CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

HK-Steve

Hey Guy's,
Just picked up a Sony VPH-D50 for 99CHF, which is about 97US.

Not been used in 2 years, just plastic wrapped, and put in a dry cellar.
The guy had bought a digital, opps said a bad word didn't I, Laughing

Had to drive 150Km's each way to get it, but hey, I love to drive my 2000 Audi S4.
Didn't even look at the tube condition, just handed over my money, he helped me load it into the car and drove home.

Anyway, got it home, unwrapped it, plugged it in, fired it up.
Got a test pattern up, all good, adjusted focus, nice and sharp.
Put up the white field after working out how to get into the service menu.
All nice and white, no burns, no shading, just pure white.

So, Now I want to take off the lenses and really have a look at the tube face.
Downloaded the manuals from here, Thanks Curt and Kal, Awesome.

Nothing about taking off the lenses. Hmmmmmm

So how do I take the lenses off, just the 4 nuts on each the lenses??
Then I can check it out properly at the tube face.

There is also a lot of dust buildup between the lenses/tubes, is this normal??
Wil post some pics tonight if I can.

Off to play for a while.
Appreciate any help or advice.

Cheers
Steve

benareeno · Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 1614 Location: ottawa, canada

why bother taking off the lenses? I'd only bother doing that if I was selling it...it is what it is, so just look at the picture.

HK-Steve · Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2010 7:50 pm Post subject:

I just want to see the tube face to get an idea of how good or bad they are.

I undid each of the 4x nuts, and yes, the lenses are off.
All is good, I can see a mask, but a very light one.

So Looks like the PRTV is out the door, now where is my spare screen.

Pics to come soon

Cheers
Steve

HK-Steve · Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2010 8:03 pm Post subject:

I think the guy was a smoker, as there is a haze over the lens surfaces, tube face.
Plus lots of dust inside the projector.
Dust not a problem,
How do you remove the smoke haze without damaging the lens surfaces??????????????

Looks like a good clean will happen tomorrow.

My workshop current setup, with the D50 on the floor.

As it arrived to it's new home

Unwrapped and covers off

Just a little dust

Lenses removed with no flash

Raster size, not too bad

Now where is my hammer drill to mount this thing on the ceiling.

Cheers
Steve

HK-Steve · Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2010 8:05 pm Post subject:

The bright line at the top of the raster, is that the AKB issue?? or what ever Sony call it.

What needs to be done to fix this??

Cheers
Steve

HK-Steve · Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2010 9:36 pm Post subject:

Man I love to get a new toy to play with.

Time is 11.30pm Switzerland time, my boy's are in bed since 8.30pm.
My Wife has been watching The X Factor on our Sky Satelite on the Marquee 9500 in the lounge room.
Now she is sleeping.

I have had all the covers off this D50, pretty impressed by the design and the thought process of the engineers,
clips in the right places, safety switches on the scan reversal connectors so you don't damage anything.
Fans are located very well, with not too much noise.

Now I have been into the service menu, and found that only 3180hrs on the tubes,
which explains why they are in pretty good condition.

ROM versions
M- 1.11.S1:1.12
S- 1.10.S3:1.00

Build date August 1998

ABL Link ON
Sub Contrast 128
ABL Level 72

Is the ROM versions up to date??
If not, how to update.

ABL settings
Anything to change??

Appreciate comments and advice, all new to me, as my last Sony was a 1020 7 years ago

Cheers
Steve

benareeno · Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 1614 Location: ottawa, canada

it's color filtered and not too loud...that's good. How about sharpness? Does it have any left?

papalek · Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 1536 Location: Longs SC

I see some fuzzy areas in the blue grid. Is it fungus?

CIR Engineering · Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 12:23 am Post subject:

drice1234 · Joined: 07 Oct 2006 Posts: 1309 Location: Allen, Texas

ecrabb · Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 3:31 am Post subject:

The D50 is the same as the G70 - they both have keystone balance and pincushion balance.

Dan, KEY and PIN balance are kind of like linearity for those two adjustments... You can shift the "weight" of the adjustment left/right (for H KEY/PIN and up/down for V KEY/PIN. It's just another adjustment to help you nail down geometry that much better. You get to KEY BAL by pressing the the KEY button a second time (first press is keystone, second press keystone balance), and the same with PIN.

SC

CIR Engineering · Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 3:32 am Post subject:

Exactly why I brought it up, because a lot of folks don't even know the adjustment is there Wink

craigr

KrisRoberts · Joined: 21 Jan 2007 Posts: 115 Location: San Diego

Brings back the memories... I had a D50 for about five years and loved it. For the size of the room in your pictures it should do fine.

HK-Steve · Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 5:50 am Post subject:

Thanks for the tip Craig on Balance, I will look at that later today.

I have vacuumed the projector now, as it was a sticky nicotine dust, but all gone now.
The lenses and the tubes face were covered, was very hazy, now all minty clean.

I will take another pic of the tube face when I get a chance, no fungus in those tubes.

Cheers
Steve

HK-Steve · Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 5:53 am Post subject:

one more question,
Do I need the remote control for it?
or can I access all functions from the projector control panel??

I emailed Curt, he has them for 150US

It came with the RM-1270S which is the basic ON/OFF input selection, switcher contol.

Appreciate all the replies.

Cheers
Steve

stefuel · Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 10:22 am Post subject:

HK-Steve · Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 11:16 am Post subject:

So after cleaning everything, all is good.

A Rear Fan before cleaning,

A Rear Fan after cleaning,

Lens half cleaned, hazy left side, clean right side.

Blue tube face all cleaned. No Fungus

Any feedback on the remote before I order from Curt??

Cheers
Steve

drice1234 · Joined: 07 Oct 2006 Posts: 1309 Location: Allen, Texas

Harmony has some of the codes for the D50 in their database. I am not sure how many but when I setup my Harmony remote via their website I was able to choose the D50 projector. I use it to turn on and off the projector and set the input

HK-Steve · Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 12:51 pm Post subject:

drice1234
Thanks for the info, I don't have a Harmony remote, but good idea.

I have asked Curt a couple of questions about the remote before ordering from him.

Will look more into the codes for a MX-850 and MX-3000 remote

Cheers
Steve

CIR Engineering · Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 1:05 pm Post subject:

I highly suggest having the actual Sony remote for doing a full setup. The Sony remote is well laid out with buttons in a logical order that are easy to memorize and that you can feel with your fingers. The remote also works well with two hand operation during setup.

I have a Harmony and would not even consider using it to do a setup... that would drive me nuts. The Harmony works to turn the projector on and off and do other simple things like select inputs...

craigr