Repairing CRT televisions

[Haz]

Hello!

I'm new to the forum and somewhat new to the world of retro gaming. Today I found an awesome Hitatchi CT2000s on the side of the road, but as I went to get my car to pick it up, it began to rain. When I took it home and plugged it in, I noticed that the top quarter of the screen is all black. My systems look great on it, however, they're "cropped" due to the lack of display on the top. Did the rain ruin it? Is their a way to fix it?

Thanks for the help!

[bobrocks95]

Sounds like the vertical position is just improperly set. If there's no controls for that in the menu you'll have to see if there's a service menu for that television. Look up "Hitachi CRT service menu" or something similar and try to find the button combination that lets you get to it. It may or may not have one. If it does, there should be some sort of VPOS or Vertical Position setting you can change to move where the picture is on the screen. Hope that helps!

[nasty_wolverine]

why would you plug in a tv that has been out in rain??? you gotta make sure its perfectly dry first, but dont put it out in the sun.

buy anyways it sounds like an easy fix. a few parts may be needed to be replaced if you cant fix it with the service menu. post a pic of how the screen looks like.

[Haz]

Sounds like the vertical position is just improperly set. If there's no controls for that in the menu you'll have to see if there's a service menu for that television. Look up "Hitachi CRT service menu" or something similar and try to find the button combination that lets you get to it. It may or may not have one. If it does, there should be some sort of VPOS or Vertical Position setting you can change to move where the picture is on the screen. Hope that helps!

Tried it, but didn't have much luck. No menu button, and can't find a service menu combo.

why would you plug in a tv that has been out in rain??? you gotta make sure its perfectly dry first, but dont put it out in the sun.

buy anyways it sounds like an easy fix. a few parts may be needed to be replaced if you cant fix it with the service menu. post a pic of how the screen looks like.

I let it dry by itself for a bit and then put a dehumidifier to it - I think it got the moisture out. Here's some pictures, any ideas? Thanks for the help guys!

[nasty_wolverine]

the picture doesnt look distorted but perfectly cropped, so my guess would be its something in the service menu you can fix. otherwise you may have to open it up and twiddle some varistors.

[bobrocks95]

Well, it's not a vertical size/position issue, since it's actually chopping off the top portion of the source input. It looks like way too clean of a cut to not be a particular setting issue. Water alone doesn't usually damage electronics, it's water plus electricity that does it, and it sounds like you took the necessary precautions. You could try opening it up and simply looking at components for obvious signs of water damage (without touching anything that could zap you).

That's all assuming you have no luck getting into a menu anyway.

[mickcris]

It could be the screen issue is why it was on the curb.

[Haz]

Thanks for the help guys. I can't seem to have any luck accessing the service menu though. (Not surprisingly) there wasn't any remote with it, and there's not menu button on the TV. Does anyone have a model similar to this one?

[mickcris]

Here is a service manual that may help (its a bit blurry so you may want to search for a better one):
http://www.buyphilipsparts.com/shop/res ... T2000S.pdf

if you have a universal remote (like a logetch harmony) you should be able to program it for the tv, but it looks like there may not have been an menu button on the remote either:
http://www.replacementremotes.com/HITAC ... ntrol.html

I was unable to find a user manual for the tv that may have more information though. According to the service manual thought that tv is from 1983 so its fairly old. probably needs some components replaced.

[CkRtech]

I don't think you are going to have an OSD service menu on a set that was made in 1983. My guess is that you have to pop the top and tweak pots if you want to make any adjustments.

Even then, this sort of thing happening on arcade monitors sometimes means there is a need to replace capacitors.

[Haz]

Here is a service manual that may help (its a bit blurry so you may want to search for a better one):
http://www.buyphilipsparts.com/shop/res ... T2000S.pdf

I couldn't find it anywhere for free, this helps!

I don't think you are going to have an OSD service menu on a set that was made in 1983. My guess is that you have to pop the top and tweak pots if you want to make any adjustments.
Even then, this sort of thing happening on arcade monitors sometimes means there is a need to replace capacitors.

Although it looks nice, I don't have much to compare it too. If I had to replace some capacitors/other parts, is it worth the work?

[CkRtech]

Although it looks nice, I don't have much to compare it too. If I had to replace some capacitors/other parts, is it worth the work?

It does really make a huge difference on arcade monitors - many of which are from around the time your set was made. I had a Galaga machine that seemed to have several lines of the image firing to the same spot on the CRT. Adjusting the pots didn't really do anything. After re-capping it, the adjustments were very responsive and didn't take much effort to adjust back into place.

The great thing about that was that there are a seemingly finite number of arcade monitors out there. Although there are many different models, there is a short list of usual suspects. That meant that getting the caps was quite easy because you could just note your model and then order a cap kit.

In your case, you would have to examine the board the caps are on (same one the pots are on, most likely), determine the values for each, buy the caps, and replace them. And that still may not help your situation.

I would try to just find any pots inside that you can adjust and adjust them - specifically anything that is of the V-Pos, V-Size variety. I would not tweak anything labeled focus at all.

Alternatively, you could pop down to a TV repair shop and ask them, "what's up?"

[kamiboy]

Is this really a TV from the early 80's? If so then I must bring into question the sanity of even entertaining the idea of lifting a single finger in service of such an old unit.

It is a miracle that a TV from 30 years ago even functions.

My advice is throw that old piece of junk away as no matter what you do it is not long for this world. Hunt down a late 90's, early 00's SONY TV instead.

[nasty_wolverine]

Is this really a TV from the early 80's? If so then I must bring into question the sanity of even entertaining the idea of lifting a single finger in service of such an old unit.

It is a miracle that a TV from 30 years ago even functions.

My advice is throw that old piece of junk away as no matter what you do it is not long for this world. Hunt down a late 90's, early 00's SONY TV instead.

I dont know, but for me atleast, doesnt really matter how old the electronic equipment in question is, if it is fixable, then i go ahead and fix it or get some one to do it. i just dont like seeing usable equipment being dumped with out giving it a second chance.

electronic equipments have feelings too

[kamiboy]

Not everything is fixable and all electronic parts have a limited lifespan. If the electron gun is at death's door, which is likely, you are very much in trouble.

[Haz]

Is this really a TV from the early 80's? If so then I must bring into question the sanity of even entertaining the idea of lifting a single finger in service of such an old unit.

It is a miracle that a TV from 30 years ago even functions.

My advice is throw that old piece of junk away as no matter what you do it is not long for this world. Hunt down a late 90's, early 00's SONY TV instead.

Was kind of what I expected to hear. I think I'll fiddle with it a bit more (I do like the look of it) but I don't know if I'll drop any money on it.

[nasty_wolverine]

Not everything is fixable and all electronic parts have a limited lifespan. If the electron gun is at death's door, which is likely, you are very much in trouble.

if the electron gun was spoiled you would have an overall dark picture or no picture. even for a dying electron gun, you can still give it a few more years. My dad had this equipment (homemade, but you could buy the schematics), what it did was kinda overdrive/cycle the electron gun, which either could kill the tube or revitalize it, i cant remember the name of it right now. the problem most likely is with the vertical refresh driver circuit which isnt charging the yoke enough to point the gun to the top of the screen. Probably a blown cap or a faulty transistor.

you will be amazed at the life span of transistor based solid state equipment, all the still functioning atari consoles should be proof enough. And about the price of fixing it, I could have fixed it for around $30 or so, but I havent fixed anything like this for a while and i am in the wrong continent.

[CkRtech]

Tube Rejuvenator.

But yeah - Your image looks pretty good as far as your color guns are concerned. It is probably just some caps or something.

[kamiboy]

In any case, I think a later era set would net a much superior picture quality than most equipment from the 80's are capable of.

And Mario Sunshine really should be played in Progressive Scan to do the visuals justice.

[bobrocks95]

In any case, I think a later era set would net a much superior picture quality than most equipment from the 80's are capable of.

And Mario Sunshine really should be played in Progressive Scan to do the visuals justice.

Eh, true on both counts, but side of the road surprise pickups always bring a sense of satisfaction when you successfully re-purpose or reuse them. I can understand wanting to fix something you found for free that was on its way to the dump.

Oh, that, and Gamecube component cables are horribly expensive haha.

[kamiboy]

Where I used to live there was one day of the year where every person put out their large garbage to be collected. It was a CRT bonanza if you were looking for one as you had your pick of the litter.

I suppose that does not happen where you live. But surely there are places that people take their large sized trash. You could drive down and easily find something more worthy. CRTs are unwanted trash for most and the developed countries have long been in a hurry to be rid of them. If you want to pick one up, do it for one that can serve for posterity.

As for component cables, yeah they cost a poor king's ransom but you can just as well use a Wii to play the game in 480p.

[BazookaBen]

Honestly, for a set that old that doesn't even have S-video, I wouldn't bother with it. For howerver much time and money you put into fixing it, you could put in much less to get a much better CRT.

Just grab a Sony Trinitron off of craigslist. Where I live there are 15-20 listed at any given time. People can barely give them away.