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[email protected] jurb6006@gmail.com is offline
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Default Sony SLV-780 Resurrecting The Beast

"Don't you find watching old tapes on a modern TV painful? "

I find new shows and movies much worse. They switch the video so much so fast that you can't see anything. Flashing on the screen - ifit was red and blue you would think you sre getting stopped by the cops. Thoroughly annoying, as if some little kid is working the board. Not to mention effects that almost make you think your TV is malfunctioning. And they can't seem to get the picture size and aspect ratio right on some channels. Plus there is no creativity anymore. Simply unwatchable.

"I've gone down that route, and the picture quality stinks, even with very good equipment. Unless the screen is small, and even then..... "


The picture quality was fine for most of my life. On my projo KPR36XBR the display from the Sony SLV920HF had the smallest test I ever saw on a standard NTSC TV. On that set it was sharp and clear. I had aligned the COMB filter to perfection. The convergence was perfect. It was actually better than a direct view. Even though the screen pitch of the lenticular wasn't that fine, each section reproduced all colors in the exact same space, a color CRT can't do that. In the stores they had these things right next to the direct views and they looked as good except for the vertical viewing angle. The horizontal viewing angle was about 170 degrees or something like that. The small text was broken up on a direct view, my projo reproduced it perfectly, and that is without even an SVHS (Y/C) input.

The Sony VHS video performance is superb, for standard HQ VHS it is only surpassed by beta. Of course later formats were better, higher frequency video carriers on the tape, less white clipping and compression, and a few other things. With only SVHS it only went through COMB filter instead of 3. Now that I am more used to the Y/C input I am even more sensitive to a poor COMB filter.

But the quality is actually fine. I don't even have an HDTV anyway, and don't really want one. I can't see much difference unless it is very large screen anyway. My sister has an HDTV in the upstairs apartment, I can always watch that but I don't see enough difference to make it worth it. Maybe she does because she has better eyesight.

I remember fixing VCRs, I did alot of them. On soem I had to call the customer and give them the bad news that fixing theirs would cost almost what a new one would be. Some of them OKed the job, why ?

For one they finally learned to work the timer. Those were the days when you could use that, now you have to rent a DVR to effectively record or you are stuck to one channel until you physically go and change it. That would have been nice when there were good programs on. Now it is hard to find anything worth watching. Back then though sometimes there were multiple things on at the same time. With multiple VCRs and raw cable you could do it, and not worry about losing everything in a crash. You had the physical tape out of the machine.

It wore out, sometimes the machine would damage them, they had their drawbacks, but for what I want they fit. I also have a turntable that plays 78s. A Dual 1216, a decent quality one. I bet you would have to go at least a mile to find another one who can play a 78. And I can transfer it to the PC and burn it to a CD. I don't really play 78s, but I do play some vinyl once in a while. And on audio forums (fora ?) there are people who have $ 10,000 turntables, soem even more. It does have a certain quality to it, though that might not be so objective. However there is onre thing, the frequency response does not drop like a rock right at 20 KHz, it rolls off smoothly. Some people may be able to hear the difference. In fact I was reading that some people can actually see light wavelengths that others can't. Into the UV or IR or whatever. They might be the people with superior night vision. My buddy is like that. We were walking out in the stix and he had no problem, I was practically blind.

My ex-boss could see the numbers on planes in flight. Later though he needed reading glasses. He was a licensed pilot, something I would have loved to do but I was born with bad eyes. I was about to join the air force like my Father and Uncle but found out that I was not likely to ever fly because I needed glasses.

Last but not least, most of what I watch was originally recorded in standard NTSC. There is no way to get back the lost quality of that system. There is only one system worse in the world, the old one they used in the USSR. Every other country in the world either has NTSC, and many have something better. Well had, with digital that is all out the window.

Everything I own is over 10 years old except my PCs and printer, and they are getting close. And I like it.