CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

Hulio · Joined: 15 Apr 2006 Posts: 494 Location: Belgium

The red tube on my Cine 9 shows same noise on higher pixelclock. No problems with 1080i@72 or 1080p@60. Only with 1080p@72 (178MHz pixelclock, according to Crystalio II menu), on both ports 3 and 5.
I already swap every board possible including neckboard and controller, with the same result. Because the problem is on red only, i suspect a tube issue.... Anny ideas ?
Here two pics of the tube in question, first at 1080p@72 and second at 1080p@60.

redfox001 · Joined: 16 Mar 2009 Posts: 2257 Location: The Netherlands

I once had blue noise little picks but that urned out to be hdmi noise. Bad cable or oxidised connector if I remember well. You could try a low resolution or internal testpatterns for that. Oh wait you only have it on higher pixelclock so that confirms this possibility.

I use Brasso to clean connectors. Leave them in for 30 minutes or so.

dummyload · Joined: 06 Apr 2006 Posts: 38 Location: belgium

Hey Hulio

Swap green or blue bnc on port5 with red and see if noise go to other tube , then you know is source or tube issue.

Hulio · Joined: 15 Apr 2006 Posts: 494 Location: Belgium

Aha, i knew you guys are clever here. Yup, swapping the red and green bnc's on port 5 moved the problem to the green tube. Thanks Dummyload and Fox for the tips.
I knew is not source related ( same noise from Oppo, PS3 and Popcorn Hour ) and not a cable issue either ( tried four differend well-known brands, even very short one ).
Can be the mainboard ? Even with Moome internal Full HD on port 3 i have the issue. I am glad i don't have to buy another tube but thinking about how much work is needed to swap the mainboard, i kinda wish it was the tube Very Happy

Hulio · Joined: 15 Apr 2006 Posts: 494 Location: Belgium

Wait a minute, can't be the mainboard neither. It is the damn Crystalio II with bad red output stage. I changed my sources each time but they all go trough the same videoprocessor. I will try all in-and outputs on the Crystalio first. The thing is, without a scaller, no way i can feed the Barco @72Hz.

redfox001 · Joined: 16 Mar 2009 Posts: 2257 Location: The Netherlands

He Hulio check the hdmi inputs. Good change one pin is corroded. I used a "kwastje" with brasso and let it work 15 minutes.

Hulio · Joined: 15 Apr 2006 Posts: 494 Location: Belgium

Thanks Fox, i'll do that and report back. I think my wife has that kind of copper-polish thing.

Hulio · Joined: 15 Apr 2006 Posts: 494 Location: Belgium

Well, no luck with cleaning the inputs and outputs. Still the same "snow" in red channel @72Hz. I think i give up on the scaler. The main reason i use it it's because of 72Hz output and porch settings. The timings from Oppo BDP-103 seems to be ok, so i'll stay with 1080p@60.

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

Stay with the 72Hz on the scaler, but alter the timings somewhat, what happens? Can you push the resolution even further?

Hulio · Joined: 15 Apr 2006 Posts: 494 Location: Belgium

I will try that tomorrow Gabor, thanks for the heads-up. With the Crystalio's standard timings for 1080p@72 i end up with a pixelclock of 178MHz. A bit too high, i think. But why noise in one color only ?

redfox001 · Joined: 16 Mar 2009 Posts: 2257 Location: The Netherlands

You tried other hdmi input on the moome?

Hulio · Joined: 15 Apr 2006 Posts: 494 Location: Belgium

Yeah, i tried all four inputs on the internal Moome with the same result. I have the same issue on port 5 with a HDFury III so must be that the Crystalio can't handle a pixelclock higher than 160MHz. Later i will try some custom resolutions, like Gjaky sugested, lowering the pixelclock while still outputing @72Hz.
Long time ago, when Crystalio was still supported, Henry from "CRT projectors.co.uk" posted custom timings that worked with Cine 9, but i can' find them anymore.

nidi · Joined: 17 Aug 2008 Posts: 305 Location: Switzerland

lydmann · Joined: 12 Aug 2006 Posts: 56 Location: Norway

yepp, this is typical for a bad kabel which not managed the high pixelclock. buy a fiber kabel and you are fine, i did, and problem went away.

ElTopo · Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 1640

Could you please post a link where to buy such a cable ?

redfox001 · Joined: 16 Mar 2009 Posts: 2257 Location: The Netherlands

Yes I have a Macbook pro without hdmi so I needed a displayport to hdmi cable and that one gave the same problems and would not go past 1080p@60. Than I found the club-3d cable for the Macbook pro and that one still works fine at 1080p@72. So for the Mac users with older material try this one:
http://www.club-3d.com/insights/thread/cac-1153-and-macbook-pro/

CIR Engineering · Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2015 2:59 pm Post subject:

Hulio · Joined: 15 Apr 2006 Posts: 494 Location: Belgium

Thanks for helping me out, guys.
Yes Craig, i also think it's the VP. I won't blame the Moome card, same sympthoms with Fury III on port 5 indeed. Already tried a 2m long Monster M1000HD cable with no go.
About fiber cables i don't know. I suppose they need a kind of driver too, you just can't use them like that. Plus, i do not want to spend again in cables to find out is still the VP faut.
I'll try to overwrite Crystalio's firmware with the same version too ( some folks reported improvements in older posts ).

CIR Engineering · Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2015 11:54 pm Post subject:

Hulio · Joined: 15 Apr 2006 Posts: 494 Location: Belgium

Craig, when testing on port 5, i swaped the red and green BNC cables ( like Dummyload sugested ) and the video-noise moved to the green channel. Would that not rule out a cable issue ?