Just got a 10yr old hand-me-down, Mitsu VS-4542 45" projection TV from my brother who recently upgraded. While the colors seem a bit off, having read some of the other posts here, I feel fortunate to simply have a picture.
So my question is, given this TV's age, and the potential or tendencies for certain electronic parts to suddenly retire, when asked to abruptly alter their settings, after years of previous harmony and diligent service, are there any specifics I should consider, before attempting to push some crotchety old color capacitors to change?
Under First Time Setup" the manual lists "Aligning the Colors" as a simply made occasional adjustment. Is it?
First thing to do is, pull the screen and clean the lens and mirror. If the colors aren't lining up right after you do the customer convergence set-up, then you are going to need the convergence board serviced. Depending on who's doing it, it's a 200 to 300 dollar repair.
I may have misstated the degree of maladjustment. Unless convergence refers to the proper mixing of colors to render shades, and not necessarily their actual alignment when displaying subject, then I'd be apt to believe the convergence is ok. To better characterize, faces often appear too orange, while blue consistently seems to overwhelm the picture. Green is subdued, and while still green, its often limited in brightness and variance. Having said that, each of these issues vary in their significance. During outdoor scenes, in bright light, or stadiums under bright light, the colors appear most accurate. I've yet to try any control adjustments.
Pull the screen and clean the lens and mirror? With a clean damp cloth? to remove dust?
You can uses Windex on the lens and the mirror if it's made of glass. Check the mirror by touching it in the far corner. If it's "mirror-lite" (mylar) don't touch it with anything, not even a damp cloth. The best you can do is blow the dust off with a hairdryer. Mitsu's normally only used glass mirrors, but you never know. Again, if it's "mirror-lite" you can not physical touch them! Use a damp cloth to wipe down the screen. Next put the screen back on and turn the color all the way down. Ideally you should have a B&W picture. If your picture is shaded into the primary colors you can adjust the screen controls to achieve a black & white picture. If you pic is "green & white" you can either turn down the green screen or turn up the blue and red. If if "blue and white", turn down the blue or turn up the red and green, etc.. You'll find the "screen/focus control" in the front of the set. It's under the speaker cover. It's a black slab of plastic about the size of a wallet. It's has 6 controls, 3 focus and 3 G2s. The tricky part can be getting off the speaker cover. They like to hide the screws to get the cover off. One hiding place is behind the Mitsubishi name plate on the cross bar in the front of the set. The name plate it spring loaded. Pull it out a bit and turn it to expose the "secret screw" Good luck!
Well, it didn't take long to deter the once bold aspirations of this amateur TV repairman, who's sobering attempt to merely remove the screen from the front of the TV, ultimately proved frustratingly futile. An eventual decision to just crank up the brightness control to 80%, and the color down to 20%, produced a picture nearly 60% improved, but concern that its days are now hastened, to fade back into inevitable, irreparable darkness, left any consequential sense of success, tempered to say the least.
Lol, Maybe i'll turn it back down some, lower the blinds, and block out all light from the room, to contrast the picture, and simulate the bleak, dark vacuum of space.