Calibration possible on a Panasonic TV?
11-14-01, 10:36 PM
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Calibration possible on a Panasonic TV?
I have a normal CRT Panasonic CT-27G24. Unfortuantely, this TV was dropped in a move and now the image on screen has a very severe pincushion. Other than that, the TV is still fine and works well (it was only dropped about 6" on carpet).
If this was a computer monitor, the pincushion would be easy to fix. I'm wondering if there is some setting inside the television that I can fiddle with to bring this pincushion in line. Does any one know?
If this was a computer monitor, the pincushion would be easy to fix. I'm wondering if there is some setting inside the television that I can fiddle with to bring this pincushion in line. Does any one know?
11-16-01, 02:08 AM
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OK, so who wants to know how this turned out?
Well, come to find out there are little pots inside to fix pincushion (and all other alignment problems), just like the ones on your monitor, they just aren't so easy to get at, and come to find out, I didn't have to touch them at all.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
I've been researching, and of course, there's no information on this particular brand of 27" TV. The pincushion was bad, but not so bad as to render the TV unwatchable... just not something I'd choose to subject myself to. It sat upstairs in the game room as a spare TV for guests -- who never complained or seemed to notice it. It was just a nagging bug in the back of my head... I had purchased the TV for the bedroom, and now I couldn't even use it there.... so, after a year, I decided to fix it or break it completely trying.
I had already contacted a repairman a year ago, who told me that pincushion on this TV was controlled by a solid state chip and couldn't be trimmed, and it would cost me an astronomical fee to fix. This never sat right in my brain. Even my $1000 computer monitor doesn't dynamically optimize the picture, I have to fiddle with it to get it "right". I can't imagine why a $300 TV would. So I asked here... no response. I keep checking, and find out about the trim pots hidden inside -- though no specific info on my TV. So, tonight, I crack out the screwdriver and attack the back of the TV.
*** IMPORTANT -- If you attempt to service the inside of your TV, there is a lot of very fragile, very breakable stuff in there, and worst of all, high-energy high voltage capacitors that can KILL YOU if you're not careful ***
So, I pull the screws off the back of the TV and gingerly start seperating the back panel. Surprisingly, it comes off very easily and weighs surprisingly little. As I'm pulling it off, I'm surprised by how truely fragile everything looks and how extremely large the deadly capacitors are. I also notice that some bright Einstien has made it so the main circuit board is supported by both halves of the TV -- apparently, this standard operating procedure -- so if I pull it completely apart, I'll either drop the board on the table, or put enormous amounts of stress on it. Of course, I could just grab it, but images of sudden death flash through my head.
As I'm gingerly pulling the TV apart, I notice a small circuit board that seems to be mounted strange and appears loose. I want to make sure that it's not scraping on anything important, so I go to move it -- and it's not attached to anything! As I study it, it doesn't appear to have ever been attached to anything. No missing screws, no broken wires, no broken solder points. Strange. I set it aside and peer into the TV, looking for the pots. I find them, but to get to them, I've got to pull the TV the rest of the way apart and do something with the motherboard. And then I see it. A small circuit board rising perpendicular off the motherboard like a sail. Much like the board I'd laid aside. I study it and see two very small connectors that are holding it in place. I look at my loose piece, and lo and behold, there's the same two connectors! They look like little relays, but yes, that's what they are. I study the motherboard in the vicinity of where I located the circuit board, and there's where it plugs in!
I very gingerly and with a deft, brave touch, reach inside the console for the last time, and place the board back in it's home. I slide everything back together, plug it in, turn it on, and VOILA! My pincushion is gone.
I know I could now calibrate this TV into 'spec', but right now, I'm just happy it's working and has a good picture and is now screwed back together and sitting downstairs in my bedroom.
I just wanted to say that sometimes things do turn out ok in the end, and don't be afraid to open things up to see if you can fix them.... and that fall? I lied about it a bit... it was more like a 6 inch fall onto a glass table, through the glass table, and 6 more inches to a carpeted floor.
Well, come to find out there are little pots inside to fix pincushion (and all other alignment problems), just like the ones on your monitor, they just aren't so easy to get at, and come to find out, I didn't have to touch them at all.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
I've been researching, and of course, there's no information on this particular brand of 27" TV. The pincushion was bad, but not so bad as to render the TV unwatchable... just not something I'd choose to subject myself to. It sat upstairs in the game room as a spare TV for guests -- who never complained or seemed to notice it. It was just a nagging bug in the back of my head... I had purchased the TV for the bedroom, and now I couldn't even use it there.... so, after a year, I decided to fix it or break it completely trying.
I had already contacted a repairman a year ago, who told me that pincushion on this TV was controlled by a solid state chip and couldn't be trimmed, and it would cost me an astronomical fee to fix. This never sat right in my brain. Even my $1000 computer monitor doesn't dynamically optimize the picture, I have to fiddle with it to get it "right". I can't imagine why a $300 TV would. So I asked here... no response. I keep checking, and find out about the trim pots hidden inside -- though no specific info on my TV. So, tonight, I crack out the screwdriver and attack the back of the TV.
*** IMPORTANT -- If you attempt to service the inside of your TV, there is a lot of very fragile, very breakable stuff in there, and worst of all, high-energy high voltage capacitors that can KILL YOU if you're not careful ***
So, I pull the screws off the back of the TV and gingerly start seperating the back panel. Surprisingly, it comes off very easily and weighs surprisingly little. As I'm pulling it off, I'm surprised by how truely fragile everything looks and how extremely large the deadly capacitors are. I also notice that some bright Einstien has made it so the main circuit board is supported by both halves of the TV -- apparently, this standard operating procedure -- so if I pull it completely apart, I'll either drop the board on the table, or put enormous amounts of stress on it. Of course, I could just grab it, but images of sudden death flash through my head.
As I'm gingerly pulling the TV apart, I notice a small circuit board that seems to be mounted strange and appears loose. I want to make sure that it's not scraping on anything important, so I go to move it -- and it's not attached to anything! As I study it, it doesn't appear to have ever been attached to anything. No missing screws, no broken wires, no broken solder points. Strange. I set it aside and peer into the TV, looking for the pots. I find them, but to get to them, I've got to pull the TV the rest of the way apart and do something with the motherboard. And then I see it. A small circuit board rising perpendicular off the motherboard like a sail. Much like the board I'd laid aside. I study it and see two very small connectors that are holding it in place. I look at my loose piece, and lo and behold, there's the same two connectors! They look like little relays, but yes, that's what they are. I study the motherboard in the vicinity of where I located the circuit board, and there's where it plugs in!
I very gingerly and with a deft, brave touch, reach inside the console for the last time, and place the board back in it's home. I slide everything back together, plug it in, turn it on, and VOILA! My pincushion is gone.
I know I could now calibrate this TV into 'spec', but right now, I'm just happy it's working and has a good picture and is now screwed back together and sitting downstairs in my bedroom.
I just wanted to say that sometimes things do turn out ok in the end, and don't be afraid to open things up to see if you can fix them.... and that fall? I lied about it a bit... it was more like a 6 inch fall onto a glass table, through the glass table, and 6 more inches to a carpeted floor.
