ArcadeVGA and SONY PVM20 monitors...bunch of questions

[shaffowaffo]

Hi Folks...
Well after hours upon hours of reading the forums, I have finally dove in and bought a bunch of Sony PVMS's...
1 x PVM-20M2E
2 x PVM-20M4E
3 x PVM-20L4

I got excited and bought one too many ! especially since I am still heart broken about selling my NEC XM29 a few years ago (I was moving...) Am on the hunt for another is anyone has one to sell :]

I have an arcade VGA which I want to connect to the PVM's to run mame and eventually turn it into a hyperspin mame cab. So heres the questions...:]

1 - What cables do I need to buy to connect the 15khz VGA signal to the PVMs ?
I need BNC but am unsure on the sync connections and what I need. I know retrocables.co.uk sells specific SONY PVM SCART to 5 BNC, which suggests that I would need 1 sync connection, but unsure if I can get away with a direct VGA to 5 BNC cable ? the cable for sake has 4 BNC and 2 for sound...

2 - Can I connect the ArcadeVGA directly to the PVM ?
Or do I need either an Extron/UMSA in between ? I own an extron 580xi, UMSA and an Altinex DA190SX. Would I need to place one of these in between the ArcadeVGA and PVM ?

3 - Do I need to ensure any specific features of the PVM are turned on ?
I have the manuals downloaded, but there seems to be a large number menus :]

4 - Am I ok to take of the chassis without electrocuting myself ?
I am looking to clean them all up and maybe put carbon fiber wrap on one to make it look super cool :]

Any answers or help would be much appreciated. Also a massive thanks to the community, in particular Fudoh and Fagin for making videos and sharing the scanline filth we all love :]

Shaf

[kamiboy]

1: You need a VGA to BNC cable. Then you need a BNC T-adapter that you can use to make a haphazard merger of the H and V sync BNCs on said cable into a single sync BNC which you then connect to the sync in of the monitor in addition to the R, G and B BNCs on the same cable.

2: Possibly, if the primitive manual combining of sync via T adapter does not work you need some sort of sync combiner.

3: Yes, enable EXT sync.

4: No, you touch the flyback area (looks like a suction cup) and you are dead.

[shaffowaffo]

Many thanks Kamilboy

That has certainly helped. I have ordered a 2 into 1 "T" BNC connector. A bit odd how some seemed to be £10+ and some were £2 delivered...hmmm...anyhow, its ordered..the £2 version

Sounds like its easier than I expected. I went ahead and ordered the specific PVM SCART to BNC cable from retrocables anyway, as it will allow me to connect some of my old consoles.

I'll have the monitors by the middle of next week. I'll start posting some pics of the results on all 3 types of the monitor. It will be interesting to see the difference between the 600 line M2 and 800 line M4 and L4's. Thats provided it all arrives in working condition.

Finally, thanks for letting me know about the suction cup hazard . I am slightly aware of the dangers, my arcade cab monitor has died and needs the IC chip replacing. Discharging looks easy enough, provided I am not dressed like Mr T, but its best left to the professionals. !

Many thanks buddy...result pics to follow...

[shaffowaffo]

Well, PVM's have arrived and all been tested...results to follow, once I have the strength to bring them back down from the loft. The 600 line M20m2 is far better than the 800line M4's, which are too perfect a picture...

Will attach the results soon....

[shaffowaffo]

Here we go...

I finally tested all four Sony PVM's. I wanted some more but couldn't justify the additional costs (to my wife that is...) I ended up with a 2 x PVML4, 1 x PVM2, and 1 x PVM M4. All four work, with no obvious visual errors. usual wear and tear on the cases, but no cracks or damage. One of the L4's has a miniscule dint on the screen. But I couldn't really notice it. They cost me £140 for all four and £55 for a pallet delivery.

My PC setup is a basic old AthlonX2 3000 with a 64GB SSD. The card is an ArcadeVGA 3000 PCI express version. Windows Xp has been installed, which annoyingly doesnt want to seem to play ball with retroarch.

I connected all four monitors via a VGA to 5BNC cable, with the H & V cables connected to a BNC Y Adaptor to make it into a single BNC connection that gets plugged into the EXT sync on the PVM. I suggest you use a Y adaptor and not a T BNC connector to turn the 2 sync's into one. Mine were a very tight fit, so the Y adaptor made it fit perfectly with no taut cables.

Once I switched it all on, it worked instantly, slight flicker in windows and upon boot, but when running mame via Hyperspin, its rock solid and CRYSTAL clear, in fact too clear but more about that later...

The arcadevga guesses the best resolution for mame most of the times, but some like ghouls and ghosts, punisher, 3 wonders were completely wrong and needed a custom ini made with a resolution slightly larger or smaller than the original game resolution. Once that was done, they too worked and were beautiful to look at, with scanlines that were awesome !

Although the final output on the PVM was beautiful. I have found that it is too perfect and doesn't feel like an arcade monitor. I will have to test the setup via my Bang Olufson TV, I'll post those results later...
Oddly after having tested retroarch on my LCD with the CRT shader, its actually nicer to look at than the PVM ! I am seriously thinking about making some dedicated cabs for the PVM's but using LCD monitors and retroarch for multigame cabs.

The older 600 line M2 gave me the best picture as the other 3 HR Trinitron tubes which output 800 lines were too clean and perfect, which is fine if you want the higher resolution look. I prefer the low res look.

Not huge swathes of technical details here, but hopefully enough to show people you can easily connect a PVM to a PC with the right hardware.

I have posted my results on flicker, links below along with two short videos (apologies for the sound)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/89366850@ ... 794304855/

[kamiboy]

Well, if you find PVM's too sharp then a B&O is certainly going to give you the polar opposite. It has a nice and soft picture where the gaps between scanlines are hardly visible.

[shaffowaffo]

Thanks Kamil for the heads up. I'll give it a shot tomorrow and post the results, once I haul the damned thing up the stairs from the garage...Its a damn shame these things are so heavy..

Odd though, as I would have expected the TV to have strong scanlines too. I'll pinch a small portable and give that a go too, be good to compare the difference...

[kamiboy]

Well, on my MX4200 25" B&O I can hardly see any whereas they are quite pronounced on my PVM's. Other B&O models might behave different though.

[shaffowaffo]

Results are up from my B&O tests...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/shaffowaf ... 807994291/