Any way to properly set a CRT these days?

I got a great deal. Local pickup for next to nothing. A one owner Sony XBR-960, the pinnacle of Sony's CRT line with the Super Fine Pitch. HDMI input and though the resolution maxes out at around 1440x1080i...this thing is STUNNING. Staggering to look at even today when held against modern sets.

One problem. Well more like several. The overscan was far too much, so I read up on AVS and the service manuals and was able to use a test pattern with the service mode to bring it in. The next problem is that the geometry was all out of whack: resulting in rounded corners, bending edges, slight distortions all over the place and one screen corner being completely rounded.

I've been tearing my hair out trying to nail this down because if I can get the 16:9 HMDI satisfactory anything 4:3 has distortions all over the aspect bars. Then anything windowboxed is yet another problem.

I see a few fine folks can do a full isf calibration but that they'd have to fly out at a cost of somewhere around $500. Needless to say I can't afford that.

Has anyone here had experience in trying to fix up one of these? I can't believe how bad this is. At least with a projector you have greater manual control, here it's all buried in the service menu where one wrong move could fry the whole thing.

 

It sounds like you're doing the best that you can - test patterns and service menu. I wish I had a better idea, because that would drive me crazy as well. I helped a friend with a similar issue on a rear-projection Sony about 8 years ago - HD input had way too much overscan, but after adjusting that, convergence was terrible. I never had enough time to really dial in the convergence perfectly, and moving back and forth between the adjustments was tedious.

 

I've calibrated many CRTs and CRT RPTVs. So you were actually able to get into the service menu? And were you able to use the geometry controls properly, but just can't improve upon it? It could be one of the modules that actually controls the geometry is going bad or just out of spec after 15 years.

 

When I got my new Dell monitor, I set mine in my garage.

 

I think the service manual is the first thing to get.
I did a search and it seems that any of this service manuals will work:

http://elektrotanya.com/?q=showresult&what=Sony XBR-960&kategoria=&kat2=schematics

you got to deactivate adblock or anything like it, go to the bottom of the page and wait until the word "processing" turns to "get manual".

 

Indeed. I'd get the service manual. Basically, you are setting the XBR up right. They don't cope with SD content too well. So, optimize it for native resolution. And yes, this set has a stunning picture which is beautiful even now.

 

Thanks guys. I figured I could never get it perfect. Right now I've got the overscan drastically reduced, and fixed the geometry as best I could. I couldn't get the left and right perfect so I pushed them a touch beyond the edge to hide them. The problem now is that it's not quite level so 1.85:1 movies have screwed up bars on top and bottom, and anything 4:3 or 1.66:1 has slight bowing of the vertical bars and pointed out corners. I don't know if I can fix them so I might just have to resurrect my old foam board masking pieces and just use them to help hide the imperfections. (I'm talking about the cheap tip of cutting a black foam board into pieces to mask off your letterboxing areas. Use some painter's tape and it works like a charm!)

Now I've got try and work with the zoom to keep it from chopping off so much of 4:3 material. When I run LD on this, the zoom modes are great but cut off far too much. The worst is non-anamorphic letterbox DVD. Since it's running over HDMI or component at 16:9 1080i, several zoom modes are blacked out and locked. This results in a zoom mode that practically destroys any composition.

These have been godsends. The second actually has the official Sony geometry service pages, plus the factory service guide with all original factory preset setting numbers.
http://www.avsforum.com/forum/64-di...r960-overscan-fix-service-menu-walk-thru.html
http://www.avsforum.com/forum/64-di...ticles-comments-discoveries.html#post_5498706

 

I honestly don't see why you would go through the trouble.

 

Yes. Set it out on the curb for pickup...

 

I don't know about the OP, but I often don't need a better reason for doing something other than - because I feel like it.

 

I can sympathize. I kept Sony CRT's around much longer than most.
I work in television and I have to admit I miss them. The current Sony OLED's are quite impressive though.

Regarding your CRT, the fact that your corners are bowing, vertical lines are bowing, etc is probably a sign that deflection voltages are becoming weak.
Unfortunately there is not much left to do about that as parts are becoming scarce. Plus, bench techs who specialize in that type of circuit replacement are also becoming rare.