Early-mid 2000's Sony Trinitron Wega SDTV Flat Tubes...

[Josh128]

Josh, do light guns work on this TV?

Yes they do-- do you know of any CRT that doesnt?

[Syntax]

I've been caught out with DLP thinking I'd bought a crt before but that's rear projection.

I think 100hz crts have light gun issues.

[Josh128]

Resurrecting this old thread! This past weekend I was able to snag 2 like-new Sony FD Triniton 36" behemoths for a grand total of $45. One of them was the HD 4:3 version (dont remember the model) and the other is the SD KV-36FS210. After testing them out they both have amazing pictures and equally amazing service menu options for adjustments. I was intending on just hanging onto them and perhaps giving to a buddy who is also into retro gaming, but I started looking at the stand where I currently have the 27" Trinitron Wega unit that I started this thread about and the wheels started turning... "Could I possibly jam this monster in the same space?" And so after some careful measurements, moving the lower shelf shown here up about 6" from its original position, and the absolute circus it was trying to get this thing into my house without destroying anything or crushing anyone, I was able to cram the 36FS210 in there! Its so big that the sides of the front edge hang over each side of the wooden stand I have it on by about 1.25".

The reason I went through all this trouble is that this larger unit, although 3 years older (2003) than the 27" Wega (2006), has much better geometry and despite being much larger, a lot less visible (almost none, actually) "micro-jitter" than my 27". I mean this dude is just pristine. Only downside to it vs the 27" is that it does not have a built in HD ATSC over-the-air tuner. My 27" was connected to my outside tower antenna system and I actually still used it to view broadcasts from time to time, so now I'll have to use a converter box/ tuner, but I already have a couple so thats no big deal.

As far as the HD set, it feels even heavier than the SD one, and though I adore the progressive scan 480p for Gamecube, DC, and Xbox, sadly I have no room for a second gargantuan CRT in my house, so to storage it will go!

Below is a pic showing the difference in size between the 27" and 36". Its way more than you realize before you see them together.




Below is the HD Trinitron:

[bigbadboaz]

Dude, that's fantastic and you are so lucky. No need to explain the reasons for upgrading to a giant 36".. it's self-evident, at least to those of us who have seen these monsters in person!!

I have a 27" standard Trinitron and my goal is to get some type of 32" down the road. I think my days of struggling with 35" and above tubes are over, that's not to say that it isn't worth it!

[vol.2]

Dude, that's fantastic and you are so lucky. No need to explain the reasons for upgrading to a giant 36".. it's self-evident, at least to those of us who have seen these monsters in person!!

I have a 27" standard Trinitron and my goal is to get some type of 32" down the road.

I have a 32" sony and I wish it was a 27". I never want to lift the thing ever again.

[Guspaz]

"Don't talk to me or my son ever again"

I had a 32" flat Wega growing up. It was pretty decent, for a CRT, I suppose. 480i but it had an anamorphic 16:9 mode where it would draw the full set of scanlines in a 16:9 frame, which looked as nice as 16:9 480i can look. We gave it away when it came time to move to a flatpanel, and it was so heavy that my dad and I couldn't lift it safely.

[bigbadboaz]

I have a 32" sony and I wish it was a 27". I never want to lift the thing ever again.

But how often do you even have to do that? the idea is kinda to set up your spot and leave it, right?

Anyway, even Sony 27"s are pretty bad. My dream 32" is gonna be a JVC or something similar, which tend to be closer to Sony 27"s in weight. But again, I intend to set the thing down ONCE and never pick it up again.

[vol.2]

But how often do you even have to do that? the idea is kinda to set up your spot and leave it, right?

I've actually moved around an awful lot because of work and things. The 32" is in storage and it's going to be awhile before I can use it again. If you are pretty much where you're always going to be,
I get that. I'm definitely going to have at least one or possibly two more long distance moves before I'm settled.

[Josh128]

Everyone is absolutely right about the mass and unwieldyness of these 36'"ers. I think the weight goes up exponentially with the size because they are more than twice as heavy as the 27" which is listed at 99lbs. You DONT want to be moving these bad boys more than is completely necessary! I thought me and the guy who I got the HD from were going to seriously hurt ourselves getting it out of his house and into my truck. We both had to put it down on separate occasions because the plastic matrix on bottom of the unit felt like it was going to cut through our fingers. Luckily I had two pairs of leather gloves in my truck that we were able to use to continue the move. Two days after, the backs of my legs were so sore they felt like they were hit with a baseball bat or something, and Im actually in decent shape! I quickly learned to be very creative with a hand truck/dolly, ramps, and moving blankets to get these units out of my truck and into my house. Its amazing that so many of these were sold in the late 90's and early 00's. I'd hate to be one of the delivery guys who had to lift these everyday.

The SD set, the KV-36FS210, is listed at 220lbs. Its heavy as shit too, but me and the guy I bought it from had a much easier time carrying it than what I experienced with the HD unit. I'll need to get the model and look up the specs but its got to be at least 20-30 lbs heavier.

Picture-wise, the FS210 is awesome. It has almost perfect scrolling with no fish eye issues or other anomalies. Corner convergence is a wee bit off but nothing worse than what my 27" was. It did, like the 27", suffer from the "red push" that many late model Trinitrons exhibit, but setting AXNT and AXPL to 0 in the service menu fixed it right up.

Heres the new pic with it in place on the stand, you can see its wider than the stand. I did put "slider" pads under the TV and under the legs of the stand so I can move them when I need to get to the back. Also a pic of the screen running Zelda 2 on my NES w/ NESRGB. The screen looks curved in the photos, but its not.

[FinalBaton]

That's looking good Josh.

I had a KV-36FV300 and I miss it in some ways, having that huge screen was really great for fighting games.

It was not feasible to bring it to my new place on a second floor though, so I had to get rid of it. The tube was really worn out too

now I do my couch gaming on a 25'' and 27''. and desktop on a 20'' (although I think I prefer 14'' for desktop actually)

[Josh128]

The folks getting rid of sets like this are generally not in the retro-gaming scene (obviously), and they often ask, curiously, "What are you going to do with it?" I tell them "Play old video games on it, its all they are really good for". A lot of times, the people are like "oh yeah, cool", and you can tell that lightbulbs are turning on in their heads and they are recalling memories of either them or their kids / grandkids playing Atari, Nintendo, or Sega on these CRT TVs 20, 30, or 40 years ago.

All this time I havent really been keeping an eye out for deals like this, but apparently they've been happening all along. Out of boredom, really, I just happened to search "CRT" or "box TV" on Facebook marketplace and saw these sets-- interestingly, the guy with the HD set has been trying to sell it for almost a year, having gone from $100 down to $20 over the year due to no interest, while it just so happened the SD set listing was only 21 hours old when I saw it. And by the time I got the owner on the line she told me there was also somebody else messaging her about it.

Two days later I searched for my buddy and found a like new 32" FD Trinitron nearby, the listing was a week old. The owner messaged me back and said someone was going to pick it up that same day. For $10, lol. So even in pretty rural areas like where I am the word is out about what these are good for and the ones in really good condition dont last very long.

[Osirus]

There are a couple late model flat Trinitrons on Facebook marketplace here, from $10 to $50. I don't have a Facebook account so I can't contact the sellers; which is fortunate as I'm running out of space to store my CRTs.

[FinalBaton]

oh yeah the big Wegas and other Trinis are cheap here too. and still in good number at the moment(although it's due to run out at some point). There was a big older Tini with component input here not too long ago, and it was $20.

[bigbadboaz]

If you're talking about the black XBR, you should grab it, or alert some fellow gamer nearby. Those are super special sets.

[BrianC]

Even the KV-13FS100 is surprisingly heavy for a smaller TV.

[Taiyaki]

I envy all of you who can manage those large size CRT's. At this stage I've come to favor 20 inches for the ability to store multiples and use single player. I love 24 inches but the trade off in reduced storage space (when storing several) and a bit more difficulty moving them around on my own made them less practical.

I love full flat Sony Trinitrons and would never go back to a PVM or BVM. They're more work to fine tune geometry and convergence with, but it's worth it for the natural and inimitable picture they provide for video games in my opinion.

[TrantaLocked_]

I have a question about a Trinitron KV-34HS510, which isn't SD but I thought I'd post in an active thread.

I noticed if too much of the screen is white, the display lowers peak brightness/white level. This can cause shots in videos involving white background websites to look dull. I watch a lot of news videos so these shots are common in the content I watch. Is there a way to bypass this automatic reduction?

[vol.2]

^^^

That's what "Questions that do not Deserve a Thread" is for.

You can try making sure picture viewing mode is set to "pro" for minimal automatic adjustments. If you are watching only 1080i sources, you can turn off the DRC in the service menu.

Careful what you mess with in there, you can brick your TV if you change the wrong thing: https://www.manualslib.com/manual/85191 ... tml#manual

[Josh128]

Its called ABL for automatic brightness limiter. Caps the total power usage of the set down to a certain amount to meet EPA requirements, etc. Pure whites take the most power, so ABL kicks in more, the more white is on your screen. Gives it a "newspaper white" color. As far as adjusting it / removing it for that set, I have no idea. Google ABL for your model see what if anything comes up.