Sony CRT TV acting up

[pullshocks]

I have a 34" Sony CRT tv that has worked great for 20 years or so.  It was considered Hi Def at the time it was manufactured, not up to today"s hi-def TVs, but it has been adequate for our needs.


Recently the picture quality has become distorted, sagging prominently at the top center, sagging slightly at top right, and splayed out at the bottom.  Along with that distortion, colors are separated.  The color separation is most prominent toward the bottom of the screen.

The color separation is more prominent on some broadcasts than it is on others.   Barely noticeable on some Network broadcasts, very prominent on others, and especially on Youtubes.


Through the wonders of the internet, I found out about how to activate the "service menu" and make picture adjustments using the TV remote control.  I had high hopes that the VCenter adjustment would help.  But I was not able to see any change.


Researching this a little more, it sounds like possibly the problems could be due to the "yoke" having sagged out of position.  And that with suitable safety precautions, it could be repaired and then dialed in with test patterns.


So here's my question:  what equipment and connections are used to get test patterns on the screeen?


Thanks in advance


Pullshocks/Mark

[pullshocks]

This will give an idea of the distortion and color separation

[SEL49]

Move the tv away from all those speaker magnets. Any better?

[shooter]

yep, that was my 1st thought; "sounds like a big 'ol magnet got dropped off near by"


surf up "sempte(sp?) pattern"  in the way back days in would broadcast after midnight.  I had a black-box one for tuning up crts.
with that and a big ol mirror you can tweak the yoke.....WARNING 25 THOUSAND VOLTS REALLY CLOSE

you want to watch MANY "how to videos" and have your life insurance premiums caught up

[pullshocks]

SEL and Shooter, thanks.


I tried moving the top (center channel) speaker upward and did not see any change.



When I built the speakers I used “magnetically shielded” drivers. But I suppose the shields could have moved. So I will try moving the other 2.

[pullshocks]

.....WARNING 25 THOUSAND VOLTS REALLY CLOSE

you want to watch MANY "how to videos" and have your life insurance premiums caught up

Yeah, there is an element of  "what could possibly go wrong" to this. 


No luck with moving the speakers.  Good idea though, thanks.


I'm going to pull the back off and see if there are any obvious loose parts or mounts, but I doubt my ability to actually  pull off a repair and reclaibration.  What I hope to gain by opening it up is to be able to list it on Craigslist as "repairable, free if you haul it away"  The sum*itch weighs 200 pounds, and it's pretty hard to get my son up here to help me now that he has a 2 year old of his own.  At one time these Sony's were popular with gamers, that may not be the case any more, with improvements in tv technology .


I watched a show tonight, and much of the content displayed/rendered beautifully, with no color separation.  Content segments with bright whites seemed to have a lot of color separation especially at the bottom of the screen.  The sag is pretty much only noticeable when there is text or graphics with horizontal lines


I manged to find the Sony repair manual on line.  It references a bunch of special tools & apparatus, and it looks like a pretty complicated procedure with many different adjustments, even with those tools and presumably being a Sony-trained technician.  Which I am not.

[Rontone]

I have a similar issue, giant 46" Pioneer Plasma from mid 2000s, steel stand attached to the frame, I can't get it down from the top floor, I need to make a sledge so I can slide it down the stairs myself, and I don't want to have to test it as its multi kilowatts inside,

There is still a lot of love for old and 'mid-school' TVs out there, I think the retro gamers like to have an RGB channel with SCART or aerial input, I run my old Acorn A3000 computer on the RGB channel of an old TV to play the original Elite game [still in its box!]

I found a mid 1970s Sony Trinitron 14" by the backstreet bins a few years ago, one of the early Trinitrons, thought it would be dead but it came on fine, worked with a games console, so cleaned it up and got it on eBay, it went to an enthusiast for about £50!

See if there is a Vintage TV forum you can list it, or Craigslist in the US, here in the UK there is the VRAT forum

[shooter]

The sum*itch weighs 200 pounds,

after Dad rehabbed he worked at Goodwill in the back room, brought all the "dead" TV's home, that was my start into this world of tubes
I'd strip down the backs, get them set up on his home test bench, pull all the tubes, put them in socks n ride 2 miles on my bike to Nelson's hardware to test out the tubes, the owner brought me a step stool so I could reach the chart wheel n set the dials, fun times circa '72

[acheld]

If it's the "fun of it" factor that makes you want to repair this, definitely go for it.

Otherwise, probably not worth it in terms of time, likelihood of success, parts, and equipment needed.

I recently tried to replace a Surface Pro battery "for the fun of it," and the operation was a success, but the patient died.  After, I realized I was just being stubborn, and should have realized that it was just $$ down a rathole before I started.

I had one of those Sony's years ago.   It was fantastic!, until it wasn't.  LCD TVs are not expensive and you can actually move them around.

[pullshocks]

The sum*itch weighs 200 pounds,

after Dad rehabbed he worked at Goodwill in the back room, brought all the "dead" TV's home, that was my start into this world of tubes
I'd strip down the backs, get them set up on his home test bench, pull all the tubes, put them in socks n ride 2 miles on my bike to Nelson's hardware to test out the tubes, the owner brought me a step stool so I could reach the chart wheel n set the dials, fun times circa '72

Ah yes, local stores with tube testers.  There was still one at my local mall into the mid-late 1970's.


Great story about your work ethic and the hardware store owner helping you out.

[pullshocks]

...
There is still a lot of love for old and 'mid-school' TVs out there, I think the retro gamers like to have an RGB channel with SCART or aerial input, I run my old Acorn A3000 computer on the RGB channel of an old TV to play the original Elite game [still in its box!]

...

Not being part of the computer game world myself, I was not aware there is such a thing as a "retro-gamer," and certainly not aware that a retro-gamer would have a preference for obsolete, 200 lb tv's.

[pullshocks]

If it's the "fun of it" factor that makes you want to repair this, definitely go for it.

Otherwise, probably not worth it in terms of time, likelihood of success, parts, and equipment needed.

I recently tried to replace a Surface Pro battery "for the fun of it," and the operation was a success, but the patient died.  After, I realized I was just being stubborn, and should have realized that it was just $$ down a rathole before I started.

I had one of those Sony's years ago.   It was fantastic!, until it wasn't.  LCD TVs are not expensive and you can actually move them around.

I wouldn't call this project "fun" but there can be a certain satisfaction in gathering info and solving a problem.  I'm somewhat known in the family for always doing things the hard way.


Out of financial necessity, I've done a lot of my own home repair, remodeling, brake jobs, timing belts, appliance repair, basic computer repair, etc. etc.  So I sort of have a reflex to see if I can fix the Trinitron, but realistically, there is no certainty of success.

[shooter]

circa 2010, one of the Barista's that made my Espresso was a great kid, 1/2 way through College on his way to becoming a Computer Engineer.  So I dug out my old Commodore 64, the hard drives n games I had cloned.  You'd have thought I gave him Gold by the look he gave me.  a week later He's all geeking over finding an 'ol RF box I didn't have so they could hook it up to a proper CRT and play every game made for the C64!


Him and his buddies looked at all the software I passed on which was a hackers dream back when the C64 was new, plus the code I'd written, told me they were blown away, I just smiled n told him to keep those modern (Insert expiative) computers in check 

[shooter]

Out of financial necessity,

fixing a yoke or color gun problem will cost more in equipment than a new 40" LED set, assuming you don't catch a lightning bolt in the hand, find your CRT is internally bad.........

[pullshocks]

Out of financial necessity,

fixing a yoke or color gun problem will cost more in equipment than a new 40" LED set, assuming you don't catch a lightning bolt in the hand, find your CRT is internally bad.........

Yeah, and it’s not like I’ll ever use that equipment again…
The new tv market is bewildering, oled, qled, etc. Gets very $$ very fast


Thanks oh wise one

[shooter]

unless you're upgrading to full on digital world, keep it cheap n simple  a 4K LED will be "generations" ahead of your CRT
I have a 36" for my laptop work station, the Mrs. has a 50" 2k LED for her 50's -70's DVD's, CD and Blue-ray movies, neither of us have watched "traditional broadcast or cable TV" in the past 10 years.

[pullshocks]

Thanks again Shooter


30" monitor at the computer is among the better purchases I have ever made.  Even if not 4K.  Great for Jschm, great for DIYLC, great for my wife and I to both be able to see the monitor when we are working on family business....


As far as the TV, we are going to  go taste some Koolaid later today.  Since we get network TV with an antenna, I have convinced myself we "need" ATSC 3.0 compatibility and  we'll see how a few other features taste.

[Rontone]

So I dug out my old Commodore 64, the hard drives n games I had cloned.  You'd have thought I gave him Gold by the look he gave me

The C64 has just been reissued, I'm tempted to pick one up, the spec looks pretty good, I might put one in the living room

[shooter]

 
Used to get folks ask me "do you miss those days?"
"Nope, was there, did it, lived to tell about it"


after 12+ years detoxing from the computer world, I'll pass


nice to see there was enough of a cult following to keep it alive, that system was amazing for true "open source" ability unlike the gods of apple n Microsoft.


Did my 1st hack into a DEC PDP11 series mini-computer while in my 1st Tech school for CT systems.  followed cables back to the server, found the phone line WITH number written in sharpie, dialed in from my dorm room, had full Kernel access, gave my student workstation those privilege's, next day in class the instructor looked right at me and said "OK, how did you do that???"  cloned 10 games during that 24 week school, rent game $2.99, bypass the hardware protection with a jumper, bit copy to a PROM burner I built, walla, return original game

[pullshocks]

...  a 4K LED will be "generations" ahead of your CRT
....

Yes, the koolaid was delicious.  The expensive koolaid was even better.

[pullshocks]

News Flash!


Before actually pulling the trigger on the expensive koolaid, I decided to take the back off and have a look.  With a long chopstick, I lightly pushed on the yoke, and it moved upward under slight pressure.  Turned on the power, and voila! No more droop or color separation as seen in the picture above.


Sony seems to have relied on self-adhesive foam wedges for yoke positioning.  The lower wedges seem to have shrunk or slipped and were not making contact, allowing the yoke to sink.  I should probably try to reposition them.


Will still probably get a new tv with a larger screem. but can wait and see what kind of Super Bowl TV sales come up.

[pullshocks]

.....
There is still a lot of love for old and 'mid-school' TVs out there, I think the retro gamers like to have an RGB channel with SCART or aerial input, I run my old Acorn A3000 computer on the RGB channel of an old TV to play the original Elite game [still in its box!] .....

...

Great tip, Rontone!  A guy just came to get it and paid me a nomial sum to boot.  I was expecting to have to pay  to have it carted off.


He was so enthusiastic about it that  he almost talked me out of letting it go.

[Rontone]

Nice, he's happy and you have some funds towards a new one!