B&O MX4/6/7000 - troubleshooting and general information

[Drachenherz]

This has probably been asked before. If so, please redirect me to the corresponding thread(s).

I'm looking for a crt-tv in the 20" to 25" range. It should have a flat/square casing for easy tateing and a scart-rgb plug that takes 60 hz.

What makes/models besides the obvious sony pvms could you recommend?

Edit: I want to play my PCBs via a supergun on it.

Edit 2: the tvs should be more or less common, so it wont be so difficult to hunt one down... ^^

Edit 3: as I caved in for another impulse buy, I got meself a nice shiney B&O MX4000, so this thread is now about this particular TV-set. I changed the thread title accordingly.

Edit 4: In the meantime, I found out that the MX 4000 pales in comparison to my newly auctioned Sony KV X2131D. And that as stylish the MX Sets are, they just suck monkeys balls to tinkle with the settings - and the image quality is far inferior to the trinitrons I experienced so far.

[Svovl]

I can recommend the B&O Beovision MX4000 or 42000. Its a 4:3 21" screen that is very easy to TATE and has a spectacular picture!
http://www.beoworld.org/prod_details.asp?pid=635

Also the advanced calibration settings are quite easy to reach through a secret combination of presses on the remote (MENU 1 1 PLAY).

[kamiboy]

I'll second the notion of going with a B&O set. You'll be hard pressed to find such a perfect fusion of style and function in the CRT world.

[fagin]

Style over substance!

Go for a "run of the mill" classic (black) Sony CRT. Cheaper, more reliable and ten a penny availability wise.

[Drachenherz]

Yeah, the B&O are really sexy, but still quite pricey compared to the trinitons (really, you can get those sonys for 1 buck or free, regularly!)

Hmm, my question is, I've seen several sony trinitons, but they were labeles as "50hz" on the labels on the backside... But my *guess* is, that would only mean the pal or secam signal?

A signal via rgb-scart should work with 60hz?

Master Fudoh, what do you say to this?

[matrigs]

i think fudoh is more potent in the digital realm

sony trinitrons with fe-1 chassis are considered to be very good. although trinitrons with other chassis are also pretty recommended. they are a bit difficult to tate though as a lot of them have rounded edges.

this guy has a few recommendations on his site:

http://scarthunter.blogspot.fi/

you will be able to play 50 and 60hz games on every tv and in colour over rgb. the backdraw playing a ntsc game on a pal tv will be the horizontaly squashed picture, so you will definitely want a model with an easy access to geometry potentiometres.

[Fudoh]

Master Fudoh, what do you say to this?

As recommended I would go for a BVM. I mean this is not just our hobby, this is our passion! You're spending hours and hours before that display. Why go for something less than stellar ? Just to save 100 EUR ?

[Drachenherz]

Fudoh, money isn't too much the problem, but... Availability... If I could lay my hands on a 21" or 25" bvm, I'd do so in a heartbeat.

21" or 25" PVMs even seem to come hard by, so I'm opening my possibilities for some cheaper but more easily available crts. ATM, I have no crt, so for starters, a really cheap triniton or therelike would help me keeping afloat... And waiting for the chance to buy a good pvm or even bvm.

[Drachenherz]

Well, fuck me...

I just saw a B&O MX-4000 with original remote in good condition for CHF 70.-- (buy it now on "www.ricardo.ch"), pickup not all too far from me... )

I shouldn't... I really shouldn't... Follow my impulses.

[cools]

Buy it. You can always sell it on if you don't get on with it.

[Drachenherz]

Buy it. You can always sell it on if you don't get on with it.

Hehe, I bought it as soon as I saw it...

Going to get it on thursday - looking forward to some x360 shmupping in tate on this babe... (got a rgb-scart cable for the box in the mail)

Yay, it's christmas!

[Loada]

Just read this thread and had a quick search on eBay (UK) and it seems there's a hotel dumping 50 (!) B&O MX4200s for £40 each, with remotes. Brilliant if you're in (or near) the Manchester area and fancy a posh CRT.

[Overkill]

I'm not crt tv expert, but i do know when a crt tv gives good images in games or not, and i definitely don't recommend the B&O MX-4000 gaming. It's good to see TV, good to see SD films, is a good "piece of art" to have in the living room (your wife will probably love it). I buyed one B&O MX-4000 after seeing a youtube review from futurematt, but after several tests with megadrive, snes, neogeo, xbox 1, ps1, ps2 my final advise is "not worth it". Get a good old trusty sony trinitron.

[kamiboy]

Care to elaborate on that? What exactly about the B&O fell short?

[fagin]

Clarity of image over a Trinitron, which is not surprising when you realise the 21" mx's use not so great Phillips tubes.

[kamiboy]

Well, I'll be taking my puny 14" PVM with me back late next year where I have a 21" B&O waiting for me. I'll make a direct comparison between the two then.

But thinking back the consumer SONY tubes never impressed me much back in the day. The B&O sets though always looked fantastic. Had no idea they used phillips parts though.

[Overkill]

Care to elaborate on that? What exactly about the B&O fell short?

Don't know how to explain... but majority of my consoles are outputting in 60hz, and everytime i change from a 50hz to a 60hz signal the B&O gets an horrible image. I don't think its a problem with my unit, because it works wonderfull with my DVD, my HD player, my digital tv box, etc but in games, 240p, 480i, its just HORRIBLE! I trade some impressions with matt after buying my unit, and he seems to be very happy with the games on it, and the 240p mode for 480i signal. But in my case, i can't say that. I have a phillips tube too.

[kamiboy]

Maybe the NTSC decoding circuit on your unit has a problem. Have you tried any PAL systems on the unit to see if that might be the case?

Either that or the MX 4000 just does not handle NTSC well. But I find that very hard to believe as all PAL TV's that I've owned could do NSTC just as well as PAL.

I actually think the B&O I had someone purchase for me back in PAL territory is a MX 4000 as well. I hope this bad NTSC image is not a universal issue with all B&O's. Pretty much all my systems are NTSC as well.

But I always have my SONY to fall back on. Maybe I should buy 20" L5 as a backup measure afterall.

[Drachenherz]

Well, I'm going to get a b&o mx4000 in a few hours.... Hmmm, I hope it isn't that bad... But anyhoo, it is a temporary solution, until I manage to find a good 21" (or 20") pvm even a bvm someday.

[fagin]

Well, I'm going to get a b&o mx4000 in a few hours.... Hmmm, I hope it isn't that bad... But anyhoo, it is a temporary solution, until I manage to find a good 21" (or 20") pvm even a bvm someday.

You'll be fine as they are very very nice CRT's and of course have the added deinterlace function that is selectable.

[wilwong1971]

Hi,

I have been keeping an eye out on ebay but only one i found was a MX 4200 with a reasonable distance...

Does anyone know if MX4200 has the same de interlace function as MX4000?

Thank you

[kamiboy]

Wait, hold on. What is the point of deinterlacing on a interlaced CRT display?

[Drachenherz]

Well, I'm going to get a b&o mx4000 in a few hours.... Hmmm, I hope it isn't that bad... But anyhoo, it is a temporary solution, until I manage to find a good 21" (or 20") pvm even a bvm someday.

You'll be fine as they are very very nice CRT's and of course have the added deinterlace function that is selectable.

Hmmm, one question remains: I'll probably have black borders, when I play 60Hz games (pcbs via rgb-scart supergun) on this european (50Hz) set, won't I?

[Ed Oscuro]

Had no idea they used phillips parts though.

B&O released probably the most interesting CD-i hardware, at least aethetically, with a CD-i inside a large television. Can't be many still in existence. Of course it makes sense that it would be a Philips hardware, as they were a big backer of CD-i stuff (I have a Philips tabletop CD-i myself).

[fagin]

Well, I'm going to get a b&o mx4000 in a few hours.... Hmmm, I hope it isn't that bad... But anyhoo, it is a temporary solution, until I manage to find a good 21" (or 20") pvm even a bvm someday.

You'll be fine as they are very very nice CRT's and of course have the added deinterlace function that is selectable.

Hmmm, one question remains: I'll probably have black borders, when I play 60Hz games (pcbs via rgb-scart supergun) on this european (50Hz) set, won't I?

The set will work fine with 60hz via SCART rgb. You'll obviously have to adjust the geometry via the service menu to tweak the geometry for the best results. No issues with doing this though.

[Drachenherz]

The set will work fine with 60hz via SCART rgb. You'll obviously have to adjust the geometry via the service menu to tweak the geometry for the best results. No issues with doing this though.

Thanks, Fagin. I just played some Mushi Futari (it requires 60Hz mode), and the picture was actually stretched larger than the screen instead of giving me black borders. But hooray for the great screen setting possibilities of the game itself, I managed to have the image pretty well matched to the screen.

So, it is possible to adjust the tv itself? I haven't found any menue or service menue where I could adjust the image on the tv itself... If yes... How can I enter it? (I haven't got a "play" button on my remote... And I have no idea how to enter those "secret" menues mentioned in the beginning of this thread.)

[fagin]

Which remote do you have? I assume the one without the LCD screen at the top?

[Drachenherz]

A picture tells more than a thousand words:



(it is an actual picture of the actual remote in my possession )

[Ed Oscuro]

longremote is loooooooong

Puts the remote that came with the 42" LG LCD TV to shame

[Overkill]

Maybe the NTSC decoding circuit on your unit has a problem. Have you tried any PAL systems on the unit to see if that might be the case?

Maybe that's the issue, because 50hz pal games look good. It's only with the ntsc 60hz.

With that original remote control you can enter service menu. The text above was send to me from Matt, i think he don't mind i post it here for other people see it:

"Bang & Olufsen MX4000 Service Mode:

To enter service mode press MENU, 1, 1, GO

Then you see the type, serial number and the last error of the unit

For example: 3313 10195331 Last error no

Press the right arrow on your BEO4 to scroll through the following
Use the up and down arrows to change a value"