80s Philco-branded Philips 13" - Very dark screen

[JohnCT]

Originally Posted by YamahaFreak

The CRT is very much alive, the onscreen menus are bright and sharp. It's just the picture itself that is almost black.

Could be a bad eeprom. They weren't nearly as much trouble as the Thomson RCA/GEs, but we used to stock them. Unfortunately, I tossed all my Philips parts many years ago.

I may have the SM for the Y series. I'll take a look when I get to work.

John

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by JohnCT

Could be a bad eeprom. They weren't nearly as much trouble as the Thomson RCA/GEs, but we used to stock them. Unfortunately, I tossed all my Philips parts many years ago.

I may have the SM for the Y series. I'll take a look when I get to work.

John

I have an RCA CTC185 table set (Thomson/RCA) which still works every bit as well as when it was new (it was my first new TV after I moved here in 1999). I never had one problem with it, with the EEPROM or anything else, save for having to replace the antenna connector after about six months (under warranty). Other than that, the set still works, but I don't use it anymore (or at all) since getting a flat screen TV about two or three years ago.

[YamahaFreak]

I figured I'd try to take some photos and show what I'm dealing with. (Hard to take images that accurately show the dark screen, but I promise you, Super Mario doesn't usually look this satanic.) As you can see, the onscreen menus and OSD are fine...it's the image itself that is dark.

[JohnCT]

Originally Posted by YamahaFreak

I figured I'd try to take some photos and show what I'm dealing with. (Hard to take images that accurately show the dark screen, but I promise you, Super Mario doesn't usually look this satanic.) As you can see, the onscreen menus and OSD are fine...it's the image itself that is dark.

Hard to tell, but it looks like the picture is all chrominance and no luminance. Turn the color control off and see if the image disappears. With a scope, this would be very easy to find but I realize that not everyone has one.

Depending on the year, it could be a delay line of sorts or a rudimentary comb filter issue.

Some TVs had a service switch of sorts on the CRT module. It will be a small three position switch if it has one. Some had a similar switch on the chassis somewhere, but those were mostly imports. If you can find one, try all three positions.

John

[YamahaFreak]

Will do some more tinkering and troubleshooting tonight. I DO have a scope, but don't really know how to use it.