Sony PVM-2030: About to buy one, made in 1989 - Need Your Op

[c0dehunter]

Hello all,
I just found a Sony PVM-2030 which is made in 1989 and sells for $80 US. I am hoping to connect it to my modern PC, via a custom made cable (25pin to 15pin VGA), using Soft15Khz to run MAME and other emulators. (currently I am using my Commodore 1084S-D1 for this purpose, and it looks great!)

I have the following questions:

1) How good these monitors are? I have heard they are even better than 1084s, is that true?

2) Did Sony made these in late 90s as well? In other words, since it is made in 1989, I hope it is not too old, since I have heard that they go bad when they get old (unlike 1084s I guess) In other words, should I wait to see if I can find one made in late 90s? Or should I grab this?

3) I would really appreciate any diagram, pinout, VGA to 25pin schematics, etc. so I can connect it to my modern PC and run MAME via Soft15KHz please!

Here are some screen-shot of the monitor:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48901682@N ... /lightbox/

I would really appreciates your thoughts, concerns and comments on this!

Thanks in advance!

[Aguilar]

Mine was made in 1995 so yes they were made into the 90s. If you have the option to look at the monitor you should. I bought mine on ebay and the seller claimed that it worked. However upon arrival it was defective. When I finally got it fixed its great. However I'm probably going to have to put it in the shop again due to some geometry problems as well as some noise likely from the psu causing some wavy lines on the screen.
As far as it being made in 1989, you take a risk any time you buy an aged crt. I took the risk and I'm have to shell out a bit of money getting the thing in working condition. However, the payoff is excellent!

[c0dehunter]

Well, judging by the pictures, it looks fine, and the image is fine. It is local, so I don't have to pay a hefty shipping price and the seller is only asking for $80 US for it. I am going to take my chances, since if it only last a short while, I might be worth it!

[gray117]

Old component suspects are usually capacitors and/or psu related issues.

If the geometry and colors look fine that's probably as good a sign as you'll ever get that it's in decent shape - probably not been used constantly... Either that or it has been serviced/repaired more recently - in which case it could be in better condition that something made more recently. This is not uncommon with ex studio equipment repaired around like 98 - 04.

Anyway, you're doing it right by doing it local - never a big deal if you avoid shipping/handling/breakage issues and costs.