CTC-4 Director 21

[miniman82]

Uh, that's how you're supposed to do it...

Read the alignment instructions, or better yet if you have a B&K 415 use that it'll cut your time in half.

[SwizzyMan]

Originally Posted by miniman82

Uh, that's how you're supposed to do it...

Read the alignment instructions, or better yet if you have a B&K 415 use that it'll cut your time in half.

Don't have a 415, but I do believe I have all other necessary equipment. Bear with me here, this is my first IF alignment on a color tv. I've been lucky I haven't had to do any till now.

[Phil Nelson]

I like Bill R's suggestion of setting up to do a video IF alignment and viewing the traces to judge whether alignment is a significant problem. That is, look -- following the procedure in the factory manual -- but don't touch any adjusters the first time around.

If you haven't done the procedure before, that would also give you confidence that your setup is correct and you are viewing valid things on your scope.

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
https://antiqueradio.org/index.html

[SwizzyMan]

The alignment instructions for this seem pretty involved! Don't know if I am quite up to the task yet... Can anyone lead me in the right direction? If push comes to shove I'll just try and build a video preamp.

[Phil Nelson]

Do you have a restored B/W set that works well, that you could use to practice alignment (again, doing the setup and looking at the traces, without changing adjustments)? The setup wouldn't be identical, but maybe that would help you get the hang of things.

I had reached a similar point with my CTC-4 and I took a stab at building a video preamp, which turned out to be not as simple as I hoped. This old thread has more details:

http://www.videokarma.org/showthread...259995&page=23

The last color bars that you posted look pretty good, apart from that one anomaly. What does the TV look like when you view regular content, such as a DVD or cable TV? Sometimes things that look less-than-perfect in test patterns don't interfere much with everyday viewing.

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
https://antiqueradio.org/index.html

[SwizzyMan]

Originally Posted by Phil Nelson

Do you have a restored B/W set that works well, that you could use to practice alignment (again, doing the setup and looking at the traces, without changing adjustments)? The setup wouldn't be identical, but maybe that would help you get the hang of things.

I had reached a similar point with my CTC-4 and I took a stab at building a video preamp, which turned out to be not as simple as I hoped. This old thread has more details:

http://www.videokarma.org/showthread...259995&page=23

The last color bars that you posted look pretty good, apart from that one anomaly. What does the TV look like when you view regular content, such as a DVD or cable TV? Sometimes things that look less-than-perfect in test patterns don't interfere much with everyday viewing.

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
https://antiqueradio.org/index.html

Still isnt great while viewing programs. Ghosting and the picture looks overdriven which may be to the fact that it is hooked directly up to the cable box. I don't think IF is an option for me now. If it really needs to be done I guess I can try it.

[old_coot88]

As Phil suggested, practice alignment on a BW set. You don't wanta jump on a full dress Harley without being proficient on a more basic bike.