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

[jbltecnicspro]

Oh, interesting find. I can't see any price for current models and it probably costs a kidney or two given the giant display surface, but the technology is definitively interesting.

Sony made a portable 1920x720 laser projector. Kicking myself for not getting it just for fun. . That’s the only consumer model I’m aware of. It had four diodes: 1 red, 1 green and 2 blue. Was rated for 2000 hours of useful laser diode life.

 

[SH1]

Just a hats off to "Image Restoration", which I've always thought was quite an advance. Still a great picture, but was just messing around the other night and thought to hold the control down on my F520 triggering the "Reliability Check Mode" that bright white screen, which is some kind of stress test. And it was failing it. Shutting off after a few seconds and showing the blinking orange lights. Was thinking, well, it almost has 18000 hours on it, maybe this is to be expected.

Let it warm back up, did Image Restoration, and now it can sustain that mode as before. (Not that I've ever left that intense screen on for very long in the past anyway, but no forced shutdown is now occurring.)

 

[jbltecnicspro]

Just a hats off to "Image Restoration", which I've always thought was quite an advance. Still a great picture, but was just messing around the other night and thought to hold the control down on my F520 triggering the "Reliability Check Mode" that bright white screen, which is some kind of stress test. And it was failing it. Shutting off after a few seconds and showing the blinking orange lights. Was thinking, well, it almost has 18000 hours on it, maybe this is to be expected.

Let it warm back up, did Image Restoration, and now it can sustain that mode as before. (Not that I've ever left that intense screen on for very long in the past anyway, but no forced shutdown is now occurring.)

White balance in WinDAS may bring it down to lower levels. I’m making some massive assumptions though.

 

[NYI]

Hi all,

Anyone here experience issues with a rather sudden red background tint? Most noticeable on blacks/dark. Expert mode can go a ways to sort of eliminate it, but red bias has to be damn near 0. Blue/Green still ok although pushing red bias all the way down obviously changes the color balance, and foreground reds appear to be ok.

Savon Pat was nice enough to talk to me about this issue and told me it's a tube failure - nothing can be done about it other than trying to work around it by trying to find an acceptable balance. He also mentioned it was common when SONY was still producing these things and affected a good number of these 24" tubes. Is it worth trying to see what I can do through WinDAS - in other words could this actually be something resolvable through there, or is this most likely as stated a tube failure that's always going to affect the balance in one way or another?

Thanks

 

[jbltecnicspro]

I agree with pat. You should be able to correct it and the fact that you have to go so low does indicate a problem. Sorry about that. Trying a WPB adjust wouldn’t hurt though. But you need the right equipment.

 

[NYI]

Thank you for the quick response. Yeah, that's what I feared lol. For example I've got red bias on only 22 right now, with the other colors on 43, and the darks are still noticeably red tinted. He didn't hesitate to come to that conclusion either so it is what it is.

Well, damn. You win some, you lose some.

 

[Strat_84]

Thank you for the quick response. Yeah, that's what I feared lol. For example I've got red bias on only 22 right now, with the other colors on 43, and the darks are still noticeably red tinted. He didn't hesitate to come to that conclusion either so it is what it is.

Well, damn. You win some, you lose some.

He's right only about the fact it's a hardware problem, but nothing proves it's necessarily a failling tube. It could as well be an electronic issue.

 

[jbltecnicspro]

He's right only about the fact it's a hardware problem, but nothing proves it's necessarily a failling tube. It could as well be an electronic issue.

Tube checker could verify. But you have to get ahold of one. You could check the electronics around the tube to see if something else is bad.

 

[NYI]

He's right only about the fact it's a hardware problem, but nothing proves it's necessarily a failling tube. It could as well be an electronic issue.

Hmm, well there are some background facts: 1) for a little while at one point this thing didn't want to turn the tube on at all. Blinking orange light. 2) Then sometimes if I'd turn off the power to the monitor from the outlet while the monitor power switch was still in the "on" position, the monitor wouldn't want to turn back on for a while: as in the power switch would be on and maybe 20 minutes later the monitor would suddenly turn on.

3) And then sometimes when the tube turns on, the colors are looking like the degausser didn't go off at all. Rainbow of splotches, and crazy geometry. Turning back off and on fixes it.

4) Then there's the other aspect of this: when I first turn on the monitor the monitor OSD background is somewhat green (like it used to be when warming up), but the red becomes more prominent as it stays on longer.

So certainly there are other issues going on here. Does all this potentially point to some electronic issue that could be throwing the reds way too high? The reason I didn't mention all of this earlier is that Pat drew the conclusion right away so I figured if there were other issues happening they were independent of the tube.

Tube checker could verify. But you have to get ahold of one. You could check the electronics around the tube to see if something else is bad.

Hmmm... I'll have to see if someone in the Northeast can help. If you guys know someone I'm open to suggestions!

 

[Strat_84]

Hmm, well there are some background facts: 1) for a little while at one point this thing didn't want to turn the tube on at all. Blinking orange light. 2) Then sometimes if I'd turn off the power to the monitor from the outlet while the monitor power switch was still in the "on" position, the monitor wouldn't want to turn back on for a while: as in the power switch would be on and maybe 20 minutes later the monitor would suddenly turn on.

3) And then sometimes when the tube turns on, the colors are looking like the degausser didn't go off at all. Rainbow of splotches, and crazy geometry. Turning back off and on fixes it.

4) Then there's the other aspect of this: when I first turn on the monitor the monitor OSD background is somewhat green (like it used to be when warming up), but the red becomes more prominent as it stays on longer.

So certainly there are other issues going on here. Does all this potentially point to some electronic issue that could be throwing the reds way too high? The reason I didn't mention all of this earlier is that Pat drew the conclusion right away so I figured if there were other issues happening they were independent of the tube.

A blinking orange light means most of the time something wrong is detected and a safety is triggered. Or a signal is missing somewhere, or a power supply voltage (bad contact, flat cable not properly plugged, bad solder ...). It's unlikely to come from a bad tube.

As of the red/green tints, this can come from the tube itself, but it's also as easy as a bad component on the faulty color's signal path (and if the component has characteristics varying with temperature, the tint varies with temperature as well).

 

[jbltecnicspro]

Hmm, well there are some background facts: 1) for a little while at one point this thing didn't want to turn the tube on at all. Blinking orange light. 2) Then sometimes if I'd turn off the power to the monitor from the outlet while the monitor power switch was still in the "on" position, the monitor wouldn't want to turn back on for a while: as in the power switch would be on and maybe 20 minutes later the monitor would suddenly turn on.

3) And then sometimes when the tube turns on, the colors are looking like the degausser didn't go off at all. Rainbow of splotches, and crazy geometry. Turning back off and on fixes it.

4) Then there's the other aspect of this: when I first turn on the monitor the monitor OSD background is somewhat green (like it used to be when warming up), but the red becomes more prominent as it stays on longer.

So certainly there are other issues going on here. Does all this potentially point to some electronic issue that could be throwing the reds way too high? The reason I didn't mention all of this earlier is that Pat drew the conclusion right away so I figured if there were other issues happening they were independent of the tube.



Hmmm... I'll have to see if someone in the Northeast can help. If you guys know someone I'm open to suggestions!

Tv repair shop could help you but you’ll need to remove the case and take it down so that the tube’s pins are exposed. It’s been a long time since I’ve done a tear down on the FW900.

 

[NYI]

Thanks guys. Gonna have to think about this as I don't have any experience with electronics myself.

 

[3dfan]

This is the same issue I had with my GDM-FW9011. Haven’t found a fix it was doing this for 2-3 years and now it never gets to a clear screen. Always that green screen with lines then it auto shuts off.

Here’s a video of mine:

The flashing light is most likely the Auto Brightness shutoff as the screen gets too bright.

If you find a fix let me know.

mine started to do that thing recently after for personal reason i had to be absent for about long 2 months and the monitor was not used during that period, after that time and using it again, always when i turn it on after being off for hours, it always turns on the same way as yours, so greenish and auto shuts down after being so overbright greenish, strange before those 2 long months that issue never happened, fortunately when the monitor auto turns off, i turn it on again and it turns on normal, no more greeenish overbright screen and the monitor works normally without issues until being off for hours, and again on.

who knows if it means a componen inside it is starting to wear or dying, from what i understand it auto shut downs due to detecting very high voltage or something like that, so now, when i turn it on after hours being off, as soon as i see the greesnish screen i manually turn it off, wait some seconds and turn it on manually to prevent that overvoltaje thing, and when manualy on, no more greenish screen and it operates normaly and stable.

my knowledge on electronics is very limited, its too weird for me why this monitor started to do that after several weeks being off, also weird why it only happens when being turned on after hours of being off, also weird it eventually works perfectly after turning it on again and using it consistently the rest of the day.

i tried opening the monitor and cleaning its electronic boards and dust i saw arround, didnt removed the boards, just cleaned them from the sides with an industrial cleaning air blower, the inside parts and boards got noticiable cleaner but did not help with this issue.

 

[brownvim]

mine started to do that thing recently after for personal reason i had to be absent for about long 2 months and the monitor was not used during that period, after that time and using it again, always when i turn it on after being off for hours, it always turns on the same way as yours, so greenish and auto shuts down after being so overbright greenish, strange before those 2 long months that issue never happened, fortunately when the monitor auto turns off, i turn it on again and it turns on normal, no more greeenish overbright screen and the monitor works normally without issues until being off for hours, and again on.

who knows if it means a componen inside it is starting to wear or dying, from what i understand it auto shut downs due to detecting very high voltage or something like that, so now, when i turn it on after hours being off, as soon as i see the greesnish screen i manually turn it off, wait some seconds and turn it on manually to prevent that overvoltaje thing, and when manualy on, no more greenish screen and it operates normaly and stable.

my knowledge on electronics is very limited, its too weird for me why this monitor started to do that after several weeks being off, also weird why it only happens when being turned on after hours of being off, also weird it eventually works perfectly after turning it on again and using it consistently the rest of the day.

i tried opening the monitor and cleaning its electronic boards and dust i saw arround, didnt removed the boards, just cleaned them from the sides with an industrial cleaning air blower, the inside parts and boards got noticiable cleaner but did not help with this issue.

View attachment 469868

Yeah exact same problem I had, it worked for a few years but gradually got worse where I would have to turn it on and off multiple times.

It got to a point where it would never get past the green. Hope you find a fix but enjoy it while it lasts!

 

[3dfan]

yeah, man, maybe its a sign the end of its live is close to end, who knows, just have to be aware nothing last for ever, and i highly doubt i would be able to find a repair shop these days, or at least one using decent replacement parts for such old monitor or being interested to fix it with a reasonable price.

unfortunately for me today modern monitor offering is still miles away from the quality of crt monitors, as a whole package = blacks, motion quality, refresh rates, soft flicker, brigtness, input latency etc all in one monitor, and specialy on the motion handling which is still very mediocre, plagued with lots of flaws like very low brightnes levels, even considerable lower than crts, aggresive and more notable flicker for 60 hz - 60 fps content, just to name some of the flaws those are plagued with.

i have a backup crt monitor in good condition fortunately, and allow me to use custom widescreen resolutions up to 90hz, enought for me to replace my fw900 in case that sad day comes and i still game on pc, a compaq 17 inch 7550, would be hard to get used again to that smaller 17 inch tough.

 

[Enhanced Interrogator]

Well if you decide you won’t try to fix it, when you’re ready to let it go let us know. I’d take it on as a project

 

[SH1]

LTT recently posted a short on the FW900. Unfortunately, I'm afraid it will leave most folks confused as to the monitor's usage and capabilities.

 

[Strat_84]

Oh no, not him. He's had the guts to make videos on building a NAS and ... lose his data twice in a row after. The next video on the subject was priceless: the building of a monster replacement NAS ... with seagate drives, the most unreliable ones according to Backblaze records.

Seriously, he's a jester, definitively not someone to be listened to.

 

[3dfan]

Well if you decide you won’t try to fix it, when you’re ready to let it go let us know. I’d take it on as a project

ohh, i dont want to start digging its grave yet, hope it still serves me longer!

im trying to preserve its life by using low contrast luminance levels for usage other than gaming and video watching in which high contrast is ideal for me, the rest usage content its not so important, also, trying to anticipate when the screen gets so greenish and ovebright when i turn the monitor on and turning if off before waiting for the overvoltage auto off protection system triggered, never know when it can fail to autoswitch the monitor off and that prolonged over voltage can seriously damage something.

LTT recently posted a short on the FW900. Unfortunately, I'm afraid it will leave most folks confused as to the monitor's usage and capabilities.

Oh no, not him. He's had the guts to make videos on building a NAS and ... lose his data twice in a row after. The next video on the subject was priceless: the building of a monster replacement NAS ... with seagate drives, the most unreliable ones according to Backblaze records.

Seriously, he's a jester, definitively not someone to be listened to.

yeah, thats the reality of youtube nowadays, not just him, youtube is crowded with youtubers giving misleading, confusing information in order to make money rather than intending to be informative,. it would not surprise me if that video was rather made as a kind of "clickbait": too short, way limited and misleading info about the monitor, (max 80hz? ) a lot of non skippable advertising before being able to watch the real content , also he seems to be young enough i doubt he grew up in the crt era. he does 0 mention about one of the strong point, if not the strongest crts has: its motion quality, most younger gamers grew up living with today mediocre motion quality modern monitor offerings, so would not be strange why he doest not mention anything about it.

 

[criccio]

Full video:

 

[ellover009]

^ Lol, you beat me to it, I just found it.

 

[Strat_84]

I found the complete video:
Burned by criccio when I was about to reply.

Well, ok, if it wasn't already completely impossible to find one at a half decent price, now it is. Another wave of headless people is on its way with money full of their pockets, and probably not a single clue about the fact they're likely to buy some half broken units someone is getting rid of.

I just briefly had a look at the video but what I saw ... The Trinitron technology explanation ... Oh God, that idiot didn't even understand that the mask is made of actual wires. He thinks there are "vertical holes" in a metal plate in place of "round ones" ...

 

[ellover009]

Man it degraded from sitting new in a box to 69 nits from the reference 125nits peak. Man that is still a funky fresh screen. "drool"

 

[cdoublejj]

Oh no, not him. He's had the guts to make videos on building a NAS and ... lose his data twice in a row after. The next video on the subject was priceless: the building of a monster replacement NAS ... with seagate drives, the most unreliable ones according to Backblaze records.

Seriously, he's a jester, definitively not someone to be listened to.

for awhile backblaze reports were quite favorable and good for IronWolf drives, when i bought my 12TB IronWolfs they had really stepped up thier game.


the sunnix adapter still THE adapter? https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JART8HA/

should i not hook it up to USB and let it use the DP provided power?

 

[Enhanced Interrogator]

More people should post a link to the video

the sunnix adapter still THE adapter? https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JART8HA/

Depends on your use case. I'm always trying to run super duper high resolutions like 2880x2160 or 3200x1800, so it's useful to me.

But it has downsides, like some resolutions have jittery lines, and you have to remake them with different blanking intervals. And even more annoying: resolutions between 2048 pixels wide and around 2300 pixels wide have a bug where the right and left margins of the picture get swapped. So I can use my monitor at 2040x1530 (not 2048x1536) and below, or 2304x1728 and above, but I can't use many resolutions in between

The Icybox and Delock versions are easier to find. You have to import from EU if you're in the US.

should i not hook it up to USB and let it use the DP provided power?

Hell no. DP doesn't provide nearly enough juice. You have to use the USB power.

 

[pendragon1]

More people should post a link to the video





Depends on your use case. I'm always trying to run super duper high resolutions like 2880x2160 or 3200x1800, so it's useful to me.

But it has downsides, like some resolutions have jittery lines, and you have to remake them with different blanking intervals. And even more annoying: resolutions between 2048 pixels wide and around 2300 pixels wide have a bug where the right and left margins of the picture get swapped. So I can use my monitor at 2040x1530 (not 2048x1536) and below, or 2304x1728 and above, but I can't use many resolutions in between

The Icybox and Delock versions are easier to find. You have to import from EU if you're in the US.



Hell no. DP doesn't provide nearly enough juice. You have to use the USB power.

wtf. i did not see those... deleted.

 

[cdoublejj]

i didn't think they said it wasa new in box unit. it could be a higher hour unit. also before long we might need to start recapping these bad bois but, then again i've seen 80s CRTs on youtube rehabbed with out too much capacitor wok needed.

 

[cdoublejj]

More people should post a link to the video





Depends on your use case. I'm always trying to run super duper high resolutions like 2880x2160 or 3200x1800, so it's useful to me.

But it has downsides, like some resolutions have jittery lines, and you have to remake them with different blanking intervals. And even more annoying: resolutions between 2048 pixels wide and around 2300 pixels wide have a bug where the right and left margins of the picture get swapped. So I can use my monitor at 2040x1530 (not 2048x1536) and below, or 2304x1728 and above, but I can't use many resolutions in between

The Icybox and Delock versions are easier to find. You have to import from EU if you're in the US.



Hell no. DP doesn't provide nearly enough juice. You have to use the USB power.

I WAS WONDERING WTF WAS UP WITH THAT!!!! glad to know it's a known bug with that adapter.

I'm in the US! can i use a drop shipper? how do i know i'll have the right model?

https://www.amazon.com/Icy-Box-DisplayPort-Adapter-USB/dp/B074G3SCKR

 

[Enhanced Interrogator]

I WAS WONDERING WTF WAS UP WITH THAT!!!! glad to know it's a known bug with that adapter.

I'm in the US! can i use a drop shipper? how do i know i'll have the right model?

https://www.amazon.com/Icy-Box-DisplayPort-Adapter-USB/dp/B074G3SCKR

Wrong one, you want this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Icybox-HDMI-Active-Convertor-Splitter/dp/B01NAWRQF1

Amazon UK ships to the US.

And last year I posted the Sunix firmware, which has a slightly higher max pixel clock. Like it can do 2880x2160 @ 60hz, but I think the firmware that comes with the Icy Box only goes to about 2560x1920 or so. They're the same hardware

 

[igsux3]

Aiming for 1920x1200 @ 96 - any help with that?

 

[mod]

Hi all, I am back here after some years. Everyone is welcome to this fb-group also, would be nice to have some conversation to the group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/470526437450136 .

I am also looking someone preferably in Germany who could take a look of my fw900 collection. There is also a 0-hour unit, completely new tube, but something in the electrics is not catching up, i suppose caps, can be flyback-related too. I dont know.

 

[3dfan]

the sunnix adapter still THE adapter? https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JART8HA/

Depends on your use case. I'm always trying to run super duper high resolutions like 2880x2160 or 3200x1800, so it's useful to me.

But it has downsides, like some resolutions have jittery lines, and you have to remake them with different blanking intervals. And even more annoying: resolutions between 2048 pixels wide and around 2300 pixels wide have a bug where the right and left margins of the picture get swapped. So I can use my monitor at 2040x1530 (not 2048x1536) and below, or 2304x1728 and above, but I can't use many resolutions in between

The Icybox and Delock versions are easier to find. You have to import from EU if you're in the US.



Hell no. DP doesn't provide nearly enough juice. You have to use the USB power.

i think its important to note the sunix dpu3000 doest not behave the same on all systems, if i am not mistaken, you use an AMD video card, i use and NVIDIA one, i personally never had isuess using resolutions such 2048 x 1536, (can post video proof if interested) the only weird thing here is that when i switch to that resolution on my dpu3000 it takes longer than any other resolution to switch, the monitor display a "no input signal" for about a second, but finaly switches to 2048 x 1536, stable and with no issues,

also in my case i have figured that creating certain desired custom resolutions/refresh rates from the nvidia control panel, with GFT standard, not from any other utility like the CRU (custom resolution utility) and ensuring those created resolution/refreshes are not also present in the CRU utility, cure the screen swapping, screen line trembling for those desired resolutions created from the NV control panel.

i think, i may be wrong, that screen swaping on the sunix can occur since this adapter is primary a splitter, it maybe was made to split certain resolutions, it was programmed asuming some resolutons are meant to be used as split on multiple screens, so it maybe thinks its using more than 1 display and attempts to split the image from one to another display, but creating the desire resolution in a diffrenter way, maybe makes the sunix to not recognize it as an "multi display splitting resolution" and wont attemp to split it, maybe this explain why custom creating some resolutions, that swapping thing stops ocurring.

it seems to me the sunix have more issues with AMD cards than NVIDIA ones

my dpu3000 unit was bought in early 2019, and has been never been firmware updated, sad the dpu3000 seems to be discontinued some time ago, i dont know it that Icybox equivalent adapter would give same results,

also mine does NOT work without USB power

Aiming for 1920x1200 @ 96 - any help with that?

the sunix dpu3000 can achieve that, (seems disconinued unfortunately, maybe second hand one can be found, it has a pixel clock up to 500 mhz, from my test it go max to 539 mhz, i guess the Icybox equivalent adapter should also, and seems to be available, the Startech DP2VGAHD20 adaptar seems to, not so high pixel clock but enought to achieve that, i suggest you look for posts from user "derupter" in this forum, he regulary posts info about best adapters to use with analog CRT monitors.

 

[Enhanced Interrogator]

Some kinda big news for me on my Radeon 5700xt.

I just installed the latest AMD preview drivers, and CRU works with my Sunix again!

So dang weird. I had submitted bug reports about it before, but I can't remember the last time I did. I don't know if they fixed the bug, or if it's a happy accident

3dfan, I'll try that method next time I see the bug. Though have you tried to make resolutions over 2048 pixels wide?

 

[pendragon1]

Some kinda big news for me on my Radeon 5700xt.

I just installed the latest AMD preview drivers, and CRU works with my Sunix again!

So dang weird. I had submitted bug reports about it before, but I can't remember the last time I did. I don't know if they fixed the bug, or if it's a happy accident

3dfan, I'll try that method next time I see the bug. Though have you tried to make resolutions over 2048 pixels wide?

if they got enough reports they might have actually looked at it. i know i put in a dozen or so reports on my hdr issue and the problem was gone a few releases later.

 

[3dfan]

@3dfan, I'll try that method next time I see the bug. Though have you tried to make resolutions over 2048 pixels wide?

the following are the custom resolutions i use and created the way i mentioned and working without being affected by the mentioned sunix dpu3000 issues:

are those up to 2560 wide you meant maybe? or if you have and specific one you want me to test, telling me what width, what hieght and what refresh rate i will test and report,

i forgot to mention also that in my case is important the monitor is detected as it is: a "sony digital display" or GDM-FW900, not like generic, not VMM2300 DEMO etc, if so, those sunix issues will appear even on those custom resolutions

 

[Enhanced Interrogator]

How about something like 2160x1350? The resolutions just above 2048 wide are the ones where sides swapped the quickest and most frequently for me. 2560 is high enough that I've never seen the problem there.

The jittery line bug is one I haven't found a pattern with.

 

[3dfan]

since you did not tel me what refresh rate to test with that resoluton, i tested with 2160x1350 at 60hz and 86 hz, both created with the method mentioned, 86hz was the max i was able at that resolution due to monitor horizontal scan limit. those finally worked fine, was tricky with 86hz at the beggining:

at 86hz i had to attemp 3 times to swithch to that resolution/refresh, because the first time the screen got too flckery from the mddle of the screen to the top and the other half o the screen was black, so i switched back to another resolution, and tried again, after the 2 attemp, no more that black and flicker, but the screen hotizontal swapping occured, so, after the 3 attempt, now image was fine with no issues at all, i used it for about 1 hour and was stable with no issues, testing at 2160x1350 @60hz was fine from the first attemp, also used this one for about and hour and there were no issues as well.

 

[Enhanced Interrogator]

Interesting so it happens, but it seems not as frequently. This was with GTF timings?

 

[3dfan]

yes, was with GTF, thats the timing i used for this test, i tested with other timings like DMT for 2160x1350 at 86hz and at first attemp ,worked normaly, switched back, re tested again, the issue mentioned happened again, but eventually works after more attemps as well,
if the issues dont occur when i switch to that resolution/refresh, they wont appear suddley again during the usage of that resolution/refresh combo, at least during one hour, the time i was testing 2160x1350 at 60hz and 86 hz

 

[etienne51]

Well, long time no posting but I'm amazed everytime I come here once in a while and see all you guys still active and passionate about CRTs!

Since the days I got my FW900 back in 2015 nothing much changed until quite recently, about a year ago. Being in Reunion Island with absolutely no high end CRTs for sale locally and the shipping costs going up like crazy year after year, I thought that FW900 would be the one and only CRT I'd be able to get. And it was starting to scare me years ago with a potential flyback issue, so I didn't want to use it too much (it's still working just fine to this day, fortunately).

But recently I met a friend locally who was interested in retro gaming, and after showing him the FW900 we both started looking at ways to get some more great CRTs shipped here. Fortunately we we able to get quite a few monitors shipped via maritime freight over the course of a year so far, splitting the shipping costs.

At first we were really baffled at how the prices of monitors went absolutely through the roof, but overall after waiting a bit we managed to get acceptable prices. Sadly some were still quite expensive but with really low hours and in great condition.

If I remember right, my friend first got a Mitsubishi 230SB and I managed to find a LaCie Electron Blue IV 22" in nice condition, with its hood but no stand. These were a bit too expensive though, but at the time we didn't really know what to except in terms of availability and prices. Unfortunately the 230SB ended up having a heavy redish tint that was not adjustable from the menu. So more work will be needed on this one.

After looking for some time I ended up finding a Iiyama Vision Master Pro 514 really cheap, and it seemed to have really high brightness on the seller's photos, so I jumped on that one. The case was quite a bit yellowed though. I had an eye on both the 454 and 514 after reading in this very thread about the potential "uncapped" vertical refresh rate. I can confirm that, I was able to reach refresh rated in the 400Hz range with really small resolutions (240p if I remember right, just for testing!). So I'm really happy with that monitor, but I have to admit the way it handles resolution changes and stuff, it's really "raw/violent". But it works perfectly though. I once had an issue with the deflection though, the picture shrank a lot and had heavy pincushion distortion. I powered it off and on again after a few minutes, and it was perfect again. I had no issues after that. Weird. I might want to do a recap on that one before it goes boom. I don't know, it's a great monitor and better be safe.

Then the time went by, and my friend managed to get a couple Electron Blue IV 22" with < 8k hours shipped in wooden crates, and also later a 2030SB (rebranded LaCie). All working perfectly. We are still waiting on the last LaCie to arrive, the one with less hours (around 5k!), it should also work just fine. Really amazing monitors!
Below are my FW900 and Electron Blue, alongside my friends Electron Blue.

Later he also got a Iiyama Vision Master Pro 510, which has an great picture, but a bit less precise aperture grille than the others. If I'm not mistaken, this one has a small issue, sometimes the screen randomly flashes on/off for a fraction of a second, but it happens rarely. I still have to try and fix it at some point if possible. We took this one apart completely for cleaning, just it case it would fix the issue, but it did not. We also had to remove the anti glare, sadly, as it was way too scratched up.

Then came his Dell P1130 and (also a rebrand) Sun Microsystems GDM-5510. The P1130 has a really amazing picture, it had a clear greenish tint when first powered up, but I was able to get rid of it in the menus. The colors are perfect now, but quite a few color settings are either bottomed out or maxed out, with no further margin of adjustments. So I will have to look into that, see if I can fix that issue at the hardware level instead of using the menus to compensate (I hope it's not the tube...). The same goes with the GDM-5510, except this one is way worse, and I the OSD settings are not enoug to eliminate the greenish tint. Another monitor to try and fix, but I know it will look amazing if it can be fixed.

All those monitors were shipped without any issue whatsoever. From the seller to a friend and then via maritime freight to us. Not a scratch... except for one monitor. It was a 19" Electron Blue IV I bought from a seller who didn't even bother to pack it well when my friend and I did the absolute best we could to help him with the packaging. We send all the necessary packing material to the seller, and when the package arrived, there was pretty much no packing material at all inside. The seller threw it all away, or kept it for him, I have no idea what happenned on this one. The back of the monitor was broken, fortunately the tube itself seems intact, but I had to bridge some traces on the boards that were bent (neck board mainly). Unfortunately no luck with this one, it's still not working. So I'll have a lot of work to do on this one, but I'm not sure I'll be able to fix it at all.

Last but not least! Just a few months ago my friend found a dirt cheap... Sony GDM-F520 for sale! We've been looking for this monitor for so long so he went ahead and got it. It was sold in working condition, with some scratches on the bezel but working fine. I was really excited to see it with my own eyes, but I was still looking for one myself. I've been looking for a F520 since I got my FW900 back in 2015!

Well... less than a week later, I found one guy selling another F520!! But this time it was pretty expensive but still at the very limit of what I thought was affordable for me. I jumped on it anyway, as it was in absolute pristine condition, no scratches anywhere, and the seller still had the original box and packing material. We received both F520s a few weeks ago, both working perfectly fine. At the first power up it was a bit scary since both monitors ended up having a very slight greenish tint, but nothing the OSD couldn't easily fix.

Here are the two F520s! Mine on the left, and my friends one on the right on the photo above.

Here is the internals of my F520 without any cleaning done whatsoever. It is really clean, and I assume it wasn't used a whole lot!
The focus is absolutely dead on (with the exception of the top left corner, where it's very very slightly blurry), and so is the convergence (with the exception of the bottom right corner, but it's barely noticeable).

As usual with all monitors Sony (or rebranded), I will run WinDAS and at least do a backup of the original configuration and keep it in a safe place. Then I will go through the WPB procedure for both F520s. I already ran the full geometry calibration for my friend's F520, and it is now looking close to perfect.
I'm still having a really hard time with the convergence, so I ended up restoring a backup before messing with it. It was better before, and honestly it doesn't really need adjustment, so I'll leave it the way it is...
I still have to go through the color calibration process, since the monitor had that slight greenish tint and fixing it myself in the OSD messed with the proper color calibration as well.

As of yet, no FW900 showed up at an acceptable price unfortunately, but we are not giving up yet!

Now, about the tools!

Sadly my DTP-94 I used back in 2015 is now dead for no visible reason. I didn't use it at all for the past few years, and now I plug it in and it is just not detected at all by any of the computers I've tried it on. So I'm now waiting for another replacement one.

For the good news though, again since 2015 I was eying the Quantum Data 801GG, after hearing jbltecnicspro mention it a few times here! It's been such a long time, I had just given up on the idea of finding one for sale, let alone for a good price. Well, not long after finding the F520s, I did find one for sale for a really good price! I jumped on it of course.
I used it for the geometry calibration of the F520, and I will also use it for the color calibration when I get my replacement DTP-94. Having WinDAS automatically control the signal generator via the serial port and output the matching resolutions needed for the calibration process has made the calibration process a whole lot easier! I will soon have to go through the calibration of my FW900 for the second time (issues I had with the flyback back in the days threw my calibration off), and I'll see how the 801GG handles the higher resolutions needed.

Alright, to wrap things up, here is a photo of half of the CRT collection, along with the tools!

The two 14" PVMs are unfortunately not working and need fixing. We found these locally a couple weeks ago sold as non working units. The top one is a PVM-1454QM and the bottom one is a PVM-1442QM.

The tiny Sony on the top shelf is, if I'm not mistaken, the smallest Trinitron tube ever made. It's a 3.7" tiny TV, the Sony Dictavision KV-4100 manufactured in the early 80's which also includes a AM/FM radio and a microcassette dictation recorder.

Well, lots of work for the upcoming months, when I find the time to dive into these and try to fix them. I'll probably be asking you guys for some advice later on, haha.