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

mathesar

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jul 5, 2005
Messages
1,590
Finally received my FW900 from Ebay, The box was packed extremely well with a thick barrier of bubble wrap around it. The monitor bezel has a scratch but the glass/screen itself is in perfect condition. (Update: I was able to mostly cover up the bezel scratch using a silver colored sharpie, it was a close color match but not perfect)

Picture quality on this thing is AWESOME I was very pleased to find the Geometry and Convergence in near perfect condition after looking at various test patterns.Also the overall Focus is excellent corner to corner. It seems as if this monitor wasnt used very much or it just aged very well, I cant see any notable flaws in the picture quality, I havent really messed with it gaming & movie wise but I was just playing FarCry @ 1900x1200 and it looked amazing, I think I got an excellent deal @ $400 shipped,especially considering this monitor retailed for $2,300 new.

Few pics I took, digital camera doesn't really do it justice tho:

FW900.jpg

HL2_1280x800.jpg

Kameo_portal.jpg

IMG_FW900-X360r.jpg

Perfect_Dark_level2.jpg

Obliv_outside.jpg


fw900_cdrom.jpg

windwaker.jpg

MiB_1080i.jpg

CoD2.jpg



CRT Calibration Guide (courtesy of atwix): http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1039320979&postcount=8742

WinDAS White Point Balance guide for Sony Trinitron CRTs (courtesy of spacediver): http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1830788

A big Thanks to Hurin for putting together the following information from this lengthy thread:

Monitor Information
Sony Product Page (product datasheet, user's manual, driver).
Service Manual.


Aspect Ratio and Resolutions
The monitor is 16:10 aspect ratio. The following resolutions are 16:10:

1280x800
1600x1000
1680x1050
1760x1100
1840x1150
1920x1200
2048x1280
2304x1440 (Max resolution listed in the FW900 product datasheet)

If you can't select these resolutions, make sure the monitor driver is installed (included with Windows XP or you can download it at the link above). If certain resolutions are still not available, you can add custom resolutions easily via NVIDIA's "Custom Resolution and Refresh Rates"control panel. ATi users may need to use a 3rd party application such as "Powerstrip" if their preferred 16:10 resolution is unavailable.


Initial Setup Panic? "Image Restore" to the Rescue!
When you first unpack and power up your monitor, do not worry if black levels and color are way off. Let it warm up for about 30 minutes. After thirty minutes in the powered-on state (don't let the monitor enter "sleep" mode), the "Image Restore" option becomes available under the "Expert" and "sRGB" color settings menu. Set your preferred color temperature in the Expert area and then activate the "Image Restore" option. Your colors should then "pop" into place. Edit: its also good to turn up the monitors Brightness setting before running Image restore, For example I normally run mine at around 25 but before running Image restore Ill turn it up to 50, Then back down after running it. Doing this normally gives the brightness setting a wider range, especially if you're currently having to run the monitor at a low brightness setting to achieve good black levels.


Green Tinge?
If you notice a "green tinge" to greys and blacks, do the "Image Restore" procedure above. But first, raise the Brightness setting for your monitor appreciably above where you'd normally like it. Then, do the "Image Restore" operation.


Discolored Corners?
If you have a yellowish (or other color) "tinge" in one or more corners of your display (but the rest of the display is fine), adjust the "landing" setting for the affected corner in the monitor's setup menu.


Circles Are Oblong!
Sony specs state that the 'standard image area' calls for 1/2" of black space on top/bottom and 1/4" total on the sides. This gives a 1.59x :1 aspect ratio. Close enough for government work. So, adjusting your image area completely to the corners isn't recommended if you want a completely pure 16:10 aspect ratio (totally round circles). But really, it's hard to notice either way.


BNC Cable?
So far, nobody in this thread has noticed any improvement from using them. But, if you want to be sure you're getting the best possible video signal to your monitor, you can try getting this high-quality BNC cable. A high-quality cable has heavily shielded individual signal wires as early as possible in the cable run rather than a standard VGA cable that only breaks out into the five individual wires over the last few inches of the cable.

One side-effect of the BNC cable connection is that you will need to manually set up the monitor driver. The monitor driver is built into Windows XP, You can choose it manually or if you have trouble you can download it from here. When using BNC connections, don't be alarmed if the screen "jumps" or "rolls" for a moment every time you right-click certain video files. This is a side-effect of using BNC cables, apparently. Multiple peope have noticed it.

Monitor focus seem a little soft / blurry?
Over time the optimal focus can tend to drift on CRTs but you can re-adjust it using the 2 focus pots located inside the monitor , Thanks to MightyJoe for the detailed info on gaining access to these adjustments here. Sorry the picture links are currently dead if anyone has them backed up please let me know, Although It might not even be necessary to open your monitor , refer to the Alternate method for adjusting focus below.
-
UPDATE / Alternate method for adjusting Focus: Apparently you can adjust the focus pots from the outside of the monitor! I recently adjusted my monitor using this method ,Thanks to beast for this info: "The pots are visible from the outside by shining a flashlight into the left rear top of the case, and with a small screwdriver, they were easily accessible thru the ventilation slots. The metal cage inside the plastic case has round holes, and the pots are directly under two holes, which happen to be directly under two ventilation slots. It looks intentional from the outside, but i could just be lucky." uberwurst confirmed that he was also able to adjust it from the outside so it's definitely worth a try before going through all the trouble opening the monitor. When adjusting the Focus I noticed its best to have the Contrast turned up to around 85 and display a white backround with black or blue text (such as cnn.com which has both) if its even slightly out of focus the text will appear blurry ,try to get it as clear as possible with contrast turned up and you'll be in good shape.

How Does It Display 4:3 Content?
It's up to you! For non-widescreen content, the monitor can show it in all its glory in the proper aspect ratio by simply squeezing the raster area so that it's only drawing in the 4:3 areas of the screen. In other words, there will be black "undrawn" bars on either side of the image. If you don't mind a distorted image, the monitor can also "stretch" the image to fill the entire screen. But then, things look "fat."

The proper 4:3 aspect ratio can easily be attained by pressing the "ACS" button on the front of the monitor when any 4:3 resolution is displayed.

Opening the monitor
If for whatever reason you need to open the monitor for service etc. here's some info on how to do it, Just remember to BE CAREFUL as there are high voltage areas in the monitor even after its been unplugged for days: Link

Removing Anti-Glare coating from monitor
If you have scratches in the antiglare coating (the dreaded rainbow effect) there is the option of removing the coating entirely, of course it involves tearing down the monitor but people have reported good results: Link and also here.

Dynamic Convergence Adjustments
With the help of WinDAS you can make Dynamic Convergence adjustments across the entire screen, This allows for picture perfect Convergence compared to using the monitors limited user adjustments, Thanks to Hurin for making this guide! Link

UPDATE: Thanks to roberta for spending the time putting together this refrence list of topics from this ever growing thread: Refrence List

Last Updated: Jan 3, 2015
 
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great monitor, great price. The only drawback is the hefty weight.

I can't imagine dragging that thing to a lan game.
 
hey, does that person you puchased it from have more. Im looking for a reputable seller and feedback from this forum is better that the BS sometimes Ebayer put out there.
 
Got the HP version on the way. :D Same guy, I saw you mentioned same MA town, noticed it was the same as my ebay. I think you're thread got me to buy this thing. I was kind of in the dark they had 24" Widescreen CRTs. I was ok with LCD drawbacks, but I had to try door number two. So cheap!

Picture probably does the monitor no justice. The 2405FPW probably has the best image of any monitor I seen, thing is that image up there doesn't degrade when you start hauling ass on a vehicle or so on. Heh... oh well, I go to the gym, bring on the 100lb dinosaur.
 
Nice mathesar, we both rolling with monitors from the same guys. exept I went for the sony one. It has the metal gray case instead of the beige.
And yes this monitor kicks ass.
 
ellover009 said:
Nice mathesar, we both rolling with monitors from the same guys. exept I went for the sony one. It has the metal gray case instead of the beige.
And yes this monitor kicks ass.

Actually mine is the Sony version as well :)

fw900wrap.jpg
 
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Pkirk618 said:
hey, does that person you puchased it from have more. Im looking for a reputable seller and feedback from this forum is better that the BS sometimes Ebayer put out there.

He sure does,

Original Sony version here

HP OEM version here
 
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wow i want a 24 inch widescreen SO bad...especially the 2405, but for $400 i would buy this shit in a heartbeat...if i had the $$

:(

Congrats on the kick ass monitor dude, im sure you have many happy gaming hours ahead :)
 
well, already looking at this guys stuff. Its reassuring its the same person though. thanks man.
 
What's the depth measurement of this thing?
Might want to pick up one to compliment my 2405 :]
 
heh, gj mathesar... i bought mine new about 5 years ago... still works perfect. I've babied this thing everywhere I've moved... not a scratch on it. It rox for games... Just seeing it available on ebay makes me wanna buy another one... can you imagine 2? Anyway, I'm gonna hold out for sed technology and blow some bucks that way... I need more real estate, and I don't want to go to the dual monitor set up... not any good for games.

You're gonna love that monitor... if you play cs at all, be sure to play at a resolution that allows you to use 100hz refresh rate. Oh, and be sure to get the program reforce.exe, it allows you to lock the refresh rate at 100( or whatever you want) when you get into opengl or direct3d mode. Otherwise, xp has a nasty habit of lowering the refresh rate to 60hz... it makes it look fugly. PM if you have any questions about video tweaking...

again congrats on the monitor... you're gonna enjoy it... I still enjoy mine and haven't regretted plunking down 1800 clams on it. For $300 its a friggin steal. I'm tempted just to buy it just to have two lol...
 
Man, I would have a problem keeping up in fast-paced FPS games if I was sitting close to that monitor. I would LOVE to play some flight sims on that thing though.

Are there any real differences between the Sony and the HP? His "Buy it Now" Price is $75 cheaper on the HP...
 
HighwayAssassins said:
wow i want a 24 inch widescreen SO bad...especially the 2405, but for $400 i would buy this shit in a heartbeat...if i had the $$

:(

Congrats on the kick ass monitor dude, im sure you have many happy gaming hours ahead :)

Keep in mind that this screen and the 2405 are not in the same size category and shouldn't be compared to each other when it comes to size considerations. The viewable area on the 2405 is much bigger (24 inches).

The 2405 will probably beat the pants off the W900 in some areas (text sharpness in 1920x1200) while the W900 will probably win in black levels and various kinds of color benchmarks (and obviously viewing angle), as well as gaming.

I would personally go for the 2405, but I can completely understand why some people go for the W900 instead, especially if they're gamers.
 
__Maad__ said:
I would personally go for the 2405, but I can completely understand why some people go for the W900 instead, especially if they're gamers.

Exactly why I went for the FW900 ..and you'd be suprised how clean the text is in 1900x1200 (Not LCD clean of course) but even better I can run it at a lower resolution without worrying about image quality loss,I have the desktop set at 1600x1024 now and text is very clean.

So far im blown away by this monitor, I was watching some 1080i clips in Awe with the monitor set at the proper 1920x1080 res (no black bars visible), the color is noticably better on this than my previous 21" G520P wich I already thought had excellent color, and the black level is black as it gets (same as my previous monitor).

No complaints here ;)

p.s. viewable area on fw900 is 22.5"
 
taht my friend is a sweet ass looking monitor...

man if i was out of college right now (lol and i just got in!) i would so get that, since i won't have to move it that much.... MAN that would be sweet for some movies (better blacks than a LCD)
 
Tov said:
How are you setting 1600x1024 on this puppy?

It was one of the selectable resolutions from display properties, No special steps needed ,I've noticed some games require messing with the .CFG files to get true widescreen resolutions (Such as Doom 3), But FarCry on the other hand allowed me to select 1600x1024 / 1920x1200 etc. from within the game itself.
 
I've never seen the 2304x1440 resolution on mine ... has anyone tried it ?!

Question for anyone above who has this screen... Do you have a problem with the blacks during a short warm-up period, lets say 5 minutes? The blacks are sorta gray on mine during warm up, I don't mean the full warmup like for the color calibration function, but just a few minutes, less than 10. I wish I knew a monitor electronics guru !!
 
MrkXCeL said:
I've never seen the 2304x1440 resolution on mine ... has anyone tried it ?!

Question for anyone above who has this screen... Do you have a problem with the blacks during a short warm-up period, lets say 5 minutes? The blacks are sorta gray on mine during warm up, I don't mean the full warmup like for the color calibration function, but just a few minutes, less than 10. I wish I knew a monitor electronics guru !!

The black levels were alittle weak when first turning it on (noticable when seeing the XP logo) but I didnt worry much about it because my 21" Sony G520P does the exact same thing,I'd say it takes about 8-10 minutes to get full black levels. My G520P only does this when the monitor has been off for a long period of time (overnight etc.) im assuming its the same with this one. The G520P has been doing this for 2 years and still has a like new picture after being warmed up,so I dont think its something to worry about.
 
1600x1024 isn't selectable on mine. 2304x1440 is if I unclick hide modes my monitor cannot run in box. Looking through List All Modes 1600x1024 isn't in the list. Maybe it's my driver version I'm using on my 9800pro?
 
Tov said:
1600x1024 isn't selectable on mine. 2304x1440 is if I unclick hide modes my monitor cannot run in box. Looking through List All Modes 1600x1024 isn't in the list. Maybe it's my driver version I'm using on my 9800pro?


Hmm maybe, I didnt install any drivers for the monitor so it must be videocard related(?),I'm using the VGA cable rather than BNC as well.
 
I bought a Sony 21" used for $125, returned under the 30 days full refund rule. I'm glad I did. That was my 3rd Sony w/ the first 2 last far less than the monitor should have give me. First one is only 6 years w/ a $840 repair bill that extend insurance paid for. Second one is a HP OEM only last 3 mth. The 3rd one (and definitely the last Sony I've ever touch) is used, so the problem is the trinitron gun after x no. of years, become out of focus, and the image is blur.

I won't pay $100 for this 24". The problem is much worse than 21". Because it is WIDE screen, it is much harder for the trinitron gun to focus correctly around the area off the center. As years go by, the gun out of focus problem became much worse at the area off the center.

So you can see (or you'll see, I guarantee it) a blur image around the area not close to the center, and it is very hard on your eye as I have experience it w/ my 21".
 
Happy Hopping said:
I bought a Sony 21" used for $125, returned under the 30 days full refund rule. I'm glad I did. That was my 3rd Sony w/ the first 2 last far less than the monitor should have give me. First one is only 6 years w/ a $840 repair bill that extend insurance paid for. Second one is a HP OEM only last 3 mth. The 3rd one (and definitely the last Sony I've ever touch) is used, so the problem is the trinitron gun after x no. of years, become out of focus, and the image is blur.

I won't pay $100 for this 24". The problem is much worse than 21". Because it is WIDE screen, it is much harder for the trinitron gun to focus correctly around the area off the center. As years go by, the gun out of focus problem became much worse at the area off the center.

So you can see (or you'll see, I guarantee it) a blur image around the area not close to the center, and it is very hard on your eye as I have experience it w/ my 21".

You're wrong about the focus , it is is very good corner to corner on this one although I've heard it varies from unit to unit, Im pretty picky about this stuff in fact I remember sending back a Viewsonic CRT because of blury corners, this one isnt like that at ALL.

Sorry to hear about your experiance with Sony ..Mine has been the opposite, I have a 20" Sony TV that was made in 1989 and it still works to this day (never been repaired), a near 5 year old Sony G400 19" ,a 2 year old 21" Sony G520P, 3.5 year old 27" Wega and a 2 year old 32" Sony HDTV all still working great.
 
I've had mine for 5 years and i'm still very happy with my w900. The w900 was made for a niche market of cad/cam, graphic artists speicalty group. It's pretty much the largest crt pc monitor around, and close to the highest quality specs ever manufacturered for crt. With a price tag of over $2000 (new), this is a monitor that does its job very well. This monitor will support resolutions lower and higher than lcd's currently on the market. Text is crisp. Supports refresh rates up to 160hz. This is not an ordinary crt monitor. It's not an el cheapo crt monitor. It's a kickass monitor that unfortunately has been discontinued b/c 1) cost too much to make 2) small profit margin 3) small niche market.

It's not b/c its too heavy, or it flickers, or any bs like that... this monitor, if set up properly will not give you any flicker that's noticeable (100hz will guarentee that). Too heavy? (laugh) seriously, how many of you out there actually move you monitor around all the time? If you go to lan parties, buy a lcd for that occasion.

The gdmw900 Sony Trintron 24" CRT monitor is the epitome of CRT monitors. It has no equal in the CRT market. LCD and plasma don't yet compare in terms of color reproduction, refresh rates, response time... but that's understandable, CRT is an older technology and it has had more years to develop. LCD and plasma are new products that will inevitably get better...

But bare in mind, the ultimate display will have to have the following:
1) High Contrast Ratios (CRT)
2) Ultra Low Respone times (CRT)
3) Accurate Color Reproduction (CRT)
4) Variable Resolutions with out distortion (CRT)
5) Variable Range of Refresh Rates exceeding 100hz (CRT)
6) Sharp Text Display (LCD)
6) Low Power Consumption and heat output (LCD)
8) Ultra thin Design (LCD)
9) Larger Sizes (LCD)

If those conditions are met, we'd have a winner display. I haven't seen anything like that... unless SED proves to do it all. The advantages i see for LCD would be sharp text reproduction, lower heat, and the best of all is larger sizes. Power, blah... i could care less... a few more bucks of electricity. Thin design... nice, but realisticallyl, i never move my monitor.
 
I'm with you bro. I think if you want to be pessimistic.... all current monitors, LCD or CRT, SUCK! Am I willing to put up with this or would I rather put up with that. Maybe if I hadn't used a CRT for 15 years in ignorant bliss to there drawbacks, I would be 100% happy with my LCD. Now going the other way, I'll probably be like shit nuts! My geometry is off in the corners, and why do I have to tweak the settings for every res! WTF my eyes!!! :p

I'm guessing being an FPS fan the fast reponse will win out though. Some say you never go back, they shouldn't speak for everyone. It's probably not all the monitors fault. Tearing is very noticeable so I have to go vsync. Now I have a jumping 60 to 30 fps, a GTX that may shimmer a bit, and a panel that sometimes takes in excess of 20ms to transition, is just a recipe for a drunken BF2 match. :(

This ebay guy from lawrence sent it out on Monday, and it looks to arrive today?! Hmm... that's cool.
 
cambrian said:
great monitor, great price. The only drawback is the hefty weight.

I can't imagine dragging that thing to a lan game.

Yes its a very nice CRT, but there are more drawbacks than its weight.
 
Well I just stepped up and bought one of the Sony's and lemme tell ya the current pucker factor is about 9.5, since I have never purchased anything from ebay before. but one would be hardpressed to find a better deal on a 24" CRT I just hope i'm not dissapointed in the long run, 400.00 is a fair chunk of coin to just lose.

My current 19" trinitron is 3 years old and it's losing the image quality..text is getting fuzzy, I thought I was going blind until my wife pointed out it really was the monitor :rolleyes:
 
It is very nice and all, but for $400 you can just get the 2001FP or 2005FPW. They would be brand new from Dell with a 3-year warranty, not to mention the razor sharp text.

The FW900 was the titan of its day, but CRT is now way on its way out. Maybe 3 years ago I would have been all over this monitor for $400. :)
 
I'm considering picking this puppy up myself since I don't really care about "razor sharp text" so much in-game performance and I can deal with the weight. I'm looking forward to further reporting on the topic creator's experiences with it gaming and watching DVD's. Good stuff.
 
if a new dell 24" is $600 to $700, you can get a refurb one for about 1/2 price anyway. So for $300 to $350, why not just go w/ dell than $250 for sony? You gain 1.5" wider.
 
Happy Hopping said:
if a new dell 24" is $600 to $700, you can get a refurb one for about 1/2 price anyway. So for $300 to $350, why not just go w/ dell than $250 for sony? You gain 1.5" wider.

Ok bubbles, if you say so. 300 to 350, where do people come up with this stuff?

The HP is at my house. Time to skip out of work!
 
Ultra Wide said:
It is very nice and all, but for $400 you can just get the 2001FP or 2005FPW. They would be brand new from Dell with a 3-year warranty, not to mention the razor sharp text.

The FW900 was the titan of its day, but CRT is now way on its way out. Maybe 3 years ago I would have been all over this monitor for $400. :)

I recently had a 2001FP sitting next to my 21" G520P for a few weeks , It was very disapointing to say the least and was sent back to Dell. The color accuracy / Poor black levels / Viewing angles / Overbright screen / being stuck in one native resolution & motion blur were all painfully obvious with the CRT sitting next to it,I also noted a slight input lag on the LCD side. The only positive thing it had going for it was the sharp text output. But then again I never had problems reading text on my CRT @ 1600x1200 for the last 2 years.

I have no regrets getting the FW900, It is by far the best monitor i've owned and has more flexibility than LCDs can offer. Just dont plan on taking it to any LAN parties :D
 
I was kind of dissapointed to see the drop in text quality (just set up my HP). I think it's not just text though, the LCD is just sharp and nice. Maybe because it's not flickering aka fully refreshing. I don't really know. Probably more along the lines of while the native resoltuion situation can be a pain, that's also like super optimal, it's how many pixels the thing really has. The AG lines are also annoying on the new screen, so then I took a deep breath.... texuspete... did you buy this for games or to talk on forums/do work with sharper text and sharper still images? Games looked in one way better on the FPW, it is damn sharp, but it gets a bit mucked at fast paces. So then I played BF2 on this HP, and realized in 30 seconds this is the better fps monitor for me. But I still need them to bring on the SED and so on! Each type of monitor is spoiling me in one way or another.

So in short if you're hard on dough, this is a nice all around monitor. The FPW has an image I have not seen bested in my 26 years.... but when you start moving, we're not in heaven anymore, I know what my Quake 4 monitor will be. It would totally be playable on the FPW for anyone, I personally just cared enough to look around. If I didn't know this 24" crt exsisted I would have surely kept the Dell and let myself get more and more used to it. I'm never happy. As you can see, I need these monitors to have sex and pump out the world's sweetest monitor. In the end I may even end up keeping both at this point. But for my gamer, well, my WC'd GTX and prometia'd rig is for gaming.

Also, the guy selling these things on ebay is the real deal from lawrenceburg, got here in two days packed good enough to be shoved off the truck which they probably do to punish you for making them work for their 100 dollars shipping. I don't even see a scratch on the plastic though I'm only examing the front. I got the HP. I have a 21" Sony, so I doubt the complaints I do have are from it being the HP. Just now I seen the both to know how good individual strengths the LCD/CRT camps have on the high-end. $325... can't complain.
 
I was looking at a 2005fpw, but this thread caught my eye (and im tired of waiting for a 2005fpw coupon :) ) and I wanted to know if this monitor could be hooked up to a HD reciever, or to an xbox360 when it comes out (and for that matter, can a 2005fpw be hooked up to an xbox369 or HD reciever?). Also, ive never had an lcd, but my philips109b monitor has never had "blurry" text. would i notice a blurrier or sharper text with this, or would the text be the same?

Also, what software did you use to calibrate it (If any)? Ive never calibrated a monitor before :(

http://cgi.ebay.com/24-SonyTrinitro...ryZ99234QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Thats what I was looking at, should I worry about the buyer?
 
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Meh, the text thing is just coming from a high end LCD. I never would have complained either. I never would have described the text on my CRTs as blurry until I had the FPW. I'm getting used to it again already. :p Which is a bit more than I can say for the blur. Though to be honest the 2405 is slower than the model you are looking at as well, but has better blacks! Confusing as shit isn't it?

All screens suck now, I've been ruined by the individual strengths of each! :p I think you'll be happy no matter what you choose. I just thought in the 2405FPW sense, if I spend a G, I don't want to be on the lookout for something quicker off the bat. If I end up selling mine, that person will probably be a happy camper saving a couple C notes and not being an uptight visual bastage like myself.
 
Dont forget to use the Image Restoration option after it warms up (30 minutes). It got rid of an ever so slight green tinge mine was showing in dark grey's.
 
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