Waiting for the TV repair guy.... (1 Viewer)

[Rain]

Is there anything worse than waiting for a TV repair guy or a cable guy, when all you are told is something like "He'll be there between noon and 3pm?"

So here I sit...it's 3:25pm. I can't go anywhere, I can't even hop in the shower, which I foolishly neglected to do this morning.

What can I do but start an After Hours thread and share my frustration?

:frowning:

 

[Joseph Young]

The last time this happened, I waited 2 hours past the alloted window, and when he finally arrived he showed complete incompetence in identifying the problem with the television. I hope that the problem is a clear-cut (and inexpensive one), Rain. Hang in there!

~joseph

 

[Rain]

Well, it won't be expensive as it's covered under warranty.

All 3 CRTs are being replaced....

He's screwing the new blue one in as I post this. That's one down.

 

[Tim Hoover]

I had a similar incident w/ the phone company. I had a dead line in my office and called to have it repaired. They gave me a two-day(!) window of when the repairman would show up. Well, late in the second day, I decided to nip out for some food - the trip lasting all of ten minutes. That ten minute block was the time that the repairman showed up...

 

[Grant B]

Ive been installing Dish systems while I look for a job.
I try and give people notice and let them know when I will be there but it can really be a pain. Traffic can be so unpredictable.
Hope he did a good job
Grant

 

[Jack Briggs]

What the hell was wrong with the CRTs? Why did the essential components in a new RPTV fail?

 

[Jefferson]

While you answer Jack's query, i'll just add that YES,
this is one of life's most frustrating moments.
I took a day off from work waiting for the CableGuy to show,
and hesitated to even go to the bathroom...
only to be told the next day "We came and you werent there".....an outright falsehood, grrrrrrrrrrrrr!
ROCK....YOU.....HARDPLACE

 

[Rain]

What the hell was wrong with the CRTs?

The flicker bug, which has been discussed extensively in the Hardware area.

Anyway, so the new CRTs work fine.....but alas Mr. TV repair guy did not do an adequate job of adjusting the convergence (or perhaps it drifted since the guns are new ? ), which I did not notice until I watched Apollo 13 last night, so I guess I'll be inviting him back for another visit. :rolleyes

 

[Jack Briggs]

Why not do a multipoint convergence yourself? No waiting for the repair person, and you'll probably be more careful and precise than he or she would.

 

[Rain]

If you would care to provide instructions as to how to do that (and by the way, it can only be done via the service menu), I'm all ears....

 

[CameronS]

Hey Rain,

Which TV did you get again?

 

[CameronS]

Nevermind, I checked my PMs from awhile back when I asked you this before :wink:.

It's the Sony KP51WS500. Let me see if I can find the service menu codes for this one because you can go ahead and do this yourself. I do it for my Toshiba all the time. You might also want to eventually get a template for it which makes it much easier and more accurate.

 

[Rain]

Um, ok. If you can find something, that's cool.

But is it as complicated as it seems?

In any case, I've already booked an appointment for him to come back, but it would be nice to be able to "tweak" it myself if needed later.

 

[Philip_G]

it usually isn't complicated rain, it's a matter of looking at a grid projected by all 3 guns, if they line up the lines are white, if the blue is off you see a blue shadow, pretty simple if your TV allows it. My mitsu has it right in the setup menu, but even some other mitsus of the same year don't.. Dunno a darn thing about your sony, sorry

I have not heard of this template thing mentioned, could you elaborate?

 

[Rain]

Yah, I understand the concept...just don't know how to adjust the guns via the service menu.

 

[Clinton McClure]

Philip, I've seen a template used on an older RPTV which did not have a convergence grid onscreen, only a + in the middle of the screen. I would think you'd turn off each gun separately and converge them using the grid as an overlay. This is what I do to converge mine, only I have an onscreen grid brought up in the service menu.

PS, it can sometimes be a pain in the ass to try a convergence on my Toshiba because it has a plexi screen protector and I get a bit of a reflection on the backside of the protector and the light onscreen seems to spread out more than it should. I've heard of people taking the protector off to perform the convergence then putting it back on. The next full convergence mine is gonna get will be by an ISF tech and I'm going to have them leave the screen protector off. Perhaps Greg L. could add more to this discussion...

 

[Rain]

I think I can do a decent job without a template.

I know how to call up the grid...and it has numerous points...I should be able to get pretty good convergence using it.

 

[Philip_G]

I know what you mean Clinton, my scratch guard makes the lines look "fuzzy" so I have to adjust for an equal bit of blue on either side kind of thing, very difficult. My TV has both the spot convergence (the + in the middle) and the grid convergence. That grid sounds handy, might have to find one

dunno about your TV rain, but on mine I use the remote, move from intersection to intersection, and use the arrows to move the gun L/R U/D, maybe your's is similar? good luck!

 

[CameronS]

Philip,

A template is basically a piece of plastic that has the convergence grid printed on it. You place it over your TV screen.

Its purpose is not to set the convergence, but to adjust geometry. With the grid having perfectly straight lines, you line up the green gun to the template, and then the other guns to the green one.

Alot of people make their own template (there are a variety of ways to do so) but I bought mine from someone.

I said earlier that this was an easier method, when in reality it takes more effort. What is easy is getting good geometry and convergence with a template.

 

[Philip_G]

ah, I see. Yes, my geometry is all out of whack
Not sure I can move the green gun on my tv, perhaps in the service menus, I'm really not sure. The normal point convergence is R and B only, come to think of it.

as a side note, my R convergence was going crazy a year ago, it would jump all over the place until the tv was VERY warm (4+ hours) so I reseated the red convergence board, problem solved hehe. Just thought I'd share.