How crippled is a BVM without the control unit?

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oldgamer
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How crippled is a BVM without the control unit?

Post by oldgamer »

How crippled is a BVM without the respective control unit?

Is not having the control unit enough reason not to buy a BVM if it is otherwise good?

What can you do to control the monitor if you don't have the control unit?

Are the control units hard to find in isolation?
tongshadow
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Re: How crippled is a BVM without the control unit?

Post by tongshadow »

It wont even turn on without the control unit.
fernan1234
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Re: How crippled is a BVM without the control unit?

Post by fernan1234 »

They do turn on without the control unit, but they may be set to an input type (for example SDI) rather than what you need (most likely RGB), or if set to default to analogue input it may be set to internal sync, etc. So basically you do need the control unit in most cases. Unless the previous owner happened to set it up in just the right configuration that you will exclusively need, but even then you might as well just buy one.
Dochartaigh
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Re: How crippled is a BVM without the control unit?

Post by Dochartaigh »

oldgamer wrote:What can you do to control the monitor if you don't have the control unit?

Are the control units hard to find in isolation?
You can find controllers on eBay (or setup an alert) but last time I looked they were going for $200 if not more...

You can also control a BVM with another BVM's controller... (which sounds like that's not good for you since you asked this question...). Heck, some people even pick up a BVM-D9 (if they find one for cheak) which has the controls built into the actual monitor just to have a backup "controller" for another BVM...

You can build a Raspberry Pi to control one too, but requires some doing and believe it's only written for a RP with the touchscreen which ads extra complexity. Think might be able to do it with an Arduino or something that can send codes over DB9? port if you can edit code and all that stuff...
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matt
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Re: How crippled is a BVM without the control unit?

Post by matt »

IIRC there's a project underway to program an arduino to act as a BVM controller. That's something to look into - if the price is good it may be worth buying it and holding on to it until an alternative solution is ready. It's only a matter of time.
nissling
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Re: How crippled is a BVM without the control unit?

Post by nissling »

There's one guy in Stockholm rebuilding the BKM-10R. I sold a 20F1E to him and we've talked some about it. I think it'll turn out great.

Whether or not the monitor turns on without the BKM-10R depends on the system settings on the monitor. It's probably normal to have standby disabled when they were used professionally but I always enable standby on my monitors.
SuperSpongo
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Re: How crippled is a BVM without the control unit?

Post by SuperSpongo »

Hi, check these out:

https://www.retrorgb.com/bkm-10irduino- ... itors.html

and

https://twitter.com/MartinHejnfelt/stat ... 1486433290

Also, these are only compatible up to and including the D-Series. For the A-Series, you need a BKM-15R.
fernan1234
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Re: How crippled is a BVM without the control unit?

Post by fernan1234 »

SuperSpongo wrote:Also, these are only compatible up to and including the D-Series. For the A-Series, you need a BKM-15R.
Little known fact: A-series can also be controlled with a BKM-16R (which is easier to find used and cheaper than 15Rs).
SuperSpongo
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Re: How crippled is a BVM without the control unit?

Post by SuperSpongo »

That's good to know, thanks!
Seems like nowadays, it'd be easier to find an A14 instead of a BKM-15/16R..
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wwse
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Re: How crippled is a BVM without the control unit?

Post by wwse »

bkm-15r / 16r disappeared from the market after the release of the bkm-68x clone - because bvm a-series are in high demand now. so I think a14 will not be so easy to find either - many of them with small operating hours.

on ebay there is now 1 lot for bkm-15r for $ 155 - a working, but slightly broken case. I think there will still be better offers.
skum
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Re: How crippled is a BVM without the control unit?

Post by skum »

fernan1234 wrote:
SuperSpongo wrote:Also, these are only compatible up to and including the D-Series. For the A-Series, you need a BKM-15R.
Little known fact: A-series can also be controlled with a BKM-16R (which is easier to find used and cheaper than 15Rs).
How accurate is this fact? (That sentence is weird :D) Anyways, I've heard that the BKM-16R only "works" but not all features do. Can you verify this? (Maybe even say what works, and what doesnt?)

I will for sure work on a BKM-15R replacement also. It *should* be possible in the days of cheap LAN equipped SBCs and whatnot :)
fernan1234
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Re: How crippled is a BVM without the control unit?

Post by fernan1234 »

skum wrote:How accurate is this fact? (That sentence is weird ) Anyways, I've heard that the BKM-16R only "works" but not all features do. Can you verify this? (Maybe even say what works, and what doesnt?)
I didn't use a 16R+A-series pair extensively so I can't comment on missing features, but I would guess that any in-menu setting should be accessible and work as expected. It doesn't have a degauss button, but Sony clearly had backward compatibility in mind as they made it so that you can degauss via menu with a 16R.
skum
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Re: How crippled is a BVM without the control unit?

Post by skum »

fernan1234 wrote:
skum wrote:How accurate is this fact? (That sentence is weird ) Anyways, I've heard that the BKM-16R only "works" but not all features do. Can you verify this? (Maybe even say what works, and what doesnt?)
I didn't use a 16R+A-series pair extensively so I can't comment on missing features, but I would guess that any in-menu setting should be accessible and work as expected. It doesn't have a degauss button, but Sony clearly had backward compatibility in mind as they made it so that you can degauss via menu with a 16R.
Ah yes, no degauss makes sense given it was made for LCDs. I now see I asked the exact same question in one of the Facebook groups, where the answer was "menu navigation buttons, knobs, and the channel keypad work, but not the function buttons on the left."
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