24" Widescreen CRT (FW900) From Ebay arrived,Comments.

Actually if its a standard CCFL LCD then 1-2 minutes should allow the lamp to come to full brightness. 2 Seconds would only be true for an LED LCD. And my three FW900's I have to say take about 40 minutes before I would call them FULLY stabilized and I know if your doing insane windas tweeking you go 2 hours.

This one is LED (Samsung PX2370), You might be right about the longer CRT warmup time I was just going by mainly the black levels being weak for the first 15 minutes. Once the black levels were stable it made everything look a lot nicer overall.
 
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Anyone else have a problem getting the geometry tracking right? I can't seem to fix it via the windas procedure, it just gets more out of whack. Anyone have any tips?
 
I loaded up WinDas and it seems that my old W900 is not on the list of displays supported by the WinDas software. Is this because the adjustments are all manual and not on EEPROM? Just curious if anyone knows.

I also noticed that I don't have the "image restore" option like the one found on the FW900. I have the service manual and see no mention of it either.
 
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Anyone else having problems with the latest Nvidia drivers? Can't get 100hz to work in Team Fortress 2 anymore.

When I go into nvidia control panel and set up a custom resolution at 100hz, 32bit, the resolution disappears as a choice inside TF2 :(

I think I'll have to download an older driver. If anyone plays TF2 with the FW900, what Nvidia driver version works for you?

I'm searching through this thread but am having difficulty finding any useful posts. Can anyone link me to a post that has a guide to get higher than 75hz refresh rate for games please? I've tried powerstrip and it is cutting off some of the bottom of the picture.

Also where do you put the INF files? I downloaded the sony drivers and it comes with a file, "snymon17", "sony_d50", d65, and d93. Anyone know what folder to put these in?

For Windows 7 I've discovered that Win7 will automatically find the GDM-FW900 driver for you. You go to Device Manager -> Monitors -> Generic PnP -> Update driver -> Search computer -> uncheck where it says approved hardware or something like that -> scroll down to Sony -> Find FW900 and for some reason that let me choose the correct resolutions in-game after setting refresh rates manually in Nvidia Control panel.
 
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Depends on your graphics card, but you're right, rolling back to an older driver may improve fps. I have a laptop with a 8600M GT and after installing new drivers a while ago I saw major drops in performance in some 3D apps and games. I tested a bunch of the archived drivers and found 186.81 WHQL to be marginally better than the others. I saw major improvements in Counter-Strike: Source, so chances are you would see the same in TF2.
 
Quickly typing this out after spending a few hours trying to get this to work.

Got a P1130 for cheap, turns out it had the brightness problem.

Bought this thing: http://www.geeetech.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=39&products_id=156 Waited 2 weeks for it to ship to me.

It get here today, I mess with it, nothing. "check bus blah blah"

I did manage to get it to see something was attached, but it spewed ECS errors since it wasn't connected right.

I have tried multiple different connection setups and just can't see why it won't work. I'm starting to think I bought the wrong accessory for this job. Can anyone advise?
 
I've bought 2 ecs cables, both needed the wires to be rearranged in order to work with windas. Have you tried that? Also, not sure why but both cables I've bought have stopped working, I seem to only have luck with them for a short period of time after purchase. It's really frustrating when you're shelling out $30 for the cable. I may just make my own now. Sucks too since I just removed the anti-glare and wanted to do some touch-ups. By the way, anyone whose screen has scratches / discoloration, I highly recommend you remove the anti-glare film, your monitor will look BRAND new and shinyy =) Just wished I would have done it sooner when my cable was still working.
 
I've bought 2 ecs cables, both needed the wires to be rearranged in order to work with windas. Have you tried that?

I'm unsure what you mean. I've tried putting the cables on different connectors as I stated but found no solution to get it working.

If you mean re-solder the connectors then, well, I'm going to have to say that's impossible because I know next to nothing about electronics or soldering.

Look at the pictures on the site I linked, it shows a nice close up of the thing.

http://www37.tx8.cn/photo/crystalzhao83/201096214335442050.jpg
http://www37.tx8.cn/photo/crystalzhao83/201096214335755093.jpg
http://www37.tx8.cn/photo/crystalzhao83/201096214335885752.jpg

I bought it because it not only because it was a 232 to TTL converter, but because it was the cheapest one and also include cable accessories. That may have bit me. If the EFE version works with this windas stuff, then either the chip is configured wrong, which I can't resolve, or I have yet to find the proper connection layout for it.
 
i have been desperate for this monitor since 2005

anyone who lives in sweden gothenburg who wants to sell it PLEASE contact me i must have it i've been wanting one since 2005 perfect condition so if you live in sweden close to gothenburg then PLEASE contact me
 
mmmmmmmm crt love....hi im the proud owner of a dell ultrascan p990 trinitron and i love it for counter strike
 
Since this seems to be the one and only CRT thread I will ask this question here :)

Currently using a Viewsonic 21 inch 4:3 P225f CRT. It uses a Trinitron tube with a dot pitch of .25mm. Would an upgrade to the Sony FW900 or the Sony GDM 500 with their .22mm dot pitch tubes be a noticeable improvement for a gaming monitor?
 
Would an upgrade to the Sony FW900 or the Sony GDM 500 with their .22mm dot pitch tubes be a noticeable improvement for a gaming monitor?

in a word. Yes. These are the greatest display devices on the planet earth and all other displays should bow before it and praise its massive girth!
 
I just remembered this thread, I got my FW900 a few months ago here in Canada for $50 bucks. Perfect shape and screen !! :)

PS: yes I like to brag.
 
I still have my Sony GDM-500PS. I bought it back in 1998 (I think), as a college student - where I came up with the $1500 to buy it I simply cannot remember!! It's been on an older PC I keep at my dad's place that's running Ubuntu currently. I've had a 24" iMac at my place the past 3 years.

I'm building a new PC, and while I can say the 500PS is amazing, I really can't see using it as my primary monitor anymore. It's 21" 4:3 so it really doesn't work with the way I work nowadays with documents on a 16:10 or 16:9 monitor. I do photo editing, so maybe I'd bring it over here as a secondary monitor strictly for that purpose, but the thing is so damn large and heavy, it just looks awkward nowadays. :D It also can throw out a good deal of heat (not so bad in the winter, honestly).

Still contemplating either a U2711 or HP ZR24W for the new rig.
 
Since this seems to be the one and only CRT thread I will ask this question here :)

Currently using a Viewsonic 21 inch 4:3 P225f CRT. It uses a Trinitron tube with a dot pitch of .25mm. Would an upgrade to the Sony FW900 or the Sony GDM 500 with their .22mm dot pitch tubes be a noticeable improvement for a gaming monitor?

For gaming I don't think you will notice it much. It will help you for websites and reading text on screen. The reason is the Viewsonic you own is one of the best CRTs.

The biggest advantage of the 24" CRT FW900 from Sony vs other CRT monitors is the widescreen. You can play all the latest games at the widescreen resolutions they support.
 
You can still play WS on a 4:3 CRT. Be it with black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. (effectively smaller overall screen size, though)

If you have a good CRT you like, I'd hold onto and keep my eyes out for a good deal on an FW900 on CL or fleabay. The only FW900 I'd spend a lot of money on would be if I bought direct from Uncle Vito.
 
Since this seems to be the one and only CRT thread I will ask this question here :)

Currently using a Viewsonic 21 inch 4:3 P225f CRT. It uses a Trinitron tube with a dot pitch of .25mm. Would an upgrade to the Sony FW900 or the Sony GDM 500 with their .22mm dot pitch tubes be a noticeable improvement for a gaming monitor?

I've used a Viewsonic 21" for the last few years, and it had a great picture. Same as yours, but with a shadow mask type tube. The problem was that with letterboxed material the actual picture size is pretty small.

I just picked up a W900(not an FW900-but still widescreen), and the image is probably twice the size of the one on my old fullscreen monitor. It really is a big improvement in that sense. I don't think I could go back :)
 
For gaming I don't think you will notice it much. It will help you for websites and reading text on screen. The reason is the Viewsonic you own is one of the best CRTs.

The biggest advantage of the 24" CRT FW900 from Sony vs other CRT monitors is the widescreen. You can play all the latest games at the widescreen resolutions they support.

Yea when I pump the P225f up to the max rez of 2048 X1536 games look pretty nice. However right now I am playing a lot of Age of Conan and there is quite a bit of text to read on screen; the map, the quests, the chat box, etc. So I was wondering if the finer dot pitch would help for reading small text. When I play AoC in 2048 X 1536 the hot bar icons and the text are pretty small, almost too small to read. I was thinking perhaps a finer dot pitch would help. For the larger hot bar icons and easier reading I generally play in 1600 X 1200, which still looks great.

This p225f is a great monitor, I don't dislike it at all, but I was thinking of upgrading if I see a FW900 or GDM 500 cheap on CL. Unless the difference would be so minimal it wouldn't really be worth the trouble of lugging a CRT into my place. I got this one free off CL. The guy just wanted someone to haul it away. At the time I was using a 19 inch Hitachi CM 721f which is no slouch either.

Playing in 4:3 isn't a big issue with me. I had a WS LCD a while back. It was a Sammy I picked up at my local Fry's. I walked in there and told them I wanted the best LCD monitor they had in the store. I don't remember the model number, it was maybe 3 or 4 years ago. I kept it for 2 weeks or less and returned it. I wasn't about to give up my CRT for that LCD display, I really did not like it at all.

I suppose the LCDs have come a long way since then, but when I play AoC in the evenings on this P225f the game looks awful sweet, and I think there is no way an LCD can top this display. They will catch up at some point, But I don't think they are there yet.
 
Yea when I pump the P225f up to the max rez of 2048 X1536 games look pretty nice. However right now I am playing a lot of Age of Conan and there is quite a bit of text to read on screen; the map, the quests, the chat box, etc. So I was wondering if the finer dot pitch would help for reading small text. When I play AoC in 2048 X 1536 the hot bar icons and the text are pretty small, almost too small to read. I was thinking perhaps a finer dot pitch would help. For the larger hot bar icons and easier reading I generally play in 1600 X 1200, which still looks great.

This p225f is a great monitor, I don't dislike it at all, but I was thinking of upgrading if I see a FW900 or GDM 500 cheap on CL. Unless the difference would be so minimal it wouldn't really be worth the trouble of lugging a CRT into my place. I got this one free off CL. The guy just wanted someone to haul it away. At the time I was using a 19 inch Hitachi CM 721f which is no slouch either.

Playing in 4:3 isn't a big issue with me. I had a WS LCD a while back. It was a Sammy I picked up at my local Fry's. I walked in there and told them I wanted the best LCD monitor they had in the store. I don't remember the model number, it was maybe 3 or 4 years ago. I kept it for 2 weeks or less and returned it. I wasn't about to give up my CRT for that LCD display, I really did not like it at all.

I suppose the LCDs have come a long way since then, but when I play AoC in the evenings on this P225f the game looks awful sweet, and I think there is no way an LCD can top this display. They will catch up at some point, But I don't think they are there yet.

Oh, for that it may help. I know I don't have any problem reading text in game on the FW900. I don't run at the resolution you do though. I prefer 1600x1024.
 
Yo, guys. So, here are a couple of crappy pics to show what my monitor is doing. I have contacted 3 separate repair centers claiming to specialize in crt monitor repair, but none of them have given me a response. I'm sorry for the crappy pics, but you can get an idea of what it's doing.

(click to blow up)



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

It isn't connected to anything in these pictures, but regardless the result is the same. The green tint doesn't fade even after image resto.



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Here you can see the vertical green lines that run across the screen.

Any ideas? :(

**I will note that when it is hooked up to a computer, the display does function in showing a proper image aside from the defects shown above.
 
I know I've read complaints in this thread about problems with DVI->VGA adapters. So far everything I've hooked up to my FW900 has had an analog output so that hasn't been an issue for me.

I've got a Gigabyte GA-MA78LM-S2H motherboard with integrated ATI Radeon 3000 graphics. I can't get it to allow refresh rates as high as I'd like even after following some links to instructions on editing the Windows registry.

Rather than keep messing with it I thought I could just get a PCIe card and be done with it. I'm also toying with the idea of flashing a Radeon to a FireGL or GeForce to Quadro. I really don't play games and I wondered if the image quality of a pro card would be better. I swear things look better on my SGIs with a CRT than the same monitor on other systems.

So I've been trying to figure out what semi-recent Radeon or GeForce cards still have VGA D-sub analog outputs. There's so many companies making them my best luck so far has been Google image searches with a card name and "d-sub". Found an 8800GT from Gigabyte that way that has one. And no that's not new but I don't need a new card.
 
So I've been trying to figure out what semi-recent Radeon or GeForce cards still have VGA D-sub analog outputs. There's so many companies making them my best luck so far has been Google image searches with a card name and "d-sub". Found an 8800GT from Gigabyte that way that has one. And no that's not new but I don't need a new card.

Palit has kept analog even on some of the latest cards. Definitely worth a look as this monitor deserves only the best ;)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...75&cm_re=gtx_460_palit-_-14-261-075-_-Product
 
**I will note that when it is hooked up to a computer, the display does function in showing a proper image aside from the defects shown above.

is it still washed green when it warms up with an image on it? Or is it not all green accept for the lines?
 
I'm not sure how much of this simply has to do with tube age. One of my FW900 is pretty far into the red when no signal is applied. I have to do some major offsetting when a signal is applied to get a neutral picture back. I'm not sure much if anything can be done about R,G,B shift except adjusting the color profile in the expert OSD tab.
 
I just picked up my first GDM FW900 off craigslist. Gave $250 fer it. I like it, nice wide screen action. I have it hooked up with BNC cables and running at 1920X1080. I am using it in default / generic mode right now because I can't get Windows XP to recognize the files for the drivers. Says it needs to know what program created them. The only thing about not having drivers installed is not having access to all the supported resolutions. I also printed out the users manual which is 20 pages long, so I am not in the dark about how to use it. Although I haven't read even most of it yet.

The the display is a little more subdued on this FW900 than the display on my Viewsonic P225f. The colors are deeper and richer on the Viewsonic, but not any more accurate. Can't say I have really noticed any difference between the two displays with the finer dot pitch this Sony has. The text seems about the same on both, although I am not making a side by side comparison.

One thing about the Sony I do think is way better than the Viewsonic are the menu adjustments like the the geometry. They seem more responsive and accurate. For a WS CRT I can get the geometry real close to perfect.
 

Step 1: Get the drivers working because that can make a hell of a difference. ESPECIALLY the refresh rate. The recommended res and rate are 1920x1200@85 and I stick to that on the RGBHV cables.

What Video Card do you have?

Step 2: Calibrate... Do only after step 1.

I made this for brightness, contrast and geometry.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v504/F12Bwth2/Calibration/CustomPattern.png

I made this for convergence
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v504/F12Bwth2/Calibration/1x1PixelPattern.png

As for color balance. I usually just go by eye from pure white for initial adjustments. I can tell 5% of any primary color from a pure white sample.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v504/F12Bwth2/Calibration/6WHITE.png

After that I have a collection of skin-tone shots I cycle through. I adjust bias off those.
 
For a video card I am currently using a rather dated HD4850. I have it over clocked some. I use a dual link DVI adapter with BNC cables. The 4850 is backed by a i7 920 CPU and 6gigs of ram although at the moment I am on XP so all that ram isn't really being utilized. I am playing Age of Conan and it looks pretty sweet with the video options maxed out on this FW900 wide screen.

I saw those calibration links earlier in the thread and tried them out. I think I have the display pretty accurate.
 
Mind you, that using this means you're losing color definition at the far ends of the spectrum. You'll see color crushing when you look a gradients. Though, it will be almost impossible to detect unless you've set the saturation extremely high.
 
Yo, guys. So, here are a couple of crappy pics to show what my monitor is doing. I have contacted 3 separate repair centers claiming to specialize in crt monitor repair, but none of them have given me a response. I'm sorry for the crappy pics, but you can get an idea of what it's doing.

**I will note that when it is hooked up to a computer, the display does function in showing a proper image aside from the defects shown above.

Looks like typical G2 voltage is off, resulting in over-brightness. Use WinDAS to tweak that value waaaay down.
 
I thought G2 only affected brightness not the insane color shift to green he was showing. Am I wrong?
 
Suddenly need cash for car repairs and I'm considering selling my SGI-branded FW900. Its in very good shape. I'm in ZIP 19464. Asking $150. Send me a PM if you're interested.

That's just slightly out of my distance limit. Plus the fact that a forth one of those would have a difficult time finding a home in my small apartment.

___________________________________________________________

MY SGI has an interesting bug. I knew it would have one as the other 2 I have have their chinks in the armor.

This unit will on random turn-ons/resolution changes have its horizontal position off by 4-5 notches. So I would wait presumably for the unit to warm up to get everything to line up and then I realize the 1/8th inch black space on the right side of the monitor. I was previously just adjusting the position in the menu over and over but I later found just changing the res back and forth fixes the problem.

Any thoughts?
 
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