CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[tony359]

Hi everyone

Perhaps I'm going to have a 1292 from US to replace my 1271. I was going for a 6PG Xtra in a first glance but the shipment are very high (I was not absolutely able to have a 350$ quote like Curt says! You must know some trick I didn't! ) so I prefer to pay for a better machine.

My concerns for 1292 are:
1. Poor managing of memory bank, like all others 12xx series
2. Low Brightness.
3. Loudness

Loudness is not a problem, I'll replace the fans + an hushbox if necessary.

My question is: I'm used to 1271. I found it a bit dim on high brightness pictures on 2,5m wide screen (98" wide screen); I found it low in contrast on pictures partially bright (the light spreads into the tubes/lenses and I do not have true black on screen - my room is black velvet, it's not reflecting anything!); I found it too soft.

I know that 9" and EM will "cure" the soft issue and LC should "cure" the contrast issue.

My concerns is for brightness. Curt says 700+ on ranking. But I read 1000 elsewhere. Can someone compare the 1292 to my 1271?

I read that 1292 can resolve 1080p. A friend of mine told me that his 1292 was not able, that it depends by tube's conditions and machine's status.

Any suggestions/comments?

Thanks!!

Ciao
Antonio

[Curt Palme]

Brightness is about the same for the two sets, but the 1292 with good tubes will be MUCH sharper than the rest of the 12XX series.

[Curt Palme]

Brightness is about the same for the two sets, but the 1292 with good tubes will be MUCH sharper than the rest of the 12XX series.

[tony359]

Thanks Curt

I imagine that an EM 9" is much sharper than 1271.
I'm a bit disappointed about light output...

Ciao!

Antonio

[garyfritz]

And replacing the fans won't necessarily help the noise that much. With 14 fans, there's a huge amount of air-turbulence noise, and totally-silent fans wouldn't help that. If you get a 1292, plan on building a very good hushbox. You'll need it.

[tony359]

Sure, but I think that 14 low noise fan can help as a starting point, even with an hushbox!

Thanks!

Antonio

[ecrabb]

Antonio,

What kind of screen are you using? How many hours does the 1271 have on it?

I have a relatively low-hour 1271 (<3000), and it's plenty bright on my 96" wide WilsonArt screen. Plenty bright. My brightness and contrast are at about 50 and 60, respectively.

Curt, even with the newer 9" tubes in the 1292, it's not at least a little brighter than the 1271? Say, 10-15%?

SC

[tony359]

ecrabb

Tubes are very good (blue is 8) I'm not sure how many hours on it.
Tastes... I don't say that 1271 is dim, but I see good contrast and light when I show dark movie. When there are daylight movie, the overall brightness decrease too much for my tastes. This is normal with CRT, 1271 is rated 700 lumen PEAK and 200 or 300 Full Screen. That 300 is bugging me!
I keep it with 80 contrast and GAIN maxed for one color. Tastes!

The screen is a 1.0 gain Harkness Hall microperforated one.

Edit: the alternative is a 6PG Xtra. I like the signal management of NECs. Any comment of the 1292 vs 6PG Xtra?

Ciao
A

[Mark_A_W]

1292 is better than an Xtra as it is LC and 9".

It does have a few downsides, for a 9"er it's not that bright, about the same as an XG/G70 IMO, much dimmer than a G90. Your screen is bigger than what I would use for a XG/G70 BTW. You can get the "9" brightness" back if you boost input level higher than standard.

They streak. From barely noticeable to YUCK, depending on the chassis.

From what I've seen the bandwidth is not up there where it should be. This also could be chassis dependant. My old Xtra had better bandwidth and did much better at 1920x1080i 72hz than the 1292 I tried the same res on.

But I would still jump at a 1292 over an Xtra due to the LC, and the optical focus of HD-10s. 1292 versus an XG LC or G70? Now that's a different story, I went with the XG LC, but others went 1292.

[tony359]

98" wide screen too much for a 8" CRT?

I read of the streaking (what means YUCK?) but I also know that MP is going to make a fix (ok, since an year but I'll have faith!).
Seems that there are many opinions on 1292, you say that your old Xtra do better at 1080i, others says that 1292 can make 1080p with visible scanlines... I suppose it can depends from the electronic's status and that I'll have to see by myself!

Does 1292 come with more that one type of lenses?

Thanks!!!!

Antonio

[Mark_A_W]

2.5m is too wide for my liking 2.0 to 2.1m wide for me, and this is with an XG. Unless you have a high gain screen or torus.

With a 1251 it could barely light up a 2.1m wide screen.


I've never seen a 1292 that could do scanlines at 1080p. But that's not the problem, it did 1:1 black:white lines for the 1080 no problems.

The problem was the 1920 was just grey mush instead of 1:1 black:white lines.

Others will have different experiences. There seems to be a fair bit of variability in 1292s.

[tony359]

Thanks Mark for your opinion. I agree too that 2.5m is a bit too much for a 1271, it's just a little compromise.
I hope that a 1292 with 9" can have just that bit of more light for a 2.5m. Thanks for telling me that overdriving the signal can lead to high brightness.

Yes, seems me too that there are 1292 and 1292...

A question: 1292's ceiling mount is the same I have for my 1271? I was told that are the same, but I found different stock items on hammerhead catalog.

While I'm searching, is there any improvement I can do to the 1292 before have it shipped? I'm asking because I will buy the items in US and have them shipped with the CRT. Glycol, C elements...?

Ciao and Thanks

Antonio

[Mark_A_W]

Oh, sorry, YUCK, means "bad".

Mike Parker will never do a 1292 streaking fix, sorry, but it's just not going to happen, it's been years now.

1292's can have 2 different types of hd-10s, plain HD-10s and the ones that come on a G90, if you get a really late model 1292.

I think the ceiling mount is the same for all Sonys.

1292 is already colour filtered. Not sure if it would need the Glycol changed.

Ciao

Marco

[tony359]

Yes, I do not know Mike but searching I saw his promises all around since years! Let's say that I'm not buying the 1292 based on Mike's promises! (no offence Mike!).

I'll check the lenses of the 1292 I'm going to buy. I know that glycol has to be changed only if yellowish. Hard to see behind a coloured C-Element!

I read about replacing the C-Element with new one. Does means that there are BETTER C-Element for LC tubes or just to replace clear C-Elements with coloured ones? "Mine" 1292 already has coloured C-Elements.

Ciao!
Antonio

[Mark_A_W]

No, there are no better c elements than the ones already in the 1292.

The get replaced in Marquees/Barcos to add colour filtering. And they get replaced if direct sunlight hits the lenses, and melts the C element like an ant under a magnifying glass....

[tony359]

Thanks Mark, you was very kind and of great help

Ciao
Antonio

[mack1]

Try using a torus screen......you can turn down your contrast ratio and still get a bright pitcher

[Dave Lister]

Why do you have a perforated screen, do you have speakers behind it?

Perforated screens let light through, so unless you have speakers behind it (which would mean you need a perforated screen) then I would change the screen first, you will see an improvement to the brightness of your 1271 just from that.

[tony359]

Yes, I have speakers behind it.



The first one is not actual. The room has been almost finished, covered with black and blu velvet. The sub is different and elsewhere, the speakers is on stands (like second photo).

My thought is to buy a SMX screen sooner or later because I can see the holes of my MP screen. I like to have a 2.35 screen, so that I can put my L and R speakers too behind the screen.

Ciao
A