|
|
Post by km987654 on Jun 10, 2017 5:30:25 GMT -5
Okay problem found. The HV led was indeed off, so the problem wasn't in the HV circuit. Despite that I did try unplugging tube after tube, but no dice. Tried moving the scan switches, thinking one might have a contact fault, but nothing. Ultimately I ended up swapping board after board with known working ones. Turns out this problem was completely unrelated to the rebuild, I guess it was just time for the vertical board to go the way of the dodo. What is strange is that the no-sync led that is on the vertical board behaves normally, but for some reason still triggers the scan-fail circuit. Might be a fault on the output side, maybe a shorted transistor or something? Later on I will try looking at it to see if I can locate the fault. Lucky I have a bunch of riser boards so I can test boards in-circuit  Also lucky I got a bunch of spare boards with the set I bought for the tubes! I have two spares, both working, though one I also put in the 'to look at later' pile, as whenever the picture/sync changes, as it locks sync, for a second the vertical linearity jumps around a bit, as if it was just barely catching the sync signal. Excellent. The vertical deflection board will certain cause the issue. If you are running thats what matters. |
|
|
|
Post by ratty on Jun 10, 2017 6:30:36 GMT -5
Okay so the set looks to be solid now, and I looked through what I have available as spares. I noticed that the set of neckboards in the PJ seem to be modded, as they all have VPH08 chips instead of the VPJ08B that are in my Onyx and on the Sony tubes. I remember a while back I read something about the differences in these chips, but I cannot for the life of me find it again. Can anyone shed some light on which is better and why? I will probably swap in the VPJ08B boards to have everything matching between the two sets, unless there is something that makes the VPH chips better enough to get my hands on another set of them and mod my spare neckboards with them.
|
|
|
|
Post by km987654 on Jun 10, 2017 6:35:50 GMT -5
Okay so the set looks to be solid now, and I looked through what I have available as spares. I noticed that the set of neckboards in the PJ seem to be modded, as they all have VPH08 chips instead of the VPJ08B that are in my Onyx and on the Sony tubes. I remember a while back I read something about the differences in these chips, but I cannot for the life of me find it again. Can anyone shed some light on which is better and why? I will probably swap in the VPJ08B boards to have everything matching between the two sets, unless there is something that makes the VPH chips better enough to get my hands on another set of them and mod my spare neckboards with them. The VPJ08B video packages are the latest ones made. VPH08 were the original video packages that barco used and that is what you will see on the PCB even with the VPJ08B. |
|
|
|
Post by ratty on Jun 10, 2017 6:38:51 GMT -5
So they're essentially the same? Or does one provide for a better picture quality?
|
|
|
|
Post by gjaky on Jun 10, 2017 6:42:57 GMT -5
They are basically the same, but since the VPJ is a newer chip you may expect better tolerances, but I personally like the metal case better on the VPA/VPH series.
|
|
|
|
Post by ratty on Jun 10, 2017 6:55:03 GMT -5
Then I'll probably use the VPJ, mostly to match all neckboards. I will recap them before installing though. I'll also have to look if any of the manuals contain the calibration procedures for the G2 leds and whatnot and do it on the bench.
|
|
|
|
Post by ratty on Jun 10, 2017 16:36:01 GMT -5
Tonight's screening was Gattaca, then Virus on the Onyx. Gattaca definitely showed the good side of the colour reproduction and black-levels of the set. The blacks are actually amazing compared to the stock 808! The real downfall of that set I am fairly certain are the HD8 lenses and their lack of anti-reflective coating that just makes the image foggy with halos. There are definitely some electronic problems though, as convergence clearly drifts. After 1 hour warmup, convergence was still not back to the nearly perfect setup I had done the weekend before. I did a touchup which held till the end, and after viewing both movies I messed around a bit with the focus as well, and it appears with warmup the focus controls drift as well. Left-side focus actually goes to 99 on all three tubes and it's still not sharp enough (keeps getting sharper all the way to 99), whilst the center is focused perfectly within the range of 37-68 depending on the tube. I also couldn't get visible scanlines this time which was a tad odd. I can see myself ordering a boatload of capacitors in the near future  Still, a crappy phone-screen-shot from last weekend:  It does look pretty decent |
|
|
|
Post by Casethecorvetteman on Jun 14, 2017 18:09:22 GMT -5
You need to move the focus yoke to get best centre focus, set to 57-60 and then move the yoke til it is perfect. If centre is down on 37, you will probably never get sides perfect without extreme numbers.
|
|
|
|
Post by ratty on Jun 17, 2017 17:35:55 GMT -5
You need to move the focus yoke to get best centre focus, set to 57-60 and then move the yoke til it is perfect. If centre is down on 37, you will probably never get sides perfect without extreme numbers. Why around that range? Why not go for 50 straight on and minimize the intervention needed by the electronics? |
|
|
|
Post by gregstv on Jun 17, 2017 22:42:51 GMT -5
Casey is the Gun when it comes to Barco ASTIG. He has spent more time learning about these than most have spent watching movies. I think from memory he put together a procedure and posted it on here. I would say that the same procedure he uses for the Cine 9 would work well with the Cine 8. You can spend a full day on one tube alone to get the best corner to corner focus.
|
|
|
|
Post by km987654 on Jun 18, 2017 5:02:39 GMT -5
Casey is the Gun when it comes to Barco ASTIG. He has spent more time learning about these than most have spent watching movies. I think from memory he put together a procedure and posted it on here. I would say that the same procedure he uses for the Cine 9 would work well with the Cine 8. You can spend a full day on one tube alone to get the best corner to corner focus. Getting CPC setup correctly is a lot of time but it makes all the difference. Its time well spent. |
|
|
|
Post by ratty on Jun 20, 2017 12:49:38 GMT -5
I will get to it once I have finalized the placement of the projector. Is there a better method to getting the PJ square to the screen than 'string measuring' corner to projector corner? Because according to that my PJ is square to the screen, but I am not convinced it really is...
I also buckled down and bought an actual 1.0 gain screen as I finally found one in the right size cheap enough that I don't want to bother trying homebrew things. It's a 3m wide 4:3 rolldown matte white screen that only cost about 130 EUR including shipping. Depending on whether I get curlup on the sides, I'll probably take it out of the rollup mech, crimp some nice metal rings through the sides, then stretch it into the frame I have currently.
|
|
|
|
Post by Casethecorvetteman on Jun 23, 2017 17:52:33 GMT -5
Casey is the Gun when it comes to Barco ASTIG. He has spent more time learning about these than most have spent watching movies. I think from memory he put together a procedure and posted it on here. I would say that the same procedure he uses for the Cine 9 would work well with the Cine 8. You can spend a full day on one tube alone to get the best corner to corner focus. Thanks for your kind words my friend Barcos really need their astig set well to get the best from everything, and it takes time with a lot of back and forward between settings to find the perfect spot. The main thing is dont aim for round dots anywhere other than the middle, aim for best sharpness in both horizontal and vertical. As you go over and under focus, dots further towards the edges will change shape and flair. |
|
|
|
Post by ratty on Jun 25, 2017 0:23:11 GMT -5
Casey is the Gun when it comes to Barco ASTIG. He has spent more time learning about these than most have spent watching movies. I think from memory he put together a procedure and posted it on here. I would say that the same procedure he uses for the Cine 9 would work well with the Cine 8. You can spend a full day on one tube alone to get the best corner to corner focus. Thanks for your kind words my friend Barcos really need their astig set well to get the best from everything, and it takes time with a lot of back and forward between settings to find the perfect spot. The main thing is dont aim for round dots anywhere other than the middle, aim for best sharpness in both horizontal and vertical. As you go over and under focus, dots further towards the edges will change shape and flair. I can't seem to find such a guide on here. Case do you actually have a guide on the astig setup written? Also, if you don't mind my asking, why set the best center focus at around the 60 mark? Why not 50? |
|
|
|
Post by Casethecorvetteman on Jun 25, 2017 1:54:38 GMT -5
It is in some of the Cine 9 and 909 threads, have a look through and youll find it. If need be ill type it up again for you at a later date. The procedure i use has resulted in very accurate and sharp even focus across the whole viewable image,
The setting of centre focus to 57-60 instead of 50 will allow for greater corner range and more even focus across the screen. If starting with a centre focus of 50, you will end up with much higher levels of correction towards the far edges, and almost nothing in the middle.
Barco themselves have made that recomendation in a TSB, and i had allready been doing something simular with NECs for years.
With the Barco there is no analog adjustment for centre focus start point, as it is done by moving the yoke fore or aft on the tube neck, instead of having the yoke hard against the deflection coil.
|
|
