CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

km987654 · Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2009 9:30 am Post subject:

My work is the support and repair of IT systems. I have been involved in this industry at various levels working with the smallest to the largest companies in this country for the last 28years. You learn plenty from doing things stuff thats not always documented and this is valuable information. I have no idea how much in $ it has cost but I am sure that this information is what makes me different to the next guy. Technical information like schematics are only as useful as the skill of the person reading them. How does anyone know what the failure of a system is by looking at schematics its the experience of the Tech that counts. Its that experience that says the fault will likely be X part(s). Its also that experience that uncovers undocumented issues and resolutions. I am not necessarily advocating publishing schematics but it could be that there is more concern about the results than need be.

**kal** · Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2009 4:12 pm Post subject: Re: Thanks

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2009 6:38 pm Post subject:

My GF's D50 hasn't been touched in 9 months since I installed it. It's still super stable.

The biggest factor in the drifting that I can see is temperature. If you have a stable temperature in your room and wait till the projector warms up before doing the alignment it'll be more stable.

If it's an older projector and the capacitors are going out of spec then it's a different story.

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2009 7:00 pm Post subject: Re: Thanks

oddgenetix · Joined: 29 Jan 2009 Posts: 23 Location: Orlando Fl.

If drift isn't a problem in newer sets, that's awesome! I've only had my hands on older ones. I just recently grabbed a d50 and I'm kicking the tires on it. If I can set it and leave it alone that will be amazing.

You gurus always lording over me with your glorious imaging devices.

WayneB · Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2009 8:29 pm Post subject:

Skill is valuable, and experience even more-so, but expertise is priceless.
The only reason something looks simple or takes so "little" time to do, is because of the expertise of the person doing it.

Thankyou Curt, for being the expert you are and sharing a lot of that knowledge.

I have owned a Runco 980 Ultra (Nec 9 PG Xtra) for 9 years. I was very happy with the 800x600 Faroudja upconverted image. Two years ago, I emailed Curt about cost of retubing. He "mentioned" that I could get 1080i HDTV from my existing satellite receiver by purchasing an AA9A65 transcoder from him. I did. WOW! what a difference that made to my life. I recently purchased the HDFURY2 SE kit from him when my Faraoudja died. Another WOW.

I was a large-system computer consultant before I retired. The company, that I worked for, charged an obscene hourly rate for my services. Many customers I worked for complained about the rate or tried to negotiate a lower rate. However, they all paid it and got their problems resolved quickly and efficiently. I shared my knowledge by fully documenting what I did. It helped the customers to understand how complex it was and make them feel better about paying the high rate. It was the "WHY" I knew where to look, that made them realize that being an expert was valuable. It also challenged me to stay on the leading edge and always know more and have more expertise than my clients.

Curt, your expertise is a valuable commodity. It is worth what you charge. Don't even try to justify it to the 1%.

I appreciate the abundance of information and advise on his site. Go ahead and make the "how-to" downloads available only to members. The ones that won't pay $25/year are not the type of customers you want anyway. I enjoy the challenge of trying to understand and repair something myself. However, I will always go to the expert when I realize that I am in over my head (for example, projector component level repair).

...Wayne

WanMan · Joined: 19 Mar 2006 Posts: 10270

Curt, I see that you done no wrong nor sound unexpected offensive. You have a talent, a set of skills, for which you make your living off of. Kudos to you for protecting that and shame on those trying to skirt their cheapness to your loss. You are not here as a form of FCC welfare support.

One of the reasons why I got someone else to setup my first CRT projector was because they'd spend a lot less time than I, and do it right. I'm not about to throw a series of questions at someone on a board like this knowing this cuts into their base income.

I think some need to realize what they are asking is like free healthcare, food stamps, or those damn FCC DTV coupons when they can either already afford it, or are too poor to be in this ballpark to begin with.

While I build my own computers, its not at the cost to, say, Dell, because I am not calling them up asking how to actually build the damn computer. I don't do it to Dell, and I'm not going to do it to Curt Palme. Mr. Green

**AnalogRocks**

perisoft · Joined: 29 Aug 2007 Posts: 2920 Location: Ithaca, NY

Wanman, so presumably, because I don't have the money to buy a set-up PJ from Curt, and hang out in the forum to learn about the hobby so I can set my own up, I'm a leech and am "too poor to be in this ballpark"?

Thanks!

ecrabb · Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2009 4:22 pm Post subject:

I didn't take Wan's comments that way at all, Perisoft. There's a difference between asking for help in the forum (what you're referring to I think, and what most of us do here), and emailing Curt directly and asking him questions about how to do a specific repair, inquiring on cost to have him do it, then going off and criticizing him for charging too much money and telling him you'll do it yourself.

What Wan was getting at, I think... Is the inanity of some guy who buys a commercial-grade high-end CRT projector that was once probably $20,000+... He probably bought it from surplus, paid a grand or so for it (let's just say he probably got a steal by most measures), but then bitches when he has to pay Curt a measly couple hundred bucks to get a board repaired to get his projector back in business. If the guy can't afford or justify spending a couple hundred bucks to get the projector working again, should he really have an HT, which is clearly a luxury?

Regardless, the guy doesn't put much value on his own time, let alone Curt's.

SC

perisoft · Joined: 29 Aug 2007 Posts: 2920 Location: Ithaca, NY

greg_mitch · Joined: 03 May 2006 Posts: 5320

Zebu Fellenz · Joined: 21 Dec 2006 Posts: 2567

**kal** · Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 4:09 am Post subject:

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 4:28 am Post subject:

Ya know, there's been a bit of resurgence in CRTs lately, maybe because it's a fluke, maybe because Barco is getting out of it, who knows. I know I put up this posts (and the odd other whiny one like it Wink

) when I'm having a crappy day or when cash flow dies off for a week, sometimes more. Then it's 'damn, the sky is falling, all the die hards have switched to digital', then it picks up again, and all is well.

I'm actually a bit optimistic about this year. With the economy being in the crapper, maybe, just maybe, people will fix a CRT instead of chucking it and buying a digital.

Who knows, if sales die off tomorrow for a week, I'll be a miserable cad within 10 days. Very Happy

stefuel · Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 11:54 pm Post subject:

And a note to the other 99% that e-mail him. GET A LIFE!!! Laughing

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 1:19 am Post subject:

Chip, pot kettle calling black ( looks in reflection of HD10 lens ) me too Laughing

stuffandpuff · Joined: 30 Jul 2008 Posts: 69