Hi Bill,

BG> except the native font is not particularly pleasing to my eye, yet I
BG> don't know how to change it (if indeed I can).
BV> corse you can. All you need is some graph paper, an eprom programmer
BV> and a lot of patience :)
BG> Well I'm fucked, because I fail on all three points.

Yep, you're fucked then :)

BG> Did they make a nominal charge, or require the original EPROMs back?
BV> Nope.
BG> Fuck me, that's bloody good service, especially as the EPROMS look to
BG> be 64K chips (hard to tell with the sticker), and there are 2 of them!

Yeah, but they're no use to you without a programmer...Remember !

BV> Any generic S3 801/805 drivers should work.
BG> Is that right?
BV> Would I lie to you ?
BG> Is Rod Speed a humanitarian?  Is Bob Lawrence a cat-lover?  ;-)

Is this a test or what ? :)

..[ The IMPORTANT stuff]..

BV> 'hokay. Setup is: Philips VR-6940 with BNC direct video connect
BG> Just a rebadged Sharp VC-488X HiFi VCR.  However...

yeah, I remember you showing off by quoting the original Sharp model
number to me before.

BV> to the Sony KX-20PS1 monitor. The only tuner in the place is in
BV> the VCR. The antenna plugs directly into the VCR which handles
BV> all the RF stuff.
BG> Fine.  Understood now.  I wanted to be sure you were using the tuner
BG> on the VCR, and not the monitor (does the Sony have a tuner at all?).

Sony KX-20PS1 "monitor" !!! What fucking tuner ?

BG> The fact that tapes PB in colour tends to eliminate a hell of a lot
BG> of VCR circuitry,

I figured as much.

BG> and limits the problem to either the tuner/IF of the VCR
BG> (which is not impossible, although extremely unlikely),

and "definitely" the cause of my problem.

BG> or the chroma circuitry of your Sony monitor.

Impossible as the tapes PB okay from cold.

BV>  So, if you can help me out it would be appreciated. I'm
BV> not adverse to doing a bit of "shotgunning" with it :)
BG> If the Sony has a tuner, does it show colour on its own channels?

What fucking tuner ???

BG> If it doesn't have a tuner,

Aha ! He's cracked it now.

BG> it makes definitive testing a bit difficult (although you could always
BG> borrow your neighbour's VCR and connect it similarly to your Philips,
BG> and see if the problem persists).

'already done that. The tuner in my Panasonic works fine if I switch
between them the Philips if stuffed and the Panasonic is great. When
the Philips has warmed up, they both work great !

BG> My gut feeling is that you should be looking at the Sony, rather than
BG> the VCR.

Where exactly is your gut ?

BG> Presumably you have a can of freeze

No, I don't and I know it's going to turn out to be a specialist
part or something that I won't be able to get at Tricky Dickies,
hence the request for info. What do I assume to be crook without
pulling it out ? The Philips is on the bottom of the bloody stack
Bill !!!!

BG> (and I'm sure that Patricia has a hair dryer).

Dunno, if not, she soon will have :)

BG> One thing you can try immediately:  On the rear RHS of the VCR,
BG> there is a 3-position slide switch (I think) which says
BG> COLOUR/AUTO/BW (maybe not in that order).
BV> Que ? Unless you are referring to a switch inside the VR-6940, I
BV> think you have it confused with another model.
BG> Perhaps it's beneath the tuner panel on the top of the VCR - so many
BG> different models, I keep forgetting such things.  ;-)

I'll have a look. Hang on... If I carefully slide the other units
off to one side, I can get to the tuner panel... 
 
<"This is what I
was trying to do only once">  ... Okay, I've
had a look. There are three switches in the tuner panel.

ABS Off/On  --- Was set to On, now set to Off
Colour/Auto --- Was set to Auto, now set to Colour
AFT Off/On  --- Was set to On, now set to Off

I'll have to get back to you tomorrow to let you know if it makes
any difference.

BG> If that solves the problem, you can either simply leave it like
BG> that, or I can tell you what to do next.

You've built up my expectations now Bill :)

BG> Your problem could also be something as simple as not having the VCR's
BG> AFT switch turned on (also under the tuner cover). Try retuning the VCR
BG> channels (switch the AFT off first though) and see if that helps.

Trust me Bill, it's not the tuning.

BG> If not, attack the Sony with freeze, because what you describe is more
BG> likely to be a fault in the monitor than the VCR (IMO of course).

Yeah, I thought so to at first. I remember thinking how proud I was
that I was able to dismantle the whole bloody set to replace the
power switch just a couple of weeks ago. I must have saved $50 :)
When I realised that the whole set needed to be dismantled to get
to the power switch, I wished that I'd paid some other bastard to do
it instead. Needless to say, I'm none to keen to go back into the
Sony now that it's working, and I was quite happy when it turned out
to be the Philips. I thought, "Great, Bill will point me in the
right direction". Boy, was I wrong! You want me to attack the poor
little Sony for no other reason than it's a foreigner. You sadist!

BG> My reasoning is that if the problem was with the VCR's chroma
BG> circuitry, your tapes would be doing exactly the same thing,
BG> but it's not.

But wouldn't the Tuner have it's own chroma section ?

BG> If you do need the manual, let me know, ..[chomp]..

Thanks but no thanks. It won't take that long. It would be a help if
you could give me the part number I need though :)

BG> Regards, Bill (say hello to the tribe for me as well)

Tribal "Hello" is returned with lots of smiling faces.


I figured as much :)

Best Regards, Brenton
@EOT:

--- PQWK215