My new home theater for a buck!

[Kamakiri]

Won an auction for a Sony KP-7220 on eBay for a buck!

I picked up the set in a well-to-do neighborhood in the outskirts of Rochester NY. Offered the guy $40 for the set in email after the auction ended. I couldn't risk NOT getting it, the cool factor was way too high . It even came with the original protective cloth screen cover and manuals.

It's amazing how much space these sets take up, not just in size but in the area needed to operate it. You need a full six feet from projector to screen, and the alignment is done with two cords that plug in to the base of the screen....just plug in the cords, and pull the screen or projector until they're taut, do the crosshatch alignment, and watch TV.

Only problem is that the screen surround is a VERY brittle plastic, and completely fell apart when we put it up. Good ole duct tape. It'll get me by until I can figure out how to make a frame for it out of wood.

Wish I could get it to focus just a *little* better. The focus is okay for TV, but I have no idea how my 14 year old son doesn't go blind trying to read all the fine print when playing Battlefield 4 on it on his PS3.....

And of course, I had to pick up some cheap furniture to transform that half of the basement into a "vintage" home theater.......

[Jon A.]

I quickly zeroed in on that white-face General Instrument cable box under the TV. Saw only one before, sweet. That combination table/control center for the TV is da bomb too. I'd have one of those without the screen.

Oops, didn't realize, that "table" is the projector. Just saw another one on eBay. I'd still take one without screen though.

[Dude111]

She is quite nice Kamakiri!!!!!

Thank you for letting us see her

[old_tv_nut]

Don't know if you care, but if there is any stationary text in those games, there's a good possibility of burning it into the tubes. Another thing, running the contrast/brightness as low as is comfortable to use might improve the focus as well as reducing burn-in.

[1966C10]

Nice!

[jr_tech]

Cool! Does the Sony use Schmidt-Mirror CRTs like the early Advent projectors, or the more common CRT plus front mounted lens design?
Ahhh, the good old days when "home theater" was only an Advent projector, a Pioneer Laser Disk player, a stereo amplifier and a couple of Heresy speakers.
jr

[Kamakiri]

Originally Posted by old_tv_nut

Don't know if you care, but if there is any stationary text in those games, there's a good possibility of burning it into the tubes. Another thing, running the contrast/brightness as low as is comfortable to use might improve the focus as well as reducing burn-in.

I find that I have to make a few adjustments to the settings depending on the game he plays. He's 14, so he really doesn't care as much as I do how the picture looks......

One thing that was REALLY peculiar is when I got the set home and started setting everything up, I flipped the switch to get crosshairs for alignment, and smoke started pouring out from underneath . I shut the set down, flipped the switch back and forth a couple times (it was sticky), turned it on, been fine ever since. Don't know why, don't know how, but it's had well over 20 hours of play since and everything's been fine.

[Kamakiri]

Originally Posted by jr_tech

Cool! Does the Sony use Schmidt-Mirror CRTs like the early Advent projectors, or the more common CRT plus front mounted lens design?

Just standard lenses......

[Sandy G]

Great Score, Tim !

[old_tv_nut]

Originally Posted by Kamakiri

... I flipped the switch to get crosshairs for alignment, and smoke started pouring out from underneath . I shut the set down, flipped the switch back and forth a couple times (it was sticky), turned it on, been fine ever since. Don't know why, don't know how, but it's had well over 20 hours of play since and everything's been fine.

If you get around to diagnosing it, it will be interesting to know how this switch is related to smoke. I would think it's only a video source switch, so how it could affect something high power enough to smoke seems mysterious.
Maybe it also sets width and height to nominal?

[Rod Beauvex]

Looks like you have a pretty good picture with that thing, though I imagine it is because you have three separate images overlaying each other, rather than the three dot system of a traditional color TV. All the high resolution of a black and white set, except, well, in color.

[old_tv_nut]

Originally Posted by Rod Beauvex

Looks like you have a pretty good picture with that thing, though I imagine it is because you have three separate images overlaying each other, rather than the three dot system of a traditional color TV. All the high resolution of a black and white set, except, well, in color.

That's an interesting thought, but the tricolor dot or line pattern in most color CRTs does not limit the NTSC resolution significantly. The exceptions are the GE Portacolor sets (and a few other small screen sets), which used a pattern that was coarse for the size of the tube. CRT projos, on the other hand, are limited by the spot size of the CRTs and the optical aberrations of the lenses.

[Jeffhs]

Excellent score, Tim. It's always good when you can get something like that projection TV, and especially a Sony set, for so little money. The distance required between the projector and the screen (six feet, as you mentioned) demands that you have a very large area in which to put the TV. I could not hope to have a projection set in my apartment, as the place is much too small. I could have gotten, say, a 32-inch flat screen, but I've had 19-inch sets most of my life (except for a couple of 13-inch color sets in the '80s) so I stuck with 19" when I decided to go flat-screen in 2011.


BTW, I noticed in two of your pics of your HT installation that your cat was trying to get into the act as well--well, in one of the pictures, anyway (the one showing your complete home theater). My kitty will sit on the floor in front of my 19-inch flat screen every once in a great while, but most of the time, when I am watching TV or reading, she lays on one armrest of my rather large reclining chair in front of the set.

BTW (2): I can't figure out, either, why there would be so much smoke coming from underneath your TV if the service switch was just stuck. Maybe that switch is in a position such that it can short a high-voltage point in the set if it sticks between positions. In any event, you were very fortunate you caught the problem in time, or you might have had a fire on your hands in very short order.

[jr_tech]

Originally Posted by old_tv_nut

If you get around to diagnosing it, it will be interesting to know how this switch is related to smoke. I would think it's only a video source switch, so how it could affect something high power enough to smoke seems mysterious.
Maybe it also sets width and height to nominal?

IIRC, some models turned the B+ to the crosshatch generator on only when the video source was switched to the convergence pattern, to prevent "bleed through" of the pattern. I'm guessing that there might have been a "tin whisker" somewhere in the crosshatch circuit, or even in the switch that was cleared after the application of voltage. Just a WAG, however!

jr

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by Kamakiri

One thing that was REALLY peculiar is when I got the set home and started setting everything up, I flipped the switch to get crosshairs for alignment, and smoke started pouring out from underneath . I shut the set down, flipped the switch back and forth a couple times (it was sticky), turned it on, been fine ever since. Don't know why, don't know how, but it's had well over 20 hours of play since and everything's been fine.

Looks like you found the hidden 'Self Destruct' control.