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  #1  
Old 06-26-2017, 03:29 AM
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lnx64 lnx64 is offline
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Apex 20" Weird Geometry Issue

Ok another TV I pulled from my storage. It was working when it went in, but is having an issue when pulled out. (This storage had a water leak and spider infestation----Public storage paid up, but in cash to me, not to get repaired--it was a climate controlled unit).

This is one of those cheap Apex TV's, but, I have to say, it has a pretty damn good picture actually. It's an S-Video monitor too, and it does it very very well. No blooming in the CRT, and it's very strong.. The CRT I'm not sure who makes it, I should check.

I tried powering it up to check the raster since the storage incident, and it has a small strange issue.. The orange square in this picture represents the shape of the raster, and I'm not sure where to go from there.. It's "lifted" from the bottom right bottom of the screen. I'm almost thinking maybe transporting it in the car caused the problem, but there's no purity problem like I'd expect if the yoke say, came lose.

http://i.imgur.com/dTbcltt.jpg

Ideas? This is the last TV from storage that needs any real work. I hate to be honest, but I kind of want to set this TV up in my bedroom again rather than the 19" in my signature. This is the only CRT TV I have with the strongest and best picture. And despite it being from 2002 (I bought this when I was in high school, first TV I ever bought with my own money), it oddly is the only post 1980's TV I have which renders Super Mario Brothers' sky on NES as cyan blue, and not purple, like most NTSC sets that are 90's and newer. So I definitely would like to utilize this TV for retro gaming.
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Old 06-30-2017, 09:11 AM
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lnx64 lnx64 is offline
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I was able to fix it by adjusting the yoke.. It has some slight vertical linearity issue, but I can't fix that without the service menu code. All codes I find expect me to hold down MUTE on the TV, but this TV doesn't have a physical mute button, so I can't exactly do that command.

http://i.imgur.com/pLy5RRn.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/tPfhdX9.jpg
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  #3  
Old 07-02-2017, 08:39 PM
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lnx64 lnx64 is offline
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Ok I give up, anyone have a service menu code or manual for that matter that isn't only schematics, for a GT2011s? Thanks in advance.
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Old 07-02-2017, 10:45 PM
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dishdude dishdude is offline
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No one fixed these when they were new, they were a throwaway Wal-mart set.
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  #5  
Old 07-03-2017, 06:52 AM
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lnx64 lnx64 is offline
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I know, but like how most people consider our vintage sets throwaways these days, I kinda just want to make some final adjustments. This one still works, it just needs vertical linearity touched up and the white balance corrected.

The service manual exists somewhere, I just can't find it.
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Old 07-03-2017, 09:23 AM
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zeno zeno is offline
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Try the menu through the remote.
Also try the menu for the last RCA TV's IIRC they
had the same chassis.
The vert almost always a cap UNLESS the Eprom data
got corrupted.
These sets had a surprisingly good pix but near zero
for parts & manuals. A throw away built with overrun parts
before being changed to different surplus parts.

73 Zeno
LFOD !
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  #7  
Old 07-03-2017, 10:02 AM
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Eric H Eric H is offline
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Apex is a synonym for Zenith, coincidence?
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Old 07-03-2017, 10:56 AM
dieseljeep dieseljeep is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zeno View Post
Try the menu through the remote.
Also try the menu for the last RCA TV's IIRC they
had the same chassis.
The vert almost always a cap UNLESS the Eprom data
got corrupted.
These sets had a surprisingly good pix but near zero
for parts & manuals. A throw away built with overrun parts
before being changed to different surplus parts.

73 Zeno
LFOD !
My niece wanted to give me a 27" Apex. That set looked to me, to have a bad CRT, even when new! IT never had, what I considered a good color picture. To me, it had that gassy look.
They took it to BB, when they were taking TV's for recycling, N/C.
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Old 07-03-2017, 11:14 AM
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lnx64 lnx64 is offline
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The vertical linearity is not the caps (I wish it was that easy), I tested all of them, they are perfect. It's a rather low hour set I used to use. I do remember it always doing this, just was never setup properly in the factory, just like the geometry which I fixed by working on the yoke. I'm lucky the S-amp (I think that's what it's called?) was perfectly set, so it has really no horizontal distortion in moving objects, due to the flat faced lens on the tube.

I'm really hoping someone will find the service menu code. There's only one I find online, and that's Volume to 0, hit mute, then press and hold mute while holding menu on the TV for 3 seconds. That doesn't work either, just like the other one where you hit mute on the set itself, which this TV doesn't even have that button on the set.

It appears this TV is a clone of a Sony set, as it looks blatantly like a copy of a Sony from around the same time. But as zeno said, it's a really good picture on it otherwise, I'm surprised at how well it is.
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  #10  
Old 07-03-2017, 03:53 PM
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zeno zeno is offline
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I have NEVER seen a mute button on the TV, only the remote.
Try the procedure with the OEM remote if you have it or a
universal that emulates the needed buttons. In the olden
days instructions were often written in "Janglish" & not make
sense or be just plain wrong to us.
It is a kind of Sony clone on the outside. The CRT may even
be a Wega jug but a grade B or C overrun. This set is also a
perfect example of why the TV biz ended. Nobody to call at the
factory even for minor tech questions & the sellers just scrapped
them NOT fixed them under warranty.

73 Zeno
LFOD ! GBA !
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  #11  
Old 07-03-2017, 04:57 PM
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lnx64 lnx64 is offline
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Believe it or not, it's a Samsung tube in this set.. No Trinitron sadly, I wish, but it's pretty good when focussed properly. Here's a side by side of the Sony this set is a clone of: http://i.imgur.com/Yw91dsh.png

I tried with a universal remote that properly sends the correct codes, but it wouldn't work. It's responding to the button properly when held down (not like how I've seen cheap remotes which just send the command rapidly, it's properly sending it as held down).

But yea sad but true, this is precisely around when I stopped seeing parts being available. Even for VCR's, you couldn't even find a video drum if needed for anything newer than 2001.

What IS funny though regarding this set, it does have a Sony IC in it on a daughter card towards the left of the set. I have the schematics to the TV and might be able to determine what it is. It's not the jungle IC that's for certain, it's a CXA part, maybe for NTSC decoding. (EDIT: Note: "US Audio Multiplexing Decoder")

The issue is so minor however, I might just ignore it, it's not like my Samsung 80's set is without issue on it's own (tired tube, not very bright).

Last edited by lnx64; 07-03-2017 at 05:07 PM.
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  #12  
Old 07-05-2017, 09:23 PM
centralradio centralradio is offline
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You probably could put a request for a free service manual over at www.freeservicemanuals.net/. The boys and gals probably have one there.Its free to signup .My first DVD player was a Apex 600 from Circuit City. .It works great until I push it aside when I got my Panasonic DVD recorder.

Last edited by centralradio; 07-05-2017 at 09:31 PM.
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  #13  
Old 07-05-2017, 09:28 PM
centralradio centralradio is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dishdude View Post
No one fixed these when they were new, they were a throwaway Wal-mart set.
Durabrand was Walmarts other throwaway set.Afraid to say these sets probably outlast the current flat screens.I find them at the curb and nothing wrong with them except replacing the snipped power cord.
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Old 07-18-2017, 10:50 AM
dieseljeep dieseljeep is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by centralradio View Post
Durabrand was Walmarts other throwaway set.Afraid to say these sets probably outlast the current flat screens.I find them at the curb and nothing wrong with them except replacing the snipped power cord.
Most Durabrand sets seemed to be Funai's. I also seen Emersons, Sylvanias and Philips-Magnavox built by them. TV's seemed to be alright, VCR's, DVD's not so hot!
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  #15  
Old 07-18-2017, 07:10 PM
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Apex's were a crap shoot. Easy stuff like caps and chips were easy to get, but appearance items and remotes, no deal. The Navy Exchange sold their DVD players at first, but found no factory support, and had to quit selling them. With the chip complement, you could use the Sams Chip guide to home in on a chassis that was a close cousin. As Zeno pointed out, some were identical in layout to some of the M134C RCA sets - the chassis were Taiwan or China-produced, and matched with whatever bulb they could get cheap from suppliers, usually a Samsung or Clinton. We had to quit working them, as the 20" and 26" sets were 88 dollars and 104 dollars each at Walmart here. When they quit selling them, the cheapo Sanyos were next - the last "bang" in the big screen NTSC sets at Walmart.

The switchmode supplies in them were an easy fix - the standby regulator IC, maybe the TL431, or the PC817 coupler. The scan derived power supply caps were also often-replaced items. I don't recall replacing or cloning an EEPROM for any of those sets.

Look on the CRT below the yoke - are there circles or dots of glue where one of the Pincushion correction magnets fell off? The yoke rubber wedges also fell off occasionally, but you'd really see that as a pull-up/down from the bottom/top of the screen issue.
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