Apex 20" Weird Geometry Issue

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by centralradio

Durabrand was Walmarts other throwaway set.Afraid to say these sets probably outlast the current flat screens.I find them at the curb and nothing wrong with them except replacing the snipped power cord.

Most Durabrand sets seemed to be Funai's. I also seen Emersons, Sylvanias and Philips-Magnavox built by them. TV's seemed to be alright, VCR's, DVD's not so hot!

[Findm-Keepm]

Apex's were a crap shoot. Easy stuff like caps and chips were easy to get, but appearance items and remotes, no deal. The Navy Exchange sold their DVD players at first, but found no factory support, and had to quit selling them. With the chip complement, you could use the Sams Chip guide to home in on a chassis that was a close cousin. As Zeno pointed out, some were identical in layout to some of the M134C RCA sets - the chassis were Taiwan or China-produced, and matched with whatever bulb they could get cheap from suppliers, usually a Samsung or Clinton. We had to quit working them, as the 20" and 26" sets were 88 dollars and 104 dollars each at Walmart here. When they quit selling them, the cheapo Sanyos were next - the last "bang" in the big screen NTSC sets at Walmart.

The switchmode supplies in them were an easy fix - the standby regulator IC, maybe the TL431, or the PC817 coupler. The scan derived power supply caps were also often-replaced items. I don't recall replacing or cloning an EEPROM for any of those sets.

Look on the CRT below the yoke - are there circles or dots of glue where one of the Pincushion correction magnets fell off? The yoke rubber wedges also fell off occasionally, but you'd really see that as a pull-up/down from the bottom/top of the screen issue.