shmups.system11.org

Man now I'm really getting excited for this. Just hope the picture is still good after heavy use, mine shipped today!

Mine has over 32,000 hours on it and is perfect - don't worry.

Nice thread fudoh:). In the future i will be picking up either a bvm or pvm from ebay too.

Just for picture adjustments alone I'd go with a BVM. And it's newer, too. I'm buying one as soon as I get back from traveling.

Just out of curiosity, are any CRT's in the SONY professional line capable of displaying a 480p signal by any chance?

I know some of the newer ones can do 1080i, but so far I have not seen one cited as being able to do 30khz/480p.

It would no doubt be more convenient to have a 4:3 CRT that can cover the entire 8 to 128bit generation of games that were designed to be displayed on CRT's. Alas finding a good CRT that can do 240, 480i and 480p is a challenge.

By the time 480p sets started to show up most CRT's had switched to the 16:9 aspect ratio.

I swear I read that one od the BVM range will do 15-31+khz.

My PVM has all picture / geometry adjustments from the menu and service menu - if that's what you're referring to.

The 800line PVM's (as mine) are bloody good......... most importantly they can be cheap, certainly cheaper than the BVM's (or they are in the UK).

how do you access the service menu on your PVM? I've never been able to figure it out on my PVM-20M4U

Enter the MENU
Press ENTER and DEGAUSS

The monitor I purchased has over a little over 100,000 hours on it LOL. The description said very bright and in good condition. I paid under $150 for it. I have no idea what the life span of these type of monitors are but I'm hoping for the best. I have 14 days to return it if I'm not satisfied...

How did they get 100,000 hours onto it ? If you remove the front bezel there's usually a sticker with the manufacture date. 100,000 hours would mean 24/7 since the monitor was built

Yea maybe its a typo..that's like 11 years of running haha.

Hey Fudoh, have you thought about putting a tinted piece of plexiglass in front of the plasma to darken the blacks? I've seen quite a few of the guys building cabs over at BYOAC do that to punch up the contrast of their monitors.

I was playing around in the service menu of my PVM-20L4, when i accidentally turned on "Aging Mode". Now the monitor just displays a white picture with full contrast and brightness and doesn't react to any button presses. Does anybody know how to quit this mode?

Hey Amasis,

Copied/pasted from my monitors service manual (14L2 presumably similar menu system on yours):

(when in aging mode) "To return to the original screen, press the button of the input selector illuminating in orange"

Whatever that means Hope it helps!

Thank you so much 16shot!

I thought i bricked the monitor now it works again perfectly. Shouldn't play around when i don't know what i'm doing i guess...

Say that again!

You should get a copy of the service manual online and read through that for curiosity's sake.

No worry!

Aging mode is something you might want to get out of as quick as you can! It's kind of a soaking test that, if used extensively, will reduce the longevity of the monitor.

Good to hear you got that sorted!

As Ed says it is a sound idea to have the service manual on hand when messing about with the service mode, that ageing option incident is a classic

That's right. Am just looking for a reputable service manual site.

People on Agoraquest often have links to Sony manuals, but not always. I just go with whatever turns up; there doesn't seem to be any huge downside to just using whatever turns up. Haven't gotten any viruses yet

I can vouch for servicerepairmanuals.net

BTW, this 800line PVM gives me a hardon everytime I switch it on and see some 240p porn.

Lolol faginirs. That's pretty hot

An Ode is a type of lyrical verse. Can we get some poetry about how great these displays are? A haiku maybe?

I had a PVM-1271Q like this one:



As you can see it has a smoked glass cover over the screen. I used this monitor as my vertical setup next to my desktop for a long time. I mostly played classic games on it like Galaga, Donkey Kong, Phoenix, Pac-man, etc.

It was great. With the smoked glass, and the brightness turned down just til the black background of the game becomes a black abyss, and the contrast turned up just a little bit the games looked probably the best I've ever seen them. It really reminded me of playing on an old school cabinet more than any monitor I've ever had.

I don't think it would just be beneficial to the plasma, I think any monitor can look good through them. I'd really love to see the BVM through one.

Any way to fix shaky menu screens? I got my BVM in today but I don't have all the conections I need to hook any consoles up yet. I can access all the menus and everything but they seem pretty jittery and unstable, although they are super clear and legible.

BTW this set really does have over 100k hours, crazy.

the menus will be stable once you got a valid signal on the inputs.

I understand the Sony PGM line would display in 31 khz, some models being limited to synching only in that mode.

I have seen some non-pvm ones on ebay that could sync exactly from 15-31khz. I do not believe they were supposed to be up to the same specs as the PVM line since they featured only basic adjustments, so I don't know if you could call them "professional". Maybe they were designed for security monitors, airports, etc.

I own a couple of the Sony BVM-20F1U monitors and agree with Fudoh, that these are one of the best displays for old school games but not the best....

If you are only going to need a monitor that accepts a 15khz, the BVM is the best monitor, in the 20" size. But if you want something that accepts 480p, 720p and 1080i signals, then the Sony PVM-20L5 (or 14L5 for 14") is what you want. IMO the 15khz picture on the 20L5 is equal to the 20F1 but also accepts other resolutions . For comparison sake, I also own the following monitors:

NEC XM2900
Wells Gardner - D9800
Sony PGM-200R2U (x2)
Sony PVM-14L5
Sony PVM-20L5
Sony BVM-20F1U (x2)

PS - Fudoh, thanks to finding you website many years ago, I have now started down the path of collecting monitors, scalers and other such junk and looking for the best possible picture. I dislike you very much j/k

ROFLOL