Sony BVM-20F1U problem help

[BVM-PVM]

Recently I bought a Sony BVM-20F1U on ebay. I paid about 235.00 total. I received it a few days ago, I plugged it in and the screen doesn't light up at all. The BKM-10R video controller lights ups and the overload light keeps flashing. I already got a refund for the monitor. I was just wondering if this was fixable?


Also I might buy a new monitor. Is a monitor with 90,000 hours worth buying?


What do you guys think about these two questions?

[a][]

Try reducing brightness and contrast to see if it goes away. It worked for me on a few BVMs I was checking out. The manual even says to lower these settings when the overload light is on. This worked for a few monitors that I was looking at but not all and worth a shot.

I asked a question about hours a while back and basically it boils down to does the picture look good. These are commercial displays that are designed to run 24/7 for years and years. My BVMs are between 2K and 35K hours however many have BMVs with 90k plus hours(some 150k) and are fine. If they are in a studio and never turned off that is 9k+ hours per year. Hours on the older BVMs can be misleading as there is no difference between standby and hours while on. The later A series there is hours and CRT hours so you know how many hours the display was used. On thing I noticed on some of the older used monitors was that to get a nice display was that the rgb values and other settings had to be dialed up due to usage as the CRT ages and would imagine that varies from monitor to monitor. I was able to pick mine by testing and hopefully you are able to do the same. Pictures do not do justice from what I have seen. So hopefully you are able to check it out in person. Hope this helps and good luck!

[BVM-PVM]

I just tried reducing the brightness and contrast and still no luck I was looking at my monitor again and its a BVM-A20F1U from 2006. Its not that old. There is no excuse why is shouldn't be working. Thanks again for the info though, I really appreciate the help. Is there any way I could do factory settings reset with the overload light blinking?

Any other suggestions?

[a][]

I do not think a factory reset would make a difference but could not hurt to try. Fudoh... do you have any ideas regarding overload?

Just curious but how did you purchase 20F1U and get an A series monitor as they are so very different in terms of slots / boards / control unit. If I recall the A series only has 3 boards for it while the older BVMs have 8+. Also the controller is not a 10R but 15R and uses an ethernet cable instead of RS-422. What board/s came with your BVM? Just curious as I have an A series with only SDI so that does not do much for me in terms of gaming however I am able to use a camera I have that outputs SDI.

Good luck obtaining a working display! If you have a company in your area that recycles old corporate assets it may be worth to see if they have BVM / PVMs and if you are allowed to test. That is how I obtained my monitors and learned a lot during the experience as I went into it as a greenhorn and from what I've read on this site and other pages. Another option is to check specialty stores that sell professional video gear and see if they have old stock. I was lucky and able to obtain some brand new / very lightly used demo PVMs for $30- $75 this way.

[Fudoh]

20 inch A series BVM - at least 2,000 EUR over here. No way of getting any....

The BVMs blink overload quite easily, but it shouldn't be a problem. BUT the A series BVMs usually don't work with the 10R control boards, do they (?) As mentioned, ethernet for the A20F1, while it's a serial connection for the 20F1. Maybe that's the problem here.

[BVM-PVM]

The person selling them on ebay had 4 for sale in the same listing. However he only had pictures of one of the monitors a BVM-20F1U. I was pretty pissed I didn't get the monitor pictured with the correct boards and it did not work on top of that. My monitor does not have RGB inputs. I only have SDI and HD SDI. I have the 15R controller with Ethernet also. I'm pretty sure you can use other boards from older BVMs on it.

I hope this overload problem is fixable. If not I'll look for a new monitor.

[a][]

Can you provide a link to the ebay listing? Also if the person has 4 you may want to ask them to send a 20F1U as they have more than 1. They may also have a D20F1U and may just not be paying attention. Is the seller a recycler / can they test the monitor going out and if so ask them to test one before sending it to you with color bars or some video and send you photos. Shipping of these displays is also a problem as they are so heavy and handling is not always the best and can cause damage. My first few experiences from ebay with shipping resulted in damaged BVM/PVMs and is why I decided to take the hands on test approach. This is not to say you can't get a BVM/PVM shipped ok but I'd say the odds are against you for a 20 inch or larger in terms or packaging. If you look at the packing for the 20" monitors there is very rigid packing in all corners along with a shipping box that is VERY sturdy. BVMs are quite heavy at 20" and even more so with additional boards.

The A series only accepts the 3 boards available I believe as if it would be compatible with older boards that would be a plus to be noted in brochures and as you can see it is not. http://www.panavision.com/sites/default ... ochure.pdf. Just guessing but it seems that knowing that HD(not SD) and flat screens were the future so those that still used CRTs were provided very expensive and limited options to provide incentive to make the transition to the new commercial sets. Could be wrong but seems like milking the last broadcasters who were making the transition from CRTs as the choices offered were very limited.

[BVM-PVM]

Here is a link to the listing http://www.ebay.com/itm/190895900671?ss ... 1439.l2649

The guy ended the listing because he did not want to ship anymore monitors since mine got damaged in the mail. I still have the monitor. The guy didn't want it back.


Anyone know how to fix the overload problem?

[a][]

Small world it is... that is where I picked up a few of mine and the pictures that were used for color bars were from the 240p test suite on a Megadrive. I asked that they provide better photos as they really made the color bars look all wrong and not indicative of the quality of the display so they could sell more. They have tons of BVMs and many that are in good shape. PVMs as well. The owner is a very nice man and I enjoy stopping by a being able to check out stuff and making a few purchases.

Now knowing that you got an A series that does not work I can say that I also was not able to get that to work as well when testing items. I am positive that is the same monitor I tried to get to work with no luck. If you can get it to work then good job as I played around with it for a while and was not able to. While there I tested around 20+ displays and there were even more that I did not test as I picked up enough to last me for my retro needs. They have many 20G/20F/D20F/ and I believe one A series left as I saw 3 last time I was there a few months ago. They have monitors with the control units integrated along with lose units. It is a shame that shipment of these heavy monitors is such a problem and it is also how I ended up visiting his store in person since I am not too far from it. I won my first PVM a 14inch L5 over a year ago only to have it damaged in shipping some 25 miles away. So I am happy I was able to stop by test and select.

Good luck with the monitor but I would be surprised of you got it to work. If you live in the area I'd suggest setting up a visit and that way you will definitely leave with a nice working monitor along with a good selection of boards.

[BVM-PVM]

Good news the monitor works now yeah !!!!!!!! I pulled out every board including the power board and reseated them. Also the monitor only has 43,000 hours on it. Bad news I don't have an RGB board just SDI I'll be contacting the seller and give his money back. I hope the seller will send me the correct boards.

Wow really small world. That's cool you live close to the shop. The monitor didn't travel that far I live in New Jersey.

Also do you think the guy will have the BKM 68x RGB board with sync I need for this monitor? Or will they work with old BVM RGB boards with sync? Lastly is the color bar channel supposed to be in black and white because of the SDI boards?

What do you think?

[BVM-PVM]

Bump

[BVM-PVM]

Bump

[c0dehunter]

My BVM-D20F1U also goes into overload. I barely used it and I want to know why it is doing so. should I remove extra SDI cards installed? (it has 42D, 21D, 20D)

[c0dehunter]

OK, I removed 20D, and it works now. Aren't these monitors designed to have multiple SDI cards installed in them? I mean the input connected to 20D was not even running (my PS2), same goes with other inputs (Xbox on 42H).

[Faith452]

I'm having this same issue, unfortunately I've tried taking out the boards and putting them back in and it didn't help, tried it with only the rgb board as the only imput board as well, nothing makes a difference. it still turns on for about half a second and dies with the flashing overload light.

Does anyone have any idea how to fix this??? The monitor only has 20k hours on it and it was perfectly fine yesterday.

[daty2k1]

I'm having this same issue, unfortunately I've tried taking out the boards and putting them back in and it didn't help, tried it with only the rgb board as the only imput board as well, nothing makes a difference. it still turns on for about half a second and dies with the flashing overload light.

Does anyone have any idea how to fix this??? The monitor only has 20k hours on it and it was perfectly fine yesterday.

Sorry to bump such an old topic but I got the exact same issue on an A series. Worked fined yesterday and now it goes to overload after a few seconds. Anybody found a solution since?