1. Home
  2. Electronics Repair
  3. "Tuning up" a projection TV.

"Tuning up" a projection TV.

Hey guys,

We've got an RCA big screen projection TV,it's probably ~13 years old,I think. Anyways,the picture is kind of dark and blurry,and I was wondering if there was anything -simple- that I could do to help it out? I've never worked on a PJ TV before,so I'm not entirely sure how to go about things. I'm thinking I'll pop the back off and clean the dust off of the screen and optics,as a start.That should help,considering it don't think it's ever been cleaned out in there!

I'm not sure how this beast is focused,I vaguely recall some kind of On-screen menu that had some focus/convergence stuff in it..I'll have to play around with the remote and see if I can find the menu again,Cause I don't really want to mess with the RGB 'cans',other than to wipe some dust off of them.(atleast until I know what I'm doing.)

Any other simple tips/tricks?

Thanks! Pat.

Reply to
PhattyMo
Loading thread data ...

Cleaning the optics is a good start. Then - if you know how - check/adjust the focus of each tube, use a monochrome signal and balance the gain of each CRT to get a perfect black and white image, and adjust all the user controls for the best convergence you can get. With a set that old the tubes may have worn beyond the point where you can get an acceptable image. And of course if something changed suddenly like a drastic loss of one color or a large change in convergence, then you are likely to have a failed component and no amount of adjustment will help. Also if there are blotches in the picture or very bad focus after cleaning the optics you may have dirt or fungus growing in the CRT coolant. Changing CRT coolant is a BIG job because the CRTs must be removed lenses removed from the everything must be cleaned and dried and depending on the model it may need new gasket material or O-Rings.

Reply to
Jumpster Jiver

Yea,that's probably not something I'd want to try and tackle. It hasn't really had any drastic changes,the picture just slowly got a bit darker,and a bit blurry over the years.I'm thinking a good cleaning,and some fiddling with the on-screen menu to get the focus/convergence tweaked should help out.

Thanks! I'll be back if I have any more questions. ;-) Pat.

Reply to
PhattyMo

On Tue, 16 Jan 2007 13:59:56 -0800, PhattyMo Has Frothed:

Cleaning will no doubt restore a substantial amount of the brightness especially if it's never been done for 13 years. I cleaned mine in 2004 and when it needed repair last year it was really dirty (mirror, lenses and the back of the screen.) This set is 8 years old (Panasonic) and the picture is very bright and vivid again. Imagine not cleaning a mirror or a window inside your home for 13 years :)

Reply to
Meat Plow

I'd imagine it should be like not cleaning between the panes of a double paned window.

Reply to
AZ Nomad

On Wed, 17 Jan 2007 19:56:20 +0000, AZ Nomad Has Frothed:

Why? Double pane windows are sealed.

--
Pierre Salinger Memorial Hook, Line & Sinker, June 2004

COOSN-266-06-25794
Reply to
Meat Plow

Not much of an imagination there, eh Sparky?

Cleaning the lenses and mirror have a huge impact on image quality and brightness.

Reply to
<nospam

But it really depends on the environment in which the set operated. The '94 Magnavox RP that I have did not benefit much from cleaning the optics. It just wasn't all that dirty in there, which I believe was the point that 'Sparky' was trying to make with his analogy.

Replacing the coolant is another matter....

jak

Reply to
jakdedert

ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.