I have played my really old laserdisc player on my old tvs before and never had a problem, so tried my Sony dvd player with Revenge of the Sith on my ctc-10 tonight and get these stupid 'data' lines. (see pic) Tried other discs, same thing. They appear for 15 seconds, then fade away for 5 seconds, etc etc. They only appear if a disc is playing, not when the player is in screensaver mode. And when they are on screen they give me a nasty sound buzz too. The picture and sound are gorgeous if not for these damn lines. If I turn the contrast waaaay down they almost go away... but then so does the picture quality!
I'm running the dvd signals thru rca cables into a little ac/powered video-to-rf gizmo and a coax from that to the tv's antenna splitter.
Am I stuck with this? Would maybe a different player not do this, like maybe an older one that has a coax output on it? I know this happens on certain broadcast channels but thought it didn't happen with dvds. thanks!

I poked around and apparently it's the Macrovision on the dvds that is the culprit... plus I remembered I had a computer-made copy of a movie that my bro-in-law made for me, and it didn't have the lines, looked fantastic. So sounds like to eliminate it I would have to make copies the way he did on my own computer (I haven't tried doing that yet), I'll find out how he did it. In the words of Emily Latella, "Never mind"!
Frenchy

Yes I get the same results with my DVD's that have the copy protection on them... but I think my set dispays about half what yours is displaying. If you have any DVDs that arent copy protected, they will play fine without the lines.

Making copies of the DVD will help. You can leave the protection program off the copy and it will play without the lines. A friend of mine burned some DVDs for me and threw out the protection program... worked like a champ for my set.

I really don't like those retrace lines either. I have found that if you adjust the vert. hold, you can sometimes get them down to just 2 or 3 at the top of the screen. A while back I put up a modification to an electrostatic Motorola set (under "how can I tell if my 7JP4 is dead?" - in the B&W forum) which gets rid of these lines on those sets. It worked on my TS-4J. But most of the time I just wind up watching these "bad" DVDs on my Zenith System 3, as the 7JP4 in my Motorola is weak.
I mostly like to watch old TV shows on DVD on my old TVs, and at least so far most of these have been free of the dreaded retrace lines. Can you tell from the box if a DVD has the copy protection or not, I would like to avoid picking up anymore of these DVDs if I could.

Can you tell from the box if a DVD has the copy protection or not, I would like to avoid picking up anymore of these DVDs if I could.
Some boxes say they have "Quality Protection by Macrovision" on them, but most don't. I'd be very surprised if any commercially produced DVD didn't have protection. This is why DVD Shrink and ImgTool Burn are so popular. The lone exceptions seem to be some public service DVDs and some porn.
Tom
PS: That's a nice El Camino, Adam.

Well I recently bought my Wife a DVD/VHS recorder that was to allow my wife to convert all her old VHS tapes to DVD so we can save a little storage space around here. It works fine on tapes that don't have Macrovision encoded on them, but we found that only about one out of 10 tapes don't use the Macrovision copy protection. I did some research via goggle and as best I can determine Macrovision is pretty standard on most all VHS AND DVD commerical media regardless if it is maked such or not. That means on DVD disks there is digital copy protection (which seems to be breakable on PCs with the 'right' ripping software) and Macrovision copy protection to prevent making analog copies of DVD disks. To be fair to the new recorder it was clearly marked on the box and the manual that it would not record Macrovision encoded tapes.

Anyway I've ordered but not received a video stabilizer that is suppose to clean up the blanking/retrace pulse in any Macrovision encoded signal. Then I should be able to copy VHS/DVD from a upstream player into the new recorder via it's RCA video/audio input. I'll post the results after I receive the device if any one is interested.

http://www.checkhere22.com/stabilizer.html


Lefty

when the vcr first came out we had similar problems because the sync pulse generated on the vcr were lower than the old tube sets could handle, try using a video amplifier to boost the video level, the macrovision shouldn't really have any effect. I can still copy any movie on my beta-max.

<<<Anyway I've ordered but not received a video stabilizer that is suppose to clean up the blanking/retrace pulse in any Macrovision encoded signal. >>>

Yes please report what it does to protected dvds Macrovision lines, maybe I can get this thing and not have to burn a bunch of dvds! thanks

...

I had a so-called "video stabilizer" that was supposed to do that. It was probably a fraud. I never tried to copy tapes with it, but it wasnt very effective at removing the macrovision lines from the screen. It degraded color quality. I used it as a video modulator for about 6 months. Then it failed (I think). I hope you have better luck.

Copy protection on tapes is recorded on the tape. To get rid of it you have to have something to actually remove it. On DVDs, the copy protection is added on playback. It's also much brighter and more annoying to watch. Probably getting something that doesnt add it is the best solution. Certain Apex models can have it turned off, or the firmware replaced with some firmware that does not turn it on. There are some DVD recorders, too. Liteon maybe?

VHS is more trouble because it is already on the tape. They are just white pulses of varying amplitude in the first few lines of the picture. These lines are supposed to be black. The beam has not made it back up to the top of the picture during the first few lines. The white pulses show up as diagonal lines, out of convergence. There are some devices made for TV stations that replace the sync pulses, burst, and the first few black lines. These are used for trying to rescue high generation or just bad videotape. I havent tried this but it is probably expensive. Some standards converters can do this too, at about $700.

It might be possible to build something into the set to fix it. If you could keep the CRT blanked for the first few lines without affecting the rest of the picture, that might do it. I havent tried that, either.

Teletext causes the same problems, for the same reasons.

John

With DVDs with macrovision, there is a flag on the dvd that tells the player to output it or not. This copy protection crap is a pain. Yet another reason I hate the MPAA. I think your best bet is to get a player that can turn macrovision off somehow. A macrovision removal box might work, but they are hit and miss. I wouldn't buy a player that didn't allow macrovision to be disabled. I hate the MPAA, I hate with a passion. Since my 630TS is getting the better of me, I may just work on my CTC9 for a while.

Jonathan

I can still copy any movie on my beta-max.

Macrovision has never worked with Betamax; I think it's something to do with the auto gain recording level for video signals that Beta uses - yet another performance enhancement that VHS conveniently "left out" to give us the Crap-o-vision we know and love.

Speaking of which, my new (to me) Sony widescreen telly seems to have issues with Macrovision-encoded VHS tapes, despite the video being connected directly to the TV by a short (<1m) SCART (AV) cable. Real pain in the arse...

Although Macrovision since it was first used has been a PITA there is ways to get around it. I had some problems backing up some of my Laserdiscs when I tryed recording on my DVD recorder. Sharpness and colors were off. I started to do a little research and found the SIMA Color Corrector 2 did the job for me. It will eliminate any copyguard at this time on VHS, DVD. I tryed to record some of my Mr. Bill DVD's for a good friend and even my older smaller copyguard eliminator left thin yellow lines across the screen. SIMA will take care of that. Yeah it can be a little pricey, but if you are going to do alot of viewing and recording of Macrovision I would strongly suggest it. I dropped $200 locally for one just because I needed the option to take it back in case it didn't work for me or it encountered problems. You can adjust color blue,red,green-sharpness-contrast-tint-brightness. Has s-video & rca in/out can handle 4 inputs and is remote controlled. Its an amazing little unit that has worked for me now for about a year. When I transfer my Looney Tunes the colors are even brighter than the original in some instances. I have tryed those small hideaway types and they work for simple applications but if you require more control the Color Corrector is the way to go. Color Corrector is for VHS only the Color Corrector 2 or II is for DVD/VHS and can handle any Macrovision until blue ray arrives. I have read they will use an updated Macrovision for those. I have no affiliation with SIMA I just know it works and my friends are impressed with my transfers. :yes:

Below: SIMA SCC is for VHS only the second pis is SCC 2 for VHS/DVD

...

I think I'll just opt for another cheapo dvd player that can be hacked, the particular Sony I have now cannot be hacked according to that site with the secret codes I just looked at. This would be easier alternative than having to mess with a dvd copy every time or spend quite a bit more on that Sima thing, especially for purposes of just watching something on a roundie once in a while. thanks!

PS: That's a nice El Camino, Adam.

Thanks. Unfortunately, It is not one I have, more one that I want. It used to be my grandfather's. I really like those 59/60 GM full size models.
If I ever stop using my computer as a DVD player, and get a regular one, I might try one off that list too.

Hello Frenchy, I get the same damm thing watching my RCA CTC-5 with either VHS or DVD. I thinkk it's because signal sent to another room, weakens it , I'm also going to try Oldtvman's suggestion of antenna amplifier to boost signal. On same TV line, I also had a RCA CTC-36 that also worked perfectly, except experienced same retrace lines during vhs/dvd playback. Has any one had good luck with older tube antenna ampliers to go along with classic televisions??? :scratch2:

I was noticing the "AK Showcase" ads at the top of the page. It seems they change every time you open this page. One of them was listing a "video stabalizer" and I clicked on it to see what it said. The brief description sounds like it might be helpful in getting rid of the lines we encounter. Here's the link in case it's not showing up right now... http://www.stardevelopment.com/index.htm

It also says there is a money back guarantee, so if it doesn't work, it could be returned. Of course, you'd lose out on the shipping charges.

<<<Anyway I've ordered but not received a video stabilizer that is suppose to clean up the blanking/retrace pulse in any Macrovision encoded signal. >>>

Yes please report what it does to protected dvds Macrovision lines, maybe I can get this thing and not have to burn a bunch of dvds! thanks


Well the device arrived within 4 days of ordering. It seems to work just fine as a Macrovision remover. Installation is quick and simple as the unit is powered from an internal 9 volt battery that auto senses when a video signal is active on it's input. Suppost to be 2000 hr battery life.

So I have been copying both old commercial VHS tape and a few commercial DVDs just to see that it worked, and none have failed to copy. Now this allows only analog copying which is no big deal when dealing with less then outstanding quality of VHS tapes, however I suspect the DVD to DVD via analog losses some resolution, but is fine for my purposes which was to find a way to get rid of hundreds of VHS tape taking up so much room.

Lefty

...

For $59, I'll try classic tube antenna amp first, usually avail cheaper too.



Linky
http://cgi.ebay.com/GE-Power-Signal-Amplifier-Booster-Cable-Satellite-TV_W0QQitemZ5847141479QQcategoryZ39803QQrdZ1QQcmdZ ViewItem


I just bought antenna booster normally sells at Rat Shack for $34.95, I hesitated since price was high. Just bought it now for $5.95!!
Check these out, exact same as sold at store, much lower price.

:yes:

In the UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum there is a thread dealing with the same question: Watching TV on vintage sets...
http://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/showthread.php?t=6753

Will these gizmos also remove the standard upper retrace lines from non dvds? I just picked up 16 cool laserdiscs for a buck each (Star Wars, Alien, IMAX movies, Star Trek, that type of stuff) and some of them have the old annoying retrace lines like you can get on VHS. I am also going to be watching these on my big screen but wanna use the old roundies for them too occasionally especially the non-widescreen ones. Note this player only has a RF 'channel 3' coax output on it, not rca plugs, don't know if that would affect whether I can use a stabilizer or not. It has something called an "adapter output" but don't know what that is for.
I got lucky in that all of them have useable soundtracks on my ancient hulk of a laserdisc player, a Pioneer VP-1000. Years ago I rented a newer disc that I could only get the 'commentary' soundtrack out of and not the actual movie soundtrack due to how the soundtracks were formatted on the disc (a newer format that this old player is not compatible with.) Fortunately all these worked great on the old player.

Will these gizmos also remove the standard upper retrace lines from non dvds?
I have just got these gizmos kits. After I have assembled it, I will report here the results. I expect that it will remove the retrace lines from DVD video signals.

ancient hulk of a laserdisc player, a Pioneer VP-1000.

Yum yum - the first DECENT home Laserdisc player - careful with that gas laser as they don't last anywhere near as long as a laser diode. I'd LOVE to own one of those early Pioneer players.

The nearest we have in the UK is the pile of pants Philips LV700 (iirc) - now that REALLY IS a hulk!

Hey Frenchy, after reading your post , man I got to ask you this one question, WHY! Why in the world would you wand to view a DVD on these old sets to begin with! These old tvs don't have the resolution and technology to produce the fine details these players can offer. Maybe for nostalgic reason just to see what it looks like, okay but come on. :no:
Just my 2cents




I have played my really old laserdisc player on my old tvs before and never had a problem, so tried my Sony dvd player with Revenge of the Sith on my ctc-10 tonight and get these stupid 'data' lines. (see pic) Tried other discs, same thing. They appear for 15 seconds, then fade away for 5 seconds, etc etc. They only appear if a disc is playing, not when the player is in screensaver mode. And when they are on screen they give me a nasty sound buzz too. The picture and sound are gorgeous if not for these damn lines. If I turn the contrast waaaay down they almost go away... but then so does the picture quality!
I'm running the dvd signals thru rca cables into a little ac/powered video-to-rf gizmo and a coax from that to the tv's antenna splitter.
Am I stuck with this? Would maybe a different player not do this, like maybe an older one that has a coax output on it? I know this happens on certain broadcast channels but thought it didn't happen with dvds. thanks!

WHY! Why in the world would you wand to view a DVD on these old sets to begin with!

I realize you directed this question at Frenchy, but you might not yet realize that nearly everyone in these vintage television forums does the same thing- connecting DVD's, VCR's, Laser Disc, Satellite Boxes, or anything else to these sets. Of course, we do this so we can watch them like any other set. No, they do not produce the resolution of HDTV, but if you have one of them tuned well, they will produce a picture just as good as any standard tv. For some of us (such as myself), we play these sets as daily watchers.

In a way, watching these classic televisions is no different than driving a classic car. Sure... driving a brand new Mustang is great... but driving a 64 or 65 Mustang is great, too. The older Mustang won't handle, brake, or take off like a new one. Starting in the morning requires pumping the gas, a tune up requires more than simply changing plugs and wires, the fuel economy won't be as good. However, many people love them and drive them. The older car still gets you from point A to B... and in many cases, people will compliment you on an nice looking classic Mustang before they would on a brand new one.

If you ever have the opportunity to see one of these old sets in person, I think you'd be impressed. We post photos of our sets playing, but the photos don't always come out the best. Occassionally, I can capture a good photo from the screen, but it still isn't as good as seeing it in person. Below are two of my favorite screen shots. One from a DVD, and another from cable. Not bad considering the set is from 1966. However, it still looks better in person.

The whole point in fixing up an old set is not only for the fun and satisfaction you get out of it, but actually using the set like it was meant to be used. Granted, you won't get an HDTV picture, but you'll get a picture that is just as good as any modern tv. Even my portable transistor sony's look pretty good with a satellite box or dvd player feeding them. Connect a downsampled HDTV feed to them and they'll look wonderful. :)

Jonathan

They might surprise you how good they can look. In any event they have enough resolution that you can really tell the difference between a degraded signal and a good one. The biggest problem is finding a good enough source to show what they can really do!

I thought the opposite for some time, why put a DVD player ontop of one of my nice old TVs? Eventually, there were just too many times when there was nothing on TV I wanted to watch and I wanted to watch a TV, so I got some VCRs and started playing DVDs on my computer and connecting it to the TVs through the VCRs. Now I watch tapes or DVD much more often, because you can get alot of the old shows that I like on DVD.

Hi Charlie, I didn't look at it that way, I just got over my head when I replied.
You're right, like everything we vintage guys like to do with our toys. Again . you're correct - it's been a LONG time since I saw with my own eyes the sets from our past. I bet Walter Cronkite would look great in all of the members restored set's I've seeing on this forum. In fact, I own the Apollo launches of our space program when we were sending men to the moon Walter Cronkite's original CBS NEWS broadcast of Apollos 7 thru 14 with their original commericals - Western Electric. Apollos 15 thru Skylab launch was NBC NEWS with Frank McGee all on DVD as I transfered them from VHS tapes.






[QUOTE=Charlie]I realize you directed this question at Frenchy, but you might not yet realize that nearly everyone in these vintage television forums does the same thing- connecting DVD's, VCR's, Laser Disc, Satellite Boxes, or anything else to these sets. Of course, we do this so we can watch them like any other set. No, they do not produce the resolution of HDTV, but if you have one of them tuned well, they will produce a picture just as good as any standard tv. For some of us (such as myself), we play these sets as daily watchers.

< snip >

What IS the fix for retrace lines???

:scratch2:



Can someone post this please for us. Awesome screen Charlie!!
:thmbsp: :D



These roundies have same picture size as a 27" rectangle screen, with corners taken off. Since these are classic large screen TVs, DVD still deliver the best possible resolution, sharpest picture available on these old sets.
:yes:

Great to see full potential of screen quality without degrading qualities of videotape or cable signal(less than perfect signal), also cable company has annoying buzzing sound through speaker sometimes or any snow/interferance with antenna signal. Please post repair for retrace lines, ruins an otherwise perfect viewing experience, definetlty takes away from watching show.

Ya know, it just occurred to me that I do not get the retrace lines on my Curtis Mathes roundie. They don't seem to reach the picture. I have the height set just barely beyond the mask as it should be, but I still don't get them. I know they're there because if I fool with the verticle hold, I'll see just a trace of them... perhaps 1/8 of an inch. This goes for protected DVDs as well as occassional lines from broadcasts.

I DO get them on my CTC15... they extend about 2 or 3 inches from the top. They are quite strong. :sigh: Very annoying, but I've gotten used to them.

It makes me wonder what can be different between the two sets. :scratch2: The chassis are very similar. The CM chassis seems to be a cross between a 15 and 16.

Has to be a difference in the vertical blanking pulse. I get the lines in my 67 Magnavox, and I've just been putting up with it.

I get these on all of my roundies. One roundie has 4 to 6 of these lines!! So there's no fix, even an engineering tweak???


:dammit:

I really second your distaste for these lines, I have several sets of DVDs I would really like to watch retrace-line free on my roundie or even one of my early rectangular color sets, or B&Ws.
I liked the idea of having some device between the DVD player and the set that could do that, that way you could use any combination of player and TV. I would think that modifications could be made to an ordinary RF modualtor, which we all have to use anyway, to just cut off the video signal during retrace. I don't think it would have to be done in the set as the video signal itself contains those sync pulses, couldn't the vertical ones somehow be used to trigger something that would cut off the video amplifier contained in the RF modulator at regular intervals corresponding to the retrace? I don't really know, while I can imagine that such a device might be possible, figuring out exactly how it would work requires much greater knowledge than I posess.

I'm saying this because its true, I a have a CTC-5 tv and a RCA CTC-36 color TV (one of RCA's last color tube chassis). Both display retrace lines prominantly. This IS quite a spread in RCA models, still both quite similiar in design too. Fair amount of AKers with RCA tube color sets, I'm gonna start trying various patches, will post any sucess found.

I have just noticed TWO DVD movies that Showed NO RETRACE LINES at all duriing playback.

:scratch2:

I just read over all of this more carefully, and there were several solutions already posted. They basically fell into two categories: some DVD players allow this to be turned off, and some devices already exist that actually do manage to remove this from the video signal (but not all of these work well).
Unfortunately, none of these are particularly cheap options, unless you already have one of the players on that list.
About half of the DVDs I have don't give me the retrace lines, so I guess this means that they just don't have the copy protection, but there doesn't seem to be a way to tell this in advance, without actually playing it.

True... some DVD's do not have the copy protection and you won't get the retrace lines. Usually, the recent movies will. If you happen to already have a DVD burner drive in your PC, you can copy them and leave the copy protection files off. Kinda funny to think though... they put that in there to keep from copying them... however you still can make a copy.

Many of the DVD's we have on board our ship are burned by the second mate. We play them in a cable system we built using several DVD and VHS players. Our player is a Panasonic, and it plays the burned copies just fine.

The mate also made copies of certain movie I wanted. When I brought them home, they played here on my roundie with no lines. I will probably be shopping around for an external burner soon to use here.

Well, so what do you do if you get retrace lines even if you're not watching a DVD? My Sylvania consistently shows what I think are retrace lines whenever the screen goes to grey. They don't show up with a color picture on screen.

veg

Veg, do you know the condition of your CRT? If the tube is a little weak, and your screen controls and bias switch are set to compinsate for a weak tube, you'll likely have those lines. They can also show up simply from having the brightness too high.

Charlie, you hit the nail right on the head. I think the bias control is cranked up all the way. That'll do it, huh?
Would it be better to leave the bias set high or to lower it and stick a brightener on the tube? Or would that even do the same thing?
I know it's not the original tube; it's an RCA replacement. Boy, that set musta got watched a LOT!

veg

I have gotten the retrace lines if the screens are set too high. Try turning down the screen controls and turning up the brightness.

You can often rejuvenate a slightly weak tube by giving it boosted filament voltage just for a few minutes. I have put switches on some sets for boosted or normal fil voltage, just giving it a boost every now and again seems to help the CRT. In a transistorized set you can wind wire around the flyback core to provide the boosted voltage but on a tube set an actual filament trans should be used to prevent overloading the flyback. You could also modify a booster to add in a switch providing normal or boosted voltage. Keeping the switch at "normal" most of the time helps preserve CRT life over offering it the 8 volt boost voltage all the time.

Would upping the filament voltage on a 7JP4 electrostatic tube make it any brighter? I've been considering putting an 8v filament transformer to the 7JP4 in my Motorola for some time, but avoiding it as I was worried it might damage the tube in some unforseen way.

I'm not sure about the 7jp4 in particular, but filaments are 100% overrated, and will burn safely up to 12 volts. I would step it up to 8 volts with a seperate transformer and see what results you get. However if the motorola has the crt in series with the rest of the tubes, you will need to find the appropriate load resistance to keep the rest of the tubes in balance or you'll toast some tube filaments

I think using 8v on the filament for short periods of time every now and again can help "wake up" a tube that is going weak. It seems like the improvement would last for a week or so before needing to do it again. If the effect does not seem to last after returning to regular fil voltage then you could just leave it on the 8 volts all the time but this will make a filament burn-out more likely.
It should work on the electrostatic tube but I am not sure how rare of a tube this is so be careful if it is hard to replace.
One very gentle technique involves using a variable transformer ahead of a filament transformer, or a variable DC power supply. Start out with 6.3 volts and then measure the fil voltage and increase it gradually towards 8 volts and see how the tube improves.
Using the boosted voltage temporarily and then returning to normal can help burn off trash accumulating on the cathode sleeve and thus help emission.

Also the lower you have the contrast set, the more retrace lines will show, it's practically normal on really old set to see retrace if you crank the contrast down to zip, on the sets I have anyway.
In an old 1966 repair book, it claims the 'correct' setting for contrast on all but the newest color sets (for 1966 anyway) is full OFF. I find it hard to go along with that, it results in a terrible picture!

I like to have the contrast turned all the way up when possible, but different people have different tastes. I know that some color sets are basically unwatchable with the control all the way down. The whole picture just turns into a muddy mess.

I like to have the contrast turned all the way up when possible, but different people have different tastes. I know that some color sets are basically unwatchable with the control all the way down. The whole picture just turns into a muddy mess.

Maybe on REALLY old color ones like my ctc-5 it works, on those the picture just plain ain't very bright to begin with compared to the mid-60's pic tubes, so usually you can't crank the brightness up high enough for the low contrast to wash it out that much, because it will start blooming anyway. Or even if it isn't blooming, it might start if something realy white comes onscreen, so you have to crank the bright down even a little more.

Yeah, that makes since. My -5 has something out of kilter between the contrast, brightness & the AGC, I think. Everything has to be set just right. I'm thinking an AGC problem is at the heart of it but right now I'm just tickled it works at all. Thats it in the avatar, with both brightness & contrast cranked back.

Maybe it's my pic tube in good emissions, but my CTC-5 has plenty of brightness. I have to try control trick & see. :yes:

Awesome avatar Bgadow!! great shot of old RCA commercial, what year of commercial?? :thmbsp:

A fix for the macrovision would be to use a DVD player or firmware that won't enable it on the video signal. Since DVD is digital, the macrovision isn't encoded in the MPEG stream. Instead, it's a flag that tells the DVD player's video DAC to generate macrovision on the luma channels. With VCRs you need a box to remove the macrovision from the video signal since it's recorded onto the tape. With DVDs, the DVD player has to be told not to tell the video DAC to generate macrovision.

With that said, I found a DVD player that seems like the last player anyone will want to buy. It's the Philips DVP-642. It plays divx and xvid too which is great. Hacked firmware is available. Hope this helps.

Jonathan

Maybe it's my pic tube in good emissions, but my CTC-5 has plenty of brightness.
Hi folks, all of you reported good emission tubes in their ctc-5's. Does somebody here has a ctc-5 with a low emission picture tube? Can someone provide some screenshots of a working ctc-5 with a bad 21AXP22A?

great shot of old RCA commercial, what year of commercial?? :thmbsp:

That is from the 50th anniversary of color tv special from QVC back in '04. There is a good old thread on here about it.

I have just got these gizmos kits. After I have assembled it, I will report here the results. I expect that it will remove the retrace lines from DVD video signals.
Last weekend I assembled the UVB kit. It is now working correct. In the first attempt it only supressed the videotext retrace lines but not the DVD data retrace lines. A check revealed that these data are placed in the vertical sync burst. Wih cutting D3 (diode) these DVD retrace lines were supressed too. This kit is working very well and offers the opportunity of full video performance of today's television sources on vintage sets. I will put a documentation on my web site in the next days. Here are some photos:

http://bs.cyty.com/menschen/e-etzold/archiv/tv/uvb/img/MetzDVBTohneUVB.JPG
http://bs.cyty.com/menschen/e-etzold/archiv/tv/uvb/img/MetzDVBTmitUVB.JPG

You can read the description here (only in German):
http://www.vvt-europe.de/angebote/darius/darius.htm

Re "burning" electrostatic CRTs (such as 7JP4) at higher than normal filament voltage, I have been told that they are impossible to rebuild at any price. I run my 7-inch TVs at normal voltage, and enjoy them for what they can do -- for better or worse -- as long as the CRTs survive.

Hi AK'ers, Darius has written an English translation of the UVB for suppressing Teletext and Macrovision retrace lines on vintage television sets, and I have created a web page of it:
http://bs.cyty.com/menschen/e-etzold/archiv/TV/uvb/uvb_e.htm
Please check this web page and send me corrections of the text with private email, because our English is not so well. Please have a look on the german web page. We need a translation of the headlines of the modulator pictures.

Hi AK'ers, Darius has written an English translation of the UVB for suppressing Teletext and Macrovision retrace lines on vintage television sets, and I have created a web page of it:
http://bs.cyty.com/menschen/e-etzold/archiv/TV/uvb/uvb_e.htm
Please check this web page and send me corrections of the text with private email, because our English is not so well. Please have a look on the german web page. We need a translation of the headlines of the modulator pictures.

Hi Eckhard, I think they don't have teletext stateside :scratch2: .

Darius

We do have "closed caption" which is similar to teletext. That is, a bit stream in the vertical interval. Also, some channels do have data transmissions (stolen credit card numbers and such) using teletext methods in the vertical interval. All these can create trash in the picture if the set doesn't suppress the vertical interval well.

We do have "closed caption" which is similar to teletext. That is, a bit stream in the vertical interval. Also, some channels do have data transmissions (stolen credit card numbers and such) using teletext methods in the vertical interval. All these can create trash in the picture if the set doesn't suppress the vertical interval well.
I have seen these data retrace lines on screenshots of vintage tv sets here in the Audiokarma forum too, when the photos in the threads still were available. But I did not know that these data lines were used for other purposes.
Here I have some more screenshots with teletext retrace lines and with teletext retrace lines suppressed.

With teletext retrace lines:
http://bs.cyty.com/menschen/e-etzold/archiv/TV/uvb/img/MC47_ohneUVB1.JPG
http://bs.cyty.com/menschen/e-etzold/archiv/TV/uvb/img/MC47_ohneUVB.JPG

And with teletext retrace lines suppressed:
http://bs.cyty.com/menschen/e-etzold/archiv/TV/uvb/img/MC47_UVB3.JPG
http://bs.cyty.com/menschen/e-etzold/archiv/TV/uvb/img/MC47_UVB.JPG
http://bs.cyty.com/menschen/e-etzold/archiv/TV/uvb/img/MC47_UVB2.JPG

The UVB board for suppressing retrace lines is easy to assemble. Ask Darius (oldeurope) for kits, he sells them for a small amount of money. I am happy that I need not to change the vintage circuits for getting no retrace lines. If you have questions please ask us.

Yagosaga,

As a side question, could you tell us what kind of digital still camera you are using to get these pictures, and what the set-up is like (both camera settings and room lighting)?

Thanks - Wayne

... could you tell us what kind of digital still camera you are using to get these pictures, and what the set-up is like (both camera settings and room lighting)?
It is a Canon PowerShot A70. Camera setting is AUTO, and room lighting is daylight with curtains at the windows. I close the curtains until there are no reflections on the screen but the front of the monitor is still illuminated. For screenshots I dim the contrast of the monitor more than I usually use for viewing television because the sensitivity of the camera is higher for picture tube colors than for daylight colors. For the human eye the picture looks wishywashy with low contrast when I get the best contrast-rich results with the camera. Photos were taken with moving pictures because I have no pause- or still function in the TV receiver.

Eckhard

Here is another easy solution for for the DVD/Over the air retrace lines if any of you out there have a Tivo box or I would guess any DVR would work. My roomate got one through some special a few weeks ago. Anyway, I tried this on my CTC 16. Run your DVD player into the DVR box with RCA cables or just use channel 3 with an RF switch. Those nasty lines will go away.