Seos prodas barco808s advice needed

leeboy2k3 · 20-07-2009, 11:50 PM

Hi can anyone tell me anything about the seos barco808s that Ive bought off ebay and if it is ok for home cinema use?

With a little googling all I have found is that it was custom tweaked by seos for use in a f-1 virtual reality setup, there are 2 identical to mine from the same seller on fleabay, for reference also those ebay jpgs are of my pj!.. naughty ebayer.

Can anybody shed some light on the specs and anything I need to know before chris visits for the setup.

Btw the lens's are HD-8 revb and the green has mild and even wear light beige in colour.. 7.5 on curtpalme chart.
thanks.
thanx

Tom.W · 21-07-2009, 3:01 AM

What firmware is marked on the removable eprom on the controller and what R# is the controller module ?

Can you post a picture of the Green wear pattern.

Seos made some strange mods to different boards.

Roland @ B4 · 21-07-2009, 7:50 AM

I suspect it will not have a video decoder. Which will mean you have to feed via a pc or an external decoder or scaller
It may well have softedge circuits to allow blending ( you will have 6 white leads coming from the controller board.)

Good news is that you probably have Convergence on Green.

You still got a bargin Projector would have sold for around £15,000 new

leeboy2k3 · 21-07-2009, 8:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom.W

What firmware is marked on the removable eprom on the controller and what R# is the controller module ?

Can you post a picture of the Green wear pattern.

Seos made some strange mods to different boards.

Ive bought a lumagen vision, HDP I'll post some pics of the tubes and pcb's when I get chance.

p.s Where do I locate the controller board and firmware?

Tom.W · 21-07-2009, 5:12 PM

Click on free download...

Barco_Data_808_service_manual.pdf - FileFactory

BD 808 service manual but close.

The controller...

Tom.W · 21-07-2009, 7:04 PM

You need to do a bit of homework....

leeboy2k3 · 21-07-2009, 10:42 PM

Here are the pics sorry bout the quality I did me best with my sony800i camfone.

p.s. the last pic is a 60v seos amp with a 3pin kettle in and output on the rear is this for better distribution?

Tom.W · 22-07-2009, 12:23 AM

Yep it was used on a curved screen...

And you found the controller.

leeboy2k3 · 22-07-2009, 12:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom.W

Yep it was used on a curved screen...

And you found the controller.

Can it be recalibrated to run on a flat screen without too much hardware hassle?

Tom.W · 22-07-2009, 12:38 AM

Also looks like MEC tubes. Better than Sony tubes !

Tom.W · 22-07-2009, 12:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leeboy2k3

Can it be recalibrated to run on a flat screen without too much hardware hassle?

That's a good question...

No good answer.

Never owned a hacked Seos model.

Tom.W · 22-07-2009, 1:09 AM

Can you post a picture of the rear video inputs ?

leeboy2k3 · 22-07-2009, 1:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom.W

Can you post a picture of the rear video inputs ?

On wii at the mo so cant upload pic but ive just checked and they are..port1 2x video port 2 s-videox2 port 3 9pin rgb port 4/5 bnc .

Roland @ B4 · 22-07-2009, 7:48 AM

I think you got your self a nice machine there.
I was right about the decoder it is not present so composite,S-Video and Component will not work.
Feed every thing into this projector RGB HV if you can.
You should have no problems doing a flat screen lenses and schimflug look normal 808.
I does not look like there is Softedge fitted.
I suspect most of the differences will be on the convergence board where Seos fitted that other box.
I beleive there are a couple of jumpers on the convergence board for Curved/flat screens.

leeboy2k3 · 22-07-2009, 3:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roland @ B4

I think you got your self a nice machine there.
I was right about the decoder it is not present so composite,S-Video and Component will not work.
Feed every thing into this projector RGB HV if you can.
You should have no problems doing a flat screen lenses and schimflug look normal 808.
I does not look like there is Softedge fitted.
I suspect most of the differences will be on the convergence board where Seos fitted that other box.
I beleive there are a couple of jumpers on the convergence board for Curved/flat screens.

Phew I was beginning to think I'd dropped a clanger, how can I find out which jumpers to change do you think chris might know?
p.s do you have a remote for sale?
thanks.

Roland @ B4 · 22-07-2009, 9:27 PM

I have a remotes drop me an email roland@b4projection.co.uk

ovation1357 · 30-07-2009, 4:03 PM

I've bitten the bullet and also invested in one of these to upgrade my BG800.

I'd be interested to share experiences in getting these to work sensibly. I've no interest using anything other than RGB-HV inputs (unless there's a sensible way to accept a 480p component connection from a Nintendo Wii) so the lack of a decoder is fine by me.

I've dropped an email to a contact for Visual Display systems at Rockwell Collins (who seem to be Seos Prodas as Visual Display Systems redirects to them). I've put in a polite request for any information that they can share, but based on comments from Curt I don't hold out much hope of a reply :-( If I get anything back I'll share it.

Does anyone actually know what the external 60v Amplifier is or does?

Judging by MadMrH's post here: BARCO Convergence tray info inc. SEOS and COG [Archive] - AVforum.com I reckon that converting this for a flat screen could prove an interesting task. Hey Andy - Have you got instructions for these Seos Prodas 808s??

I've got a really old Barco remote which worked with my Vision 700 and also my Graphics 800 (although a bit tempremental). It's one of the old remotes with small solid plastic keys. Anyone know if the 808 uses the same IR codes??
I've actually just ordered one of Curt's cheap prontoNEOs as well so maybe that will come in handy...

If anyone's got one cheap enought I'd be interested in one of the hard-wired builtin remotes for this unit as SEOS have left it out.

Tom.W · 30-07-2009, 9:09 PM

Try setting the remote to projector address 000

Q: My Barco remote has stopped working, what has happened?
A: If it happened after you changed the battery (or removed the battery), the remote needs to be set-up to control the projector. The Barco remotes can control multiple projectors in a chain using addresses. The projector can be set to respond to a certain address only, using the dip switch's on the controller, what has been set does not matter as all projectors will respond to address 000. On the remote between the Adjust and Standby buttons is a recessed button you can press with a pen, press it and then press the 0 digit on the remote. The remote is now set to projector address 000 and the projector will now respond regardless to the actual address its set to. Alternately you can press the recessed button on the remote while aimed at the projector or screen and the projector will display its address (or bring up the Barco information screen from the menu to view the address), then proceed by pressing those numbers in sequence on the remote i.e. if the projector displays address 025 press 0 then 2 then 5 on the remote and it will be set to control a projector with that address, either way the remote will work again.

ovation1357 · 30-07-2009, 10:53 PM

Thanks - I'm pretty sure I did try resetting the remote's address a couple of times with my BG800 but to no avail (PJ's address is 000) - I've not even plugged in the 808s yet as I'm not at home, so I haven't tried the remote on it yet... Are you saying a remote which works with a BG800 should also drive an 808s?

Tom.W · 30-07-2009, 10:59 PM

I would think so but you didn't supply any photos of the remote or it's part #

ovation1357 · 30-07-2009, 11:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom.W

I would think so but you didn't supply any photos of the remote or it's part #

Ah... that would be because I've not been home yet :-) I've never even noticed whether these remotes have a p/n on them. This whole question might be incidental if I get a chance to plug the pj in soon because I can try the remote :-)

Tom.W · 31-07-2009, 2:10 AM

The part # should be on a sticker in the battery compartment of the remote.

ovation1357 · 01-08-2009, 12:33 AM

Well - It transpires that my Remote is an RCU 800 and does control this 808s. Unfortunately the PJ seems to be faulty :-(

I bring it out of standby using the remote and very quickly:

- The Blue tube lights up with extremely bright raster and a few horizontal scan lines.
- The red tube lights up with more sensible raster brightness
- The Green does not light :-(

All three tubes have a single Green LED lit on their neck boards and all LEDs are green on the G2 + diag.

When I turn the PJ off I see a large, soft green spot disappearing rapidly from the Green tube, so I guess it's at least getting HT.

I've attached some pics of what I'm seeing. The one with the bright blue circle shows the state of the tubes with the brightness at zero. The red is lit, but too dim to see in the pic (well, it is at minimum brightness!!) and the green is not lit. The blue does not appear to respond to brightness adjustment.

If i press 'adjust' I do get a sensible looking test pattern on Red and Blue with blank space where the green should be firing the menu out.

SO -- Can anyone give me some first pointers based on the description? I have the BD808s Service Manual as posted earlier in this thread, but I reckon there's a few of you who may have some really helpful ideas to get me started.

At the time of posting I have not touched any adjustments at all. The only thing I've done is to reseat all the boards in the back and make sure the tube neck boards are fully 'home'.

I own a decent DVM and a basic 50MHz scope and I'm not afraid to use them :-)

Many Thanks in advance
Jonathan

Tom.W · 01-08-2009, 1:21 AM

Try adjusting G2 on all 3 tubes.

http://www.curtpalme.com/Barco808_Layout7.shtm

ovation1357 · 01-08-2009, 1:39 AM

Man don't ya just hate it when you simply breath on a piece of technoloy and it either breaks or the problem gets worse :-(

In between my last post and Tom's reply, I went and Re-reseated all the back boards and then pulled out the convergence tray to take a look as I'd not reseated that.

I've not tweaked anything, but now when I turn the PJ on, the Red 'Scan Failure' light is light on the diag board and the PJ makes three attempts to start and then switched off.

I've reseated everything again, inspected the connectors on each of the boards and I've even switch the scan inversion switches a couple of times (back to original positions) to check they weren't dirty, but still I get the red scan fault.

I'm not 100% happy with the solder connections on the connectors for the Focus/Shift board, but I'm off to bed soon so will investigate further in daylight.

On the subject of the convergence tray - I'm not sure if this PJ is going to work without utilising the Seos "60v amplifier" box underneath it... There are two additional connectors on the convergence board (a DB-15 and DB-25) which hook up to what looks like it might be a SEOS proprietary board with one going to a 'Vert Out' connector and the other to a 'Vertical Drive In' connector. I've attached a photo of the convergence tray - Do I have a COG module in there??

Tom.W · 01-08-2009, 3:39 AM

Make sure you didn't pinch the remote IR control cable from the convergence tray to the controller module.

How many hours on the projector?

Seos modified projectors can be a PITA !

Tom.W · 01-08-2009, 6:18 AM

Scan fail usually means a problem on the horizontal or vertical board. Try re-seating the convergence tray also. You just created a bunch of variables....

ovation1357 · 01-08-2009, 1:28 PM

Don't think I can tell how many hours as that would be displayed in Green (when the bloody thing would actually power on

)... I never got to see the menu, only a blank space on the blue and red where it would have been.

I've reseated everything several times now to make sure I'm happy it's in place. The convergance board has been moved the least so I will try it again.
There's a stiff grey cable running from the convergence board to the back section of the PJ - I noticed it was a bit of a nasty design as have been very careful not to trap it.

Just after my last post I was looking for any other red leds (i.e. on the two scan boards) but the only one which is lit is the one on the diag board. If reseating stuff gets me nowhere are there some particularly useful test points I can try? (I will dig out my DVM and at least check the 17v one always mentioned by Curt)

Any ideas welcome.... I'd be interested to hear if the other guy that brought one of these has any similar problems??

Jonathan

ovation1357 · 01-08-2009, 1:41 PM

I just received the following email from a chap at Rockwell-Collins (Seos). It looks like I might have to wait until he returns from leave, but they're offering some help.

Although I'm going to try and hook up the external amp at first - I'd be interested to know if anyone has the original convergance board (R762513) for sale, and how much?

> Subject
> Fw: Product information about Seos Prodas Barco 808s projector
> Hi Jonathan,
>
> As
> you say the projector you are interested in is very heavily modified from
> the original Barco unit, mainly in the vertical convergence circuits. If
> you want to operate this projector without the SEOS amplifier box you
> will
> need to obtain an original Barco Convergence output module (Part Number
> R762513) The convergence board fitted in this particular projector was
> manufactured by SEOS for use with an external amplifier only and has no
> on
> board vertical amplifiers. I have a Barco manual on CD and some Amp box
> info as well. The Barco manual is far too big to send by email but if you
> send me a mailing address I can burn a CD with all the info you require
> and send it to you. I am out of the office for a few weeks now but I will
> deal with it when I return.

ovation1357 · 01-08-2009, 8:59 PM

I've reseated everything again and still get the same problems: The pj powers up with the red 'Scan Fail' LED illuminated on the G2 Board, reset three times and then goes off.

I'm trying to understand a few things...

Can switching the Scan Inversion switches cause a scan board fault?
(I've since read recommendations to wait 30 mins after power off before doing this but I switched them a few times to ensure good contact and I did it only a couple of minutes after power-off!)

Curt's website simply says that if you get the red LED then there's no way to tell which board's failed without swapping them - Surely there's something I can test myself? If not, is there anyone with a good set of boards in the South (MrH or Roland perhaps?) that I could visit to do said test?

Am I right that the 'Vertical Amplifiers' mentioned in my last post are just related to convergence? While the amp may be necessary, I must have something else wrong because this PJ did at least power up and display something before I tatted with it. Ho Hum.

Cheers
Jonathan