How to properly set convergence on Sony BVM 20F1 ?

[Virtual_Tintin]

I recently got a Sony BVM 20F1, and I noticed convergence are less good than on my others BVM 20".

On my other ones, I haven’t had to deeply go in convergence settings, because it was already good, but here, I needeed to do it, and I didn’t manage to get something satisfying in ALIGNMENT/E BOARD Menu.
I have some blue and red who are misaligned, on the edges mainly, but not only.

So, my question is : is there a special order to follow to properly set convergence, like start by V CONV, then H CONV, then H STAT, or something like that ?
Have you some tips to share ?

Also, I don’t want to move convergence rings or knobs near of the tube, because I’m not enough skilled, and I’m afraid to do a mistake that could make things worst.
So, I would like to get the best I can only through OSD menu.

For information, that BVM has ~13.000 hours on the tube.

Thank you for your help

[Gara]

You're probably going to need to do a focus adjustment in addition to the convergence settings. I don't know where those knobs are in the 20F1U though. Generally this isn't a hard thing to do even for a novice, but it can get awkward when those knobs are not in a convenient location.

Spoiler

[Virtual_Tintin]

Many thanks for the reply.

I already did that focus adjustment with the knobs, they are easily accessible on Evergreen BVM 20" (contrary to PVM lol).
I did the best I could with, but still remains my misaligned convergence….

Nothing more to try ? Perhaps a path to follow in the convergence menu to get good results ?

[Gara]

Did you already follow the procedure as specified in the service manual? It lists the order number.

Spoiler

I'm jealous of all the control you have over this. I wish it had carried over onto the D series.

[Virtual_Tintin]

Did you already follow the procedure as specified in the service manual? It lists the order number.series.

I did all of these settings indeed, but not in this specific order. I justed checked out in the Operation Manual, and I haven’t this page you gave me, it’s perhaps from the Maintenance Manual which is different, and I don’t have for this model.
So, THANKS A LOT, I’ll try that !

For the XCV, TLV, XBV knobs on the yoke (?), I’m afraid to touch them, because they’re sealed with glue. I did it with the Focus ones, but I don’t know if I’ll do it for those, too afraid to mess something.

And about the Focus, I didn’t see the page you send me in your first reply : if the focus’ knobs modified indeed the sharpness on the screen, the focus’ OSD settings (DF SIDE, DF CORNER, etc…) didn’t change anything…

I'm jealous of all the control you have over this. I wish it had carried over onto the D series.

Well, I have a D20 too, and I must say those settings didn’t miss me at all on that model, because its better calibrated in factory, or the OSD settings are more efficient, I don’t know, because Convergence and Focus are already excellent on it, without almost touch anything. You can clearly see D-Series is the "next series", more modern and clear. I asked to myself if Sony didn’t remove the additional settings from Evergreen BVM because it caused more problems than anything else…

The only thing is perhaps about Geometry/Linearity, which isn’t perfect on the D20, but I heard it’s more an issue inherent to the models with this tube (so A20 has it too), where the displayed raster compresses horizontally at about 1/3 of the screen from the left side, and that problem can’t be corrected in any known way.
That issue is almost nonexistent in 480p though, only in 15Khz resolution.

Anyway, the D20 is the most "plug-and-play" BVM I’ve seen, and that’s why it’s my favorite !

[Gara]

Both manuals are online. The user manual is more descriptive about the limited items it covers, but the maintenance manual goes into the more technical stuff. Check out the convergence area I took that photo from. It has other things that may assist you.

https://archive.org/details/SonyBVM14EB ... anceManual

The D20 is considered a step down in terms of how much control you have over the image with the 20F1U. They gave back some of that control with the D32 and its ability to control multiple zones. But, yeah, I also didn't really need to worry about it on my D20 since it came pretty well calibrated already. Sony was at least way ahead of the competition when it came to the menus and control. Despite looking cool the Ikegami HTM series and its drawer is frikkin awful in comparison.

[SquidDude]

For the XCV, TLV, XBV knobs on the yoke (?), I’m afraid to touch them, because they’re sealed with glue. I did it with the Focus ones, but I don’t know if I’ll do it for those, too afraid to mess something.

If you do decide to adjust those knobs, it's worth noting that compared to the other two, XCV will seem like it's not working. This confused me for a while on my 20F1, but it turns out that you just have to rotate it a TON to see any effect.

the focus’ OSD settings (DF SIDE, DF CORNER, etc…) didn’t change anything…

This seems to be a common issue on the 20" Evergreens, I know a couple of people whose monitors have broken DF controls, and one of my 20F1's also has the same problem. It's really annoying, and as far as I know, there's no known fix for it.

[Virtual_Tintin]

If you do decide to adjust those knobs, it's worth noting that compared to the other two, XCV will seem like it's not working. This confused me for a while on my 20F1, but it turns out that you just have to rotate it a TON to see any effect.

Good to know, thanks

This seems to be a common issue on the 20" Evergreens, I know a couple of people whose monitors have broken DF controls, and one of my 20F1's also has the same problem. It's really annoying, and as far as I know, there's no known fix for it.

Well, I have 3 BVM 20", D20, 20E, and this 20F, and DF settings don’t work on any of them ! I’m curious to know if there is one 20" BVM where it works lol.

You can "fix" it using the Focus knobs on the side of the BVM, I presume it makes the same thing (?)

[SquidDude]

Well, I have 3 BVM 20", D20, 20E, and this 20F, and DF settings don’t work on any of them ! I’m curious to know if there is one 20" BVM where it works lol.

Luckily it works on one of mine, curiously it's on the higher hour monitor out of my two, and the controls are great, it's such a shame that they commonly fail.
You can adjust focus on the top and bottom of the screen, their phase (so you e.g. don't have the top way blurrier than the bottom), the left and right sides and their phase, and the corners.

You can "fix" it using the Focus knobs on the side of the BVM, I presume it makes the same thing (?)

The focus knobs affect the whole screen, whilst on a "lesser" CRT ( ) you'd have to balance the focus across the whole screen, losing sharpness (as making the centre as sharp as possible will cause the corners to blur), but on the BVM you're free get the centre as sharp as possible, and then you can get the rest of the screen super sharp using the DF controls. If they work, of course.

But even when they work, they're not perfect. On my good monitor, I can get the centre sharp, but the top and bottom of the screen are noticeably blurrier, even after adjusting their DF settings. But the sides and corners can get absolutely tack sharp, like widescreen BVM levels of spot size/"scanlines", it's nuts (although I choose not to run it that sharp, as the service manual recommends you to adjust DF so the whole screen is at the same level of sharpness as the centre).