Fudoh's ode to old display technology

[KatKya]

Good god. I don't even want to know how much that put you back.

Assuming they're properly packed and the like, I would figure a pallet of CRTs would have a bit more luck than a single boxed one with dubious padding.

[Xyga]

A whole pallets is safer than a number of individual packages, forklift accidents don't happen as often as carrier emloyees not giving a fuck about our average gadget order [do].

[dak1]

That's the theory... I did have to insist on replacing the actual pallet shown in the picture because there were rusty nails sticking out of it.

[Mr_5p3wk3y]

Is your SNES running at 50Hz or 60 Hz ?

It's running at 50Hz, it's an unmodified PAL console...

I might add that I started playing around with the sync cable and the green input and now it's not working again :/

Neither sync modes work... Internal stays still, all messed up...



and external just scrolls...

[mookie3three]

I've seen there is a wide screen version of the Sony PVM 20L5, the PVM-D20L5A. Any idea if it's possible to remove the widescreen bezel?

[Fudoh]

@Mr_5p3wk3y: are you sure that you're using the right cables ? Scart to BNC breakouts are not bi-directional. My best guess would that your sync line is simply wired for the wrong direction (and hence soldered to the wrong scart pin).

[Mr_5p3wk3y]

My best guess would that your sync line is simply wired for the wrong direction

I just soldered the sync to pin 19 (it was soldered to pin 20) melting the plastic in the process but still no joy... That is the way to remedy the wrong direction isn't it? I really have no idea what's going on!



Maybe it is worth trying the clean sync BCN breakout from retro gaming cables?

[Mr_5p3wk3y]

OK, the sync is cool now! It seems like there's something loose in the BCN breakout cable :/

But I've got two remaining problems:

The colour balance doesn't seem right; using the colour screens on the 240p test suite, white seems more pink... when i adjust the colour balance on the BVM to make the white screen more neutral the menu text on the BVM seems to go more blue, so that indicates to me that it's actually something more to do with the cables as opposed to the monitor. Is there anything that you can think of that might be causing that?

And the other problem is filling the entire screen... Again, using the test patterns on the 240p test suite, grid 256x224 doesn't fit and grid 256x239 fits better... I know 50Hz consoles give out a smaller image but on my BVM 20M4E I could fill the screen.

[Fudoh]

just soldered the sync to pin 19 (it was soldered to pin 20)

if your signal direction is Scart to BNC, then you want pin 19 on a male scart connector, but pin 20 on a female one.

The colour balance doesn't seem right; using the colour screens on the 240p test suite, white seems more pink...

can be caused by the cable. Can you switch the BNC connectors to see if the color drift changes color with the switch or it stays the same ?

And the other problem is filling the entire screen...

can't comment on that. I never had a 288p source connected, so I don't know if the BVM is supposed to offer enough play to get a fullscreen image.

[Mr_5p3wk3y]

Yeah the BCN is female SCART to BCN so the direction is good now...

I think the RGB board may be loose. I was tapping the top of the monitor and the image was flickering, so I gave it a whack and it seems OK hahaha. But that ain't right... If I take it out do you know if there's any installation or is it just a plug and play kind of thing?

When you connect a PAL console does it fill the screen? On my other BVM, it fills the screen no problem!

Thanks for the help though, I appreciate it!

[Fudoh]

When you connect a PAL console

I don't, sorry.

[chuckster]

I got hooked on professional monitors when I saw this thread and tracked down some 13" JVC sets from a local TV station. I bugged them for weeks but they didn't respond to any further calls. I gave up and I've been rocking a 1954Q (1997) for about 6 months, ordered from Ebay and shipped very well. The 20" always seemed a little "soft" compared to the little JVCs from 2005, and I wasn't impressed.

Enter a week ago, and I get a random text from the station and they happen to have 2 20" sets and 6 more 13" sets headed for the dump, unless I want them.

The next day, I have another 1954Q (1996) and a 20M2U (1998)! The older set had major geometry problems, which I haven't tackled yet, but the 20M2U just needed minor adjustments, and is looking very sharp! I imagine it had a lot less use than my first 1954Q, it seems that those sets tend to soften as the hours stack up.

Thought I'd share some photos (Wii over composite):

Album:
http://imgur.com/a/uX3w0

Spoiler

EDIT: Just realized those Sonic ones are very close to some photos by 22point8 earlier in the thread!

Thanks for the inspiration!
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... start=1800

[dak1]

Here's an update on my post from last week...



They've all been cleaned and tested and I'm happy to report they are in great condition. I had no way of knowing for sure, especially regarding the BVM. It was the first thing I checked when they arrived...



I was so relieved when I pulled up the status menu.
The only strange thing is the red spraypaint on the top panel of the BVM. Has anyone seen this before?

Nice find chuckster. What happened to the 6 other 13" JVCs?

[chuckster]

Nice find chuckster. What happened to the 6 other 13" JVCs?

Wow, I'm super jealous dak! An E1U is my grail, and you scored a 800TVL M4U to boot! Is it in good shape? If you ever decide you don't have room... !

I took 4 of the smaller sets, 2 Sonys and 2 JVCs. The JVCs had 0 problems and I may end up selling them for cheap because I know how hard it is to find any reasonable set, and though all of them are non-RGB, they're really nice little sets for a bedroom or cramped apartment. The Sonys were very old and worn. I fixed the geometry problems but one had a greenish push I couldn't shake and the other had weird green dots wiggling around any bright colors from whatever source I used. I'm not sure what to do with them, I doubt selling them would be worth the trouble, especially since one is the old-style grey Sony case, full analog with major adjustments from interior pots.

Has anyone encountered a JVC with major issues by the way? They seem super resilient and I'm 3/3 on them, whereas every Sony I've see had to have quality time spent adjusting it. It's likely just the age (all the JVC sets were post-2000), but I'm really falling in love with them seeing how well they stack up to the Sony sets. Then again, I just got the Wii hooked up through component on the 20M2U, and I'm already pining for the composite for the emulators, so maybe I'm not a good example!

[Einzelherz]

I'm still looking for my Grail too, a 20L5. One day.

[LDigital]

Quick bvm question.
I just drove 200 miles to see a bvm. It had 29994 hours on it.he turned it on to give a quick demo but we didn't have anything to plug in and just looked through the menus. The main. Thing I noticed was that even just with menus showing there was a visible jitter up and down of the menu text. The guy said it was because there was no signal to sync to but My worry was that if I bought it and transported it all the way back and I had that jitter when I run a signal through I would have been really upset. I ended up backing out.
Do the menus vibrate when no signal is connected?
Did I make the right move?
Thanks

[lettuce]

So im toying with the idea of getting an Arcade Tri-sync 29" monitor to use for my consoles (NES upto PS2 era), how feasible actually is this, and what devices would be ideal to get for allowing me to hook my scart cables up to the monitor? Would 480i game switch the monitor into 31khz, or is there actually a way to get 31khz via scart for consoles such as the PS2??.

Obviosuly id need to knock up a case for the monitor to sit in, and then theres the case of sorting auido out, maybe a small amp hooked up to car speakers and also mounted inside the case?.

Any suggestion or ideas?

[BazookaBen]

Quick bvm question.
I just drove 200 miles to see a bvm. It had 29994 hours on it.he turned it on to give a quick demo but we didn't have anything to plug in and just looked through the menus. The main. Thing I noticed was that even just with menus showing there was a visible jitter up and down of the menu text. The guy said it was because there was no signal to sync to but My worry was that if I bought it and transported it all the way back and I had that jitter when I run a signal through I would have been really upset. I ended up backing out.
Do the menus vibrate when no signal is connected?
Did I make the right move?
Thanks

I've noticed that a little on my PVM's.

Why did you drive 200 miles without something to hook up and test it? You should have at least driven to the nearest Goodwill and picked up a cheap DVD player or something

[kamiboy]

Quick bvm question.
I just drove 200 miles to see a bvm. It had 29994 hours on it.he turned it on to give a quick demo but we didn't have anything to plug in and just looked through the menus. The main. Thing I noticed was that even just with menus showing there was a visible jitter up and down of the menu text. The guy said it was because there was no signal to sync to but My worry was that if I bought it and transported it all the way back and I had that jitter when I run a signal through I would have been really upset. I ended up backing out.
Do the menus vibrate when no signal is connected?
Did I make the right move?
Thanks

The shaking is normal, all SONY pro crts do that. Once you connect a signal though the image is rock solid. You chose poorly.

[cicada88]

You drove 200 miles for a monitor you didn't know if you wanted to buy? So like 3-4 hours time and $25 worth of gas?

How much was he asking for it?

[pdcool27]

I picked a Sony Trinitron KV-32HS500 yesterday from goodwill for $20. Having the xrgb mini hooked up to it is just awesome.

[LDigital]

He didn't have any BNC connectors there and neither did I. I am waiting on my set from retrogamingcables. Ah well. At least I know now it's not a fault. I was fully there to buy it but that was something I couldn't resolve or get advice on so went with my gut on it

He wanted £350 for it

[chuckster]

He didn't have any BNC connectors there and neither did I. I am waiting on my set from retrogamingcables. Ah well. At least I know now it's not a fault. I was fully there to buy it but that was something I couldn't resolve or get advice on so went with my gut on it

He wanted £350 for it

That's not a horrible price, depending on where you are. Here in the US, I would drive 200 miles or give $350 (NOT the equivalent of pounds) for a BVM, (but not much more). Actually, I'm not sure I'd do both, unless the 200 is round trip and I knew the set was mint. It's a shame you had to pass it up for lack of a $.50 RCA-BNC adapter. I wouldn't want to pay so much for something I was unsure of though, maybe if he had halved the price.

[LDigital]

Thanks

I feel a bit better about it now

Exhausting trip for nothing though. Out of interest I see pvm generally go for a bit less and are easier to catch. Is there any real difference in image quality between the two when playing retro games? I don't think it's possible to find out the operation time on those so that's the only disadvantage I can see

[dak1]

So im toying with the idea of getting an Arcade Tri-sync 29" monitor to use for my consoles (NES upto PS2 era), how feasible actually is this, and what devices would be ideal to get for allowing me to hook my scart cables up to the monitor? Would 480i game switch the monitor into 31khz, or is there actually a way to get 31khz via scart for consoles such as the PS2??.

Obviosuly id need to knock up a case for the monitor to sit in, and then theres the case of sorting auido out, maybe a small amp hooked up to car speakers and also mounted inside the case?.

Any suggestion or ideas?

The guys over at /r/cade might be able to help you with arcade CRT questions. I recently started /r/crtgaming and a few of them visited and posted interesting things like this and this.

[cfx]

.

[chuckster]

Thanks

I feel a bit better about it now

Exhausting trip for nothing though. Out of interest I see pvm generally go for a bit less and are easier to catch. Is there any real difference in image quality between the two when playing retro games? I don't think it's possible to find out the operation time on those so that's the only disadvantage I can see

I don't own a BVM, but from comparison shots, there is a definite difference between a typical PVM and BVM. Whether or not that difference is enough for you to hold out for a reasonable price on a BVM (I've been trying for a couple years), is up to you. A low-use 600TVL PVM looks stellar, and with RGB or Component certainly looks "better" than most any other set you've ever seen. BVMs usually have 800-1000TVL (The only higher-resolution CRT that I know of is the (huge, expensive) Sony G90/G70 projectors with 1100TVL), which makes the picture look sharper, and allows clear resolution of 480p and 720p/1080i in later models. For games, it will be like a refined version of a PVM, the scanlines will be thicker and make 240p content look razor sharp.

Note that there are PVM models (M4U and I think 20L5) that have 800TVL resolution, and so really narrow the gap in PQ by all accounts, and the 20L5 can display higher resolutions. At that point, the only difference is the overall build quality, expansion options, and additional adjustment capabilities. For similar hours and manufacture date I'd e just as happy with one of those models, but of course a BVM-*20E1U is my grail.


@Dak

Speaking of which, can you shoot a few comparison pictures with different games and systems between the M4U vs the E1U? I've always wondered if the gap between 800 and 1000 TVL was really noticeable

[dak1]

@Dak
Speaking of which, can you shoot a few comparison pictures with different games and systems between the M4U vs the E1U? I've always wondered if the gap between 800 and 1000 TVL was really noticeable

I've been thinking of doing something like that. I have a PVM-1953ST so I could compare 600,800,1000 for 20", And also 600 vs 800 for 14" sizes.

[chuckster]

@Dak
Speaking of which, can you shoot a few comparison pictures with different games and systems between the M4U vs the E1U? I've always wondered if the gap between 800 and 1000 TVL was really noticeable

I've been thinking of doing something like that. I have a PVM-1953ST so I could compare 600,800,1000 for 20", And also 600 vs 800 for 14" sizes.

That would be fantastic man, I'd love to see it myself, and I'm sure it would help prospective pro monitor hunters see what they're deciding between. I'll keep my eyes open!

[NormalFish]

Hey folks, don't know if this is the best thread for the question, but I figured there were lots of CRT diehards around these parts so good enough.

I'm looking in to PVMs right now. I'm most likely to be playing PSX/PS2 games, and I've been using a Luma-for-sync SCART cable.

Would this cable work with one of the SCART -> BNC adapters floating around that is without a sync stripper? Are there PVMs that take composite video for sync but not luma for sync?

Link to the SCART/BNC adapter: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Female-RGB-Euro ... 1513666681