NEWS AND TECHNOLOGY INSTALLATION SERVICING DEVELOPMENTS TIELF/2Fel AND CONS C S MARCH 2005 £3.20 Bltproy prospects Project: Cable tester Vintage repairs: the BUSH DAC10 03 Servicing: the Philips MD2.2 chassis 9 7 64 3 FAULT INDING FOR TV AUDIO SATELLITE VIDEO IT rees."e• .4 Digi R e p airs U K & Ir e l a n d n TRADE REPAIR I<y 113 SERVICE FOR THE UK & EIRE Are you looking for a reliable company to repair your sky digiboxes? We offer FREE SAMEDAY Collection when you send more than one box for repair! • FIXED PRICES Pace, Grundig, Amstrad Fixed price £38 + VAT includes return delivery Panasonic, Sony Sky + (Standard repair) Fixed price £45 + VAT includes return delivery (Hard Drive replacement) Fixed price £75 + VAT includes return delivery • Prices include all faults Micro processor, Modem, Software corruption and BGA replacement. Send more than one box at a time we collect for FREE. • Specialists in the repair of Amstrad & Sony digiboxes. • Refurbished digiboxes for sale (subject to availability). • Fast Turnaround Time. • All repairs fully guaranteed (6 months). • Collection arranged from anywhere in the United Kingdom and Eire. • Authorised Sky Digital Repair Centre. Receive our latest Satellite and technical newsletter FREE through email. Just send us an email with Newsletter in the Subject title to: [email protected] Contact: DIGI REPAIRS (UK ià Ireland) UNIT 25, ENNIS KILLEN BUSINESS CENTRE TE MP O ROAD, ENNIS KILLEN BT74 4RL TEL: 02866327293 (NATIONAL RATE) 0845 6441628 (LOCAL RATE) E mail: infoedigirepairs.co.uk 81••••.-_ CONTENTS March 2005 Vol. 55 No. 5 Editor 259 Comment 284 Letters John A. Reddihough TV for tomorrow. HDTV. DIT reception. Experts. Flowerbed aerials. [email protected] 260 News 286 Working for the mob - and Cables companies launch VOD. Sharp adds to Deputy Editor LCD capacity. Official HDTV-ready label. for others Tessa Winford Industry news. Freeview update. Optical disc Elaine Everest on the social and some financial potential. Samsung develops 21in. OLED TV. aspects of being a self-employed TV engineer. Production Editor 262 Cable testing 288 Service Casebook Jane Massey Faulty cables can be the cause of many confusing Michael Maurice describes some recent TV prob- problems. The testing system described in this lems. article, devised by Robert B. Kerr, GM4FDT, Production Executive enables cable defects to be detected. 289 Web service Dean Turner Useful websites for TV professionals, technicians 01322 611206 264 Test Case 507 and enthusiasts. 290 A noisy time for Mr Group Advertisement 266 Blu-ray developments Wooster Sales Executive Although the Blu-ray optical disc system has yet By Brian Storm, with apologies to P.G. to be launched in the US and Europe, its develop- Wodehouse. Mike Traylen ers are already introducing format enhancements. 01322 611 289 292 DX and Satellite Reception Broadcast and satellite TV news. Yet more inter- Fax 01322 616 376 ference! DAB quality. More on the Roberts Gemini 6. Goodbye to the Southampton TV cen- Editorial Assistant tre. Roger Bunney reports. Ann Price 296 Audio faults 01322 611 365 298 VCR clinic Publishing Director 300 TV fault finding Tony Greville 303 DVD and home cinema Note that we are unable to answer fault reports technical queries over the telephone and cannot provide information on spares These include the use of a new scratch-resistant 304 Books to buy other than that given in our Spares Guide protective coating and multiple-layer discs with The Television book service, with details of some greatly increased data storage capacity. George of the titles you can order. Cole describes the latest developments. Disclaimer 306 Extended fault reports We work hard to ensure that the 272 Vintage repair: the Bush information presented in Television A few longer reports on complex or tricky T \ is accurate. However, Television's DAC10 radio faults. publisher - Highbury Business - 'I his is one of the classic valve radios from the will not take responsibility for any early Fifties. Macolm Burrell describes a recent 308 What a Life! in¡ury or loss of earnings that may renovation project. result from applying information Problems at the shop. The New Zealand scene. presented in the magazine. It is Trouble with a Sony PS-LX50 record deck. your responsibility to familiarise 278 Servicing the Philips MD2.2 Donald Bullock's servicing commentary. yourself with the laws relating to chassis dealing with your customers and John Coombes provides fault-finding guidance for 310 Satellite notebook suppliers, and with safety practices this high-specification TV chassis. A cable problem. Digital channel update. Intelsat relating to working with -'ectrical/electronic circuitry - 603 (20°W). Digibox faults. The motorised dish aarticularly as regards electric 282 Help wanted saga. Something fell off. Missing channels. shock, fire hazards and explosions. 283 Bench notes 314 Monitor faults Adrian Gardiner on some TV/VCR and TV/DVD combi unit faults and a possible stock fault with 315 Next month in Television the Sony FE2 chassis. Next issue, dated April, on sale March 16 TELEVISION March 2005 AA 930 P R O M A X GV 198 AUDIO ANALYSER • n 11,-• tab k •.• • • I .• • rEPCLL OF , OFF viDE 0 The AA-930 has been designel to facilitate the repair, tuning and analysis of audio frequency equipment in general. Hence, why the six indispensible measurement instruments from an TELEVISION TEST audio service workshop have been combined into this one piece of test PATTERN GENERATOR equipment. The AA-930 is equiped with RCA 600 i2 and DIN 47 k52 connectors for the inputs and outputs. In addition, two BNC connectors on the front panel and FEATURES INCLUDE : two RCA connectors on the rear panel • Suitable for Televisions, projectors and flat screens allow th user to view all of the signals • Covers 4:3 and 16:9 formats measured by the instruments. • Tunable RF modulator between 37MHz and 865MHz • Tunable by channel (CCIR. OIRT or FCC) or frequency • Low Fregency Generator • Wow and Flutter Measurement • PAL / SECAM / NTSC Colour Systems • B/G/D/K/L/I/ MIN Standards • Distortion Meter • Composite Video and Sync outputs • Stereo Watt Meter • Millivolt Meter • High Quality Construction • 10 Front panel memories • Azimut • EUROCONNECTOR interface • Electronic Attenuator • Compact and Strong • User friendly • Attractive Price FLAT • Clear LCD Display • Available from Stock PROJECTORS SCREENS • Full After Sales Service P R O M A X p I UGPE.4i34,4138 in g a i r - •••• 4 iai FOR ELECTRONIC TEST . 9PP le VV17 EQUIPMENT, THERE IS one. *I» OW belle NO WIDER CHOICE THAN WITH PROMAX "1111111111111111111r --GV-24-1-- COMPUTER MONITOR Alban PATTERN GENERATOR TA 903B In the world of computes monitors, unlike those for televisions there is a CRT REJUVENATOR multiplicity of different systems involved. ALBAN ELECTRONICS LIMITED The TA-903B has been designed to To satisfy this incredible demand, PROMAX analyse and rejuvenate the cathode THE PR O M AX SERVICE CENTRE has designed the GV-241, a universal ray tubes (CRT) of colour and black generator for the testing of computer 6 Caxton Centre, Porters W ood, and white televisions and monitors. The monitors, which greatly faci itates their St. Albans, Hertfordshire, AL3 6XT. user can detect and depending upon adjustment, control and repair circumstances repair the leakage or short TEL: 01727 832266 • Test Patterns : Colour Bars; Red; Green; cicuits, simultaneously measure the FAX: 01 727 810546 Blue; Scale of Greys; Cross hatcfi; Multiburst current of the RGB cathodes in the cut W EB: www.albanelectronics.co.uk and White off point, trace the voltage / current EMAIL: infogalbanelectronicaco.uk • Outputs R, B; G CVS HS, VS; CS, Cl, C2, characteristics and rejuvenate each of the and C3 three cathodes independently. SALES + SERVICE + e ALIB RATIO N COMMENT COPYRIGHT Highbury Business, 2005. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be TV for tomorro w reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of the publishers. he pace of technological develop- You just need to have the right All reasonable precautions are taken by ment is such that it is particularly Television to ensure that the advice and data hard at present to envisage exactly chip: a PC, a phone or some published are reliable. We cannot however T guarantee it and we cannot accept legal what we will be using for radio and TV other terminal can then responsibility for it. reception, and for audio and pictorial become your audio or TV set CORRESPONDENCE sources, in ten or even five years' time. All correspondence regarding advertise- About the only thing one can say for sure ments should be addressed to the is that there will be a display of some Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show Advertisement Manager, Television, sort and loudspeakers. The changeover to in January, and the results seem to have Highbury Business, Media House, Azalea digital technology has meant that con- been very impressive. You just need to Drive, Swan ley, Kent, BR8 8HU. Editorial cor- respondence should be addressed to sumer electronics, computer systems and have the right chip: a PC, a phone or Television, Editorial Department, Highbury the internet are converging in ways that some other terminal can then become Business, Media House, Azalea Drive, could, if the advantages prove to be your audio or TV set. Swanley, Kent, BR8 8HU. worthwhile, change everything radically. Takeover by the internet, with no fur- INDEXES AND BINDERS Given time, digital technology seems to ther need to rely on terrestrial, satellite or Indexes for Vols. 38 to 53 are available at £.50 come up with the answers eventually: other modes of transmission, is not cer- each from SoftCopy Ltd., who can also supply look at the way in which compression tain to be the way in which things will an fifteen-year consolidated index on comput- algorithms have evolved.