4.25.2007

Don't sweat the Technics

A friend bought 2 old but working Technics SL 1200 mk2 turntables that I promised to check out/fix.
The units are OLD. I haven't decoded the serial number but I estimate 15-20 years. There is a repair date sticker on the bottom of one unit from 1994.
The units have taken some abuse and are missing items that they should not if some one had cared for them.
The biggest defect is a bent tone arm on 1 unit. All the rest is basically normal wear, burnt stylus lamps, loose screws and just plain filth allover and in the units.
A complete overhaul is in order and I'll write a report on that when the project takes off.

4.20.2007

In our next episode...

I bought a new dvd player the OPPO DV-970HD http://www.oppodigital.com/dv970hd/dv970hd.html
To finally get all video processing done by my Lumagen video processor.
I'm having problems with 480i it seems to loose resolution at some point. Avia's 5MHz test is perfect but 6,75MHz is blank.
I promise to write a test report here once I complete all testing.

I also changed my Topfield pvr 5100 to the new pvr5100 hdmi.
As a quick report I can say that image quality is better with HDMI but 480i or 576i are not supported but there is something wrong with the white and black levels resulting from PC and Video level's being somehow wrong.
I promise to write a report on this too.

Panasonic ae700 troubles are gone

YES the Germans finally managed to fix my projector.
It only took 4 months to get it back :) GOD DAMN IT!

"Well was it worth it?" U ask...
Simply put: YES!

I had my fears and doubts but when I opened the box and read the service order, in German of course, I was delighted!
They changed the electronics or repaired them AND replaced the "optical block" witch means NEW LCD panels!!!
Basically the only things not changed were the optics, lamp and the enclosure so you could say its a brand new projector. JIPPII!...I think.
Hoping for the best and fearing the worst I tested my "New" 700 and to my eyes it displayed perfect convergence, or at least very close and A LOT better than the "old one" had!! JIPPII INDEED!!!
The little testing I could do on my own it seemed that the convergence of the 3 lcd panels was indeed perfect while no lens shifting was used.
Using lens sifting resulted in convergence errors but in a very little degree and lowering the projector to be right behind your head and eliminate the need for lense shifing would not be a convenient solution so a compromise must be made BUT this is not an issue since the picture is still a LOT sharper than it was before the repair.

I'm very pleased! Now I can say that I'm truly happy with the projectors picture.
I like it sharp as a razor no "film like" smoothness or any blur of that sort.

I don't have any comparison pictures I'm afraid so you just have to take my word for it.