Question before purchasing a Sony PVM-20L5

[sicbud]

So, I have a friend that is moving and doesn't have room for his Sony PVM-20L5. He's willing to part with it for about $50 (I also have to help him move and drive to another state to pick it up).

I have a question before purchasing it though. I was wondering if the monitor is capable of running 480/720p/1080i out of the box, or if it needs one of those expansion cards to be able to output to those signals? I read the manual, and it is a little confusing. It says you can reach these resolutions with an add-in card, but then at the end of the manual it mentions these resolutions without any add-in cards.

I'm mainly interested in 480p, because I'm looking for a really nice monitor that I can use with my PS2, Wii, Dreamcast, and Xbox running 480p. If an add-in card is required to reach at least 480p, then how does one go about attaching the wii with the BKM-142HD add-in card? It says it has HD serial digital signals, so would I need some sort of converter that would convert component to to digital serial?

Sorry for the noob question, but I'm having a really hard time getting a straight forward answer on this.

Thanks in advance!

[beatsgo]

I was wondering if the monitor is capable of running 480/720p/1080i out of the box, or if it needs one of those expansion cards to be able to output to those signals?

It should be able to take anything from 240p all the way up to 1080i.

Source

[kamiboy]

Unless I am very much mistaken I believe the L5 takes 480p max. It is not actually HD capable, and never can be made to be.

[Skips]

Unless I am very much mistaken I believe the L5 takes 480p max. It is not actually HD capable, and never can be made to be.

The 20L5 is most certainly 720p and 1080i capable however there is some wonkiness to it. Some game consoles (the Wii U being one) will not switch past 480p when connected to the component inputs on the monitor itself. Its like it can't detect that it is capable of anything higher.

I had to end up using a BKM-129X to get the Wii U to detect that the monitor was capable of 720p and 1080i. Once I plugged it into the BKM-129X it instantly opened the other two as options. The original XBOX however was able to do 720p and 1080i on the stock inputs on mine.

So in short yes the monitor is HD capable via component video however you may need a BKM-129X to do it.

[sicbud]

Thanks everyone for your replies.

Unless I am very much mistaken I believe the L5 takes 480p max. It is not actually HD capable, and never can be made to be.

The 20L5 is most certainly 720p and 1080i capable however there is some wonkiness to it. Some game consoles (the Wii U being one) will not switch past 480p when connected to the component inputs on the monitor itself. Its like it can't detect that it is capable of anything higher.

I had to end up using a BKM-129X to get the Wii U to detect that the monitor was capable of 720p and 1080i. Once I plugged it into the BKM-129X it instantly opened the other two as options. The original XBOX however was able to do 720p and 1080i on the stock inputs on mine.

So in short yes the monitor is HD capable via component video however you may need a BKM-129X to do it.

This is really good to know. The BMK-129X isn't too expensive (it's a lot cheaper than the HD BKM-142HD), so looks like this may be the best solution. Of course, it's kind of funny that I'm going to end up paying more for the BMK-129X than the actual TV, but whatever.

[Ed Oscuro]

A 20L5 in good shape is worth more than $50, so count yourself lucky.

You also don't need a BKM-129X. The bottom row inputs are certainly capable of taking 240p and 480p signals out of arcade boards and the original Xbox. With the Wii, I think some of the rationale for the expense of running disappears because it's not a system you need a CRT for, given the new wiimote tech, and the 20L5 is also not good for widescreen content.

[Skips]

A 20L5 in good shape is worth more than $50, so count yourself lucky.

You also don't need a BKM-129X. The bottom row inputs are certainly capable of taking 240p and 480p signals out of arcade boards and the original Xbox. With the Wii, I think some of the rationale for the expense of running disappears because it's not a system you need a CRT for, given the new wiimote tech, and the 20L5 is also not good for widescreen content.

I actually played my Wii U in 1080i back when I had the 20L5 (Everything was on a Desk two feet in front of me). It actually does widescreen incredibly well albeit with a smaller viewing area due to it going into 16:9 mode. Both 720p and 1080i do look incredible on that monitor. If you were like me and did not have space for an extra LCD + the 20L5 getting the BKM-129X was well worth it. It all depends on how much space you have and how far you plan on sitting from it. If you plan on sitting four feet or more back from it then yes widescreen is not ideal but in a setup like I used to have it was quite nice.

[Unseen]

Some game consoles (the Wii U being one) will not switch past 480p when connected to the component inputs on the monitor itself. Its like it can't detect that it is capable of anything higher.

I had to end up using a BKM-129X to get the Wii U to detect that the monitor was capable of 720p and 1080i. Once I plugged it into the BKM-129X it instantly opened the other two as options.

Interesting behaviour, did you use the same cables in both cases?

[Skips]

Some game consoles (the Wii U being one) will not switch past 480p when connected to the component inputs on the monitor itself. Its like it can't detect that it is capable of anything higher.

I had to end up using a BKM-129X to get the Wii U to detect that the monitor was capable of 720p and 1080i. Once I plugged it into the BKM-129X it instantly opened the other two as options.

Interesting behaviour, did you use the same cables in both cases?

Yup, same cables and setup.

[Thamiel]

Weird, I had the WiiU running in 720p with the stock inputs via component without any problems.

[Sid]

A 20L5 went for over AU$450 on ebay Australia just recently. Hours aside, do they really warrant that sort of money over what one might pay for say, a PVM-20M4? It's a $300 premium over what I paid for my last 20M4.

[Ed Oscuro]

It depends on whether you're OK with using a 20" screen for 480p content.

I've played a fair amount of original Xbox games on my 20L2, which is 480i only, and the screen actually didn't prove to be a problem. But when you first get it, it seems like it will be. Of course, it'd be much better to find a larger set.

There's the D24, but it actually doesn't have more space for 4:3 images. It's about the same.

Everything else seems to be a multi-hundred-pound monster.

Of course, Skips disagrees with me that it's not a good set for resolutions above 480p, so YMMV. I'd say 480p is about as high as I'd care to go on a 20L5.

[Skips]

A 20L5 went for over AU$450 on ebay Australia just recently. Hours aside, do they really warrant that sort of money over what one might pay for say, a PVM-20M4? It's a $300 premium over what I paid for my last 20M4.

The L5 series are fetching really high prices right now. I know Saveonpat on eBay is actually getting over $500 for them. I did not realize this but companies are still buying them not just retro gamers. Non gamers are buying them for their 720p and 1080i capabilities since it is still far cheaper than buying one of Sony's newer OLED video editing monitors. So in short, for some people the premium is worth it. If you are ONLY using 240p content their video quality is the same as the M4U. Its the HD capabilities that is making them shoot up dramatically as of late.

I was talking to him last week on the phone about some repairs to a BVM and he mentioned that he gets a lot of overseas customer's. He said hes selling 24 inch BVM's to local and foreign people for $3000 or so. Keep in mind these are fully serviced and calibrated monitors, not your typical pulled off the recycling palette ones we typically pick up for a couple hundred.

Unless you are in an area where lots of people are getting rid of them (or are very lucky like the OP) you can Expect to pay $300 + for one of these in good working condition with no major geometry/convergence issues. Ill admit, I miss the day's where I could order 20L5's for $80-120 after shipping. This is a pretty dry area for PVM's so it was really nice when I could get these higher end models for cheap. Those days are long gone and I will be settling for a PVM-1271Q if it works when it gets here (Then again I only really play Famicom these days so a high end monitor is not really needed).

P.S. For $50 you should be buying your buddy a case of beer to go with it

[Einzelherz]

I'm still searching for one. For me it's like a mini holy grail because it'll take anything and it's larger than my 14L5. I'm too lazy to get *that* deep into BVMs and HDM desire unless one miraculously appeared locally.