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jmcmahon7
Joined: 03 May 2008
Posts: 18
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| Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 1:09 am Post subject: Inspecting and calibrating Runco 750.... |
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Ok, so I FINALLY got a chance to start setting this thing up. I got the toe setup for the 10' screen, which was a PITA because of the location of the lower CRT lockscrew on the Bluetube. Got each of the tubes mech and elec focussed, but before I converge id like to harvest yoiur thoughts......
I removed the lenses for blue and red, left green in because the bottom focus screw is a **** to get to.
So what do you think of the tubes? Red one looks good to me:
Blue one, not so good, is this fungus I can see floating in there? It was harder to get a good focus on it:
Lastly, I set all of the settings (pincusion, v size, horiz size) and all of that stuff in the service menu to default. For some reason I cant get rid of the bow at the top and bottom of the screen, any ideas what I need to do to correct this? Heres a (pretty out of focus) picture:
There also non resized versions (4)M of the pics at www.overt.ie/files/runco
So my questions are.....
Do I need to clean the blue tube (clean coolant, clean glass etc) , or will it soldier on? This projector is going to be used outside for movies, its doesnt have to be dead-on.
What can I do about the top/bottom bowing.
Is it worth pulling the lenses and checking the raster pattern on the tubes?
How much life left in the tubes approx, the red one look great, but these are always last to go right?
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jmcmahon7
Joined: 03 May 2008
Posts: 18
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| Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 12:20 am Post subject: |
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Gentle nudge 
Any thoughts folks?
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jkruger
Joined: 24 Oct 2007
Posts: 2435
Location: Carlsbad, CA
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| Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 1:17 am Post subject: |
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Is this your first crt pj? You may want to start out with one that can at least do 1080i. I started with a sony 1000q and soon learned that I wanted more.
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jmcmahon7
Joined: 03 May 2008
Posts: 18
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| Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 1:34 am Post subject: |
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| jkruger wrote: | | Is this your first crt pj? You may want to start out with one that can at least do 1080i. I started with a sony 1000q and soon learned that I wanted more. |
Yea, its my first CRT. It was a freebee though. Ill be using it outside for movies during the summer, if we ever get one!
I have my eye on a low hour D50 at $350 for the theater in the basement. I "think" this is a good price.
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Zebu Fellenz
Joined: 21 Dec 2006
Posts: 2567
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| Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 1:36 am Post subject: |
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That's a fair price for the D50 if the tubes are clean and it comes with the wireless remote. However I'd aim for something a little better unless you are looking at the D50 based on size.
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Curt Palme
CRT Tech
Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 24396
Location: Langley, BC
TV/Projector: All of them!
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| Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 1:40 am Post subject: |
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As for the 750, pull the green tube and clean out the fungus. AS for the alignment, the Runco manual is the only decent manual ever made for this set that actually tells you how to converge the unit. (downloadable off the main site).
You have pincushion issues that should be curable when you go through the full setup. Step by step.
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jmcmahon7
Joined: 03 May 2008
Posts: 18
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| Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 3:29 am Post subject: |
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| Zebu Fellenz wrote: | | That's a fair price for the D50 if the tubes are clean and it comes with the wireless remote. However I'd aim for something a little better unless you are looking at the D50 based on size. |
The main reason Im looking at the D50 is the price TBH. Baby on the way, blah blah. For the price I think I'd be hard pushed to get a 720p/1080i projector with the same "lamp" life. I was under the impression that the D50 would blow most LCD's twice the price (used and new) out of the water.....am I being a tad optimistic?
But out of interest, what would you reccomend? Barco 800? Sony G90? (haha, not happening soon!) Sony 1272 . Say I was in a budget of 1000-1500?
| Quote: | As for the 750, pull the green tube and clean out the fungus. AS for the alignment, the Runco manual is the only decent manual ever made for this set that actually tells you how to converge the unit. (downloadable off the main site).
You have pincushion issues that should be curable when you go through the full setup. Step by step. |
I got the manual while ago, so big thanks to you/this website! I spent a total of three hours playing with it so far, I'm at the stage where you re-plug the converegence board in. I'm making a screen too, as per the guide on this site.
Do I need to re-seal the glass on the tube when replacing the glycol?
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Zebu Fellenz
Joined: 21 Dec 2006
Posts: 2567
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| Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 3:40 am Post subject: |
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| jmcmahon7 wrote: | | Zebu Fellenz wrote: | | That's a fair price for the D50 if the tubes are clean and it comes with the wireless remote. However I'd aim for something a little better unless you are looking at the D50 based on size. |
The main reason Im looking at the D50 is the price TBH. Baby on the way, blah blah. For the price I think I'd be hard pushed to get a 720p/1080i projector with the same "lamp" life. I was under the impression that the D50 would blow most LCD's twice the price (used and new) out of the water.....am I being a tad optimistic?
But out of interest, what would you reccomend? Barco 800? Sony G90? (haha, not happening soon!) Sony 1272 . Say I was in a budget of 1000-1500? |
I'd recommend an 8" EM machine, or an 8" EM LC machine if you're willing to spend a little more. Something like a Marquee 8500, NEC PG, NEC XG, Barco 808, Ampro 3600 
Or for a little more, Sony G70 (I love mine), XGLC, 8500LC.
Erik
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kal
Forum Administrator
Joined: 06 Mar 2006
Posts: 18114
Location: Ottawa, Canada
TV/Projector: JVC DLA-NZ7
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jmcmahon7
Joined: 03 May 2008
Posts: 18
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| Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 11:39 am Post subject: |
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| kal wrote: | I also wouldn't waste my time with a Runc 750 (aka Zenith Pro 851) these days. It's a video grade only projector (480i).
See how it ranks: http://www.curtpalme.com/Projector_Rankings.shtm
Hint: It's the second worst unit listed.
Kal |
I knew it was an archaic 480i POS before I even looked at the list on this website three weeks ago. I figure if I can get this runco calibrated and converged, I can get anything to work. I cant say that the price wasnt right. 
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kal
Forum Administrator
Joined: 06 Mar 2006
Posts: 18114
Location: Ottawa, Canada
TV/Projector: JVC DLA-NZ7
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| Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 5:40 pm Post subject: |
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| jmcmahon7 wrote: | | I knew it was an archaic 480i POS before I even looked at the list on this website three weeks ago. I figure if I can get this runco calibrated and converged, I can get anything to work. I cant say that the price wasnt right. |
No problems. All depends on what your time is worth of course and only you can be the judge of that. I don't have any time so I wouldn't mess with it even if someone *paid* me.
Kal
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Person99
Joined: 09 Mar 2006
Posts: 4899
Location: Flower Mound, TX
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| Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 6:09 pm Post subject: |
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| jmcmahon7 wrote: | | The main reason Im looking at the D50 is the price TBH. Baby on the way, blah blah. For the price I think I'd be hard pushed to get a 720p/1080i projector with the same "lamp" life. I was under the impression that the D50 would blow most LCD's twice the price (used and new) out of the water.....am I being a tad optimistic? |
Well, if you go to a Ford site, even the crappiest Ford will be said to be better than the best Chevy.
That said, many may disagree with me, but I'd say yes, that is a tad too optimistic. Yes, the D50 will have better black levels and likely less artifacts, but given the price of some of the "decent" 720p DLPs these days (i.e. Optoma H79s are selling for $800 these days, the H78DC3 sometime less).
As was said, you should consider a move up to an 8" EM machine. In my opinion, anything short of that is getting to be pretty much not worth it. As an example, consider this: a couple years ago, a great 8" EM AC machine cost about $2500 and a great 8" EM LC machine (like a G70) cost about $4000 the used market. At that time, the best of the 720p DLP machines (like a Marantz VP12s4 or Sharp 12K MkII) cost $12,000. No question, the CRT was a no-brainer. Why pay 3 times as much as a G70 for roughly comparable picture performance? Within the last 6 months, both the Sharp and the Marantz have been available as closeouts for about $1500 new with warranty. That G70 that used to cost 1/3 the price, now costs about the same. The G70 is not the obvious no-brainer that it once was.
(As if I ever took it off) Flame suit ON
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Dave
A train station is where the train stops. A bus station is where the bus stops. On my desk, I have a work station....
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barcoguy
Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 128
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| Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 2:53 am Post subject: |
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If you are trying to spend as little as possible the NEC 9PG can be had with nice tubes for DIRT cheap. I think the picture that it throws is better than what you would expect with it being so far down on the list. They have color filtered lens!!!
Or if you are going to stick around with this hobby get a marquee 8000 you can upgrade it over and over.
Basically I would only buy a pj with EM focus.
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jmcmahon7
Joined: 03 May 2008
Posts: 18
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| Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 1:39 am Post subject: |
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so tell me guys, what do you think of EM focus units wit LC? Should I get one haha? Seriously though, good points well made.
| Quote: | | No problems. All depends on what your time is worth of course and only you can be the judge of that. I don't have any time so I wouldn't mess with it even if someone *paid* me. |
A valid point often overlooked by some. Ive learned to try not to put too much of a value (as in monetary) on my spare time if that makes any sense, its hard to enjoy things otherwise. For me anyway.
LOL, just googled Optoma H79s, and the first hit was this thread![/quote]
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barcoguy
Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 128
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| Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 1:59 am Post subject: |
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If we put a $ on our time with this pj we would all be broke and homeless!
That is why I said its a HOBBY!
CRT is crack for the AV nut!
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perisoft
Joined: 29 Aug 2007
Posts: 2920
Location: Ithaca, NY
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| Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 2:32 am Post subject: |
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I went with CRT because it ended up being vastly cheaper ($400 end cost for an 8" EM with not bad tubes) and because the recurring costs are a lot lower (no bulbs to worry about - I can use it every day, all day, doesn't really matter).
As it turns out, the picture quality - aside from raw sharpness and brightness - beats pretty much anything I've seen among digitals. And for $400, it's pretty damned hard to come anywhere close.
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Brooklyn
Joined: 17 Sep 2007
Posts: 494
Location: Morgan Hill, CA
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| Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 3:12 am Post subject: |
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I agree about the Nec PG's, my 6PG has an excellent picture, and it was very affordable.
Also, for an outdoors use projector, you may be better off with a cheapo digital. Mostly since it will be much easier to set up and move outside, and it will be brighter.
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