is there any hope for repairing an old black & white tv?

[Ashleyyyy]

so i got this lovely black & white tv for 13 euro today. 

 

it works. kinda. i plugged a VCR into it, tuned it in and to my surprise i get a picture and sound. however the top half of it flashes bad and is warped. i took a picture of the intro of a VHS tape and you can see how warped it is at the top. 

 

 

is there any hope for fixing the warping and the flickering at the top? or should i just leave it as it is? 

 

i already tried blowing the dust out with compressed air and there was quite a lot in it so that's not the issue. 

[Hip]

Yes, it is possible to fix this. But I think you need to change the tube light at all.

I may be wrong. Hope someone here is a professional  

[Turtle Rig]

You can sell this thing on ebay as vintage tech... Or donate it to salvation army lol,

[Unimportant]

47 minutes ago, firelighter487 said:

so i got this lovely black & white tv for 13 euro today. 

 

it works. kinda. i plugged a VCR into it, tuned it in and to my surprise i get a picture and sound. however the top half of it flashes bad and is warped. i took a picture of the intro of a VHS tape and you can see how warped it is at the top. 

 

 

is there any hope for fixing the warping and the flickering at the top? or should i just leave it as it is? 

 

i already tried blowing the dust out with compressed air and there was quite a lot in it so that's not the issue. 

It might not be broken. The synchronisation a VCR outputs isn't exactly what it ought to be. Newer TV's compensate for this automatically. Older TV's had a special channel for VCR's. Using any other channel then this special channel resulted in what you're seeing. Even older TV's don't have any compensation at all and can't be used with a VCR. The dutch wiki page for VCR has a reference to this https://nl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videorecorder#Synchronisatie

[Ashleyyyy]

26 minutes ago, Mr. horse said:

Can I get a video of whats it doing? or a photo of it displaying a test screen? Some VHS tapes have a test screen on the end of them.

i don't have a tape with a test screen iirc... and i own 87 tapes. 

 

27 minutes ago, Mr. horse said:

I can't tell for sure whats wrong as I do not now what the image on the screen is suppose to look like.

this is the same image on my good CRT. as you can see, at the top the lines are nice and straight. 

28 minutes ago, Mr. horse said:

If your also ok with it open it up and post of photo of the neck board area where the adjusters are on the back of the tube.

i'm scared of shocks... i'll only do that when my dad has time to help me. 

[Ashleyyyy]

42 minutes ago, Turtle Rig said:

You can sell this thing on ebay as vintage tech...

i don't want to. the whole reason i bought it is because i'm into retro tech, especially CRT's and anything you can plug into them like old consoles and VCR's. 

[Ashleyyyy]

Just now, Mr. horse said:

Do you have anything else to plug into the TV ?

another VCR... the image of my good CRT was done using a different VCR... 

 

Just now, Mr. horse said:

Also try swapping the channels around.

how? i don't have remote controls for the VCR's... 

 

also one thing you should know, when i first turn the tv on everything is fine. it's a little bit warped but nowhere near as bad as it is when it's been power up for a while. 

[Ashleyyyy]

1 minute ago, Mr. horse said:

OK if it get worse after heating up it very well could be need the CRT geometry adjusted.

and the controls for that are inside?

 

if you can tell me what to look for i could open it up when my dad has time to help me... 

[Ashleyyyy]

@Mr. horse thank you so much for all this help already. 

 

i asked my dad and it will take a week or 2 before he has time to help me with this. i'll report back once we tried adjusting it. 

[Ashleyyyy]

Just now, Mr. horse said:

I would get a few other things to plug into it and see if you get the same problem. if you have a old atari 2600 or late 70s game console give that a try.

i plan to get one of those... 

 

but if i try the VHS player that works fine with my other CRT and plug it into this and it's still the same problem would that be enough to say that it is the TV?

[Ashleyyyy]

@Mr. horse i tried my good VCR on this tv, and it has the same issue. i've tried 2 different tapes and still the same problem. 

[Ashleyyyy]

1 hour ago, Mr. horse said:

But that TV may not work with the VCR. Some old TV's do not use the same input range that a newer VCR would output. I have a TV from 78 that has a switch on it to switch from UHF, VHF and some sort of CCTV inputs. I have to toggle the switch to use some channels over cable and when using some devices. 

Also try switching around channels on the TV. The VCR may be outputting on channel 4 and you have the TV on channel 3 or vice versa.

the VCR works best on the last channel (the lowest button)

 

1 hour ago, Mr. horse said:

whats is all those dials on the TV for? I can't make it out from the photo.

for tuning. the 7 buttons allow you to tune into 7 different channels and you turn the dial to tune into them. there are no channels on the TV at all. 

[Ashleyyyy]

36 minutes ago, Mr. horse said:

That would explain alot, there is probably nothing wrong with the TV but rather the TV does not like the VHS player.

I would play around with the dials and try to tune into the VHS player better. Its likely not the geometry but rather the way the TV is built.

 

i see... so opening it up is pointless then?

[Ashleyyyy]

4 minutes ago, Mr. horse said:

I would investigate the VHS players compatibility with the TV at this point.

how could i verify this? get something else to plug into the tv and try that?

 

can i try a composite to RF converter and plug a PS2 or N64 into it? would that work?

[Ashleyyyy]

3 hours ago, Mr. horse said:

Does this TV have a coax input? Or dose it have screw terminals for an antenna

it has coax. it has an antenna built in as well but no screw terminals. 

[Ashleyyyy]

10 hours ago, Mr. horse said:

can the antenna be removed?

Nope. It’s possible I could disconnect it inside but i’ll Figure that out when I open it up.