Best Sony BVM?

[kamiboy]

480p does look absolutely stunning on a CRT. Wii games, for an example, look sharp and vibrant via 480p on a CRT whereas they look like twice tossed dogshit on an LCD TV.

[spaceape]

So would the Sony PGM-2950 be the best crt possible at >20" for 480p/31khz (well exept for possibly the 24" and 32" BVM's)?

Fudoh you've owned one what do you think?

[Ed Oscuro]

According to this old thread, the PGM-2950 is VGA input only. So while it is a good size it will require a converter box to get RGB or Component sources running. (And, personally, after dealing with a 21" Sony monitor years ago, I would not want to deal with something even larger and heavier, especially in a computer monitor format.)

[Fudoh]

The PGM is great, yes, but it's 31khz only. To connect 15khz sources you'd need a XRGB.

[spaceape]

I guess right now my options are:

1. Get a BVM-A20F1E (ability to do both 15khz & 31khz but small screen)

2. Get an older 20" BVM for 15khz and a 29" PGM-2950 for 31khz (small screen for 15khz & big for 31khz)

3. Get both a PVM-2950 for 15khz and a PGM-2950 for 31khz (both big screens but with possibly worse image sharpness)

But i'll properly end up getting the A20F1E as it's an easier solution and don't take up as much room.

Thanks everyone for all your help these last few days. It's been a learning curve.. My head is spinning.

Edit: There's also the Sony PVM-20L5 as well as the Mitsubishi and NEC multisyncs, Diamondtron, NEC Multisync XM29. Not sure how those monitors fare opposite the bvm line though. But they do add trisync.

[spaceape]

The BVM-A series was the last series to be CRT's right? The next line was OLED.

[Fudoh]

between CRT and OLED came a bunch of LCDs.

[spaceape]

between CRT and OLED came a bunch of LCDs.

Got it. but the BVM-A line were the last using crt tubes right?

[Fudoh]

absolutely. Make sure to get a component/RGB input board with it. The A series was the first one not to include one by default.

[spaceape]

absolutely. Make sure to get a component/RGB input board with it. The A series was the first one not to include one by default.

OK.

[Ed Oscuro]

I'm getting a PVM 20L5, and other members have had them, if you want to ask around for impressions before you buy.

[spaceape]

I'm getting a PVM 20L5, and other members have had them, if you want to ask around for impressions before you buy.

I searched around for that as well. It weighs a bit less than the bvm's. Also only available in the US as far as i know. But didn't do a full google search for all the obscure places.

Is 46034 hours of use too much?

Any difference in picture quality between the D and A series?

[Ed Oscuro]

Is 46034 hours of use too much?

Don't think so.

Any difference in picture quality between the D and A series?

Not directly, but the BVM-A series is the successor to the BVM-D - and so probably 5-10 years younger than D series monitors, and probably with far fewer hours.

[spaceape]

Is 46034 hours of use too much?

Don't think so.

Any difference in picture quality between the D and A series?

Not directly, but the BVM-A series is the successor to the BVM-D - and so probably 5-10 years younger than D series monitors, and probably with far fewer hours.

Thanks Ed. What country are you from?

The older the monitor series the easier they seem to come by though. You're right about the potential of more hours of use on the older units.

I'll keep you guys posted on what i end up getting.

[Ed Oscuro]

USA, and from what little time I've spent searching out BVM and PVM units (plus a couple others) on eBay, most stuff available seems to hail from the latter 90s - mid '00s, unless you are looking at -M (medical) units which I haven't checked (but would expect to be roughly similar in hours of use).

I don't know if there is a sharp relationship between age of the unit and hours of use (i.e. going from 2006 to 1998 would be correlated to a jump in hours) but my guess is that these units aren't useful for production anymore and so any that managed to survive without great numbers of hours will not see a lot of demand from services that put a lot of hours on them. But certainly there was a period of time post 2006 where CRTs were still the best display technology for many production-related uses and so these may also have high hour counts. That's about enough of my rambling, don't you think?

[spaceape]

USA, and from what little time I've spent searching out BVM and PVM units (plus a couple others) on eBay, most stuff available seems to hail from the latter 90s - mid '00s, unless you are looking at -M (medical) units which I haven't checked (but would expect to be roughly similar in hours of use).

I don't know if there is a sharp relationship between age of the unit and hours of use (i.e. going from 2006 to 1998 would be correlated to a jump in hours) but my guess is that these units aren't useful for production anymore and so any that managed to survive without great numbers of hours will not see a lot of demand from services that put a lot of hours on them. But certainly there was a period of time post 2006 where CRTs were still the best display technology for many production-related uses and so these may also have high hour counts. That's about enough of my rambling, don't you think?

No please ramble on.

Did you get that PVM 20L5 yet? Do or have you owned many crts?

[Ed Oscuro]

Just sent the payment in today - I'll share my thoughts as soon as I have more equipment for use with it (it needs some specialized cables of course). Mainly going to use it as an upgrade from the XRGB2 + 17" VGA CRT combination I've suffered along with for a while.

[Lawfer]

If you want a BVM, there's isn't too much choice. It doesn't really matter if you get an old one with analogue controls or a newer one with a digital chassis. 20" is the only choice for 4:3 units (well, there's 14" as well). 24" and 32" are only available in 16:9 and they're much more expensive.

You should also mention that the 32" weights 94kg.

Not directly, but the BVM-A series is the successor to the BVM-D - and so probably 5-10 years younger than D series monitors, and probably with far fewer hours.

Indeed, the latest manufactured BVM-A I have seen, was on ebay.co.uk and was manufactured in Q3-Q4 2009! They are fairly new, while the oldest D series were made starting 1998 or 1999.

[spaceape]

Just sent the payment in today - I'll share my thoughts as soon as I have more equipment for use with it (it needs some specialized cables of course). Mainly going to use it as an upgrade from the XRGB2 + 17" VGA CRT combination I've suffered along with for a while.

Oh. Well that sounds like a great upgrade.

[spaceape]

You should also mention that the 32" weights 94kg.

Indeed, the latest manufactured BVM-A I have seen, was on ebay.co.uk and was manufactured in Q3-Q4 2009! They are fairly new, while the oldest D series were made starting 1998 or 1999.

Yes those are pretty heavy. But then again not much more so than the small screen ones.

That's quite the leap in years. I'll be sure to ask them to check the hour counter in the menu before i buy.

[Ed Oscuro]

I can carry around 70 pound monitors with little problem. The larger monitors get well over 100 pounds - with the 32" being over 200. That's a huge difference.

Even for the same size screens, BVMs seem heavier than PVMs, and PVMs seem heavier than Trinitrons, which may be heavier than shadow mask TVs from other manufacturers (i.e. my KV-27fs120 is much heavier than the Samsung 27" I used to have).

[spaceape]

I just purchased a Sony BVM-A20F1M and should be getting it by next week.

[Fudoh]

and you made sure to get an analogue input board with it ? You also need a 4:3 bezel. No point in using a 16:9 one.

[spaceape]

and you made sure to get an analogue input board with it ? You also need a 4:3 bezel. No point in using a 16:9 one.

It's just with the BKM-62HS adaptor and nothing else. I will need to get the 68X and the 15R separate. Pretty expensive monitor im getting but then again it's in very good condition and only turned on for ~100-200 hours.

Not sure what bezel it comes with but im guessing 4:3. The manual says it come supplied with a 4:3 bezel and since it comes in original packaging im pretty sure it's included but thanks i just asked the seller.

I just want to say many thanks to all who has helped me out in this thread.

[kamiboy]

Where did you end up getting it from?

[spaceape]

Where did you end up getting it from?

Italy. At first i wanted to take a chance and get it from the USA but luckily i changed my mind and got it more localy. Although the base unit almost cost the same as shipping overseas anyway.

There are many much cheaper models in germany but i wasn't sure about the condition and they were older models without 480p support. So decided to go all in and not worry about that any more.

[kamiboy]

Was this a one shot deal or does this place have more of such units?

[spaceape]

Was this a one shot deal or does this place have more of such units?

Im only getting one for now but get a discount if i buy from them some other time. So im considering this (for tate mode).

[spaceape]

Any need for a cable with a Sync stripper or will normal sync do?

I read some have problems with the Sync stripper but isn't this just because they need the LM1881 chip like the one with the Sync Strike?

Can composite and RAW sync be produced with both cables? any difference in the picture quality between the two?

Looking at theese two at the moment:

http://www.retrogamingcables.co.uk/fema ... itors.html

http://www.retrogamingcables.co.uk/sony ... r-bnc.html

[ryu]

i don't know whether you'll need raw sync, but the answer to that surely lies somwhere in here

the cable with sync stripper will only allow you to get raw sync, while the cable without will only allow you to get c-sync. the picture quality shouldn't really differ between the two. pal snes units may show some noise in the picture that can be softened with a sync stripper, but i think the sony bvm monitors only take either raw sync or c-sync.