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

Sinizar said:
How blurry? CRT blurry since text is never as clear as an LCD.

If it is blurry for a CRT, and you tried the focus knobs on top of the monitor, than you have have a tired monitor and it is time to take it in and get new parts. I think the flyback is the one that controls the focus and popping. I am no expert but I have one that has a green tint, has blurry text, and pops now and then. I spoke with a guy that repairs CRTs and he said the green can usually be adjusted, if the fuzzy text cannot be adjusted then it is time for some new parts.

I think he quoted me $80 for the part and $45 for an hour of labor. Not bad to get the old FW900 up and running again. I still had a perfect FW900 in storage so for now I put the other one away and will have it repaired if my current one ever goes out.
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Blurry on bright areas (mainly white) to the point where they become almost unreadable.
Dark ones show little blurring at all.
 
Kermie said:
Blurry on bright areas (mainly white) to the point where they become almost unreadable.
Dark ones show little blurring at all.
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Does the text get clearer as you lower the refresh rate? My text was nice and clear at 60Hz but really blurry at 85Hz.
 
Kermie said:
Blurry on bright areas (mainly white) to the point where they become almost unreadable.
Dark ones show little blurring at all.
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Sinizar said:
Does the text get clearer as you lower the refresh rate? My text was nice and clear at 60Hz but really blurry at 85Hz.
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Check your convergence in a few resolutions, Then try the focus pots.

An actual photograph of the issue would help but you would need to take it with a good camera and a tri-pod not an iPhone and your hand.
 
ZeosPantera said:
Check your convergence in a few resolutions, Then try the focus pots.

An actual photograph of the issue would help but you would need to take it with a good camera and a tri-pod not an iPhone and your hand.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the ideas but I already messed with the focus posts, adjusted the convergence and adjusted the text settings in windows and and things are looking better. Though grey text still remains blurry.

The people here were right, the blacks are deep and the colors are vibrant. I wish I had a camera to take a picture but for a FW900 manufactured in 2000, it's looking pretty good.
 
Shiranui Gen-An said:
Just curious what is considered a fair price for a used FW900 these days? I found one on my local craigslist for $275.
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Test it out from cold to warm. If the colors look even powering it up (no major one color tint like green) and it warms up in 30 minutes or so to where the color is rich then it is really fair.

Make sure to bump the refresh rate up to 85Hz and see if the text stays clear and readable. Watch for any weird popping or wiggle.

Look for scratches in the anti-glare (not as big of a deal, most say the color looks better once you remove it).

I recommend bringing along a monitor test program on a flash drive. Nokia has a great set of the computer has XP on it. Use this to check convergence. I sold a perfect one for $350 and the guy was thrilled.
 
Shiranui Gen-An said:
Just curious what is considered a fair price for a used FW900 these days? I found one on my local craigslist for $275.
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I paid $150 for mine off of CL. It has a small scratch in the anti-glare screen which is not noticeable unless reading text on a white background and you look for it. It also has a very small dent in the screen but I never see it unless I search for it. I can live with that. The gaming performance and colors on it make it insignificant.
 
Shiranui Gen-An said:
Just curious what is considered a fair price for a used FW900 these days? I found one on my local craigslist for $275.
Click to expand...

The three I bought in the last 18 months were...

-Nearly perfect condition in California (Minor scuff on the AG coating & pickup only) $100 I was the only bidder and after shipping a box there and it back in the box it was an additional $135

-Not perfect condition in Brooklyn (damage to the frame, missing AG coating) Winning bid was $235 and I picked it up.

-Last was the close to perfect SGI version I won for $150 that had a long scratch on the AG coating.

I removed the ag coatings from the other two after seeing the benefit on the second unit.

Take it off baby..
 
ZeosPantera said:
The three I bought in the last 18 months were...

-Nearly perfect condition in California (Minor scuff on the AG coating & pickup only) $100 I was the only bidder and after shipping a box there and it back in the box it was an additional $135

-Not perfect condition in Brooklyn (damage to the frame, missing AG coating) Winning bid was $235 and I picked it up.

-Last was the close to perfect SGI version I won for $150 that had a long scratch on the AG coating.

I removed the ag coatings from the other two after seeing the benefit on the second unit.

Take it off baby..
Click to expand...

What is involved in taking the frame apart and exposing the tube? I don't see any screws anywhere that are holding things together.
 
Poordevil said:
What is involved in taking the frame apart and exposing the tube? I don't see any screws anywhere that are holding things together.
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there are two on the bottom and two on top underneath the plastic inserts. They pry out with a small screwdriver. Then its just a matter of a squeeze and firm tug on the plastic case to remove it.

The AG is just a tinted plastic sheet applied to the glass. Some heat, patience and a helper can get it off in 5 minutes. If there is residue from the glue left on it takes a bit more work. I had one super easy and the other 2 hours with gumout carb cleaner and a razor blade.
 
Surprised you say to use heat to help remove the AG. All three of mine seemed to come off easy enough without anything but some simple tugging.
 
i have the Sony GDM FW900 here. And it is a great monitor. I use this one for 3D applications too and need information how high i can set the resolution of this monitor with 120hz. I looked around and searched this thread a little bit and tryed a modified .inf file. But it does not work on my monitor. From what i have read here it is possible that you can set the monitor to 16850x1050 @ 120hz and 1600x1000 @ 120hz. But both resolutions give me the out of range message. Why does this happen on my monitor? and why does it work for others? have i done something wrong maybe? or is it a missinformation that this resolution work with 120hz? the maximum im knowing of working is 1440x900 @ 120hz. Hope someone can help me out with this. Does this resolutions work on your fw900's ?
 
Kermie said:
Yes, but only with certain resolutions. 100MHz minimum is required for the 3D Vision to work though.
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I was able to run 3d vision at 1920x1200 (the best gaming resolution for this monitor in my humble opinion) at 96hz pretty well via nivida custom resolutions, My CRTS are the HP versions so I had to load the Sony GDM-FW900 win7 drivers and you have to use VGA cable in order to get the custom resolutions to work. If you use the detected plug and play drivers I find that custom resolutions do not work at all, I found BNC and custom resolutions do not work for me at all with any driver. something changed lately with the latest nvidia release.

You *can* run even lower hz, but flicker will start rearing its ugly head. 100hz is a recommendation for CRTs not neccesarily a requirement. its a pretty spot on recommendation. I wouldn't want to run 3d vision lower then 96hz...
 
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UnclePauly09 said:
Semi related but can you get nvidia 3d vision to work on this monitor?
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Yes and it works great. Takes a little tweaking up front, but turn on advanced configuration so you can use the CTRL F5 and F6 for fine tuning.

You will need to use DVI to VGA cable since DVI to BNC will not work. I run mine at 1680x1024 120Hz. Anything over 100Hz looks fine but I think having 60Hz an eye is better than 50Hz. I use the nVidia GTX 560Ti and the 3D Vision glasses.
 
Alright so I may have found an FW900, it's about a 2 hours from me. They are asking 75$ for it. Is there any specific questions I should ask this guy about? I really don't know a whole lot about this monitor, I'd like to ask everything I should before I would go down there and check it out. Any input would be appreciated. from what I understand, this would be a steal if it's in good condition.
 
The regular Q's. Scratches, is it dim, does it lean heavily to one color(green blue or red). Does it make any weird sounds. I think thats it.

Can't wait to try out 3dvision on this monitor, it's gotta be better than those shatty 120hz tn panels you find everywhere.
 
I've heard that CRTs (especially older ones) ghost more than LCDs due to "phosphor decay".

I've been using my FW900, Crossfired 4890s, the iZ3D driver, and a pair of old eDimensional shutter glasses to do Interlaced stereo 3D. It works for a nice little taste of 3D, but the interlaced display sucks. I'd need to upgrade to an ATI 5xxx or 6xxx series card to use page-flipping shutter output, which is equivalent to 3D Vision.

I'm building a new rig, and can't decide if I should switch to nVidia for 3D Vision or continue with a newer ATI card and the iZ3D driver.

UnclePauly09 said:
The regular Q's. Scratches, is it dim, does it lean heavily to one color(green blue or red). Does it make any weird sounds. I think thats it.

Can't wait to try out 3dvision on this monitor, it's gotta be better than those shatty 120hz tn panels you find everywhere.
Click to expand...
 
I'm currently building a new computer, and when checking out video card options to go along with my still wonderful FW900, I noticed that the esteemed GTX 580 can only produce a maximum VGA resolution of 2048x1536.

Does this mean that newer video cards like the GTX 580 cannot drive an analog monitor like the FW900 at its maximum resolution of 2304x1440 at 80 Hz? Or did nVidia just list what they assumed would be the highest VGA resolution people would use?

I'm thinking of pairing my FW900 with a DLP projector for use with 3D Vision. Using the FW900 for detailed desktop work and the projector for 3D gaming seems like a nice setup.
 
Pyrocles said:
I've heard that CRTs (especially older ones) ghost more than LCDs due to "phosphor decay".

I've been using my FW900, Crossfired 4890s, the iZ3D driver, and a pair of old eDimensional shutter glasses to do Interlaced stereo 3D. It works for a nice little taste of 3D, but the interlaced display sucks. I'd need to upgrade to an ATI 5xxx or 6xxx series card to use page-flipping shutter output, which is equivalent to 3D Vision.

I'm building a new rig, and can't decide if I should switch to nVidia for 3D Vision or continue with a newer ATI card and the iZ3D driver.
Click to expand...

Go with 3D Vision on your next computer. The reason is nVidia profiles are awesome, when the game supports 3D Vision, there is usually minimal to no tweaking.
 
Pyrocles said:
I'm currently building a new computer, and when checking out video card options to go along with my still wonderful FW900, I noticed that the esteemed GTX 580 can only produce a maximum VGA resolution of 2048x1536.

Does this mean that newer video cards like the GTX 580 cannot drive an analog monitor like the FW900 at its maximum resolution of 2304x1440 at 80 Hz? Or did nVidia just list what they assumed would be the highest VGA resolution people would use?
Click to expand...

I have a GTX 580. I just tested it for you, it works.
 
wondering if anyone can help...

I have a p1110, and I was adjusting the g2 level through windas. Everything was fine yesterday until I unplugged the cable and found that I didn't finish it off and the controls got locked. Not having time to fix it last night, I waited until today to try to work it out. Except.... now the screen barely displays a picture at 35% brightness. I ve fixed the locked control panel issue but the issue of it not being bright enough persists. So... is it dead or what....

Just tested it out with my second crt (new as of last december), same result.... What is up? My windas cable has seen better days, I basically spliced the cables together. Could I have fired both monitors? Even the new one?

I was able to fix one for a little bit, but then as soon as I disconnected the wire the same result with the monitor being too dim and resolutions being incorrectly displayed.
 
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I don't know whether I'll be telling you the obvious here now but, a lower G2 value will require the brightness setting to be set higher to achieve the correct black level and vice versa. For example my ideal brightness went from 60 to 48 after increasing the G2 value by 3 points.
 
its the colors that are off and the screen positioning, in both monitors, not just the brightness.
 
sixhundredsixtysix said:
I've had my FW900 for a few years now and love it, but recently it has gotten "wiggly" and is essentially unusable.

Unfortunately I don't have a video camera that can record this, so hopefully someone will understand whats going on from my poor description and tell me if its fixable / worth it.

Basically there is an uneven waver / wiggle, present over the whole screen but worst in the topright corner and along left side. It seems to be rapidly shifting left and right a few pixels. It is much much more pronounced on white and lighter colors. It is constant and doesn't change with warmup.

It doesn't happen at 60hz, but anything higher, regardless of resolution.
Aside from the eye bleed of 60hz, it looks fine.

Its connected DVI->VGA from an 8800GTS, my 22" LCD is fine, so is the crappy 15" LCD thats standing in as my secordary monitor.
-Same problem on my laptop, and both ports on desktop.
-Tried multiple cables (3xVGA, 2xVGA->BNC, 3xDVI to VGA adapters)
-Tried different power cables, different wall outlets (usually plugged into a UPS with AVR)
-Tried moving to a different room in case of some weird interference.
-Messed with everything available in the OSD, haven't got an ECS cable and wouldn't know where to start with WinDAS.

I love this damn thing and I'd hate to get rid of it.
Any ideas on what could be the cause or anything I can try?
Any ballpark on a repair quote?
And finally, anyone happen to know of a trustworthy repair shop in the SF bay area?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Based on what you are describing, and again without fully testing the unit to issue an accurate diagnose, picture "wiggling" is usually an indication of cold solders present in the PCBs (printed circuitry boards).

A savvy technician with advanced soldering skills will identify and re-solder them, but some are not that easy to spot. Also, if one or the two damper wires become detached from the grille, the image will "wiggle". There are other contributing factors to the "wiggling" issue but these two are the most common.

Hope this helps...

Sincerely,

Unkle Vito!
 
Sinizar said:
How blurry? CRT blurry since text is never as clear as an LCD.

If it is blurry for a CRT, and you tried the focus knobs on top of the monitor, than you have have a tired monitor and it is time to take it in and get new parts. I think the flyback is the one that controls the focus and popping. I am no expert but I have one that has a green tint, has blurry text, and pops now and then. I spoke with a guy that repairs CRTs and he said the green can usually be adjusted, if the fuzzy text cannot be adjusted then it is time for some new parts.

I think he quoted me $80 for the part and $45 for an hour of labor. Not bad to get the old FW900 up and running again. I still had a perfect FW900 in storage so for now I put the other one away and will have it repaired if my current one ever goes out.
Click to expand...

Before you spend your hard earned money, please be aware of the following...

-Green tints, and any other kind of color casts can be fixed by performing a white point balance adjustment in WinDAS/WinCAT, provided that the gun(s) are not faulty. If the CRT has faulty gun(s), the monitor will never achieve accurate calibration of the four reference points (d93, D65 and D50, plus sRGB). In other words, the color cast will not go away...

-The G2 adjustment is part of the white point balance in WinDAS/WinCAT. Adjusting the G2 level may bring the color cast down, but it may not be enough to eliminate it.

-Blurriness in CRTs are mainly due to FBT issues but we have observed that in some units, we had experience reoccurring blurriness issues including the "POP" after replacing the FBTs with new ones. After further testing, we found out that the CRT (picture tube) had shorts and it was also faulty.

Replacing the FBT may solve the blurriness problem, but if it persist after the replacement, then the CRT may be also the culprit.

Hope this helps...

Sincerely,

Unkle Vito!
 
UnclePauly09 said:
Is it still possible to get A rated and calibrated FW900's anywhere? I know unklevito used to sell them...
Click to expand...

I still do! Let me know if you need one... If anyone needs to get a hold of me, I am on eBay...

Hope this helps...

Sincerely,

Unkle Vito!
 
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UnclePauly09 said:
local pickup only :(

I'm in Toledo
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Not necessarily.... It can be packed but it will be at the buyer's expense. For a nominal fee, I can take it to the outfit that does all my CRT packings and they can provide the buyer a quote. They also ship... The are great and I have been using them for many years...

Hope this helps...

Sincerely,

Unkle Vito!
 
jkmetal said:
wondering if anyone can help...

I have a p1110, and I was adjusting the g2 level through windas. Everything was fine yesterday until I unplugged the cable and found that I didn't finish it off and the controls got locked. Not having time to fix it last night, I waited until today to try to work it out. Except.... now the screen barely displays a picture at 35% brightness. I ve fixed the locked control panel issue but the issue of it not being bright enough persists. So... is it dead or what....

Just tested it out with my second crt (new as of last december), same result.... What is up? My windas cable has seen better days, I basically spliced the cables together. Could I have fired both monitors? Even the new one?

I was able to fix one for a little bit, but then as soon as I disconnected the wire the same result with the monitor being too dim and resolutions being incorrectly displayed.
Click to expand...

Did you save the original MDL file before you started making adjustments? this procedure is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

In order to unlock the OSD controls go back to WinDAS, and save the settings. Once you save the settings, then exit WinDAS and the OSD controls should unlock (You did that OK).

In order to readjust the G2, you need to perform the white point balance completely, as the G2 adjustment is just a part of it. That will fix your issue, provided that the CRT still have decent emission. You'll find this out when you adjust for the luminance parameter during the white point balance process. You will get to that as soon as the program ask you to display the white background (100 IRE). If the adjustment level between zero (brand new never used tube) and 120 on THE FIRST PASS, and below 175 on THE SECOND PASS, then your tube still have "juice". But if the level adjusts above 175 and reaches pass 200 to 255 (wash out -end of life), then it is time to discard the tube.

Hope this helps...

Sincerely,

Unkle Vito!
 
I found a solution to my flat screen woes I have two computers set up one with a CRT the other with a LCD I'll game on the LCD and do everything else on the CRT.
This way I don't have a bad day of being bombarded by the LCD which messes me up bad if I use it everyday.
 
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LAGRUNAUER said:
Did you save the original MDL file before you started making adjustments? this procedure is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

In order to unlock the OSD controls go back to WinDAS, and save the settings. Once you save the settings, then exit WinDAS and the OSD controls should unlock (You did that OK).

In order to readjust the G2, you need to perform the white point balance completely, as the G2 adjustment is just a part of it. That will fix your issue, provided that the CRT still have decent emission. You'll find this out when you adjust for the luminance parameter during the white point balance process. You will get to that as soon as the program ask you to display the white background (100 IRE). If the adjustment level between zero (brand new never used tube) and 120 on THE FIRST PASS, and below 175 on THE SECOND PASS, then your tube still have "juice". But if the level adjusts above 175 and reaches pass 200 to 255 (wash out -end of life), then it is time to discard the tube.

Hope this helps...

Sincerely,

Unkle Vito!
Click to expand...

I fixed the problems by using an earlier saved data file a few days ago. Thanks for the info on the white point setting. I was poking around in the program and saw that but didn't want to wait for the monitor to warm up. I'll take a look at it and readjust my g2 settings.

Thanks.
 
LAGRUNAUER said:
Before you spend your hard earned money, please be aware of the following...

-Green tints, and any other kind of color casts can be fixed by performing a white point balance adjustment in WinDAS/WinCAT, provided that the gun(s) are not faulty. If the CRT has faulty gun(s), the monitor will never achieve accurate calibration of the four reference points (d93, D65 and D50, plus sRGB). In other words, the color cast will not go away...

-The G2 adjustment is part of the white point balance in WinDAS/WinCAT. Adjusting the G2 level may bring the color cast down, but it may not be enough to eliminate it.

-Blurriness in CRTs are mainly due to FBT issues but we have observed that in some units, we had experience reoccurring blurriness issues including the "POP" after replacing the FBTs with new ones. After further testing, we found out that the CRT (picture tube) had shorts and it was also faulty.

Replacing the FBT may solve the blurriness problem, but if it persist after the replacement, then the CRT may be also the culprit.

Hope this helps...

Sincerely,

Unkle Vito!
Click to expand...

It does help! Thank you for posting this. I have 3 of these monitors and one is doing the above, I put it in storage for parts. I don't have a need for it but it has a perfect bezel, plus I was thinking about removing the anti-glare and having it fixed. I think it would be a bummer to spend the money on the FBT only to find out the crt has issues. Most likely I will keep it for parts.
 
Comixbooks said:
I found a solution to my flat screen woes I have two computers set up one with a CRT the other with a LCD I'll game on the LCD and do everything else on the CRT.
This way I don't have a bad day of being bombarded by the LCD which messes me up bad if I use it everyday.
Click to expand...

This is the exact opposite of what I would do. :)
 
Sinizar said:
This is the exact opposite of what I would do. :)
Click to expand...

Same here, I wouldn't game on an LCD, the whole reason I picked up this FW900 CRT was to get away from funky LCD display for my games! But hey, I guess some peeps like 'em, they certainly are popular!
 
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