Beovision 9000 – how to use

[CharlieWednesday]

I’ve been on eBay again (I know, I know) and bought a bunch of kit which included a Beovision 9000 TV sat upon a Control Center 3000 base (a speaker and VCR).  I believe this is part of what was sold as the Beosystem AV9000?  It originally included a CD/Tape system in the Ouverture style, but the seller told me that was broken long ago.

It was other items in the sale that I really wanted, but it would be nice to get this TV working too, if I can.  I don’t know if I’m doing anything wrong though?  If I hit the TV button on my Beo4, the LED on the top-right on the TV blinks and I hear a quiet click sound inside, so I know it’s reading the Beo4, but that’s all I get – just a blink and a click.  The LED on the VCR/Speaker beneath it is also lit, so they are getting power.

I used my Beo4 to set it to V.Opt 1 just to be sure, and again the LED blinked so I know it got the signal, but still, when I press the TV button, all I get is an LED blink and that quiet click sound.

because this is part of a more complex system than the usual Beovision TV, I’m wondering if the setup is more complex – perhaps I’m doing something wrong?  I can find a user guide online but not a setup guide.

Of course, it may be that the thing is just broken, but I know from experience that B&O kit can have some surprising complexities sometimes, so I thought I should ask before I take it to the tip!

If I do need to connect it to other ML kit to get it to work, I do have a Beosound 4, Beolink Converter 1614, and Beolink Converter 1611 to play with.

[Madskp]

One of my childhood favorites 🙂 I remember glaring over it in the catalogs with a set of Beolab 8000 as front speakers and Beolab 6000 as rear speakers

Not knowing much about it other than that, but as far as I remember there has to be a Masterlink cable between the TV and the control center base.

Also the Masterlink connection might not be compatible with the newer stuff as it use some of the pins that are unpopulated in the normal masterlink cables.

Regarding Beolink Converters there are a special type for the AV9000 system called 1610 AV9000 Audio kit. I have 4 of them from a lot I bought, but the will only work with the AV9000 system as they get power through the Masterlink cable and do not have a separate power jack. From what I found there are two version of it where those I have has 2 Masterlink connectors and the other type only one. I remember reading a little about it from the old forums when I got those to see if they could be usefull, so try to search a little for those names. I guess AV9000 might give more hits that Beovision 9000.

There used to be some manuals and service manuals for it on the manual section, but it looks like they are not uploaded yet. Maybe Mark @Multicare can help here.

Good luck getting it up and running 🙂

[Madskp]

The manuals are on site. I should just look under Beosystem instead of Beovision https://beoworld.org/beosystem-av-9000/

[CharlieWednesday]

The seller told me it was working only a week ago – the TV was coming on (but with nothing connected to it, so just snow on screen), the blinds were opening, and the motorised stand was working.  They even sent me a video of it doing that.  Maybe it hasn’t enjoyed the journey to my house in the back of my car.

The Control Center has three cables coming directly out of it:

• ML Cable – you connect it to one of the TVs two ML sockets, one of which is labelled ‘Control Center’, so of course that’s where I connected it!
• Stand Cable – for the motorised stand, there is only one place this can go on the back of the TV.
• Power Cable – with a female figure 8 power plug, it connects to a male socket on the back of the TV, to take it’s power from that.

There is also a short SCART cable connecting the control center to the TV – the control center only has 1 SCART, the TV has two (and I’ve tried both).

I was very careful transporting it but maybe something has gone wrong on the journey. Such a shame, as it is in almost perfect cosmetic condition.

 

[Madskp]

CharlieWednesday wrote:

There is also a short SCART cable connecting the control center to the TV – the control center only has 1 SCART, the TV has two (and I’ve tried both).

I don’t think the scart cable has anything to say in wheeter it will turn on or not. I think the TV part is based on a MX TV and the VCR is a separate unit enclosed in the control Center, and therefor the scart cable need to be there to conenct those two if the VCR is going to be used.

Hope you might get some other input for getting it going

 

[CharlieWednesday]

Yes, I’d assumed that about the SCART, but tried both anyway!

I’m colourblind so wasn’t able to see this, but my partner has just observed and tells me that when I am pressing the power button, the LED on the top right is turning briefly green (which is for ON), then immediately back to red (OFF).  It stays green for a fraction of a second only.

I’ve also discovered from the manual the TV has a hidden power button on the TV itself (underneath) – pushing that button results in the same outcome – the LED blinks green for a fraction of a second, then back to red.

Another odd thing – if I disconnect the mains, then reconnect it, only the LED on the TV comes on.  The LED on the control center only comes on when I have tried to switch the TV on, then it remains lit.  If I then disconnect the mains, there is the very recognisable ‘thunk’ sound of a speaker being disconnected, so I assume that the control center/VCR is powered on, but the TV is not.

[Madskp]

Have you tried to remove the Masterlink cable and see if the TV will power on by itself? Just to rule out where the problem lies

[CharlieWednesday]

Yes I have tried that, but with the same result, so the problem does definitely seem to lie with the TV.

[CharlieWednesday]

This is strange – this morning I was reading through the service manual on this site, and reading the troubleshooting tips.  It says to make sure it’s not in Option 0 by changing it to Option 2 (on BL1000 using Power-Picture-2-Store).

I tried that, and when I pressed Store, the LED on the TV went off.  I haven’t been able to get it back on since – I have tried the physical power button on the TV, and tried changing it back to Option 1 with the remote, but nothing – now I get no response from the TV at all!

[CharlieWednesday]

I have managed to get it back to its original state (not powering on, but at least the LED is back on) by disconnecting it from the mains, disconnecting all cables, leaving it for a while, then plugging it all back in.

I deliberately plugged the ML plug from the Control Center the wrong ML plug on the back of the TV.  Then, when I press ‘TV’ to try to switch it on, the TV does not come on, but the Control Center displays a message – on the left display it shows the software version (SW.1.10), and on the right display is shows ‘error 1’ which means the Control Center isn’t correctly connected.  At least I know from this that the Control Center is probably working!

I took the back off the TV (it comes off quite easily) but I can’t see anything obviously wrong inside.  I’m no expert but I’ll take a good look at the service manual in hope of finding a likely cause.

 

 

[CharlieWednesday]

So, had been busy with work so had not done anything with this TV for a few days, but I was walking past it this morning, and realised I had left it connected to the mains, so for the hell of it, I tried to switch it on.

It came on!

The blinds opened (a bit noisily, mind), the TV rotated on its stand, and the screen came on.

I found an old VHS tape so I tested the video recorder.  It didn’t work at first but after a couple of attempts it came to life, and played the tape.  The tape won’t eject (it tries, but fails), but at least I know it plays!

When I put it back in standby, the blinds closed, and it rotated back to the original position.  Obviously I then switched it back on again to make sure it wasn’t a one off, and it did.

Later on when I have finished work I will plug in an external source to the other SCART socket and see if that works, and see if the VCR records okay.

I bought this as part of a job lot and it was the other items I really wanted; I don’t really have room for this in my office (which is the only room my partner will allow it to be!), but it looks so cool, I kind of want to keep it now.

[Madskp]

Fantastic 🙂 such a nice looking TV

If the VCR is problematic I would not have to high hopes for it based on some of the VCR repair threads here on the site. It sounds like they are a nightmare to work on

[CharlieWednesday]

As long as I’m happy only using that one tape that’s already in it, the VCR works a treat! I’ve just found out it has a built in satellite decoder too.  Too old to be useful now, but interesting.

[CharlieWednesday]

I’ve been able to have a bit of a play around with it now.  At one point the old behaviour returned and it wouldn’t power back on, but I tried it again a few minutes later and it came on.  Every time I have tried it since then, it powers on OK.

I have connected my old Nintendo GameCube to the SCART 2 socket and the picture quality is in fact very good, considering its age.  Sound from the built-in centre speaker is good, and I also connected my BL 6000s to the speaker outputs then switched those on to test that too, and it all sounded good.

The video recorder is the problem though – what is already on the tape plays OK (not great, but OK), but I tried to record something else and the picture rolls badly.  I tried to adjust the tracking but it didn’t improve.  Add to that the fact that the tape won’t eject… to be expected from a VCR that hasn’t been used for at least 10 years though, I suppose.

The thing I love the most is the motorised stand.  My BV8 doesn’t allow for one, and I never had one for my old BV7 either.  The fact that I can get it to ‘fold itself away’ into the corner and then turn to point right at me when I switch it on – childish I know, but I love that!

[Madskp]

BTW if you want to explore the AV9000 further I have some of the AV9000 audiokit for free in this thread https://forum.beoworld.org/forums/topic/free-bo-spare-parts/

However since Brexit shipping options to UK is more limited and more expensive + you might end up paying import taxes, so might not be feasible.

[CharlieWednesday]

That’s very kind, but I have decided I’ll have to let the AV9000 go – it is beyond my ability to repair.  I have listed it on eBay for parts and have actually had a surprising amount of interest!

Thanks for the kind offer though.

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