CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

tri_joel · Joined: 03 Jul 2007 Posts: 646 Location: Northern Virginia

This question has been bugging me for some time so I'm going to ask you all for your opinions.

I started wit han ECP 4100. I didn't have much luck with it. I stumbled onto a PG9+ with a Crystal View scaler. The price was right, the PG was listed as not working, but I bought it sight unseen because of the price. When I picked it up, I didn't even look at the tube wear. I was really buying the scaler. The seller had moved on to digital. I asked what he thought of his digital, he stated he really couldn't tell a difference.

I decided to play with the PG and with very little effort, it turned on and has been working fine. The only thing wrong with it is the amount of tube wear is annoying. Whites are pink, flesh tones are bad, and the previous owner was using very little of the phosphor. At one point I moved the PJ back and centered my pic in the wear. It gave a nice even dark picture and all the colors were wrong. I toyed with setting the ECP back up but the picture is so soft compared to the PG, I decided the bad colors were better than the soft pic.

I emailed Curt about new tubes, I didn't know that the PG tubes were so hard to find. There was a set for sale on this site not so long ago, but I didn't have the money at that time to get them. I am not in any hurry, which means I have had a lot of time to think and dwell on this.

CRTs are becoming cheaper but I think this a momentary thing. Those of us who have them are parting them out and what not. They will become more scarce and the price, I think, will come up again. Digitals, on the other hand, are becoming more affordable. It would cost me $1500 to have my tubes rebuilt. Will they last for 4500 hours and then become bad again? I figure watching two movies on weekends will equal about 1000 hours per year, or rebuilding tubes every four years at $1500 a pop (or more with inflation). In that case, it would be better to buy a digital and then replace the bulb for a few hundred dollars in the same amount of time.

My picture sucks right now. I'm concerned that the digital picture will suck just as much. The guy I bought the PG from said he couldn't tell the difference between the pic with the burned tubes and the digital. I wish I would have asked which digital he bought, but alas, I did not.

I know this has been discussed in detail several times on this forum. Some have moved to digital, some will be buried with their CRTs. My question is, should I stick with the CRT or spend my $1500 on a digital? I can't seem to make up my own mind on this topic.

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 11:58 pm Post subject:

It's simple.

CRT = repairable
digital - throwaway.

CRT= 20 years of life from new
digital = 4 years of life from new.

I have had good luck with the PG and PG+ rebuilt tubes from VDC, less so with the later P16 tubes in the Xtra and XGs (but those have new tubes available from VDC.

Set the projector up closer to the screen so you use more phosphor area than what NEC recommends, and you'll get 7500+ hours out of the tubes. You'll have a convergence and focus board failure in the next 5 years, they fail often, but they are cheap and easy to repair.

**AnalogRocks**

tri_joel · Joined: 03 Jul 2007 Posts: 646 Location: Northern Virginia

Curt, Analog,

Do you two have shock colars that zap you when there's a new post? You are always the first two responses!

And good salesmen.

So you are both saying that the wear on my PG at 4500 hours is mostly due to bad set-up by previous owner?

Curt - will you move to the East Coast so it doesn't cost me next months pay to ship my PG to you for a refurb?

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:27 am Post subject:

Trust me, I've thought many times of putting together a 1 ton truck and have 'CRTs R US' travel the continent. It would be a helluva way to meet all of you, but one slight problem, it's illegal for a Canuck to 'work' in the US.. Sad

(insert your own slightly racist joke here about someone skipping through the border from the North taking away work from someone else who has skipped the border from the South.. Wink

)

No offense to my friends south of the south US border!

Zebu Fellenz · Joined: 21 Dec 2006 Posts: 2567

I would stay with CRT,

Get some better tubes for the PG and with proper setup they could last another 10k hours

redcorvette_85 · Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:38 am Post subject:

If it was me I wouldn't retube the 9pg+ or go digital, in my opinion you are really exceeding the value of that projector by doing that, I doubt you could get half of your money back out of it if you bought new tubes and then tried to resell it without using it at all. You dont seem to be in a huge hurry to replace what you have so I would keep a close eye on craigs list in your area for another machine of equal of better quality that already had pretty good tubes. I bet if you where patient you could find a pretty good upgrade to what you have now for 1500. Not sure exactly where you live but I did a quick cl search in your general vicinity and came up with g70 for 1300, you need to swap the green tube out, but it comes with another one and it has an hdfury, mount and screen. I bet you could offer 1000 and walk away with it and have a great image for another 5+ years. Either that or buy one of curts mid range machines that will come with a warranty and support for around the 1500 price range. I think it has now gotten to the point in price for used machines where its no longer worth it to retube anything thats not a 9inch lc machine.

Joust · Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 3:04 am Post subject:

Buy from Curt.
He backs his stuff like no other company will.

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 6:21 am Post subject:

remotebandit · Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 9:16 am Post subject:

crt definately for now but digital in the next couple of years for sure and we cant deny it .... sorry guys

paw · Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 1176 Location: Arvada, CO

Person99 · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 4899 Location: Flower Mound, TX

Person99 · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 4899 Location: Flower Mound, TX

tri_joel · Joined: 03 Jul 2007 Posts: 646 Location: Northern Virginia

Oops, too many rum-punches. I'm on vacation this week. Math+rum punch+vacation=confusion.

I was looking at Curt's for sale items, and I think if I were to stick with the PG9+ level of projector it would make the most sense to just buy one from him and save the old one for back-up parts.

I'm more enthusiastic about CRT again now that the wise and experienced have corrected my misguided thoughts. (and math) Rolling Eyes