A Runco plasma for me....for free!!!

[JimmyNeutron]

I am a giddy little boy right now. :D I went to visit a good buddy of mine this past weekend. We go way back about 20 years when he and I worked at Bjorn's A/V - that's Texas's hi-end A/V store. Anyway, I left to start my business and he has stayed working there. He's a video technician, and the best I know of. One of the perks of being a repair tech in a hi-end store is that when the customer will pay more than an item is worth to get repaired he will usually just buy a new item and will let the tech dispose of the bad item. As far as plasma and LCD monitors go, they all get thrown in the dumpster. This is across the board anywhere in the country. Manufactures don't want the damaged items and the retailer doesn't want it either. Items are usually given to the techs if they want them. Well my freind had this Runco PL-42cx plasma that was a return from Spurs owner Greg Popvich. Apparently he upgraded to a more expensive Runco because he didn't like the "remote control"! This was given to my buddy, and he gave it to me.....that's right...he GAVE IT TO ME!! It retails for $15999.99!!!! I kid you not. There is nothing wrong with the unit. My freind just has too many plasmas and CRT projectors lying around his house. Anyway, I took down my Pioneer plasma from our bedroom wall and put the Runco on a small stand. Wow!! What a picture. Totally outshines the Pioneer. It's so black.....deep black. And the colors are so vibrant. It looks much better than my 35" Mitsubishi CRT. Apparently the Runco uses a Panasonic plasma panel and adds several digital boards, along with an external processor. Well whatever they did they did it right. I'm a happy little boy today.

http://www.jimmyneutron.org/DSC00617.JPG

http://www.jimmyneutron.org/DSC00614.JPG

[Urizen]

Nice friend you have there.

Congrats! :thmbsp:

[ozmoid]

:jawdrop: AWESOME!

[Sandy G]

Damn, son, you scored BIG-TIME there...That guy needs a tree cut down or somethin' you'd better be Johnny-on-the-spot helpin' him... <grin>

[Arkay]

Fantastic TV, great friend, great story... now that's great Karma! :thmbsp: Sure don't need to add "ENJOY that TV", because no doubt you will! :yes:

[subdermis2000]

I guess it's time for me to go to bed. As I know next to nil about the V part of current A/V, when I first read the title of the thread I thought it said ronco, like here http://www.ronco.com/.

Great luck and happy viewing.

I am easily amused. :banana:

[SPL db]

Great find Johnny! :yes:

Next time he has another one, keep me in mind! :D

I noticed that there seems to be red/green vertical bars on the screen in the pictures that you show.

Is that on the TV, or just something that comes out in the picture from the camera?

Scott

[JimmyNeutron]

Great find Johnny! :yes:

Next time he has another one, keep me in mind! :D

I noticed that there seems to be red/green vertical bars on the screen in the pictures that you show.

Is that on the TV, or just something that comes out in the picture from the camera?

Scott


On closer examination of the picture there does seem to be some slight bar effect. I guess the DVD is not in that great shape as my kids like to watch Shreck about a gazillion times a day! :D

[SPL db]

So it's from the DVD then?

Scott

[JimmyNeutron]

Yeah. The DVD is pretty scratched, as are most of our animated DVD's from having the kids use them as frisbees. My 3 yr old son actually works his video system by himself - from getting a DVD movie that he wants to see, removing it from the case, wiping it on his shirt to clean it (he's seen me do that), turning the TV on, putting in the movie, and start to play it.

We've been watching the Runco all day yesterday, playing many types of DVD's thru it - the picture is awesome, with no sign of artifacts like those on the Shreck picture. Also, I currently only have a Toshiba Tivo/DVD player hooked to it thru component outputs. Later this week I'll move my Denon DVD-2900 to it. This should be a big time improvement.

[SPL db]

Great! Glad to hear that the DVD was the problem! :yes:

And if he runs across another one... I will pay shipping! :D

Scott

[Wardsweb]

Whoa Dude! That is incredible. Absolutley dumbfounding. So you going to mount your old one to the bedroom ceiling or something? :D

[slow_jazz]

i'd say you have some great friends there.... great catch there.

[averagewhiteman]

FANTASTIC! And you got to take down a Pioneer. No slouch, either! Wow.

[Nakdoc]

The Runcos I've seen are 100% NEC with no added boards. Nobody beats Pioneers. Pioneer and NEC co-developed the AC restore pulse technology so their panels are very similar, in fact Pioneer bought NECs 3 plasma plants last year, but has yet to absorb the US operation.

[JimmyNeutron]

The Runcos I've seen are 100% NEC with no added boards. Nobody beats Pioneers. Pioneer and NEC co-developed the AC restore pulse technology so their panels are very similar, in fact Pioneer bought NECs 3 plasma plants last year, but has yet to absorb the US operation.


It depends on the model. This particular Runco is a Panasonic, and Runco has added digital boards for processing, as well as an external VSP processor. Some Runco's are also NEC, and Zenith as well. But Runco DOES IN FACT add digital boards to make the panel even better. They won't buy an NEC, per say, and raise the price $10,000 without adding something to make it better. I also have a Runco 3-gun CRT that I'm trying to sell off - it's a Zenith projector with Runco added digital boards. It kicks the @ss out of a stock Zenith.

[Nakdoc]

The Runco 60 " was stock, and the 42 I serviced (3 years old ) was NEC. I assumed this had to be old...but now I understand it is low hours! Good job.

[Cleve]

Jimmy, you deserve some good luck after breaking that one plasma while moving it. I'm getting my own flat panel plasma delivered here on Monday. Of course, mine wasn't free. :)