CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[digitalayon]

OK....Question I'm thinking of is having a spare projector a good idea? My Barco 1208s/2 will eventually Die....Should I have a spare stored away? No offense to anyone here but.....will there be curt palme's available in say 8 or ten years? I only ask because I have called 4 shops who used to work on these. They all said the same thing. No!.....2 of them sold their calibration equipment on ebay a few years back. As we run dry on techs.....I think I will try and find another for a spare just in case. I know I'm not the only one who "fears the future". Who else besides the techs are hoarding CRT's?

[Curt Palme]

I can give a good answer here:

CRTers fall into a few categories.

1) Techs, like you said. Betcha can't own just one.
2) Tweakers- either have upgradeitis, or tweak and tend to blow stuff up while tweaking. They need spare sets.
3) Curiosity- ' I wonder what XXX set will look like compared to mine?'. They end up with over 4, but only ever use one.
4) Non tech end users. I'm surprised daily by the people that call me saying 'I bought a set in 200X from you, and it only now died'. They only ever have one at a time, and usually now are looking to upgrade.

So, generally speaking, if you have a good set (Yes, even an AmPro!), do a good install, don't do fan mods, etc, chances are it might have a problem, worst case, say every 3 years or so.

I tell people that a typical lifespan of a set is 20 years, but I think that probably changes to 22-25 years post 1995 since the quality of parts and PC boards and construction went up at that point.

The parts that fail often will fail as much on the backup set as the one you're running, so given a choice between repairing a high failure board like a convergence board on an NEC, or sending one in for repair where it's carefully gone through, I'd pick the latter (and no, that's not a shameless plug!) where you know you're getting some mods done, and some new parts put into the set. If your water pump goes out on a car, would you get a used one at a wrecker, or a new/rebuilt one from a reputable parts source? It's pretty much the same thing.

[Curt Palme]

I can give a good answer here:

CRTers fall into a few categories.

1) Techs, like you said. Betcha can't own just one.
2) Tweakers- either have upgradeitis, or tweak and tend to blow stuff up while tweaking. They need spare sets.
3) Curiosity- ' I wonder what XXX set will look like compared to mine?'. They end up with over 4, but only ever use one.
4) Non tech end users. I'm surprised daily by the people that call me saying 'I bought a set in 200X from you, and it only now died'. They only ever have one at a time, and usually now are looking to upgrade.

So, generally speaking, if you have a good set (Yes, even an AmPro!), do a good install, don't do fan mods, etc, chances are it might have a problem, worst case, say every 3 years or so.

I tell people that a typical lifespan of a set is 20 years, but I think that probably changes to 22-25 years post 1995 since the quality of parts and PC boards and construction went up at that point.

The parts that fail often will fail as much on the backup set as the one you're running, so given a choice between repairing a high failure board like a convergence board on an NEC, or sending one in for repair where it's carefully gone through, I'd pick the latter (and no, that's not a shameless plug!) where you know you're getting some mods done, and some new parts put into the set. If your water pump goes out on a car, would you get a used one at a wrecker, or a new/rebuilt one from a reputable parts source? It's pretty much the same thing.

[macgyver655]

[lexx21]

You missed a category.... those that are techs but can only afford one pj at a time.

[AnalogRocks]

I'm just a hoarder of old electronics. I love it. I love a spare to my spares spare.

[AnalogRocks]

I'm just a hoarder of old electronics. I love it. I love a spare to my spares spare.

[Advent Videobeam]

Four advent 1000A's, one set is really for parts- a example of this post. A zenith PJ will use til dies since it's a zenith.

Now is an unusual time, I WOULD snag any parts sets you can, especially sets your wanting to run for years. technology is changing at a rapid rate, TV shops, surplus and electronics parts depots always phasing out obsolete parts.

Do yourself a favor and hoard all spare parts you'll need later. Everything is a rush to recycle old electronics now. Something common today will be around ten years from now,even if it has a big screen value?

[ecrabb]

I thought this thread was about this:

http://www.aetv.com/hoarders/



SC

[Nashou66]

I personaly now have 6 marquee Chassis and one Ampro 3600 i never even powered up yet !

I have actually been watching movies on my not so perfect blend, it is an awesome image as is, i can not imagine how great it will be onec i get it perfect.

I also have at least two of every other board for the Marquee's and enough 9 inch new tubes to last 20 years

Athanasios

[Elaine Benes]

If your projector is working well, why bother ?

I've seen current LCD's that are better than crt's in every respect EXCEPT absolute black, with reliable bulbs, in 8-10 years, you won't even want to replace your 20 year old projector with another 20 year old projector you've had sitting in your unheated garage for 10 years...you'll buy a 3 or 4 year old digital and be amazed at how great the picture is and wonder why you didn't switch sooner...

If you can buy BETTER CRT projectors for a couple hundred bucks, sure, why not, improve your lot, but just keep in mind there are lots of institutional customers who are simply throwing these things away, or even PAYING people to take them away, so spending more than a few hundred bucks on "parts" or "spare" sets just doesn't make sense...

I just bought a 35 year old Rotel receiver to put in the garage, it came with some equally old Advent speakers, but for $40., I could live with spending that to have pretty great sound, IN THE GARAGE. It all comes down to how much are you paying for these "spares"...If its cheap, sure, why not ?

PS: The 1208s/2 is one of the best looking Barco's I've ever owned, I'd rate it as one of the absolute best non-LC projectors, very, very sharp, and super bright...

[digitalayon]

[Spanky Ham]

I think it is a good idea to grab a spare, if you can get one.