Yet another Cinematronics monitor problem

Paladin

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Yet another Cinematronics monitor problem solved

I recently picked up an Armor Attack, and after cleaning it up I finally got a chance to play it. It has a revision G monitor chassis, and an Amprex tube with some center phosphor loss.

What I noticed was that the high intensity vectors were very blurry and looked like double vision. I turned the brightness down and the blur/double image went away, but so did all the low intensity vectors.

I've only just started doing research on the monitor including the excellent Cinematronics vector monitor FAQ. It seems to me that the problem is either a failing HV unit, a problem in the intensity circuit or the tube needs a rejuve or replace.

I made a video, and although not exactly clear it first shows the brightness turned down so you can't see the low intensity vectors like the tank treads, damage debris or score text. I then crank up the brightness so the low intensity vectors show up, but the high intensity ones get blurred/doubled. I then turn it down to a point where you can make out the low intensity vectors and the high intensity is starting to blur.

I've got a new HV box on the way, since it seems like a good thing to have either way. I think I'll ask one of the local area collectors if they can try a rejuve to see what that does.

I wanted to post this to see if anyone had experienced this issue and what the fix was, as well as to document it for the future. The video is below, and was recorded in 720p at 60fps.
 
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I installed the NOS Keltron HV unit today, and it made no difference.

I found a thread on the Vectorlist Archives from 2009 where someone had the same problem, but no solution was ever posted.

--UPDATE--
I emailed the person from the Vectorlist, and he replied back that he ended up swapping the tube for another used one and still had the problem. He then swapped in a new tube and that took care of it.
 
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sounds like you might need to rejuv the tube. I did my Amperex tube a week ago. Looks like a million bucks now

Andrew
 
+1 on rejuve.

The problem with old tubes ... or Amperex tubes (wrt Cine games) is that you have to crank the intensity to get a bright picture, which overdrives the high intensity vectors and make them look "thick" (vs. "brighter").

Short of getting a new tube, I'd just go with the rejuve.

on a longshot, make sure the yoke is seated correctly against the tube.
 
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Sunday I'll be bringing the monitor to Blinddog's place to try a rejuve. If that doesn't work he's got a spare tube we can swap.

I'll update next week with the results.
 
The rejuve definately did the trick! It didn't quite bring it back to 'like new', but it improved it so much that I'm perfectly happy with it.

The emmisions tested well into the 'bad' area of the meter. The rejuve sparked a heck of a lot of crud off, and then it tested in the 'good'.

A different tube may improve it a bit, but it wouldn't be worth the hassle of swapping for the slight improvement I'd likely get out of it.

Now if the rain would just let up and the temps rise a bit I could finish repainting the metal brackets and call it done!
 
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