Trinitron Horizontal Lines 3/4

[Ocelot85]

Do all Trinitron tubes have 1 or 2 thin horizontal black lines on them 1/4 or 3/4 of the way down the screen?

My TV has one line across it about at 3/4 height of the screen, is this normal? A quick google search shows that other peoples Trinitrons are the same. Surely this can't be normal. If this isn't normal then how do I fix it?

[NFG]

Yes, it is normal, and there's no way to fix it.  Those are supporting wires to keep the aperture grille in place.  Just get used to it, it's a byproduct of having an excellent CRT.  =)

[Ocelot85]

I agree it's an excellent CRT. Do these lines become less noticeable with he higher and higher quality Trinitron tubes? The one I'm using is an entry level, as I call it, TV. It only has composite connections and I plan on adding S-Video to it. The chip inside (TDA8374A) appears to support S-Video and RGB, but having this black line is discouraging me from proceeding with the mod.

So my question is, are the more expensive Trinitron tubes also going to have as noticeable a line as the cheaper one that I have? And if it can't be fixed, can it be masked?

[cgm]

All of them have at least one center supporting wire. Some of the larger screen have two of them. I never noticed it on our circa 1992 32" Sony Trinitron TV (which likely had two due to size) or any of the 1980s 13" NTSC studio monitors I have used. However its very noticeable on my 20" Sun branded GDM-20E20 computer monitor.

[Ocelot85]

The TV I have has only one wire, but it's really noticeable to me. There was one that I had many years back from the mid 80's I think, but it didn't have any wire on it as I recall. It was an 11"-13" screen with 8 channels and RF only.

I hope it's not noticeable on a studio monitor because that's what I intend on buying.

Is the wire(s) inside of the screen and therefore not adjustable?

[NFG]

That's right, it's all inside the vacuum tube itself.  Not user servicable! 

[Endymion]

The TV I have has only one wire, but it's really noticeable to me. There was one that I had many years back from the mid 80's I think, but it didn't have any wire on it as I recall. It was an 11"-13" screen with 8 channels and RF only.

Trinitron or aperture grille monitors are the only ones you will see with this wire. If the screen is small enough then a wire is not necessary. The wires come in when the thing gets to be a certain size. If you do not want to see this wire then you should look for a monitor which uses a shadow mask screen. This is a completely different implementation and has no wires. Just look for any mention of Trinitron or aperture grille in the monitor's specs, if it says this then look elsewhere.

[Ocelot85]

Yes I'm considering buying an old Amiga monitor. It's a shame there was no way of making those wires being invisible because the picture is otherwise incredible. I would imagine that the wires would not be visible on something like a 32" Trinitron when viewing from the correct distance.

[NFG]

Honestly I'm surprised it bothers you that much.  It's only visible on large, plain bright graphics, and never bothered me even the tiniest bit - even before I knew what caused them.    Most other monitors won't look as good, is the tradeoff really worth it?

[Endymion]

I agree. When gaming, or indeed even just during general desktop use, you're busy doing whatever and don't notice. The more you focus on them the more you see them there, try playing a while before you decide where to go from there.

[mvsfan]

ive tried to find these lines on my 32" trinitron since i first read about it, and i just cant see them whatsoever.

mabeye they are more apparent on some models than others.

mine is a kv-32fs120.

[Endymion]

They're more obvious with certain resolutions. They're more obvious when you sit closer to the screen. They're more obvious when the image is very bright.

Your TV looks like a 480i only model so it doesn't have multiple resolutions to use. I would completely expect the wires to be very invisible with any signal you use on that TV.