Help! Panasonic TV is lacking blue

[Whitney]

My friends just bought a 42-in. Panasonic projection TV off of Ebay,
and were unaware that it was made in 1989...In its day, it must have
been an amazing TV, but these days it seems to not have a very good
blue tint. They don't have the original remote, but attempts at
adjusting the vertical and horizontal blue yield no difference
(whereas doing the same adjustments with the red cause obvious
differences), making us think that perhaps something is wrong with the
blue in general. Maybe the blue light is broken? Maybe we just need
to go a Panasonic remote to try to adjust the blue levels (the only
adjustment knobs on the chasis are the horizontal and vertical red and
blue adjustments)? (Would any Panasonic remote work, or would we need
to find the original for this TV model, if we can figure out what
model it is?) Is this just a lost cause? The picture quality isn't
terrible, but it is sort of greenish and rather dim. We'd like to try
to fix it at minimal cost, perhaps even do it ourselves, because the
TV itself is obviously not worth much. Thanks to anyone who can help!

 

[Jerry G.]

The way it sounds, most likely the blue convergence circuits are not working
properly. There are a number of things that can cause this. Most of the
time, it is failed capacitors, and or devices on the convergence board. You
will have to have the set properly serviced, if this is the case.

Considering the age of the set, most likely the tubes are also probably soft
(going weak). Also, many of the components in the set are probably a bit
worn out due to the age and use.

As for the remote control, you would have to have the original, or one that
is in proper compatibility for your set model. The universal remotes will
not have the in depth options for the set-up of the set.

As for my personal opinion, I would never take the chance to buy something
used like this, unless I would be able to try it before buying it. I found
from personal experience, that people generally sell their old used
equipment, because there is something wrong with the performance of it. If
their old equipment was in such perfect condition, why would there be reason
to change it???

--

Jerry G.
==========================


My friends just bought a 42-in. Panasonic projection TV off of Ebay,
and were unaware that it was made in 1989...In its day, it must have
been an amazing TV, but these days it seems to not have a very good
blue tint. They don't have the original remote, but attempts at
adjusting the vertical and horizontal blue yield no difference
(whereas doing the same adjustments with the red cause obvious
differences), making us think that perhaps something is wrong with the
blue in general. Maybe the blue light is broken? Maybe we just need
to go a Panasonic remote to try to adjust the blue levels (the only
adjustment knobs on the chasis are the horizontal and vertical red and
blue adjustments)? (Would any Panasonic remote work, or would we need
to find the original for this TV model, if we can figure out what
model it is?) Is this just a lost cause? The picture quality isn't
terrible, but it is sort of greenish and rather dim. We'd like to try
to fix it at minimal cost, perhaps even do it ourselves, because the
TV itself is obviously not worth much. Thanks to anyone who can help!

 

[Aslaner]

Problem #1
Bying off Ebay. 90% of stuff on Ebay is pure scam, from scam artist
Problem #2
Who wins with Ebay sales?
UPS/Fedex and all those shipping companies
and obviously Ebay take their money, "thank you very much"

The only way a buyer wins with Ebay is if the price of the item is extremely
low, there ia absolutely no sense bidding on an item more than 3 years old
at prices above 10 to 20% of original value.

Problem #3
Buying large items like Projection screen, the shipping cost will be just as
much as the item cost itself?

 

[James Sweet]

Problem #1
Bying off Ebay. 90% of stuff on Ebay is pure scam, from scam artist
Problem #2
Who wins with Ebay sales?
UPS/Fedex and all those shipping companies
and obviously Ebay take their money, "thank you very much"

The only way a buyer wins with Ebay is if the price of the item is extremely
low, there ia absolutely no sense bidding on an item more than 3 years old
at prices above 10 to 20% of original value.

Over the years I've bought several thousand $ worth of stuff on ebay, had a
few duds here and there but overall I've saved a tremendous amount, many
items have cost me pennies on the dollar compared to what it would cost to
buy them retail. Of course it depends what you're buying, but where else
could you get a batch of 4 brand new electronic dimming fluorescent ballasts
for $14? Or a tube of 100 NOS power MOSFET's for $5.95, not to mention all
the stuff I've gotten that simply isn't available new anymore, Nixie tubes,
parts for old equipment, etc. For my hobbies Ebay has been the greatest
thing since sliced bread.

Problem #3
Buying large items like Projection screen, the shipping cost will be just as
much as the item cost itself?

Yes that's certainly an issue, shipping can kill you, cost me $40 once to
have a new 1KW metal halide ballast shipped to me, but then again I got the
ballast for $19 and it retails for around $200.

 

[Whitney]

Hey, guys, I love the advice on Ebay, but sadly, it's too late to do
anything about it now. Just so you know, though, my friends didn't
pay shipping on the TV, but instead just picked it up from nearby.
Back to the problem at hand, though...any more suggestions on how to
fix it now that they're stuck with the piece of junk?

 

[NSM]

| Hey, guys, I love the advice on Ebay, but sadly, it's too late to do
| anything about it now. Just so you know, though, my friends didn't
| pay shipping on the TV, but instead just picked it up from nearby.
| Back to the problem at hand, though...any more suggestions on how to
| fix it now that they're stuck with the piece of junk?

Honestly, no. If _I_ owned it, I would try to track down a service manual.
Some big libraries used to collect these, so if close to one you could
photocopy the manual. Or, you may be able to find someone who sells them.

It's possible that the tube is toast. Failing that, you really need to know
what sort of voltages and signals to expect on the electrodes, and you need
the proper test equipment that will let you check that.

If it only has red and green controls I would turn those down and try to get
a blue line/display. Then I would bring up the red and green to get a white
display.

But that's just me.

N

 

[James Sweet]

Hey, guys, I love the advice on Ebay, but sadly, it's too late to do
anything about it now. Just so you know, though, my friends didn't
pay shipping on the TV, but instead just picked it up from nearby.
Back to the problem at hand, though...any more suggestions on how to
fix it now that they're stuck with the piece of junk?

Well a good start is to carefully clean the optics, look down the lenses to
see if the coolant is contaminated with bacteria, if it's clean then see if
you can find service information to set the gray scale and color ballance. I
don't recall the original post but it is possible that nothing's really
wrong with the set but that the tubes have aged and it needs to be adjusted,
please resist the temptation to adjust anything you don't know the function
of, it's not too hard to make it much worse.

I got lucky and the Philips my mom has came with a service pamphlet
detailing a full setup and alignment procedure, I only wish this were
standard with all PTV's, it'd make things much easier.