New 8liners monitor - headaches

jimbodeanny

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Where do I begin...?

Well, I bought an 8liners 19" monitor to replace the POS WG4500 that was previously in the Frogger I'm fixing up. After throwing it in and powering the game up, I was thrown off by a few very annoying issues (aren't they all?)

The first thing I noticed was that there was degaussing problems - or at least I had the game in the exact WRONG spot in my baseball (as you can see with the color blotches.) I was able to eliminate a good portion of it by rotating the cabinet a bit, but there was still some discoloration. Anyways, this isn't a big issue for me at the moment.

The next thing (and one of the biggest issues) was how the picture seemed to curl/cave towards the lower right. It looks like the someone pinched the picture in the lower right half of the screen. I played with a ton of the adjustments (h. pos, v. pos, v. hold, h. hold, you name it.) I even twisted the yoke slightly which didn't really fix the problem much. On the Wei-ya chassis there was a pin cushion spot next to the h. pos pot, but no pot in the place (only the holes for the pot.) So no luck there :(

The last major issue revolved around the focus and text. The text at the very top of the picture seemed to have, what looked like color ghosting (it looked like there where slight drop shadows of red and green.) I played with the color adjustments, turning the red gain on the chassis down as well as the red cutoff on the neck board. I also played with the brightness (on the flyback). It helped a tad, but not enough to eliminate it. It only appeared this way near the top. The bottom 2/3 of the picture was fine. I also had trouble with the focus. Again, the text in the lower half looked fine, but the further up the picture, the softer the text was and looked out of focus.

I'm not sure where to begin on this fother mucker. Ideas? Suggestions? Should I try to get an exchange chassis/monitor from 8liners?

Thanks

-Jim
 

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Where do I begin...?

Well, I bought an 8liners 19" monitor to replace the POS WG4500 that was previously in the Frogger I'm fixing up. After throwing it in and powering the game up, I was thrown off by a few very annoying issues (aren't they all?)

The first thing I noticed was that there was degaussing problems - or at least I had the game in the exact WRONG spot in my baseball (as you can see with the color blotches.) I was able to eliminate a good portion of it by rotating the cabinet a bit, but there was still some discoloration. Anyways, this isn't a big issue for me at the moment.

The next thing (and one of the biggest issues) was how the picture seemed to curl/cave towards the lower right. It looks like the someone pinched the picture in the lower right half of the screen. I played with a ton of the adjustments (h. pos, v. pos, v. hold, h. hold, you name it.) I even twisted the yoke slightly which didn't really fix the problem much. On the Wei-ya chassis there was a pin cushion spot next to the h. pos pot, but no pot in the place (only the holes for the pot.) So no luck there :(

The last major issue revolved around the focus and text. The text at the very top of the picture seemed to have, what looked like color ghosting (it looked like there where slight drop shadows of red and green.) I played with the color adjustments, turning the red gain on the chassis down as well as the red cutoff on the neck board. I also played with the brightness (on the flyback). It helped a tad, but not enough to eliminate it. It only appeared this way near the top. The bottom 2/3 of the picture was fine. I also had trouble with the focus. Again, the text in the lower half looked fine, but the further up the picture, the softer the text was and looked out of focus.

I'm not sure where to begin on this fother mucker. Ideas? Suggestions? Should I try to get an exchange chassis/monitor from 8liners?

Thanks

-Jim

Call there tech support and see what they say, you can tell they are cheaply made though
 
Funny thing is, I bought this one because the 25" monitor I bought from them has been great in my TMNT. Although I think it has a different brand chassis in it (Jen Shinn or something.) It works perfect, unlike this one. I'll try calling them.
 
Left picture: the convergence is off (yoke slighty out of position).

Other pictures: you need to manually degauss the picture tube with a hand held degaussing coil.
 
Left picture: the convergence is off (yoke slighty out of position).

Other pictures: you need to manually degauss the picture tube with a hand held degaussing coil.

When you say the convergence is off, are you referring to the issue with the color ghosting on the text? How should I fix the yoke position?

Any idea in regards to the curling/caving of the picture?

Thanks!
 
What does a bad shadow mask mean and how would I go about fixing it? Also, Ken how should I adjust the yoke?

I'm still waiting to hear back from Victor at 8liners.

Thanks guys

-Jim
 
The last new one I got had a bent shadow mask. Probably from shipping. You can't fix it.

http://www.monitorworld.com/faq_pages/q27_page.html

Hopefully all you need is a good degauss, and a slight yoke alignment.

Mine was much worse than yours, and it had bad caps to boot.

TV%20Tube%20Swap%20002.jpg
 
Last edited:
The only solution for a bum shadow mask is a new tube.

Edward (some call me Babs!)

Great...it's been a good news day lol.

Although, I DID finish my Centipede Cabaret and it looks frickin AWESOME, but still...
 
UPDATE:

Exchanged a few emails with Victor at 8liners. He wants me to first try degaussing the monitor with a coil (which I have and will do this afternoon.) If that doesn't help everything, he's asking me to send just the chassis and he will send me a new CRT with the chassis. I figure that's fair and not bad customer service on his part.
 
Again?!

UPDATE:

So a few days ago I received a replacement CRT/tube from Victor with the same chassis I sent him (the same chassis that originally came with the first monitor he sent me.) I wired it up, turned it on and guess what? Almost the exact same problem, with distortion on the right side of the screen. It wasn't AS bad, but the picture on the far right (maybe an 1/8") appears to curl down and bend just like with the other monitor, while the "Sega/Gremlin 1981" seems to slightly arc upwards.

I emailed Victor and he recommended that I try the monitor on a different game since he did not experience this problem there. I didn't have any other boards to test this on, so I used the old bootleg Frogger board I had. The problem appeared on both the bootleg board as well as the original Frogger board I had.

I was thinking about this issue all the way to work today and it occurred to me that the Sega/Frogger cabinet I have has an isolation transformer in it that the monitor is wired to. I believe this 8liners/Wei-ya monitor doesn't require one. Is it possible that having this monitor connected to the isolation transformer could be causing the issue? Should I try running a full 120VAC into it or wouldn't that make a difference?
 
The isolation transformer really shouldn't matter - it's not going to affect the picture unless it's right next to the tube.

Have you degaussed the monitor yet? Try that first.

Perhaps there is something in your cabinet that's magnetized and affecting the picture? Try removing the monitor, setting it on a milk crate behind the game and see what the picture looks like.

-Ian
 
That's probably what he meant by try it with a different came. Try it in a different cab if you can or just pull it out and try it like Retro said.
 
I've degaussed the monitor with a coil and it fixed the colors, but that's it. The replacement monitor that recently came has been sitting in the back, outside of the cabinet. I don't want to throw it in the cabinet until I know it's going to work right. I'm about ready to give up on this stupid monitor. It's because of this that this Frogger resto has been so delayed.

I've got a G07 I picked up a while back that was working, but when I wired it up and turned it on, something popped (probably a flyback?) and nothing - no neck glow, no B+, etc. Maybe I'll try rebuilding the chassis or get a different one and use that instead.

The old WG4500 monitor that was in there when I picked up the cabinet didn't seem to have the problems that the 8liners/Wei-ya monitor seems to have. Granted, it had other issues and was a POS, but still. How frustrating. Why can't these monitors just be simple like a computer monitor?!
 
The old WG4500 monitor that was in there when I picked up the cabinet didn't seem to have the problems that the 8liners/Wei-ya monitor seems to have. Granted, it had other issues and was a POS, but still. How frustrating. Why can't these monitors just be simple like a computer monitor?!

They are. In fact, they're *much* simpler than a computer monitor. They're just old and have seen a lot of use, that's all. And the new ones are so cheaply made, that anything is possible.

The 4500 may look daunting, but it's not a bad monitor. I'd just go ahead and fix it up. IMHO, the old monitors work better than these cheap new ones anyway :)

But yeah - try that new monitor on another game. I know you have other games.

-Ian
 
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