DVI to BNC cable for my Sony FW900 24" CRT

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gui4life

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Jan 8, 2008
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Hi. I am looking for a good quality DVI to BNC cable for my Sony FW900. Quality is important but I don't want to buy a $50 cable. I hear the crappy quality DVI to BNC cables cause ghosting and shadowing problems. And the DVI to VGA cables aren't good enough for the high resolutions I will be using the monitor for.

Any recommendations? :D
 
^^^^ That's DVI-D to BNC

I think he needs DVI-A.

So something like this: Link
 
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SolidBladez said:
^^^^ That's DVI-D to BNC

I think he needs DVI-A.

So something like this: Link
Click to expand...
His post was actually DVI-I (I being interlaced), which carries both analog and digital signals.

OP:
Either of these links will do.
 
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I have one, and would be willing to sell it.

Though, maybe you'd be better buying it from the ebay guy to be honest.
 
SolidBladez said:
^^^^ That's DVI-D to BNC

I think he needs DVI-A.

So something like this: Link
Click to expand...


Funny how a digital signal can be carried to 5 BNC connectors.....wait isn't BNC analog? [/sarcasm]

That cable you linked to also has no ferrite coils, not good.
 
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I want a better made quality cable. One that wont flake out at higher resolutions.
 
gui4life said:
I want a better made quality cable. One that wont flake out at higher resolutions.
Click to expand...

I was looking into a longer (9' or so) DVI-A to VGA (HD15) cable a while back and confirmed that these guys use coax within their cable to carry the signals. That might be "close enough" for you and based on my observations running up to 2048x1536@70Hz through both BNCs and HD15 on my GDM-F520.

http://www.phantomcables.com/dvi.html
 
I bought this DVI-to-BNC cable to go with my FW-900. Unfortunately, the cable caused terrible ghosting; much worse than standard VGA. Though the cable seemed defective as soon as I attempted to connect it to the monitor. One of the BNC connectors wouldn't plug into the monitor's jack far enough to allow me to turn and lock it into place. I should have exchanged it for a new one - but I've since thrown it out :confused:.

With my VGA cable, I do notice a little bit of interference when running the monitor at resolutions of 2048x1280 and above. I'm thinking of trying another BNC cable to fix this, but the interference is not all that noticeable, especially in games.

I'd like to find a really high-quality DVI-to-BNC cable. I have seen a few high-quality and more expensive VGA-to-BNC cables, though, which would unfortunately require a DVI-to-BNC adapter.
 
I'm using a VGA cable from Better Cables plus an adapter. The cable is excellent. I think the adapter does add the slightest bit of shadowing to some images, but it's negligible.

A high end VGA/BNC to DVI would be even better. I asked Better Cables if they would make me one, but it was not something they could do....

I'd try several cables and pick the best...
 
gui4life said:
I would like a BNC cable to achieve the best quality. :D
Click to expand...

I can totally appreciate that, what I am trying to tell you is that it may not actually produce superior results. The average cheap VGA cable may not have 5 individual coax strands used inside of it. This causes the typical feeling that HD15 = crap and BNC = high quality. The cable can be of more importance than the connector in this case and a good DVI-A to HD15 cable will be built properly.

I used HD15 to BNC cables for over 10 years (different monitors, work and home) under the same impression but when I used a high quality cable to connect to the HD15 instead of the BNCs I noticed no reduction in quality at 2048x1536@70 and 75 and I am pretty picky. You may indeed run higher frequencies than that, but my point is that Sony has used a quality connector on the monitor end and done an OK job handling the PCB inside to account for the frequencies in use.

In fact, the lack of DDC and other extra lines going the BNC route actually caused more heartache than it may have been worth. Different video adapters and drivers complained about not knowing what monitor was connected and what its capabilities were. Some drivers kept forgetting the manual refresh rate I coded in for every VESA mode and fell back to failsafe 60Hz all the time etc...etc... While it is not insurmountable, I have had fewer problems using HD15 with all the DDC data lines connected.

If you really want exceptional quality, particularly if going any distance, you may wish to purchase a very high quality DVI-A to female BNC adapter, then use high spec BNC-to-BNC cables to do your final connection in whatever custom length you desire. I have observed that the coax used even in high quality video cables is not that great compared to throwing BNCs on something truly exceptional. I cannot find anything like this online in the last couple of minutes, but I think you would find the HQ adapters around projection supply places where cable runs are longer than normal computer installations. Top quality is necessary on 90 foot runs, for instance. I have a couple of HD15 to BNC female adapters, DVI-A should be out there.

Regardless, if you find something great please be sure to write back in this thread.
 
Surly73 said:
I can totally appreciate that, what I am trying to tell you is that it may not actually produce superior results. The average cheap VGA cable may not have 5 individual coax strands used inside of it. This causes the typical feeling that HD15 = crap and BNC = high quality. The cable can be of more importance than the connector in this case and a good DVI-A to HD15 cable will be built properly.

I used HD15 to BNC cables for over 10 years (different monitors, work and home) under the same impression but when I used a high quality cable to connect to the HD15 instead of the BNCs I noticed no reduction in quality at 2048x1536@70 and 75 and I am pretty picky. You may indeed run higher frequencies than that, but my point is that Sony has used a quality connector on the monitor end and done an OK job handling the PCB inside to account for the frequencies in use.

In fact, the lack of DDC and other extra lines going the BNC route actually caused more heartache than it may have been worth. Different video adapters and drivers complained about not knowing what monitor was connected and what its capabilities were. Some drivers kept forgetting the manual refresh rate I coded in for every VESA mode and fell back to failsafe 60Hz all the time etc...etc... While it is not insurmountable, I have had fewer problems using HD15 with all the DDC data lines connected.

If you really want exceptional quality, particularly if going any distance, you may wish to purchase a very high quality DVI-A to female BNC adapter, then use high spec BNC-to-BNC cables to do your final connection in whatever custom length you desire. I have observed that the coax used even in high quality video cables is not that great compared to throwing BNCs on something truly exceptional. I cannot find anything like this online in the last couple of minutes, but I think you would find the HQ adapters around projection supply places where cable runs are longer than normal computer installations. Top quality is necessary on 90 foot runs, for instance. I have a couple of HD15 to BNC female adapters, DVI-A should be out there.

Regardless, if you find something great please be sure to write back in this thread.
Click to expand...


Thanks for your reply. I was looking at high quality DVI to VGA cables and they would be about the same as a high quality DVI to RCA cable. I might as well get a high quality DVI to BNC.
 
If i was connecting it to a 17" CRT I wouldn't be so hesitant to buy a cable. However I am connecting it to a 24" CRT that maxes out at 2304 x 1440 w/ 80hz. I will need a well shielded cable for it so I don't get ghosting/fuzziness when I crank it up.

Does anyone, by experience, know of any of the above DVI to BNC cables are any good?
 
I would buy a cable from these guys. http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/dvi-cables/index.htm

Look at the DVI to Analog section towards the bottom.

I have a 25 ft component video cable from these guys and the quality is top notch. I also have a FW900 but I don't use the BNC connections, so I have no direct experience with DVI-I or DVI-A to BNC cables. I find my VGA connection to work just fine. I run at 1920 x 1200. Good luck.
 
I had a ghosting issue on the one from pccables.com on my GDM-F520.

Because of that I've lost trust for cheap looking DVI>BNC cables and I recently decided I'm going to try something different. I bought a Eizo Radiforce BI00FM DVI-Male>BNC-Female adapter (they seem to be the only ones that make one) and I am going to connect that to one of the SonicWave BNC cables from Cables-to-go. The BI00FM adapter is a bit of a unknown though. I don't know how well it's going to work considering I will be using it in a different way then they intended but I am hopeful. It will probably be awhile since I just sent in my monitor for repair but I'll report back once I am able to test it.
 
Cyberbeing said:
I had a ghosting issue on the one from pccables.com on my GDM-F520.

Because of that I've lost trust for cheap looking DVI>BNC cables and I recently decided I'm going to try something different. I bought a Eizo Radiforce BI00FM DVI-Male>BNC-Female adapter (they seem to be the only ones that make one) and I am going to connect that to one of the SonicWave BNC cables from Cables-to-go. The BI00FM adapter is a bit of a unknown though. I don't know how well it's going to work considering I will be using it in a different way then they intended but I am hopeful. It will probably be awhile since I just sent in my monitor for repair but I'll report back once I am able to test it.
Click to expand...

Sorry, kind of off topic, what broke with the F520 monitor?
 
SH1 said:
Sorry, kind of off topic, what broke with the F520 monitor?
Click to expand...

Well it's not actually broken it just has some annoying issues and it's under a 90 day warranty with Sony so I thought I'd get it fixed.

For a little background I did have a F520 that for all intents and purposes did break. I was getting a huge distortion ripple flashing across the screen at random and the screen kept on going blank and then comming back on. I decided I would get it fixed for Sony's $325 charge so I sent it in by DHL... Well once Sony received it was completely destroyed... DHL had obviously dropped it really hard and it was soo damaged that Sony said it was uneconomical to repair... Well after about a month I got my claim money from DHL and Sony offered me a refurbished GDM-F520 (December 2003) with a 90 day warranty and I bought it.

Now it's this newer one I'm sending in. The issues it's having are a blue tint and noticeable texture in the upper left-hand corner, when it's first turned on the screen is shifted about 1/4" to the right and and a little down (after about 60 mins it goes back to normal), the screen is overbright for about 60 mins when it's first turned on (my old one never did that), a buzzing hissing sound when the monitor is on a low resolution (like 800x600), when I put a moire patten on screen at 2048x1536 @85Hz the whole screen turns blue, I get minor gradient banding when I calibrate it, some ghosting on moving objects, and the convergence and geometry could use some minor tweaks.
 
60 minutes? Yeah, definitely sounds like something is starting to go...

I have a December 2003 as well I got new old stock off eBay a couple of years back. Had to open it up to adjust the horizontal trapezoid variable resistor, then I had to replace the BNC connector assembly, and then more recently I removed the BNC connector assembly, as it was apparently acting like an antenna and pulling in some unwanted EM interference and causing some vertical banding...

Bit of a hassle I suppose these monitors, but such a lovely picture...
 
Well I got the Cables-To-Go (Impact Acoustics) BNC cable in the mail tonight and I have to say the triple shielding on it is quite impressive. The one from pccables.com I would generously say might be barely half the diameter of a dime while the SonicWave cable is literally the diameter of a quarter (garden hose size). See the image below.

If this ends up working my total cost won't really be too bad compared to other HQ cable options (but not exactly cheap either):
Eizo BI00FM (Tech-For-Less).............................$18.60 + $7.49 shipping = $26.09
6ft SonicWave 5-BNC>5-BNC (Provantage)..........$49.46 + $10.15 shipping = $59.61
Total = $85.70
 
Well I just got my monitor back and the Eizo BI00 adapter to the Impact Acoustics BNC cable is working great. It's giving me an amazingly sharp picture all the way up to 2048x1536 @85Hz and nice vibrant colors.
 
I was previously using a cable that was sold to me as 'good' quality. It was a D-SUB -> 5BNC cable. Replaced this with a high end DVI-A -> 5BNC cable... what a difference. Picture is clearer, ghosting is gone, colors look better and the picture is a bit sharper, too. The only problem might be it's price. This custom built cable cost me around $ 120,-, but since it's for something I'll be working with for a very, very long time I guessed it might be worth it.


Off topic:

You guys know of a good external DVI-D to DVI-A converter? Consumer grade Geforces and Radeons have rather poor analog output, so I'm hoping to get my hands on such a converter to improve picture quality even further. I found such converters going from DVI-D to D-SUB, but not to DVI-A.

dcda1.jpg

It's close, but not quite what I'm looking for.


:Edit
3rd day of my search, I finally found something that is pretty close to my expectations:

Click the image to go to the corresponding website

According so specifications, it takes a DVI-D (digital) input and converts it to DVI-I (integrated). That means, the output also includes DVI-A. This could be it... could...


:Edit 2
Bummer. According to this PDF, the converter can only handle resolutions up to 1280x1024.
 
I have a DVI-BNC cable for sale. When I used it, the picture looked great on my fw900. But a month later my fw900 started shutting off and blinking orange in the monitor light next to the button.... now it might stay on for a second before doing that again. Pretty much dead... sucks because the screen when its on, is near flawless. =(

So yeah I'm selling my cables, which include as well a BNC to VGA, and I have the diagnostic connector.... WinDAS that's it. It works because I tried everything I could with windas to see if I could fix that issue. Nada. I could see my changes being made to the monitor when it would turn on for a second or 2, so I know it was working. I'm thinking it's a fuse/board problem.

Let me know and I'll get pics up; I don't know exactly what kind of cable it is.
 
Preacher0815 said:
I was previously using a cable that was sold to me as 'good' quality. It was a D-SUB -> 5BNC cable. Replaced this with a high end DVI-A -> 5BNC cable... what a difference. Picture is clearer, ghosting is gone, colors look better and the picture is a bit sharper, too. The only problem might be it's price. This custom built cable cost me around $ 120,-, but since it's for something I'll be working with for a very, very long time I guessed it might be worth it.
Click to expand...

Hey Preacher...can you describe this custom built cable in more detail and perhaps tell us where you purchased it from...thinking of getting one myself.

Thanks...RpM
 
This cable is such a random find. I'm currently using a 8800GTS G92 DVI Output --> VGA Adaptor --> Quality BNC cable --> Viewsonic 21" CRT (1600x1200x85Hz).

While the image is picture perfect, I have always been unhappy with the DVI > VGA Adaptor and will see if these gents can accommodate me.

No problems with the loss of Plug and Play with BNC, refresh rates are easy to force in several ways. I would like to jump to 100Hz with the new cable or possibly 120Hz which the monitor is capable of at that resolution. Impressive.
 
I am looking a getting one of these for my Sony GDM-F520 CRT. I think I am going to go with the one made by Blue Jeans Cable. As far as not getting the PnP data through BNC, can't you just manually install the monitor driver and then force all the refresh rates? My Sony GDM-F520 suffers from the intermittent text ghosting and we have narrowed it down to either the VGA cable/HD15 connector on CRT. I figure that using a quality straight DVI to 5BNC 'might' solve this ghosting issue. I do game at 2048x1536@85Hz, so I hope that the DVI to 5BNC doesn't impose any limitations in regards to refresh rate and max resolutions.
 
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