Fudoh's ode to old display technology

[Lord of Pirates]

For something different, any advice on furniture that can hold big pvm/bvm?

Is something like the ikea kallax series suitable?
I looked for info on some aquarium forums and found mixed opinions

Modern TV stands are designed to hold only anorexic flat screens

I keep my KV-34XBR800 (around 200lbs) on a solid wood dresser. You can likely find what Bobrocks and Final suggested for a better price than decent furniture, just another option to consider.

Make sure whatever you get can handle the load before putting the display on it .

[Shining]

Wow, this set is amazing . So glad i picked it up! The clarity and colors are the best i've seen in many years. The set as it is (uncalibrated):

[Fudoh]

which one did you get ? The X1 in 29" was my Trinitron in the 90s. From around 94 or 95 to 2000.

[Shining]

The KV-C27TD to be exact. Nice, if i can find one localy (X1 or X5) i will be picking one of those up for sure.

[tacoguy64]

Wow, this set is amazing . So glad i picked it up! The clarity and colors are the best i've seen in many years. The set as it is (uncalibrated):

That's one nice looking set. Pretty uncommon from the looks of it as well.

[BazookaBen]

Wow, this set is amazing

Wow, it really does look good in those pictures! The color separation on Richter Belmont's clothes looks just as good as on my mid-2000's PVM's.

And Richter is a good one to test with, because all the consumer sets I've tried are way too saturated in the reds and blues, and Richter's clothes can end up looking like a bright neon raver's outfit.

[Xyga]

That's one nice looking set. Pretty uncommon from the looks of it as well.

Really ? To me it is common. Most 50/60Hz consumer Trinitrons with RGB that have been all over Europe for decades sure look like that, it's the typical look, the main differences will be in the type of tube (curved/flat) and chassis.
The best ones are curved with a good chassis, if possible an analog one still in good condition (is the C27 full analogue? I don't remember) but it's clear the C27 is one of the better controlled.
My 2000's flat 27" has more spaced scanlines and worse color balance even after lots of tweaking, I won't even mention the geometry... but the main qualities otherwise are the same.

[FinalBaton]

Those pic look great shining

so jealous of european(and japanese as well) consumer CRT's with RGB inputs!

[Einzelherz]

I feel like this is the sort of situation where a TVL test image in the 240p suite would come in handy.

[KnuckleheadFlow]

I feel like this is the sort of situation where a TVL test image in the 240p suite would come in handy.

I second this. Please let us know if you can make that happen.

[Xyga]

Well compared to popular PVM/BVM it's obviously a much lower count, in the 300~400's maybe ?

But just reading about TVL won't tell much about how it looks, those consumer Trinitrons also bloom more, looking less heavily scanlined compared to a 600 and considerably less than a 800.

[my usual rant]
This consumer grade Trinitron look is often considered too crude by people (again in particular in America since lots of people there have had their RGB memories resinstalled with used broadcast monitor pickups since around 2005~present, while their older, fading memories were of standard shadow masks in the arcades) but it's still considered superior to similar grade consumer RGB shadow masks.
The retro crowd in Europe when choosing between consumer sets easily favors Trinitrons for their obvious qualities over average shadow mask sets, but the latter are largely underestimated because there's a lot of variety, and some do look absolutely gorgeous (for instance there are B&O fans out there for good reasons).
Breaking free from the typical Sony stacked color slices feels good sometimes.
[/my usual rant]

[Einzelherz]

The point of a TVL test image is more to just get more info in a databasey kind of way. I suspect in a few years time someone will catalog a lot of this stuff such as tvl (maybe), geometry/color adjustments, etc so when those who come late to the party can seek out the "best" sets.

[Lord of Pirates]

The point of a TVL test image is more to just get more info in a databasey kind of way. I suspect in a few years time someone will catalog a lot of this stuff such as tvl (maybe), geometry/color adjustments, etc so when those who come late to the party can seek out the "best" sets.

Providing numbers for geometry and color adjustments would be moot unless there's not a lot of variance display to display on the same model. TVL info would be interesting to collect though.

[Einzelherz]

The point of a TVL test image is more to just get more info in a databasey kind of way. I suspect in a few years time someone will catalog a lot of this stuff such as tvl (maybe), geometry/color adjustments, etc so when those who come late to the party can seek out the "best" sets.

Providing numbers for geometry and color adjustments would be moot unless there's not a lot of variance display to display on the same model. TVL info would be interesting to collect though.

Not all TVs allow for geometry and color. It's just a yes/no flag.

[Lord of Pirates]

The point of a TVL test image is more to just get more info in a databasey kind of way. I suspect in a few years time someone will catalog a lot of this stuff such as tvl (maybe), geometry/color adjustments, etc so when those who come late to the party can seek out the "best" sets.

Providing numbers for geometry and color adjustments would be moot unless there's not a lot of variance display to display on the same model. TVL info would be interesting to collect though.

Not all TVs allow for geometry and color. It's just a yes/no flag.

My bad, didn't realize that's what you meant. You could get a start on it now with a thread here. Track it with a spreadsheet or whatever for geometry and color adjustments then add TVL info later.

[Shining]

Unless there's a 240p test suite for the PS1 it will have to wait a couple of months. The tv will be in storage at work (where i have a PS1) until i move to a bigger place.
The KV-C27 is curved and full analog, i believe. Pics from Scart Hunters blog:

http://scarthunter.blogspot.se/2012/03/ ... -sony.html

Spoiler

Spoiler

[jhonny_d]

thanks for all the inputs on the ikea question I think I will build something myself

I've seen a few people holding their crt on ikea furniture, so they can hold it fine, what concerned me was the long time durability of the solution since they're basically sitting on cardboard and not real wood

[Polyh3dron]

So my PVM-20M4U has a slightly dark spot on the middle right of the screen. I've degaussed a bunch of times but it won't go away. Are there any other methods of getting rid of this?

[accaris]

thanks for all the inputs on the ikea question I think I will build something myself

I've seen a few people holding their crt on ikea furniture, so they can hold it fine, what concerned me was the long time durability of the solution since they're basically sitting on cardboard and not real wood

Having a vertical board under the TV is the key. If you put a CRT on a flat horizontal particle board with no support, it won't hold. A vertical piece will ensure it lasts a long time.

If you're even a little bit inventive though, you can make a TV stand yourself. I sketched up what I wanted the stand to look like, went to Home Depot, bought the wood, and had them cut it for me for free. Then just screwed it together myself. The 2" boards I used for the top will hold a 300lb. Trinitron, and I made enough space for 9 consoles.

[LEGENOARYNINLIA]

Breaking free from the typical Sony stacked color slices feels good sometimes.

Indeed.

[Shining]

Sorry, last one

[Xyga]

Sorry, last one

Nah, the more pics of CRTs the better.

[leonk]

I picked up 2 more 20" PVM's today (I now own 3 of them!) I did a lot of tests, and decided to keep 1 and sell off the other 2.

The one I chose to keep is a Sony PVM-20L2 which I got still in the original box! (Made in 2004). The image quality is AMAZING. I've done a lot of tests using the SNES 240p test suits, and can't find any flaws! Super happy .. except for 1 tiny problem.

I only use SCART CSYNC cables with SCART to BNC adapters on the PVM. On my 2 1954Q's, I can change settings while the picture is on (the OSD is on top of the RGB video). On PVM-20L2, it disappears!!

When I press the Menu button, nothing shows. I turn off the SNES (or NESRGB) and the menu suddenly shows up! Also, when I do turn on the console, I notice a momentary flash on the bottom which says RGB 480i/SYNC. I know for a fact it's 240p and the picture is 240p (not 480i).

What gives? Any fix? I got into the service menu, but can't find anything.

If anything, I'm surprised but how much less options there are in the 20L2 service menu then there were in the 1954Q.

[Guspaz]

Certain service menu options will cause the OSD on the L2 series to either distort, or disappear entirely when used in the wrong values or combinations. It doesn't follow any logic, you could be adjusting a setting and one value less and it'll disappear, a few more and it'll come back. IIRC I had the choice between either having no OSD while stuff was on, or having the image one or two pixels off-centre, so I chose the slight off-centre image.

[Einzelherz]

There's a setting in the service menu whose name I can't recall, but its value is around 248. You can tweak this back and forth and the OSD will reappear. I have never noticed any adverse effects from doing this.

To get to the menu with the system running, switch on over or under scan and then switch it off before you start changing the value. Each scan setting holds its own values so you don't want to mess with over or under's.

[leonk]

if anyone knows what setting it is I'd love to find out. Also what's the recommended / factory value for contrast? 50? all other pvms i had were 0 but 0 here is min.

[Guspaz]

I remember that setting, and it did fix the problem, the problem was that it didn't save its value along with everything else. So it was only temporary.

I don't remember the factory contrast value, but calibrated it against an SMTPE test pattern using the advice here:

http://www.glennchan.info/broadcast-mon ... ration.htm

Since I have no external reference, I let the monitor auto-calibrate the colours against the test pattern by itself.

[Einzelherz]

There's an L2 service manual floating around. It's not great, but it's useful. If you can't find it I can upload it later.

I think the setting is HFC Phase. I can be more certain after work.

[Guspaz]

That'd be useful. I never found an L2 service manual, and had to rely on service manuals for similar-but-not-quite-the-same monitors.

The problem wasn't with saving service menu settings in general, though, it was just that one setting (whichever one I'm thinking of) that didn't save along with the others. Maybe the service manual did have an explanation.

[accaris]

Check out this composite cable I found that's perfect for NES. It's got mono audio on one end and stereo on the other, so you can get dual speaker sound out of the NES without needing an extra cable or Y-splitter. Plus it's double shielded.

Here's the eBay link:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/232062335019?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT