Fudoh's ode to old display technology

[Ed Oscuro]

Anybody in North Carolina, Govdeals.com has an interesting auction with a lot of equipment - including a PVM 8", a bunch of interesting Furman power stuff, and some Extron units:
http://www.govdeals.com/index.cfm?fa=Ma ... cctid=3954

This stuff seems more VGA (PC analog RGB) dedicated than retrogaming, but there might be some interesting stuff in there. Currently the lot isn't going for much money ($40) but that may well change　（edit - dumb - it is much higher than that!).

There's also an auction with some 8" and 14" PVMs:
http://www.govdeals.com/index.cfm?fa=Ma ... acctid=223
The PVM-97s are probably worthless unless you deal in B&W though.

[BazookaBen]

It's going for 270 now. I wonder what in the lot is so valuable? A lot of the Extron items are composite video switchers. Not very useful in 2014, unless you can also use it for SDI.

[Ed Oscuro]

Whoops, I was looking at the starting price. Hmm, probably people are interested in the Furman stuff or something else. That does put a crimp on things though!

[Tempest_2084]

I have a chance to pick up a PVM-2530 for $70 (plus a tank of gas). The guy has 15 or so so he said he'd find me a nice working one. My question is: Will this be a better monitor than my 1943MD? I know it's bigger (25" vs 20") but I believe it's not as sharp and it's older. These came from a TV station and then were used as a video wall by a band so they may have a bunch of hours on them (not sure though). I'm wondering if it would be worth the time and money to snag one or if I'm just better off sticking with my 1943MD.

[Ed Oscuro]

Wait, where are you located again? I definitely would be interested in two, myself!

Yeah, it's not as sharp and older, but shit man, 25"! Just keep the 1943MD too. Those seem like basically the exact same thing as my 20L2s, just a few years older.

[aaronmjr]

I have a chance to pick up a PVM-2530 for $70 (plus a tank of gas). The guy has 15 or so so he said he'd find me a nice working one. My question is: Will this be a better monitor than my 1943MD? I know it's bigger (25" vs 20") but I believe it's not as sharp and it's older. These came from a TV station and then were used as a video wall by a band so they may have a bunch of hours on them (not sure though). I'm wondering if it would be worth the time and money to snag one or if I'm just better off sticking with my 1943MD.

I picked up a couple PVM-2530's recently and don't get me wrong the picture is nice, but they are 560 line monitors and don't hold a candle to my PVM-20M4U (800 line) in sharpness and scanline definition. The color is better on the 2530's though. Here is a comparison between the two using a CMVS via RGB:



PVM-2530 (560 lines)


PVM-20M4U (800 lines)



PVM-2530 (560 lines)


PVM-20M4U (800 lines)


The close ups make the difference look pretty dramatic, but truth be told after you get a few feet away they both look great, just in different ways.

[kamiboy]

Ah, I miss my 2530. I would trade this A20F1U to have it back in a heartbeat. Oh well, better to have loved and lost I suppose.

[Tempest_2084]

I think my 1943MD has 600 lines so 560 wouldn't be too far off. Those two pictures are very different, but I'm not sure which one I like better. I'm actually leaning towards the 2530 as I was never a huge fan of the large scanline look (some people like it, some don't).

Looking at those pictures I'm seeing some color differences. For example the box around the Top Ranking text looks like it has a Red/Yellow/Red thing going on in the 2530 picture, but Green/Yellow/Red in the 20M4U picture (very visible in the close up shots). To me the 2530 version looks more correct than the 20M4U version.

How many scanlines did an arcade monitor back then have?


I guess it all boils down to whether or not he has one in good shape. If they're all pretty worn out then it's probably not worth my time. If he has a really nice one I can always get it and sell it if i don't like it.

How hard is it to adjust the geometry on the 2530? I can't seem to find a list of internal adjusts anywhere. On my 1943MD they're all in one spot on the board which makes it easy (well easier anyway, I still have to crack the back open to get to them).

[kamiboy]

On the 2530 all the pots are on a board on the side. You will have to pop open the back to adjust them though.

[aaronmjr]

I think my 1943MD has 600 lines so 560 wouldn't be too far off. Those two pictures are very different, but I'm not sure which one I like better. I'm actually leaning towards the 2530 as I was never a huge fan of the large scanline look (some people like it, some don't).

Looking at those pictures I'm seeing some color differences. For example the box around the Top Ranking text looks like it has a Red/Yellow/Red thing going on in the 2530 picture, but Green/Yellow/Red in the 20M4U picture (very visible in the close up shots). To me the 2530 version looks more correct than the 20M4U version.

How many scanlines did an arcade monitor back then have?


I guess it all boils down to whether or not he has one in good shape. If they're all pretty worn out then it's probably not worth my time. If he has a really nice one I can always get it and sell it if i don't like it.

How hard is it to adjust the geometry on the 2530? I can't seem to find a list of internal adjusts anywhere. On my 1943MD they're all in one spot on the board which makes it easy (well easier anyway, I still have to crack the back open to get to them).

It's not scanlines that the number identifies, it's lines of horizontal resolution. And I don't know how many arcade monitors have. The scanline look is what people generally mean when they say "arcade quality picture" though. When you play at a normal distance away from the monitor things look a lot different. The scanlines aren't distracting or anything, to me they help make the graphics look less blocky and more hand drawn without losing any sharpness. It's awesome! Can't go wrong with a 2530 though, the picture is nice. My pictures were just to demonstrate what exactly the difference between a sharp, and really sharp monitor are.

As for adjustments, the pots are super super tiny and on the side as kamiboy said. Here's a picture from a couple weeks ago when I was dialing one in. It's a bit of a pain since you have to take the rear of the case off which is like 10 screws, 8 of which are a little awkward to get at. Suffice to say if you don't get it perfect the first time, you'll have to whip it all apart again to do more adjustments. I did it once and am just living with any imperfections because I just don't care that much.

[Xan]

Great comparison there of those two monitors. Love the sharpness on the 800 TVL tubes, just compare the left side of the letter "N".

[aaronmjr]

Yeah, white is really telling of a CRT's picture quality too, check out even on the 800 TV Line picture how the scanlines are smaller.

[Tempest_2084]

That sounds a lot like my 1943MD. I ended up using a mirror to check what the screen was doing while I fiddled with the pots. Does the 2530 have an underscan button? I find that feature useful because it's hard to max out the screen between systems and not have at least one or two that seem to want to go outside the screen boundary (the Neo Geo is bad in this regard).

I still wonder if the 2530 is worth upgrading to from my 1943MD.

[aaronmjr]

No underscan button that I'm aware of. Besides picture related features, the 2530 has some cool stuff, like an internal amplifier with speaker jacks in the back to hook up external speakers, and a 100W recepticle in the back you could use to plug in another component. It also has a remote which most PVM's don't, and the light up buttons on the front are really cool looking, like a spaceship. Haha.

[Tempest_2084]

How good are the internal speakers?

[kamiboy]

I hooked two of my Polk tower speakers to the 2530 amps and wow. I had amazing sound and picture, it was perfect.

Funny story, the day that a person contacted me to come and buy the 2530 I had decided to just take the ad down and keep the damn thing. I was so close to keeping it, such an idiot.

[aaronmjr]

How good are the internal speakers?

There are no internal speakers, but there is an internal amp with jacks like a stereo receiver to hook up your own speakers. There are also some Sony APM speakers that with a particular bracket can be mounted to the side of the 2530 which is really slick. They're a little hard to come by though.

[aaronmjr]

I hooked two of my Polk tower speakers to the 2530 amps and wow. I had amazing sound and picture, it was perfect.

Funny story, the day that a person contacted me to come and buy the 2530 I had decided to just take the ad down and keep the damn thing. I was so close to keeping it, such an idiot.

I am going to sell my second 2530 shortly, if only we were closer I'd hook you up in exchange for some teak danish furniture.

[Tempest_2084]

How good are the internal speakers?

There are no internal speakers, but there is an internal amp with jacks like a stereo receiver to hook up your own speakers. There are also some Sony APM speakers that with a particular bracket can be mounted to the side of the 2530 which is really slick. They're a little hard to come by though.

Thanks for clearing that up. I have two Harman Kardon computer speakers that I use with my 1943MD which should work fine with a 2530.

Too bad you're not closer to me or I'd snag your 2530. MN is a bit far from SE MI though.

[420p]

Hey guys, I got some questions regarding the BVM 20F1E.

First one is about mine:
It is on firmware 1.05 and I can't access maintenance menu, I already contacted Sony Pro, still waiting for an answer, if they can send me a card with the update to 1.4.
If they don't, does anybody here have one to lend it to me to update?

Second, a friend of mine has two 20F1E, they both worked fine, one now only turns on, but shows no picture at all (reseated all cards, still no pic).
Is there any risk in switching the deflection board from one unit to the other to determine, if it is the deflection board?

Greets and I enjoy all the nice Scanlineporn in this thread.

[nyder]

Anyone know anything about these Brionvega TV's?

I picked up a doney model at a thrift for $10.

It has a SCART socket and works on 115V 60 hz which is weird because all the models I see on the itnernet are 220v 50.

It's very stylized design, I hooked up my SNES to it via RGB SCART and it works, but no scanlines.

here are some pics.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/108 ... .21.21.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/108 ... .21.28.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/108 ... .21.46.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/108 ... .28.44.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/108 ... .28.47.jpg

I mostly got it because it looks cool, works on North American power and had RGB SCART.

Never imagined I'd find a SCART enabled telly in Canada.

Nyd

[bobrocks95]

Dropbox errors on checking those pictures...

[nyder]

Dropbox errors on checking those pictures...

D'oe!

Fixed I hope.

[bobrocks95]

Cool, I wonder what an Italian television was doing in Canada! Certainly an interesting find.

[nyder]

Cool, I wonder what an Italian television was doing in Canada! Certainly an interesting find.

Even weirder is it uses 115 Vac 60hz...rather than 220V 50hz

http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/superfluo_ ... ition.html

Apparently in 2007 it was retailing for 1400 euros lol

[Xyga]

Man, that TV is so sexy.

[cicada88]

That's pretty cool. I would pair it with an atari 2600.

[Jademalo]

Hey guys, I'm having a bit of a weird issue with YPbPr from my Wii on my BVM-20F1E

To put it frankly, the colours are all entirely wrong, and no amount of tweaking seems to be able to get them close. Interestingly, if I pass the signal through my YPbPr to RGB transcoder, then the colours are perfect on the monitor in RGB mode. ie it's an issue with the monitor's displaying and not the source.

From what I can gather, the reds with component are extremely weak, but any attempt to boost them makes the white bleed quite badly. I've been on for hours now flicking between RGB and Component to try and get the colours close, but I'm flat out struggling to do so.

Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas? Component is almost unusably bad. Thanks

EDIT: Solved! It was a dodgy BNC terminator screwing with the red. The second it was removed everything was perfect!

[snoopyj]

Hi, I almost got my BVM-D20F1, I am wondering the connection cable is normal RS232 cable?
A.Female to Female or B.Male to Female or C. Male to Male with 9 pins or 9 holes

[a][]

I believe it is RS-422 for the cable. Another option is to find a BKM-11R with its cable that is even more difficult to find. A nice thing about the 11R is you can just plug it into the front of the monitor to control it. If you have several monitors it is very convenient.