the focus-board, and now the sparking is gone, even with a white picture with 100% on contrast and brightness:) and i think i found 2 places where the sparking have occurred: the focus board, and the hv-lead to the green-tube-connector at the back touching ground on the rgb-board.

thanks curt:) It´s a really nice offer:) i think i´m interested if the shipping is´nt too expensive. Onestly I think you know better than me what part i need. would you mind suggesting some parts, and what the shipping to sweden would cost?

the red and blue lines remains "curved" as fast as i plug in the convergence-board. i found some more trimputs at the side of the Vertical board, but to be able to ajust them, i need to take the board out. should i try ajusting them? and what about the trimput on the side of the H Shift board with a protection-stick on top?

I´m guessing i´m being sort of a noob here, so sorry if i ask things that i should be able to find the anser for myself, and thanks for your patience:)

edit:
I´ve tracked down the problem (i think) to the convergence-board:s horizontal part (simply by cutting and replacing one cable at a time of the 4 that controls a color, of the connector. seems strange to me thou, that the blue and red have exactly the same problem. and not just one of them.

Anything i can do about it?

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 1:01 am Post subject:

If you can't access the trimpots without taking the board out, leave them alone. Wink

Post a pix of your crosshatch pattern, that will let us know more..

karlandreasa · Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 2:15 am Post subject: Picture

Here is a picture!

This is how it looks when i have done the best of the situation. (the reason that it does´nt look configured at all sideways is that i just started the internal pattern. the picture is tweaked for 720p. i have moved the red picture up a bit, so it´s esier to see what i mean. the blue picture is, if not identical, almost so.

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 5:01 pm Post subject:

OK, that red 'bump'' looks like a component failure somewhere on a board. It could be the H shift board, the V board or the convergence board. I've got all of them, but the convergence board will be about $100 to ship due to the weight and size. The others will be cheaper, about $50-60 or so.

karlandreasa · Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2011 12:41 am Post subject:

ok thanks for the info:) i think i´ll have to pass at least for now, after all, the picture is watchable when 16:9 and the machine seems a little tired over all. the next time i have any money over, i´ll look for an old stable 70x or 80x series frome someone nearby (one of those that you can find tubes to, relatively easy). with luck you can find one here with medium wear for approx $350.

Thanks for all your help!

gjaky · Joined: 05 Jun 2010 Posts: 2802 Location: Budapest, Hungary

Man that's a fortune for a machine like that... Come to Hungary, you can get marquees for that much... Shocked

karlandreasa · Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2011 11:35 am Post subject:

youre kidding?

in sweden it seems like everything with the name electrohome has a price tag over €10 000

RaWsHaRk · Joined: 01 May 2009 Posts: 131 Location: Finland

karlandreasa · Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2011 11:50 am Post subject:

oups, my bad, i meant 1000€ not 10000

RaWsHaRk · Joined: 01 May 2009 Posts: 131 Location: Finland

if that 9500lc was in finland it would already be in my living room.

gjaky · Joined: 05 Jun 2010 Posts: 2802 Location: Budapest, Hungary

We bought with my friend a M7500 and a M9000 for 575€... although the M9k needed new bellows, but still a good catch Smile

karlandreasa · Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2011 12:07 pm Post subject:

THAT´S a nice price:)

I´ll have to wait a while before making any further investments, but thanks for all your help!