Sourcing Sony PVM/BVM monitors?

o1s1n wrote: »

Here's a BNC to scart adapter cable. Thankfully you won't need to make one up

http://www.retrogamingcables.co.uk/sony-pvm-scart-converter-bnc.html

I hadn't heard on BVMs until this weekend. They're Sony's top level tier of CRTs. Even better than PVMs. Some of them cost $10,000-$12,000 :eek:

I might try and grab a 13/14" PVM next month and see what all the fuss is about. Picture quality is supposed to be really really good on them so even at 13 inches it'll still be very nice indeed (and some can be powered via battery which opens up some mobile potential for them).

Where would one acquire one of these monitors 13/14 would be fine for me?

o1s1n wrote: »

Excellent looking forward to see how you get on.

13 and 14 inch monitors can look really great. The Amiga/commodore ones that clock in that size are gorgeous.

Yeah, I've got an old Commodore 64 1702 (or maybe 1701) monitor from and the screen looks gods damn sexy on it. It's not a PVM but I still love the display on it and i think its about 13 inches or there abouts.

I'm having a bugger of a time getting my GVM to work with RGB.

It seems to be very fussy with regard to the input Sync signal levels, not one of the consoles I've tried meets its requirements. My Amiga does work with it however, so I know the monitor itself is good.

My Commodore 1084S takes whatever you throw at it though and has the bonus of stereo speakers - seemingly all of the Sony monitors have poor audio (if any).

Tried both and connected directly to the TV's motherboard, its basically the consoles are in the wrong - none of have the right Sync.

Will need to hook up a sync separator to fix it I think. Ridiculous amount of pcb's in that set, must have been 8 or 9 individual boards in there !!

I have a PVM-1442QM, circa 1991. It was a very lucky find - I found it underneath a stairwell in UL (where they normally put stuff for throwing out), and the plug was cut off but it was fully working, and it was free

It's got some minor issues with convergence and visible retrace lines (only really noticeable with black screens), but hopefully can be sorted out with recalibration - I just never get around to doing it! Unlike the BVM above, a lot of the more technical adjustments need to be done at the deflection yoke

The picture quality is better than any other CRT I've seen by far, and the cube-shape body lends itself well to rotating for vertical games if required.

Some things to watch out far:

• There are many different models, with different grade tubes and different inputs
• Regarding tubes, if the front bezel only says "Trinitron" and not "HR Trinitron" (later models) or "Trinitron Super fine pitch" (older models like mine), it has the lower-grade CRT which may not be any better than a consumer-grade set
• Lower-end models only have composite video inputs, and there are other later sets which could only have digital SDI inputs which is no use for any consumer equipment. Some have modular input boards, especially later models. Some are multi-standard (with older models it is denoted by a "Q" in the model name). For retro/arcade gaming you're best off looking for one with RGBS inputs (RGB + composite sync) - this will usually have composite and s-video too. Some have RGBHV (RGB + H/V sync) inputs which will require an external sync separator in most cases.
• North American models are measured by the viewable screen size, whereas models sold elsewhere use the entire CRT screen - and this is reflected in the model numbers. My PVM-1442QM is the same as a US-spec PVM-1342Q, except for the power supply. This why there are weird 1" differences between models - they are the same CRTs really.
• Many of these have had hard lives, so may have dull pictures, burn-in and other issues. Newer models with OSDs may have power-on counters.
• These generally only accept 15 kHz (SDTV 480i/576i) signals. Some later models may also accept progressive scan and HD inputs, but are less common (possibly only higher-end modular models or BVMs). Older models like mine have a "Digital RGB" DE-9 input which should be good for IBM CGA or C128 TTL RGB outputs but I have neither of these to verify.
• Don't expect to find a SCART socket! Only some low-end models (with lower-end tubes) had these (e.g. 1440QM). Generally they have BNC inputs for RGB and or YPbPr, and also composite inputs. S-video is usually the standard 4-pin mini-DIN. I made a SCART adaptor myself with components purchased in Maplin, but as shown above you can buy adaptors.
• Sound is usually an afterthought on these models. Mine has a tiny mono speaker. You'll need to invest in some amplified speakers or a hi-fi system, and your SCART adaptor will need to be designed to take your audio inputs elsewhere.

Regarding where to get them, outside of video production/editing these are often used with lab equipment (e.g. microscopes) and medical applications (e.g. endoscopy). There are models designed for medical use which are generally white and with optional "splash-proof" covers for the vents and controls - besides that I'm not sure if there are any other differences.

I have some documentation and service manuals if anyone is interested, although some of it is not hard to find.

EDIT: A picture might help!

My MD2 which I recently modified with 50/60 Hz and region switches. My crappy old camera doesn't really do it justice...

Sorry, don't have that. Whatever I found was through random googling.

Also, regarding The Last Bandit's difficulties getting RGB inputs working: I have had no problems with anything I've tried so far (PS1, PS2, DC, MD2, and some other stuff), although mine has RGBS - since he mentioned a sync separator I guess he has one with RGBHV inputs?

zilog_jones wrote: »

Sorry, don't have that. Whatever I found was through random googling.

Also, regarding The Last Bandit's difficulties getting RGB inputs working: I have had no problems with anything I've tried so far (PS1, PS2, DC, MD2, and some other stuff), although mine has RGBS - since he mentioned a sync separator I guess he has one with RGBHV inputs?

I think it has both RGBS & RGBHV input cards. Since discovered while working on a 1084S that some of my LM1881's are duff, so must get back to this GVM at some stage and actually put the scope on it to see what's going on.

Its a GVM-2020Q I think, date stamp 1986 on some of the PCBs I seem to remember.

But why would you want to do that? It would look even more horrible than the usual jaggy mess you get from PS2 games.

I really don't understand why you would want to downscale 480i to 240p. You're just replacing half the vertical resolution with scanlines. Unless it's some port of a game originally designed for 240p but outputting 480i, but many will look terrible anyway because they used bilinear interpolation.

STG.Otaku wrote: »

I might have an Extron or two for sale soon. I gave up CRT pretty much. Going purely LED and using my DVDO VP20 w ABT card. Might get an XRGB 3 or Framemeister in future.

Feck it, might list them tonight. Watch this space...

Hello and welcome back dude.

Also Re the CRT.........