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

definitely not natural, assuming the brightness/contrast/g2/whatever are set to reasonable levels.
 
Thanks for the reply guys, The seller listed it for $230. It was in perfect cosmetic shape, but after evaluation they do believe the tube exhibits a dullness to the picture after testing multiple sources. It seems to be washed out, but other than that the rest of the image sharpness and quality is fine. It is a shame.
 
Unkle Vito, I actually have not received my FW900 I recently purchased. It is in shipping. I will keep you posted on my thoughts after arrival. I also found a low priced FW9011 that appeared to exhibit a washed out picture unfortunately. I am looking for a second and maybe third FW900 to complete an eyefinity setup on my gaming computer.
 
It is a 2001 model. Thanks for the tips. I will look into getting these tools to calibrate my first unit when it arrives.
 
Here is a pic of the washed out unit. The seller said they tried the built in brightness, color and contrast controls without success. Does this appear to be fixable through a calibration?


2ewfeza.jpg
 
yes, but first do an image restoration (you'll need to let the tube warm up for about 30-60 min before doing so). Image restoration is in the color menu.

If that doesn't help much, and/or you want a more thorough color adjustment, then follow the WinDAS WPB guide here
 
I would feel confident about picking this monitor up for asking price and getting the colors set using the White Balance Adjust in WinDAS. Looks like a legit monitor. I say get it.
 
what is the maximum refresh rate a g520 can do at 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, and 1280x960? and if anyone has experience with both a samsung 753df and a high end trinitron/diamondtron, can you tell me just what to expect upgrading to a g520? mainly interested in gaming performance. i'm already pretty blown away by the 753df after using it at 640x480 160 Hz in quake, i can't imagine it gets much better than this, even coming from a decent 120 Hz TN.
 
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I was just informed today that FedEx lost my recently acquired FW900 lol. How do you loose a Monitor in a crate built like an army tank? Oh well good thing I have another on the way. If my first unit does not arrive, and I get a reimbursement, I may do it right this time and go with one of Unkle Vito's calibrated units.

Merry Christmas to all
 
bramabul5353 said:
I was just informed today that FedEx lost my recently acquired FW900 lol. How do you loose a Monitor in a crate built like an army tank? Oh well good thing I have another on the way. If my first unit does not arrive, and I get a reimbursement, I may do it right this time and go with one of Unkle Vito's calibrated units.

Merry Christmas to all
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dammit, that sucks :( wish you the best of luck with your remaining order, maybe the lost one turns up again.
Nice holidays to everyone :)
 
bramabul5353 said:
I was just informed today that FedEx lost my recently acquired FW900 lol. How do you loose a Monitor in a crate built like an army tank? Oh well good thing I have another on the way. If my first unit does not arrive, and I get a reimbursement, I may do it right this time and go with one of Unkle Vito's calibrated units.

Merry Christmas to all
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I am so sorry to hear that this happened to you. I am so glad that you insured the shipment. My guess is that it was probably destroyed in transit, and FedEx is claiming it as "loss"... In my 25 years of shipping 30x30x30 boxed GDM-FW900 via FedEx, I have never lost a single unit the way you did... Again, I am so sorry for what happened.

Should you decide to make a purchase, let us know.

Merry Christmas to you and to all the GDM-FW900 enthusiasts and professionals on this forum!

Sincerely,

Unkle Vito!
 
Thanks Vito! Merry Christmas as well, and to all on this thread. My only hope is if the box is not to be recovered and is damaged, that they would expedite the process of a refund so that I can go ahead and purchase a unit from you. Time is of the essence when looking for these awesome monitors.
 
The HP branded FW900 clone i have been using for the past 6 years or so without major issues is displaying no image and outputting an error code (blinking orange power light with about 1-1.5 seconds in between each blink).

Does anyone have any idea what the problem might be? I can't seem to find a list of error codes anywhere online,

(Additional possibly superfluous info)
If it helps, this issue started a few moments after my video card failed.
It started displaying a corrupt image, i restarted the computer, the boot screen was also displaying corrupted, and after i unplugged everything for a few moments to see if that resolved the issue, my monitor no longer worked.
The video card displays garbage on other monitors and the computer itself is working fine with a different video card and monitor.
 
have you tried testing the FW900 with a different video card?

btw the HP version isn't a clone - it's identical to the Sony branded FW900, minus some exterior cosmetic differences.
 
spacediver said:
have you tried testing the FW900 with a different video card?

btw the HP version isn't a clone - it's identical to the Sony branded FW900, minus some exterior cosmetic differences.
Click to expand...

It behaves in the same way if i hook it up to the dead video card, the working one, or if i activate self-diagnosis by holding the joytick to the right after turning it on.
 
not sure, hopefully vito will have some experience that can help you.

I tried holding joystick to right, just after i turned on unit, but all it does is up the contrast. Can you be more specific?
 
spacediver said:
not sure, hopefully vito will have some experience that can help you.

I tried holding joystick to right, just after i turned on unit, but all it does is up the contrast. Can you be more specific?
Click to expand...

If you unhook the FW900's VGA/BNC cables, turn it on, and hold the joystick to the right for about 2 seconds, you will trigger what the manual refers to as a self-diagnosis function.

Apparently if the monitor detects a problem, the power light will blink orange at a particular interval which indicates what the likely problem is, but the manual doesn't actually include a table to translate the intervals, rather it tells you to contact your authorized Sony dealer.

I had no idea this function existed prior to today either despite having owned the monitor for years xD
 
ah, very interesting, and useful to know!

vito, do you have a list of the failure modes associated with different blink patterns? Would be a really useful xmas gift :)
 
Azurfel said:
If you unhook the FW900's VGA/BNC cables, turn it on, and hold the joystick to the right for about 2 seconds, you will trigger what the manual refers to as a self-diagnosis function.
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woooooooooow never heard of this before.
It show me Model, Serial Number and manufacture date and keeps on blinking green and orange, monitor itself works flawlessly
 
Azurfel said:
If you unhook the FW900's VGA/BNC cables, turn it on, and hold the joystick to the right for about 2 seconds, you will trigger what the manual refers to as a self-diagnosis function.

Apparently if the monitor detects a problem, the power light will blink orange at a particular interval which indicates what the likely problem is, but the manual doesn't actually include a table to translate the intervals, rather it tells you to contact your authorized Sony dealer.

I had no idea this function existed prior to today either despite having owned the monitor for years xD
Click to expand...

The service manual is probably going to have this code's real meaning. Google it - it's fairly common out there.
 
See the highlighted section - this is what would be useful to know (note, this image is a composite of two separate pages of the service manual, even though it looks like one single page).

10rqnep.png
 
Update:
So i tried to turn the monitor on after i woke up this morning, and it worked!... then it went into power save mode and now it isn't displaying an image when turned on or plugged into a device again, same as last night >.<
Instead of humming on it makes a soft click, and then instead of the familiar loud sharp click, it just gives off a little tiny click and displays no image while the power light blinks it's pattern (which i apparently need to reinterpret because according to the G520 manual flod posted the amount of time the light is on is a factor as well xD)

Soooooo i'll experiment more and look around for that service manual.
(also, i forgot to mention that i have 2 other hp branded FW900s laying about that were previously owned by my brothers and failed for reasons of image focus/stability, which might be good if i need a part)

Edit: there is no hum when it is turned on like there usually is, i was just tired and misremembering.
 
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Azurfel said:
...it just gives off a little tiny click and displays no image while the power light blinks it's pattern (which i apparently need to reinterpret because according to the G520 manual flod posted the amount of time the light is on is a factor as well xD)
Click to expand...

wonder if it's a VGA cable issue, and/or VGA input issue. Do you have a BNC cable lying around to test?
 
spacediver said:
wonder if it's a VGA cable issue, and/or VGA input issue. Do you have a BNC cable lying around to test?
Click to expand...

I've tried multiple VGA cables, all behave in the same way.

When set to Input 2, the self diagnosis function seems to give the same error message, but i don't have a BNC cable to actually check with.
 
Well, just finished doing a white balance adjust on my FW900 and did a convergence and geometry touch-up. I have to say that the good thing about getting proficient in WinDAS is that after you do the initial calibration (because let's face it, unless you buy from Unkle Vito, your unit won't likely be calibrated), it gets easier and easier every time. Also - if you keep your unit maintained, the touch-up procedures aren't nearly as time-consuming because everything will likely be set correctly in the first place! Only thing I notice that tends to drift is the white balance.

Anyways, on to the next! GDM-F520, and then the Artisan. Do I have any requests to take a picture of all three units sitting next to each other?
 
spacediver said:
that would be sweet jbl :)
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Your wish shall be my command! Though I have to admit that this is the first time I've done a WB adjust on the GDM-F520 (I bought it from Vito back in February). I wasn't expecting WinDAS to act the way that it did.

So where it gets to the G2 adjustment, I set the G2 so that the first step cuts off and the second step is barely visible like it says, but after I set the G2, it proceeds to increase the G2 before I continue. So after I did the white balance, the G2 was way too bright...

I did the White Balance adjust one more time, only this time I purposefully set the G2 too low. After I set it, WinDAS proceeded to bump the G2 up. Except that this time it wasn't too high. :) So after I set the values once more, everything was all good. Weird... Anyways. I'm typing this up on the F520. Tomorrow I'll set the Artisan, which is an easy endeavor. Just warm it up, set the white balance in the application and click "Calibrate." :)
 
spacediver said:
ah, very interesting, and useful to know!

vito, do you have a list of the failure modes associated with different blink patterns? Would be a really useful xmas gift :)
Click to expand...

I am so sorry for this late reply but I was out of the country... Your recent posting for the failure modes is the correct one.

Have a nice and safe New Years Eve!
 
LAGRUNAUER said:
I am so sorry for this late reply but I was out of the country... Your recent posting for the failure modes is the correct one.

Have a nice and safe New Years Eve!
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awesome, that's really good to know - thanks for the confirmation.

Have a great new years too :)
 
jbltecnicspro said:
Anyways, on to the next! GDM-F520, and then the Artisan. Do I have any requests to take a picture of all three units sitting next to each other?
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could you take a close up picture of each to compare the sharpnesses? i'm curious as to how much of an improvement the f520's 0.22 grill brings
 
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