CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

Videodrome · Joined: 22 Feb 2023 Posts: 56

I have a problem with the RGB alignment of my projector(SONY VPH-D50).

When everything is setup correctly, after a few minutes or seconds the red (at least i think it's red because it's more visible) has vertically changed ever so slightly.

So several times an hour I pickup the remote to vertically align the red again. However sometimes this slowly fixes it on itself only to go out of alignment a few minutes or hour later. Which makes me believe it is orbiting on itself, though picture orbiting is off.

The weird part is, on 1080i output this is barely happening, or less noticeable.
It's happening on 1280x720@60/85hz or 1600x900@60hz
I'm using the moome hdmi board.

Is this because of the age of the projector? (only 800h on the tubes, though)
Any way this can be fixed?

Thank you for any advice.

**kal**

Videodrome · Joined: 22 Feb 2023 Posts: 56

I checked the projector today, took some pictures trying to find traces of bulged capacitors. Couldn't find any Confused

Before I'm going to decide to recap all of them, when you recapped your projector, did you find any dubious capacitors? Or did they all look fine from the outside?

Thanks

**kal** · Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2023 9:04 pm Post subject:

Bulging caps are rare (IMHO). I never saw any myself. They'll be far out of spec well before they bulge (if they bulge at all).

Kal

Videodrome · Joined: 22 Feb 2023 Posts: 56

In my quest to find what part is responsible for the convergence, I read some information about the G70 from this site.
I believe the red squared area in the pic is the convergence part for the D50. Wish the D50 had the board pull-out mechanic of the g70/90…seems quite a hassle to disconnect the entire board.

Now I guess these little boards (blue squared) would be most responsible for convergence?
If so I might start with those, since it looks like you can pull those out.

**kal** · Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2023 9:45 pm Post subject:

No idea, sorry. the service manual (available on our site) may give you some clues.

Kal

Videodrome · Joined: 22 Feb 2023 Posts: 56

Minor update.

I took out the 6 small boards from another D50 I have in storage (JP version).
Switched them with my running USA version and the problem seemed solved.
Extremely happy with this because grabbing the remote to fix alignment issues several times an hour sucks the fun out of anything.

And unrelated, since the PSU was still noisy, I exchanged the USA PSU with the Japanese one. For now dead silent so another win. Cool

.
Also added an older radeon card to my system for interlaced output so I can enjoy 1080i96 on a D50.

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2023 4:52 am Post subject:

1080i/96 sounds like fun. I may have tried that one before.

How'd it look?

Videodrome · Joined: 22 Feb 2023 Posts: 56

The high refresh rate is comfortable and makes the interlacing barely visible.
It seems less stable though, which is noticeable on small text such as a file explorer. Like an extremely small horizontal wobble every other line, on fullscreen content I'm unable to see it and everything looks fine though. I's obviously a bit blurrier than 720p or 1080i60, probably because of the 7" screens and driving the system to its max.

For gaming the 1080i96 is a big win, most games are made for 1080 and the smoothness + less flicker of 96hz is great.
Movies also look good, though the difference between 720p85hz and 1080i96 is not that noticeable. I'm not really using it for movies at this time, the noise of the projector, even after all the fan mods, is still too loud to watch them comfortably. I'm planning on making a hushbox this year. The pure darkness these projectors are capable of is too alluring to leave unused.

I also have to look at crt timings, sometimes a resolution isn't wide enough. 720p/1080i60 fits the whole screen, while 1080i96 doesn't fill it with the size settings set to 'max'. If it can't be fixed this way and bothers me enough I'll just have to move the projector back 1-2 inches.

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2023 9:21 pm Post subject:

It's funny you find the D50 loud. It's the quietest projector I ever bought. We never had an issue watching TV or Movies on it and we ran it for 10 years.
I really couldn't hear it unless I was right over it.

I ran allot of 1080i and 1024x768 into that projector. Also did some 720P60 on it. We had a Bluray player, a PC, a 6 disk changer and a PS3 plugged into it.

I did run a few scalers and doublers on it just for testing too. I don't think I did 1080i/.96 but I remember trying that on my Ampro 4000. Looks good.

Videodrome · Joined: 22 Feb 2023 Posts: 56

Yeah, I'm overly sensitive to noise.
One of the reasons I switched from active monitor speakers back to passive because of the constant hissing.
What doesn't help is the projector sitting two feet from my ears.
I have a mint g70 and g90 in storage and I'm worried how noisy they'll be.
Might have to build a soundproof room with a glass window for that. Cool

It seems the mini jitter is also apparant on 720p only less visible, which eases my mind a bit.
Before I was worried that seeing it on 1080i96 was a sign of the projector failing (only 1000h in).

(!)Sadly the drifting started again, replacing the caps on the 6 little boards seems necessary.
It ran fine for a few days with the JP boards, which makes me hopeful this might cure it once and for all.
The order for new long lasting caps is in (backordered), hope to replace them by the end of january.

Videodrome · Joined: 22 Feb 2023 Posts: 56

For posterity, the caps arrived 2 weeks ago.
These ones specifcally,
https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/KEMET/ESW226M016AC3AA?qs=F5EMLAvA7IDQPRbD1Pv4%252BQ%3D%3D

Replaced them on all 6 mini boards, they were a bit taller than the originals so I had to bend the legs a little.

The problem is completely gone. Thumbs Up

**kal** · Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2024 2:29 pm Post subject:

I love a happy ending!

Kal

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2024 6:59 pm Post subject:

We ALL love a happy ending!

Congratulations!