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  #106  
Old 04-14-2017, 03:06 AM
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Originally Posted by old_tv_nut View Post
I just received "The Red Shoes" and the color is very nice. I had forgotten how many exterior scenes there are, and the Monte Carlo shots are nice. I caught one flub - as Moira Shearer is approaching a fancy building for a meeting, they are obviously following her with powerful spotlights and or reflectors to light her back, which is toward the camera but in shadow. At the very beginning of the shot, you see one of the spots whip across the courtyard in front of her, getting into position.

The set comes with bonus material including Martin Scorsese showing and commenting on the restoration process; he breaks it down into separate illustrations for the processes of removing mold spots, correcting misregistration, and correcting color breathing. Nothing short of amazing.

Edit: many of the shots other than daytime exteriors are rather low-key, which is not an easy thing to reproduce on a vintage color set with a dim picture and reflective tube face. To add to the fog, the CTC-5, like most vintage sets, has less than full DC coupling. I found it advantageous to turn off room lights except for the "TV light" I have that lights the wall behind the set, and turn down the brightness control a little. This made the exterior shots a little too dark, but you have to compromise or some of the interiors look foggy.
That scene as she prepares to ascend the stairs was very noticeable and seems to be an obvious error that should have been caught. Also wonder why all the weeds were left to grow on the stone steps.

If you have a moderm television with a good color decoder and adjusted reasonably well, you owe it yourself to see the nuisances that the old roundie may not capture.

For anyone interested, we posted the entire ballet scene as reproduced by the RCA 21CT55 here at this link. Click on the 1080P setting for best quality.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0zfc_E...ature=youtu.be

Edit: From IMDb, "On her first day of shooting, Moira Shearer got badly sunburned and developed a blister on her back. Later in the production she also wrenched her neck quite badly when called to leap from a window, and received a scratch that turned into an abscess. Shearer would often find herself being suspended in a harness for up to eight hours while being buffeted by wind machines."

Possibly they rushed the scene because of Shearer's complaining. It was her first film and she was nervous. I would be p****d if suspended in a harness for two minutes, oh the pain if you know what I mean.
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Last edited by etype2; 04-14-2017 at 03:37 AM.
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  #107  
Old 04-14-2017, 10:33 AM
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I also got the Blu-ray version for viewing on the big screen, have only had time to check a scene or two, but intend to watch the whole thing soon with all the detail the restored version can reveal.
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  #108  
Old 05-22-2017, 09:06 PM
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Well, we have declared the restoration of the RCA 21CT55 complete, until something breaks. :-) We fixed a centering problem, adjusted the focus and screezed out a bit more green. (Our latest screenshots of Oz confirm this)

We have prepared a 44 minute restoration documentary with screenshots and nine video clips.





Edit: Discovered the embarrassing typo at the end in the credits. Will fix. Also fixed sound issues and added more information. Added diversity in the sound tracks which are royalty free. Can't upload the edited movie until next Monday. 5 GB a week limitation. Vimeo is higher quality, will display HD with no user interactions and displayed in full frame format.

Second edit: https://vimeo.com/219450643

Fixed the sound problem, added content.
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Last edited by etype2; 06-04-2017 at 01:37 PM.
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  #109  
Old 11-08-2017, 02:01 AM
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Update:

We were doing a video of the 21CT55 and it was running continuously for about 4 hours. We left the set running alone for no longer then three minutes and after returning, found the horizontal collapsed about one third of the screen, badly converged color, and out of focus. No unusual sounds or odors present. WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED! After much testing, we thought the flyback failed. The set was only producing 10KV. More testing with the HV probe and we pulled the regulator tube and found the HV was at its full 20KV. That led us to suspect a resistor in the HV regulator circuit. We tested it and fond it “open”. The suspect resistor was “buried” under the damper tube. This was done at my home and with lack of proper test equipment, off the chassis went once again to Mike’s test bench/shop.

From Mike:

Greetings. I installed the new resistor into the HV. regulator circuit and jigged it up tonight. I now have good control of the High Voltage with the adjustment. It regulates between 18 KV and 21 KV as it should. The raster is full, the focus is good and the convergence looks reasonable for being on the jig. You are a lucky man! It appears that the flyback transformer is OK. No photos tonight, it got too late but I will be taking a careful look at the Chroma circuits within the next couple of days to make sure that I have not missed anything, mainly looking at the complaint of lack of Green. Anything is possible at this point since this chassis seems to be full of “surprises” with its early color television circuitry.

Regards, Mike

Greetings. I have done more testing tonight in an effort to identify any issues with the chroma circuitry and paying special attention to the green. All voltages and waveforms looked acceptable. After the testing, the “technician” in me decided to do some “empirical” adjusting of some of the transformers in the chroma circuits. When doing these things, one must be VERY careful to go slowly unless “he” wants to start all over again with the procedures to get things aligned. When I got to L44 ( the Quadrature Transformer), I adjusted the slug out about 1/16th of a turn CCW and the green got stronger on the right side of the raster. All I can say, is, maybe the trip on the road caused the slug to settle a little inside the coil form. This adjustment made no difference in the voltages anywhere but it did improve the green “strength”. All I can say is, “whatever works” and I will not argue with success. This should, I hope, make in improvement in the green response even though the CRT is a bit tired. I have included photos of the resistor I found in the High Voltage Regulator circuit which was causing the reduced high voltage condition and hence the shrunk raster, out of focus and poor convergence symptoms. The High Voltage was reduced to 10 KV with this failure. It now adjusts nicely from 18 KV to 21 KV as it should. The resistor was an original (made by International Rectifier) special film type, 3.4 Megohm 3 watt. I replaced it with QTY 2 (in series) OHMITE 2.2 Megohm 2 Watt film type which now makes the new resistor a 4 watt unit which is a 25% upgrade for power dissipation. I will be cycling this set for a few days. Please find photos of the resistors and color bars. Please ignore purity issues.

Regards, Mike

Author:

All I can say is the failure was a blessing in disguise. After re-setting the grey scale and doing a complete new setup, the green output is strong now and all the other colors “fell into place” as they should and now look very accurate. It looks like a totally different CRT was installed. Great work Mike and indeed we are very lucky it was only a resistor causing the HV problem. The failure gave you an opportunity to revisit and take a “second look” at the chroma circuits and adjust that slug.

After we improved the color performance of the 1954/55 RCA 21CT55, we wanted to test it against the 1958 RCA CTC-7 Worthington. The 21CT55 uses a 21AXP22 CRT, testing a “weak” Good on emissions and the CTC-7 uses a rebuilt 21CYP22A CRT, testing a “strong” Good. The 21CT55 uses superior “R-Y-Q” demodulation. The following test images are an effort to visualize the differences in image and color quality between a 1954/55 RCA 21CT55 and the 1958 RCA CTC-7 Worthington. RCA 21CT55 images appear on the left series of photos. Tap any image to open the image carousel, then tap the full resolution image tab. All exposures and focus were set at the center of the CRT image automatically by an iPad Pro 2 10.5. This is not a scientifically controlled test, only an approximation attempt with a non-pro camera. Please excuse the reflections.

Go to this link and scroll to bottom of the page. There, you can open the image carousel to view full resolution photo comparisons of each image.

https://visions4netjournal.com/vinta...tv-page-two-2/







CONCLUSIONS?
The first and obvious difference is the overscan of the CTC-7. The color temperatures are close in most of the photos comparisons. Where there are large differences, I believe it to be the fault of the camera. The camera seems to “shift” color temperature on its own. (Time to invest in a better dedicated camera) For instance, look at the fifth and sixth photo comparisons. You will also notice an annoying swath of pale yellow which is causing color variations or discolorations in the photos. This is caused by the camera and not visible when viewing directly. Also, these photos do not do justice to the actual images produced by these televisions. Overall the 21CT55 appears to be adjusted slightly “cooler” and the CTC-7 is brighter. The red gun of the 21CT55 is the weakest of the three.

Wondering why the CTC-7 has so much overscan and whether the overscan can be reduced to match the 21CT55?
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Last edited by etype2; 11-08-2017 at 09:21 AM. Reason: Correction
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  #110  
Old 11-08-2017, 09:41 AM
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The CTC-2B still isn't set up correctly. RCA specified an ultor voltage of 25 kV. Get your HV up and the picture should be brighter yet, even with a weak tube. 20 kV is barely acceptable for a 21AXP22.

Better yet would be to track down a better 21AXP22 and get the HV up, but that isn't going to be easy (or cheap).

As it stands right now, the CTC-7 looks to my eyes to have the superior image, even with the overscan.
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  #111  
Old 11-09-2017, 12:45 AM
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We did measure 21KV. Still short of 25KV. Would like to find a spare flyback, but that isn’t likely either.
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  #112  
Old 11-09-2017, 07:18 AM
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Keep digging. A 21-CT-55 flyback can kick out 30+ kV unregulated. Is your fly damaged?

If it is, I'm going to suggest something that is anathema to most around here: use a solid state HV supply. The set is not working correctly in the first place, so originality doesn't count for jack at the moment.

A solid state HV supply would get the set performing closer to how it was designed.

Best of luck in either case.
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  #113  
Old 11-09-2017, 08:51 AM
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Speaking of Lizard From Oz...

Attached Images
File Type: jpg 100_0074.jpg (126.4 KB, 62 views)
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  #114  
Old 11-09-2017, 09:57 AM
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Originally Posted by benman94 View Post
Keep digging. A 21-CT-55 flyback can kick out 30+ kV unregulated. Is your fly damaged?

If it is, I'm going to suggest something that is anathema to most around here: use a solid state HV supply. The set is not working correctly in the first place, so originality doesn't count for jack at the moment.

A solid state HV supply would get the set performing closer to how it was designed.

Best of luck in either case.
We thought the fly was toast initially when the failure happened. We measured only 10KV. The thought was the fly was still good otherwise it would measure zero. It turned out to be an open resistor. I’d just like to have a good spare. Best chance for that is finding another 21CT55.
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Last edited by etype2; 11-09-2017 at 10:11 AM.
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  #115  
Old 11-09-2017, 09:59 AM
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Speaking of Lizard From Oz...

I think TCM broadcasts Oz annually.
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  #116  
Old 11-09-2017, 10:27 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by etype2 View Post
We thought the fly was toast initially when the failure happened. We measured only 10KV. The thought was the fly was still good otherwise it would measure zero. It turned out to be an open resistor. I’d just like to have a good spare. Best chance for that is finding another 21CT55.
What I'm driving at here is that 21 kV is not at all normal for a 21-CT-55, and is not good enough. The Hoffman I sold to Nick would uses the same exact HV section and would crank out 30 kV or more with the shunt pulled. Something has to be loading down the HV, my guess is that there's still some issue with the 6BD4A or the associated circuitry. Don't throw in the towel on the HV issue, and DO NOT run the set until it is properly fixed. Droopy HV could also be failing HV caps which WILL take out your flyback.
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  #117  
Old 11-09-2017, 10:48 AM
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Speaking of Lizard From Oz...

All the makings of a timeless children's classic!
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  #118  
Old 11-09-2017, 08:42 PM
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What is your HV reading with the HV control at max? It’s not uncommon to have to play with the value of the resistors around the HV pot, since any drift there will cause the grid of the shunt tube to not be where it’s supposed to be which drags down the anode.
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  #119  
Old 11-09-2017, 08:59 PM
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What is your HV reading with the HV control at max? It’s not uncommon to have to play with the value of the resistors around the HV pot, since any drift there will cause the grid of the shunt tube to not be where it’s supposed to be which drags down the anode.

We replaced a resistor in the HV regulation circuit which was found open. This caused the HV to drop to 10KV and messed up the picture badly. The resistor was an original (made by International Rectifier) special film type, 3.4 Megohm 3 watt. We replaced it with QTY 2 (in series) OHMITE 2.2 Megohm 2 Watt film type which now makes the new resistor a 4 watt unit which is a 25% upgrade for power dissipation.
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  #120  
Old 11-09-2017, 09:59 PM
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That could be your problem, original calls for 3.4 meg and you installed 4.4 meg. Compare the grid voltages on the 6BK4 with what the schematic shows, my guess is it’s a tad high. (Measurement should be taken with brightness at minimum)

Here’s how the regulator works, in case you were unaware:

Plate receives anode voltage, cathode is returned to B+, grid is tied to a boost source usually. If boost rises anode voltage must also have risen, since they are in the same circuit. This higher boost voltage causes the regulator to draw more current, since the grid got pushed closer to the cathode (the tube is normally biased off, with the cathode over the grid). With the regulator drawing current the anode voltage will get dragged down taking boost along with it, in turn taking the grid of the regulator lower and turning it more off.

In this way the regulator tube places a constant load on the anode, but if it’s biased a little too hot to start off with the result will be consistently low HV because the regulator is dragging it down.

The correct HV setting for this chassis is 25kv, I suggest you take Ben’s advice and figure out why it’s low before the flyback protests too much. You also need to know what the horizontal output tube is drawing for current, if it goes much higher than about 215ma, you’re in the danger zone.

We already witnessed another member destroy an irreplaceable CTC-2B flyback by not heeding sound advice, please don’t be the second.
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