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

so i just picked up this monitor in the bay area and i must say so far i'm really impressed. my only issue is that text seems a little fuzzy. i know i'll need to mess around with this thing more but jumping into the menus totally overwhelmed me. is there a sharpness stetting on here?
 
Pingis said:
so i just picked up this monitor in the bay area and i must say so far i'm really impressed. my only issue is that text seems a little fuzzy. i know i'll need to mess around with this thing more but jumping into the menus totally overwhelmed me. is there a sharpness stetting on here?
Click to expand...

you can open it up and adjust the focus knobs

(though opening it is risky if you don't know how)
 
bummer. that's too risky for me. this thing came in perfect condtion. no scratches anywhere. even came with the original box and all packing materials. i would hate to mess it up by opening it up and then ruining something. ive had it on for about 2 hours now and it has gotten a little brighter and text is a bit easier to read.
 
Pingis said:
bummer. that's too risky for me. this thing came in perfect condtion. no scratches anywhere. even came with the original box and all packing materials. i would hate to mess it up by opening it up and then ruining something. ive had it on for about 2 hours now and it has gotten a little brighter and text is a bit easier to read.
Click to expand...

it's normal that the picture isn't optimal when starting it right away
 
crts are a little blurry compared to LCDs with text...let it warm up, your eyes will adjust. But really you wont notice the blurryness on games.
 
Chris2000 said:
And can you say again how you shipped the monitor to jonathan? I also have read about that oversea is much lower priced... And you did ship it with air or also with sea?
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FedEx only ships to Europe via Air. If the package dimension and weight goes over a limit based on an estimate they use (dimensions plus weight), then it goes via Air Freight and it is very expensive.

Hope this helps...

Unkle Vito!
 
Chris2000 said:
@LAGRUNAUER

No, you missunderstanded me. I dont think its your blame or so. I am looking only for solutions for him. Hm, yes in USA and other countries there is a sick thing about crazy lbs or pounds values. we in germany have not this problems. I dont know how much pounds is the monitor. Offically his weight is 45kg und if the package/box weighes 5kg i would say its abou 100 pounds or? I dont understand why the shipping services are so crazy in this regions... Thats only sick. I never thinked that you get the money for shipping. I only blame the shipping service. I have read here very good reviews from your service und believe you but its realy sad what happened to jonathan. But the real badf thing is that he doesnt send you a mail in this 72 hours to blame whats up with the monitor :(

What did you think if you could make 2 or 3 packages from the monitor? The i think it would be possible the disasemply it and you assemply it than on your work. And after you found out what is the problem, than you disasemply it again and sent the 2 or 3 packages again to jonathan. i think the shipping from sweden to usa and back could than about the same which you wanted to pay for only backshipping to him, right?
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No...It is not possible to ship it in parts as no matter how you pack the picture tube, it will arrive destroyed. Also, assembling/disassembling of this monitor is very tricky as the GDM-FW900 chassis must be grounded when any types of repairs and/or internal adjustments are attempted, or else the tube will get shorted and the damage is irreparable.

Hope this helps...

Sincerely,

Unkle Vito!
 
zzcool said:
but i did tell you whithin those 72 hours

you told me you would watch the video but i never heard back from you about it so i thought it was fine then i find out you couldn't download it

i sent this to you the first day i got it
Click to expand...

I kept telling you that I could not open the video clip.
 
Pingis said:
so i just picked up this monitor in the bay area and i must say so far i'm really impressed. my only issue is that text seems a little fuzzy. i know i'll need to mess around with this thing more but jumping into the menus totally overwhelmed me. is there a sharpness stetting on here?
Click to expand...

Was that the one on Craigslist at Oakland Piedmont/Montclair area for $250.00?
 
well, that was short lived. I find that i get the worst headache when using this monitor. time to pack it up.
 
did you put cleartext off? did you do the windows 7 calibration program? you can adjust the settings for displaying text there.

Why do people have so few patience to adjust these monitors settings? Its a CRT, not a damn flat panel. If you can't handle adjusting settings for brightness, contrast, colors, convergence for each resolution etc.. then don't buy a CRT.
as uncle vito says, 90% of all problems buyers have with this CRT are user related and UI related. don't fiddle with the OSD as first step. First step should be configuring windows 7 and doing some kind of calibration for the image AND the text. Fiddling around with OSD buttons without calibration program gets you nowhere. Messing with the focus knobs usually isn't even necessary to optimize a fuzzy-bright- washed out color-CRT .. Let the monitor warm up, do a color restore, then run calibration program. Then adjust the vertical and horizontal image options on the OSD for EACH resolution you are going to use a lot, so that the image uses 98% or more from the 22 inch this screen has to offer..

If you aren't willing to do all this.. Then stay away from CRT technology. In fact, you should be GLAD that a CRT can adjust its own image like that. I know, it can be "weird" to get used to this fiddling around if you grew up with static flat panels.

just saying..sorry.
 
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atwix said:
did you put cleartext off? did you do the windows 7 calibration program? you can adjust the settings for displaying text there.

Why do people have so few patience to adjust these monitors settings? Its a CRT, not a damn flat panel. If you can't handle adjusting settings for brightness, contrast, colors, convergence for each resolution etc.. then don't buy a CRT.
as uncle vito says, 90% of all problems buyers have with this CRT are user related and UI related. don't fiddle with the OSD as first step. First step should be configuring windows 7 and doing some kind of calibration for the image AND the text. Fiddling around with OSD buttons without calibration program gets you nowhere. Messing with the focus knobs usually isn't even necessary to optimize a fuzzy-bright- washed out color-CRT .. Let the monitor warm up, do a color restore, then run calibration program. Then adjust the vertical and horizontal image options on the OSD for EACH resolution you are going to use a lot, so that the image uses 98% or more from the 22 inch this screen has to offer..

If you aren't willing to do all this.. Then stay away from CRT technology. In fact, you should be GLAD that a CRT can adjust its own image like that. I know, it can be "weird" to get used to this fiddling around if you grew up with static flat panels.

just saying..sorry.
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no need to be sorry. did all those steps you mentioned. monitor was on for almost three hours when i performed those windows 7 adjustments
 
Pingis said:
no need to be sorry. did all those steps you mentioned. monitor was on for almost three hours when i performed those windows 7 adjustments
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It sounds like this unit may need Sony factory & professional calibration & adjustment, besides a FBT replacement (if the image is blurry). Sony factory calibration & adjustment is recommended every year for heavy duty users, and every six months for color correction houses and service bureaus. It is the only way to keep all the internal parameters and major components in Sony factory specs.

When clients sent their Sony GDM-FW900s to my shop for Sony factory & professional calibration and adjustments, it takes about 5-6 hours to do (I do not cut corners). User interface adjustment of this monitor is also tedious and time consuming, and users must exercise patience when performing these tasks. Lighting conditions of the studios, static electricity, electromagnetism and EMF, poor shielded cables, sudden power surges, magnetic interference around the monitor specially the tube, proximity to the pole, etc. can and will affect the process. Users must asses their studios and avoid these conditions before adjusting/calibrating a high end CRT.

Hope this helps...

Sincerely,

Unkle Vito!
 
LAGRUNAUER said:
It sounds like this unit may need Sony factory & professional calibration & adjustment, besides a FBT replacement (if the image is blurry).

Hope this helps...

Sincerely,

Unkle Vito!
Click to expand...


unkle vito can you provide info on where to get genuine spares for the fw900 and 21" sony artisan like this fbt online?

thanks a bunch.
 
ZeosPantera said:
Your Hz probably isn't set correctly. I run 1920x1200@85Hz and there is no flicker, no headaches.
Click to expand...

that's the same settings i had it on as well. i'm not too bummed it didn't work out for me. it's going to a new home where it'll be loved so that's all that matters now.
 
I'm giving myself a bump here because it's been another 40 posts and I've received no replies again concerning my problem. I'm not complaining...just keeping it alive. I was hoping Unkle Vito or someone knowledgable like him might notice me but due to the recent issues with zzcool's monitor it's understandable why I was passed by...sorry for your trouble's zz.

Anyway, here it goes again...

When I push the power button on my FW900 the green light comes on for a few seconds (no display at all) then goes to flashing orange every other second. I always turn my PC on first...then the monitor. But, even if I turn monitor on first the same thing happens (PC does not turn green light back on once it goes orange)

When this does happen, I have to let it rest a day (or days...depending on how long I had the monitor running prior) before it will power up properly again.

When it does power up properly it works great. But, to sum it up...it only works every 2-3 days. This has been going on for months.

I had posted about this before but received no replies.
Here is the original post for more info: http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1038621317&postcount=8197
Any ideas?....Thanks RpM
 
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you could ask uncle vito. he is the expert on refurbishing and repairing these monitors. he posted a lot since you asked, so you maybe should send him a PM if he misses this post. his forum name is LAGRUNAUER. he posted last message yesterday, maybe he will commentate on your problem a bit later :)

but it sounds like your monitor has a faulty part... hope it still repairable. terms like VERTICAL DEFLECTION OUTPUT CIRCUIT that are in your linked post go way beyond my league.
 
to my problem pages before:

i can believe that i have found a thread with a guy who has the same problem!

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1423274/overly-dim-sony-fw-900

Also vito wrote somewhere in this thread that if the g2 voltage is realy right, than the monitor should be able to give a real black with the factory setting of brightness 50! I dont think here are many with this brightness of 50 who have good black values or? because i was blamed to have my brightness to hight at 42! Also i have read that a other thing is beside the real black values, that your gam curve is not damaged... I think that is the case with my problem like in the topic linked here. my eyes have adopted to this much nice. but sometimes i think its realy a liitle bit to dark in dark scenes... much details are not good viewable...
 
it might be the gamma values. contrast and brightness are on the OSD of the fw900 itself, but gamma you HAVE to adjust in windows 7 or the panels from nvidea/ATI.

i ran the windows 7 calibrator couple of times, and in the end i had brightness from 35 to 20 with gamma that changed a LOT. now i got way better blacks and colors.

you also need a good color profile for your fw900 before you start fiddling with all these options..

try the gamma edjustments before you start messing with g2 voltage or whatnot.
 
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Is brightness not gamma??

How my gamma values of my OS (Linux) could be wrong? I dont think so.

Also i dont think that people who buyed this monitor new ages ago with perfect blacks at factory settings had to change the gamma of their OS becuase it is to dark or?

If i change gamma in Linux the image will only more bright like the brightness setting itself of the monitor. like i understand gamma is only the software related setting for brightness from your video driver and so on and brightness is the hardware one from the monitor itself. and gamma correction is only existing because many old crt was at brightness 100% but the pictures was to dark and the only way to play a dark game was to bright the pictures with the gamma correction of the game itself or video driver, right?
 
Also if i scroll with my white mousecurser over a black background, i can see a white ghosting or for little seconds a white following of this cursor. also if i dispkay a white rectacle on a totaly black screen i can see around the white rectacle a white border... And if many white things are on the monitor the black background is be brighten very. is that normal or phosphor lag or what? i have buyed me a new cable but no difference... but i am using an adapter to dvi. one seller say to me that the adapter to dvi would be not the problem? how i can fix that? or is that normal or a damage?
 
The glowing Halo around white things is normal. And the Ghosting is also normal on CRT's. Its the so called Phosphorlag that is totally normal for any CRT.

Maybe a faulty/low quality cable are able to make the effect stronger than normal.
 
dopple said:
unkle vito can you provide info on where to get genuine spares for the fw900 and 21" sony artisan like this fbt online?

thanks a bunch.
Click to expand...


The only place I know is Sony Direct but they do not sell to end users, only to repair centers. There were a few Sony parts distributors in the LA area, but they are no longer in business. Besides Sony, I do not know any other outfit. I do carry stock of parts. Please send me a PM with your inquiry.

Hope this helps...

Sincerely,

Unkle Vito!
 
Chris2000 said:
to my problem pages before:

i can believe that i have found a thread with a guy who has the same problem!

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1423274/overly-dim-sony-fw-900

Also vito wrote somewhere in this thread that if the g2 voltage is realy right, than the monitor should be able to give a real black with the factory setting of brightness 50! I dont think here are many with this brightness of 50 who have good black values or? because i was blamed to have my brightness to hight at 42! Also i have read that a other thing is beside the real black values, that your gam curve is not damaged... I think that is the case with my problem like in the topic linked here. my eyes have adopted to this much nice. but sometimes i think its realy a liitle bit to dark in dark scenes... much details are not good viewable...
Click to expand...


Not the case... When the G2 voltage is high and off specs, it will be over-bright at low brightness settings (even at ZERO) and it will produce the retrace lines, The higher the G2 voltage is off specs, the more over bright the CRT will be and consequently the more "washed out" the image on the CRT will be. Now, when the G2 voltage is in specs and, only if and only if the emission of the tube is in specs as well, the brightness adjustment will produce a decent image at a 50 setting (calibration default setting). BUT BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER!!! And after Sony factory calibration & adjustment, you must adjust your unit to your video board as well! Don't panic if 50 is too bright then! Adjustments between 30-50 are within range...

Hope this helps....

Sincerely,

Unkle Vito!
 
Myramond said:
The glowing Halo around white things is normal. And the Ghosting is also normal on CRT's. Its the so called Phosphorlag that is totally normal for any CRT.

The ghosting issue is not due to monitor malfunctioning. Sometime ago, I posted in a forum results of an experiment we did on a GDM-F520 which is the little brother of the FW900, which the customer complained of ghosting...

I used high end VGA cables in my lab which is EMF free and grounded. The monitor was connected to an HP xw9400 workstation running a single nVidia Quadro FX 4800 video card, running Windows XP 64-bit OS, and with decent video drivers. Monitor resolution was set at optimal (1600x1200@85Hz). We could not reproduce the issue with these cables, but we observed some very minor issue with the regular Sony BNC cables and none with the Sony VGA 15-pin. When the unit was hooked to one of our laboratory grade digital signal generators, NONE of the patterns generated at VESA resolutions of the F520 reproduced ghosting with any of the cables...

Conclusion were video drivers and cables used by the client were most likely the culprits, more noticeable with BNC cables which are more prone to magnetic hysteresis... Unshielded cables or low end cables in a EMF environment will contribute to the ghosting problem.

Phosphor-lag is observed in low end CRT tubes and/or tubes with very high usage, low emission, and near the end of their lives.

Hope this helps...

Take care and be safe!

Unkle Vito!
Click to expand...
 
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Thanks Unkle Vito, for the explanation of "Ghosting/Phosphor-lag". I did not know that the videodrivers could be an issue of that.
 
So to be clear it's possible to prevent the white phosphor lag by using different drivers/VGA cables over expensive BNC-5 ?
 
i tried to start my fw900 up without it being connected to my computer and it still flashed

should i stop using it for now and take it to a repair shop?

will it damage the monitor even more if i continue to use it?
 
Hm, i would not use it if you have an other monitor... I dont know if somewhat can damage, but it is more save not to use it... Make more videos please which are maybe with better video camera made. and also even a litle bit longer maybe. Have you an good repair shop for such things in your region? I think it dont make sense if you bring this monitor to somewho who dont have much knowledge of CRTs.

EDIT: The phosphorlag on my monitor is now a little bit less, but always existent! I dont think it is normal. Also vito dont think so if i understand the post right. But i dont think my fw900 is end of live. I the image restauration is working anymore. also very good black levels now and none color cast in the black or colors. i can set it to 65k and this is like it should. But i noticed a new one "problem". If i coldstart the monitor the geometrie is stretched... I only can explain that on the top of the screen the image is stretched so that it overreached the top edge. but only after 10 minutes it is like it should and the geometrie is right on this edge. only the right and left corners of the top are curved (hopefully you understand what i mean). i cant set this corners right whit geometrie settings. the top edge is uneven a litle bit. what is the problem here? how could i fix that??
 
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Sowexly said:
So to be clear it's possible to prevent the white phosphor lag by using different drivers/VGA cables over expensive BNC-5 ?
Click to expand...

Once, one of my customers from Canada bought on eBay a bag with about 100 video cable magnets, and assembled a VGA cable with all the magnets. The results was a very clear and clean video signal...

Draw your own conclusions...

Hope this helps...

Sincerely,

Unkle Vito!
 
Chris2000 said:
Hm, i would not use it if you have an other monitor... I dont know if somewhat can damage, but it is more save not to use it... Make more videos please which are maybe with better video camera made. and also even a litle bit longer maybe. Have you an good repair shop for such things in your region? I think it dont make sense if you bring this monitor to somewho who dont have much knowledge of CRTs.

EDIT: The phosphorlag on my monitor is now a little bit less, but always existent! I dont think it is normal. Also vito dont think so if i understand the post right. But i dont think my fw900 is end of live. I the image restauration is working anymore. also very good black levels now and none color cast in the black or colors. i can set it to 65k and this is like it should. But i noticed a new one "problem". If i coldstart the monitor the geometrie is stretched... I only can explain that on the top of the screen the image is stretched so that it overreached the top edge. but only after 10 minutes it is like it should and the geometrie is right on this edge. only the right and left corners of the top are curved (hopefully you understand what i mean). i cant set this corners right whit geometrie settings. the top edge is uneven a litle bit. what is the problem here? how could i fix that??
Click to expand...

Hard to assess without making a full diagnose check as it can be many things wrong with the unit... As to being at the end of its life... the only way to assess that is to measure the tube's emission, and again it is hard for me to assess without performing the measurement.

Hope this helps...

Sincerely,

Unkle Vito!
 
zzcool said:
i tried to start my fw900 up without it being connected to my computer and it still flashed

should i stop using it for now and take it to a repair shop?

will it damage the monitor even more if i continue to use it?
Click to expand...

Does this monitor work at all? Does it display images once the "flashes" are gone? What is the quality of the images it produces?

Please let me know...

Sincerely,

Unkle Vito!
 
@LAGRUNAUER

Thanks for telling your knowledge! :)
Ok i will ask so: Have you ever seen this problem with uneven edge at top if the monitor is cold with an not end of live monitor and could fixed it? i think it could be the "ablenkeinheit" (deflection unit?) which has moved a bit while shipping?

http://www.premium-cable.de/ClickTronic-DVI-I-Stecker-auf-VGA-Stecker-15m_p3671_x2.htm
I think if some cable should work free of errors than that thing or? It is the best cable which exist here in germany and cost so much like 3 or 4 other good cables... what did you think about this cable?

And is it normal that i need to adjust the gamma of my OS for 2.2 if i have set my correct blackpoint? If do not than all detials in black are lost. Do you tell that your costumers also and its right to do that? I have set my monitor to sRGB Mode in OSD and set the brightness of 29% and contrast 90% - like the sRGB mode show to me. Whats about this suggestion of brightness and contrast of sRGB mode? I allways read that the values here are much different... Why that? Can you say clear a statement like "if OSD say a value above 30% brightness your monitor is near end of live or if the monitor suggest 50% brightness it is like new" or so?
 
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LAGRUNAUER said:
Does this monitor work at all? Does it display images once the "flashes" are gone? What is the quality of the images it produces?

Please let me know...

Sincerely,

Unkle Vito!
Click to expand...

yes it works perfectly fine once the flashes are gone they usually take 3-5 seconds then it stops and it works fine for the rest of the day without any problems showing the extreme blurryiness in text also goes away after a short while

the quality of the image it produces is ok it has pretty noticable convergence issues where you clearly see edges of windows being multicolord but the colors themselves seem to be fine i am not extremely happy with it's brightness but i know that removing the antiglare will make it amazing so thats something i really want to do

blackness is fine but not as amazing as people made it out to be

i have contrast set to 100 and brightness to 31

here is a new video i recorded when starting it up from cold (it had been off for 12 hours meaning it started up from cold)

http://www.speedyshare.com/3Y72Q/fw900-problem.mp4
 
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