[Previous] [Next] [Hitlist] [Get Thread] [Author Profile] [Post] [Post] [Reply] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Article 11 of 11 Subject: Re: Romstar's Ninja Warriors. Need help with monitor From: jphil@titan.tcn.net (Phil J.Stracke) Date: 1996/06/29 Message-Id: <4r3ks2$rou@neptune.tcn.net> References: <31D27262.2129@vpg.com> Organization: A poorly-Installed InterNetNews site Newsgroups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting On Thu, 27 Jun 1996 07:37:06 -0400, Frank J Nastro wrote: >I just got a Ninja Warrior (3 monitors) for >150.00. One of the monitors is a bit pinkish. I >could not find a tint or color adjustment. Could >it be that the monitor needs to be de-gaussed?? If >so how do I do it?? The game also does not have an >on/off switch. Is it as easy as buying an AC >toggle switch and putting it in?? Any help would >be appreciated. > What you have is a grey-scale tracking problem. RGB colour systems have no "tint" (or chroma demodulators). What this means is that the color balance is determined entirely by the digital video generators. These are generally rock solid balanced outputs and it is unusual/nearly impossible for them to drift "off" from correct mixture/levels. The fault you see is the picture tubes color "temperature", being warmer (more red) than the other two. The best way to adjust for this is to 1st disconnect the games color and sync cables from the monitors input jack on the pink one, and one of the good ones, with power off. This should be done after they have been on for an hour or so, to make sure they're warmed-up properly. They can be a little off when cold, but should be adjusted only when stable. It's important to do this 'cause you want to see the monitors own "black floor" or no-signal condition, not a 8-10% "driven" one. After power-up you should see either grey, white, or black screens on the 2 idle monitors (this is arbitrary, and depends on the monitors no-signal design, but should be black/dark) The reason for disconnecting the good one is simply to have a visual, idle reference, for comparison. Your game should contain 3 Wells-Gardner K7000 chassis monitors, a modern, common monitor. CUT-OFF BALANCE: This must be done first, to correct/verify the monitor/tubes basic setting. Monitors have between 7 and 12 different adjustments for their lighting or "luminance" circuits, depending on the designer, and quality. W-G's have either 8 or 9. Color tracking adjustments should be done in low-light viewing conditions, a dark room and a trouble light (so you can see the adjustments behind the chassis/tube). BE CAUTIOUS, there are high voltages in the areas where these controls are located, plastic gloves are a good idea (it's dirty too), as are plastic or insulated tools. Small trimmer pots which are used for many adjustments are very fragile and should never be pushed, forced or bent during adjustment. The main control is called the screen control, which adjusts the G2 grid voltage of all 3 guns (at once) to the level where diagonal "retrace" lines which you shouldn't see, are effectively erased by the sets built in "blanking" mixers. You will usually find this on the Flyback transformer assembly, beside/above the focus control, and it is safe to adjust by hand. It should be marked where it was factory set, but if not do this or make a note of it. This control is better called a blanking knob for this reason, but some (other) monitors also use it as a (the only) brightness control. (It can be turned down lower than necessary for it's main purpose) You will probably have to turn it up to see some light on the screen. As you turn it down, the light on the screen should fade from white to grey to dark grey and then black. This is a very important first-test, for if you see any color-tinge in the grey-shades, or are left with (in this case) a weakly visible red screen at the fade-off point, you have a cut-off balance problem. Cut-off balance is controlled by 3 individual "cut off" knobs on the neck board of the picture tube. You may need a dust brush to wipe off the coat of dust to read which one is which, (they're marked on the board) DO NOT get these confused with the OTHER 2 or 3 "Drive" controls ! One "cut off" is for each color, red, green and blue. When the screen light is nearly extinguished, the darkest grey-shade should not show any color, so if red is still there, it's cut-off should be turned down _just_ till it's gone. If the red cut-off control is _already_ all the way down, then the green and blue cut off's need to be turned _up_ to give an acceptable grey. With this test/adjustment completed, re-check the low grey shades by turning the "Screen" knob slowly up and down, and re-adjusting the "cut offs" if necessary. Return the screen control to the position where it was, checking against the idle good monitor for brightness. Cut-off can vary as picture tubes age, and your green/blue guns may have weakened, but we are not through yet. You may have NOT had any cut-off problem :) Turn off the game and reconnect the games color cables, and back on again. If you did identify/correct a cut-off problem, it's now probable that the white-balance is a bit off, or you may have had a white-balance problem to begin with. WHITE BALANCE: White balance is best done with a test signal, such as a color-pallette test screen or a white-grid pattern that your games self-test should provide. If it doesn't, don't despair, the marching-army screen that your games attract mode produces is fine, if putting unused credits will "hold" it, but I believe ROMSTAR has the test screens built in to deal with this problem. You should now see nicely balanced dark greys, but may notice brighter whites are slightly pink or blue/green :( To deal with this adjustment you use the available "Drive" controls to provide the right 'volume' or amplitude balance for the highly-illuminated whiter areas. These are alongside the cut-off controls on the neckboard, but on many monitor versions there are only 2 of them. BLUE/GREEN BRIGHTS: If you had to turn up the green and blue "cut-offs" previously, or turn down the red, you may not be able to turn down both green and blue drives to compensate, because they're not both there !! On some monitors the green drive is omitted, or fixed at a standard value. In this case, just turn up the red drive to balance, and adjust the blue slightly, only if necessary. PINK BRIGHTS: If you found the cut-off's to be OK previously, you may still find the pinkish-white symptom to be caused by the red "Drive" setting being too high, so just turn it down a little to balance. Just re-check your brightness, contrast(or "black level") and focus adjustments before your finished! _______________________________________________/ Phil J. Stracke jphil@titan.tcn.net ________________________________________________/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Previous] [Next] [Hitlist] [Get Thread] [Author Profile] [Post] [Post] [Reply] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Home Ê Power Search Ê Post to Usenet Ê Ask DN Wizard Ê Help Why use DN? Ê | Ê Advertising Info Ê | Ê New Features! Ê | Ê Policy Stuff Copyright © 1996 Deja News, Inc. All rights reserved.