Are PC-Based color bar generators worth having ?

Fred Mau

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Dec 7, 2004, 12:51:43 AM12/7/04

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I was into TV repair back in the late '70s and early '80s so I know the
principles but have since moved on to other things (Industrial Automation,
but that's another story) , haven't done any serious TV repair in 20+ years.
Now I've gotten ahold of a second-hand Sony VPH-1020 3-gun CRT projector
that I think I could turn into a decent home theater projector. It's
functional but in need of a good thorough alignment. I can handle that,
first thing I need is a color bar generator.

THE QUESTION IS, are the PC-Based color bar generator programs worth using ?
Or do I need to just bite the bullet and buy a "real" color bar generator
box ?

The PC I'd be using for this would be a recent model Dell Latitude C640
laptop that has composite and S-video outputs.

Thanks for any advice.

- FM -

Fred Mau

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Dec 7, 2004, 12:55:07 AM12/7/04

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"Fred Mau" <fred-d...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:Oxbtd.621666$mD.159916@attbi_s02...

Forgot to mention, the software I was thing of using was
http://www.itworks.com/products/DVDref-suite.htm

- FM -

Art

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Dec 7, 2004, 5:42:57 AM12/7/04

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Make use of one on a daily basis and have found it very handy and easy to
implement since the laptop have both S-Video and Composite Video output.
Also in some applications use the SVGA connector to connect to some of the
equipment, only limitations is the fact the item does not output HDTV
Quality Signals.

"Fred Mau" <fred-d...@comcast.net> wrote in message

news:_Abtd.723977$8_6.55678@attbi_s04...

Asimov

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Dec 7, 2004, 10:15:52 AM12/7/04

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"Fred Mau" bravely wrote to "All" (07 Dec 04 05:51:43)
--- on the heady topic of "Are PC-Based color bar generators worth having ?"

FM> From: "Fred Mau" <fred-d...@comcast.net>

FM> I was into TV repair back in the late '70s and early '80s so I know
FM> the principles but have since moved on to other things (Industrial
FM> Automation, but that's another story) , haven't done any serious TV
FM> repair in 20+ years. Now I've gotten ahold of a second-hand Sony
FM> VPH-1020 3-gun CRT projector that I think I could turn into a decent
FM> home theater projector. It's functional but in need of a good thorough
FM> alignment. I can handle that, first thing I need is a color bar
FM> generator.
FM> THE QUESTION IS, are the PC-Based color bar generator programs worth
FM> using ? Or do I need to just bite the bullet and buy a "real" color
FM> bar generator box ?

FM> The PC I'd be using for this would be a recent model Dell Latitude
FM> C640 laptop that has composite and S-video outputs.

FM> Thanks for any advice.

The movie Nemo has a good number of test patterns and colour bars in
the setup menus. If you have it or rent it this could be useful.

A*s*i*m*o*v

... A stereo system is the altar to the god of music.

Isaac Wingfield

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Dec 8, 2004, 12:20:17 AM12/8/04

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In article <Oxbtd.621666$mD.159916@attbi_s02>,
"Fred Mau" <fred-d...@comcast.net> wrote:

On many PCs, the "TV" output is not completely "legal" NTSC. Frequently,
the color subcarrier, horizontal, and vertical signals are not all
locked together as they should be. If they are not, you'll get interlace
errors and color crawl. The color bars would be wrong, too.

Isaac