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

Hey mathesar, could you please post your FW900 dat file for me?

I ask because i stumbled upon something interesting while i was tweaking one of my G520P's with windas. I accidentally loaded a dat that was saved from my other G520P and to my suprise the geometry got a heck of a lot better than it was with the previous settings.

So just for kicks since my FW900 also has a few geometry issues i loaded Foe-hammer's dat to see what would happen and once again the geometry got a bit better. I'm just curious what it would look like with your dat, seeing as your FW900 has perfect geometry.

EDIT: can you also post your G520P dat? i'd like to try that one too.
 
Does anyone know if I get a BNC to Component cable if it would work with connecting a console to the monitor such as a PS2 or X360?

If not how can I go by connecting a PS2/X360 to my monitor while keeping my monitor connected to my PC and just toggle between sources with a switch, would rather have one source come from BNC while the other VGA.
 
|MaguS| said:
Does anyone know if I get a BNC to Component cable if it would work with connecting a console to the monitor such as a PS2 or X360?

If not how can I go by connecting a PS2/X360 to my monitor while keeping my monitor connected to my PC and just toggle between sources with a switch, would rather have one source come from BNC while the other VGA.
Click to expand...

Component, no. Not unless you spend some $ on a signal converter box. The BNCs on the monitor are for a VGA signal. All you need is a plug adapter to attach them to a standard PC analog video output.

Just get a VGA->BNC or DVI-A->BNC cable for the PC. BNC connections lack a couple wires that HD15 has, so It'll break autodetection and you'll have to set the monitor type manually. That can be a nuisance on a laptop (my Dell from work always forgets monitor settings unless I'm using the docking station), but it's pretty much a non-issue for a desktop machine that's always hooked up to the monitor.
I'm not sure what'll happen with the 360 & PS2 + BNC... but the answer is probably somewhere in this thread.
 
Jenova said:
Nicodimas, was Redemtech selling the FW900s through Ebay or their website? Also, what is convergence?
Click to expand...

Hi Jenova,

Be careful on Redemtech's site. They are selling the W900s cheaply, but the FW900s are going for quite a bit more. The W900 is still nice, but it's got a curved screen and slightly lower resolution as I understand it.
 
Taytay said:
Hi Jenova,

The W900 is still nice, but it's got a curved screen and slightly lower resolution as I understand it.
Click to expand...

W900 also has a higher dot pitch so it wont be as crisp at higher resolutions.
 
just wanted to let you guys know i picked up a refurb'd GDM-FW900 at the local sony outlet earlier this week for an astounding (make sure you're sitting down) $99!!! they had at least one more, and please don't ask my why i didn't buy that one too (i'm still kicking myself)

as for the refurb, it looks brand new inside and out. I can't tell it's ever been used at all, and everything looks brand new. there was a plastic sheet perrfectly taped over the screen, the case is mint (plastic is shiny and new showing no wear from use) the TCO sticker appeared brand new in the lower right corner of the screen bezel. looking inside the top vents, i don't see even one spec of dust. the control bar on the front looks new too.... i figure if this thing was in service for the last 5 yrs, the moving/parts you touch would at least look in some way used. the cords were all sealed in plastic and appear new, as well as the operation manual CD in it's dust jacket. what do guys think, is Sony now unloading new old stock they had kept for replacements since enough time has passed that all warranties for original purchasing are long ago expired? (figuring the last new retail sales probably ended in mid '02 to early '03)

the manf. date on the back is Oct. '01...

so far, this display is awesome.... can't wait to watch some wmv hd content on it....

got a good amount of homework ahead of me to catch up with this thread... any quick pointers beyond the obvious adjustment stuff?
 
vecctor said:
The support page link is dead on the first post. I was looking for the INF and ICM profiles and in the process found the fixed link to the support page:

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-home.pl?mdl=GDMFW900&LOC=3

That has the manual, and also an .exe that extracts the 3 ICM profiles and the .cat/.inf files.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the update! Looks like all of the links were dead on the first page but I fixed them all ;)
 
jhirsche said:
just wanted to let you guys know i picked up a refurb'd GDM-FW900 at the local sony outlet earlier this week for an astounding (make sure you're sitting down) $99!!! they had at least one more, and please don't ask my why i didn't buy that one too (i'm still kicking myself)

as for the refurb, it looks brand new inside and out. I can't tell it's ever been used at all, and everything looks brand new. there was a plastic sheet perrfectly taped over the screen, the case is mint (plastic is shiny and new showing no wear from use) the TCO sticker appeared brand new in the lower right corner of the screen bezel. looking inside the top vents, i don't see even one spec of dust. the control bar on the front looks new too.... i figure if this thing was in service for the last 5 yrs, the moving/parts you touch would at least look in some way used. the cords were all sealed in plastic and appear new, as well as the operation manual CD in it's dust jacket. what do guys think, is Sony now unloading new old stock they had kept for replacements since enough time has passed that all warranties for original purchasing are long ago expired? (figuring the last new retail sales probably ended in mid '02 to early '03)

the manf. date on the back is Oct. '01...

so far, this display is awesome.... can't wait to watch some wmv hd content on it....

got a good amount of homework ahead of me to catch up with this thread... any quick pointers beyond the obvious adjustment stuff?
Click to expand...

Where do you live? I'd have you pick one up for me if it is in the same condition as the one you picked up. ;)

Thanks for the warning, Taytay.
 
I've messed around with the landing and convergence settings(global vert/horiz and finetune top/bottom) but it seems the center-top and center-bottom of the screen are always a bit blurrier than the corners. Its not unbearable, but it is noticable in the center of the start menu at the bottom of the screen. The 'corners' (half the screen on either side of center) are always nice and sharp, the blurry part is a vertical strip in the center of the screen running from top to bottom, seems to be where the 'corners' meet. I think setting the landing to max makes this vertical strip sharp again but then it messes up the corners with discoloration and warped geometry.

Any ideas on this? Running 1600x1200@85Hz. Could it be related to the refresh rate?
 
Sounds like the focus is off but could be the convergence, do you see any red or blue shadows on things in the blurry areas? To be sure put up a black and white crosshatch pattern with small squares (Nokia monitor test has one) and look closely to see if the squares in those areas are misconverged. If they are then what i would do is buy the cable required to run the windas software, it has a bunch of extra convergence adjustments that can be used to fix any convergence problem.

If that isn't the prob then i'm afraid your only option is to remove the monitor casing and adjust the focus pots with a screwdriver.
 
And btw i still need a dat file from someone that has an fw900 with perfect/near perfect geometry. I guess mathesar doesn't wanna give out his since he never replied to my request so if anyone else can hook me up i'd appreciate it. You can send to my email at [email protected]

Anything i learn will be added to the windas tutorial that i am going to start soon.
 
jdof said:
I've messed around with the landing and convergence settings(global vert/horiz and finetune top/bottom) but it seems the center-top and center-bottom of the screen are always a bit blurrier than the corners. Its not unbearable, but it is noticable in the center of the start menu at the bottom of the screen. The 'corners' (half the screen on either side of center) are always nice and sharp, the blurry part is a vertical strip in the center of the screen running from top to bottom, seems to be where the 'corners' meet. I think setting the landing to max makes this vertical strip sharp again but then it messes up the corners with discoloration and warped geometry.

Any ideas on this? Running 1600x1200@85Hz. Could it be related to the refresh rate?
Click to expand...

I can't get my convergence right at 1920x1200@85hz. It's always at least a bit off. A tad blue in the top left and a tad red in the bottom right. Not too noticeable though, only really visible when playing Civ4 (white text in bottom right corner makes it noticeable).

The convergence tends to make for a slightly red-blue-etc outline. If it's not a particular color, it's most likely not the convergence.
 
Oh I see, yea it doesn't sound like convergence then. The colors aren't misaligned, but messing with the convergence setting was sharpening up the picture a bit, I guess the real problem must be the focus then?

This monitor is obviously way out of warranty so I'd be willing to take the case off and try to adjust the focus with a screwdriver.

It seems the bottom-center area is more defocused than the top-center. How are the focus pots layed out?

Is there a single pot that corresponds to the bottom center area? so a row of 3 pots along the bottom edge: left-corner, center, right-corner? Any tips for removing the casing and adjusting the focus pots would be great.
 
does anyone want to sell me (or loan for temp use) their EPROM cable to do the G2, etc fixes? PM here if you can help.... thanks!
 
jdof said:
It seems the bottom-center area is more defocused than the top-center. How are the focus pots layed out?

Is there a single pot that corresponds to the bottom center area? so a row of 3 pots along the bottom edge: left-corner, center, right-corner? Any tips for removing the casing and adjusting the focus pots would be great.
Click to expand...

There are 2 focus pots, one for vertical focus and one for horizontal. You can't adjust specific areas, just turn the pots and you'll eventually find the sweet spot where the whole screen is sharp. Its not that hard, i've done it twice with 2 very blurry monitors and each time it only took a couple minutes to make it perfect.

As for how to remove the casing there is a diagram that shows what to do in the service manual. The link is on the first page of this thread.
 
Thanks I see the focus pots now, they work great. The picture is much sharper. I thought maybe because only a small area of the screen was defocused, that a global focus adjustment would refocus the bad area while defocusing the rest of the screen at the same time.

I noticed the advanced DAS dials and knobs but I understand that you need special cables to adjust those settings. It seems the adjustments available without any special diagnostic equipment are focus, purity and convergence. Focus and convergence are only covered very briefly on page 24 of the service manual pdf. I'm wondering if there any tips for adjusting convergence?
Convergence Rough Adjustment
(1) Recieve an image of the white crosshatch signals (white lines on black).
(2) Place the protrusions of the 6-fold poles magnet attached to the CRT neck upon each other.
(3) Make rough adjustment of the H and V direction convergence by using 4-fold poles magnet.
*Set so that the protruding parts of the 2 magnet rings agree with each other.
Click to expand...

The convergence magnets seem more complicated than the two screwdriver focus pots. There are 3 sets of 2 rings per magnet. 2 rings for the 4-pole magnet, 2 rings for the 6-pole magnet, 2 rings for the 2-pole magnet. Heres a blurry pic of what it looks like:
(it seems they drip some white paint on the factory settings so you can line it back up to default)
conv.jpg


The service manual says to set the 2 magnet rings so that they "agree" with each other, I guess this means they should be exactly lined up to each other?
I haven't touched mine yet, but it seems the 4-pole magnet rings dont agree with each other at all, the 6-pole magnet rings are closer to agreeing with each other and the 2-pole magnet rings seem to agree with each other exactly.

Has anyone adjusted these magnets? The manual is very brief about the procedure for adjusting these magnet rings. I'm also curious if anyones adjusted their purity ring.
 
Personally i would just buy the interface cable and run the dynamic convergence procedure in windas. It lets you adjust 135 different areas of the screen (4 sliders for each area so thats like 540 adjustments). Takes a loooooooooong time but the result is amazing if done right, i'm not kidding when i say it can make your convergence absolutely perfect.

dasconvnu7.jpg
 
I'm having a problem in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen with white having a touch of brown in it. Anyway to correct this? Would WINDAS correct it?
 
Did you try the landing controls in the menu? Windas isn't too good for fixing purity problems. It does have landing options but they're pretty much the same as the ones in the menu. The only difference is one for rotation landing, which seems kinda useless to me.

Other than that all you can do is adjust the purity magnets on the yoke or try a degaussing coil.

btw a red background is best for seeing discoloration.
 
Hey Deetox, do you mind sharing your monitor .dat file?

It seems that my monitor does not hold all of the edited settings after it has been powered off. The G2 voltage stays the same, but the DriveMax value goes back to 210 after powering it off. Has anybody else experienced this?
 
Sure thing, here ya go.

Can't say i've had that problem. Could be a faulty eeprom but you'd think nothing would save if that was the case. I might be able to help disgnose whats wrong if you post your dat file.
 
Deetox said:
Personally i would just buy the interface cable and run the dynamic convergence procedure in windas. It lets you adjust 135 different areas of the screen (4 sliders for each area so thats like 540 adjustments). Takes a loooooooooong time but the result is amazing if done right, i'm not kidding when i say it can make your convergence absolutely perfect.

[
Click to expand...

Are you able to adjust the convergence on the fly in Windas or do you have to flash the firmware for each adjustment?
 
Yea I guess its time to get that cable and try out the real adjustments with WinDAS.

Will this cable work?
The focus pots helped some, now I notice some flickering in the upper-right and lower-right corners. I've seen flickering on other monitors when the refresh rate was too high, but I'd like to know the real cause for this type of flicker. Running 1920x1200@85Hz.

Also the upper-right edges of maximized windows are slightly warped to the right, as if pulled out to the right side to make a slight hooking outward, but only on the upper-right edge of the screen. The left edges are both straight, the bottom-right edge is also fine. I suppose this is a geometry issue but no pincushion adjustment fixes it. Will adjusting the convergence magnets correct this 'hooking' in only one corner of the screen?

If I look closely at a light solid color in the bottom corners I can see a pattern of very tightly packed horizontal lines that seem to move upwards with the refresh cycle, what adjustment would minimize that effect? It seems to have appeared after increasing the sharpness with the focus pots. I suppose because now that its sharper, I can see this horizontal line effect in the corners that was less visible when the screen was blurrier. Any ideas?
 
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jdof said:
Yea I guess its time to get that cable and try out the real adjustments with WinDAS.

Will this cable work?
The focus pots helped some, now I notice some flickering in the upper-right and lower-right corners. I've seen flickering on other monitors when the refresh rate was too high, but I'd like to know the real cause for this type of flicker. Running 1920x1200@85Hz.
Click to expand...
Try a different video cable. poor quality cables will do this.
 
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I tried the Nokia Monitor program last night and chose the option for a red background and the color uniformity across the screen was superb. Maybe it's just my eyes. Don't know. What is a degausing coil. Also, I have a five-year-old Sony G400 that has lost some of its color intensity when displaying black. Would the WINDAS correct this issue?

Deetox said:
Did you try the landing controls in the menu? Windas isn't too good for fixing purity problems. It does have landing options but they're pretty much the same as the ones in the menu. The only difference is one for rotation landing, which seems kinda useless to me.

Other than that all you can do is adjust the purity magnets on the yoke or try a degaussing coil.

btw a red background is best for seeing discoloration.
Click to expand...
 
I have an opportunity to purchase the Compaq P1610 locally for $150 from a private party (non-refurb). Unfortunatley I do not have time to read this entire thread though I intend to later.

Would someone please tell me how long these 8-9 year old monitors can last?

Also, would this be a good monitor to use with Xbox 360?

EDIT: I see now this monitor is not of this same line as the HP/Sony. Nevermind. ... But if anyone else wants it the guy would take $125. Look in the SD Craigslist.
 
Jenova said:
I tried the Nokia Monitor program last night and chose the option for a red background and the color uniformity across the screen was superb. Maybe it's just my eyes. Don't know. What is a degausing coil. Also, I have a five-year-old Sony G400 that has lost some of its color intensity when displaying black. Would the WINDAS correct this issue?
Click to expand...

If you mean your G400 is displaying black poorly (washed out / over bright) then yes Windas will make it look like new again , I recently fixed a G400 with this problem as shown here.
 
mathesar said:
Are you able to adjust the convergence on the fly in Windas or do you have to flash the firmware for each adjustment?
Click to expand...

On the fly, no need to save until its all completed.
 
jdof said:
Yea I guess its time to get that cable and try out the real adjustments with WinDAS.

Will this cable work?
The focus pots helped some, now I notice some flickering in the upper-right and lower-right corners. I've seen flickering on other monitors when the refresh rate was too high, but I'd like to know the real cause for this type of flicker. Running 1920x1200@85Hz.

Also the upper-right edges of maximized windows are slightly warped to the right, as if pulled out to the right side to make a slight hooking outward, but only on the upper-right edge of the screen. The left edges are both straight, the bottom-right edge is also fine. I suppose this is a geometry issue but no pincushion adjustment fixes it. Will adjusting the convergence magnets correct this 'hooking' in only one corner of the screen?

If I look closely at a light solid color in the bottom corners I can see a pattern of very tightly packed horizontal lines that seem to move upwards with the refresh cycle, what adjustment would minimize that effect? It seems to have appeared after increasing the sharpness with the focus pots. I suppose because now that its sharper, I can see this horizontal line effect in the corners that was less visible when the screen was blurrier. Any ideas?
Click to expand...

Yes that cable should work but the pin layout is probably in the wrong order so you might need to make a slight modification. More info on that here

Not sure about the flicker, the top right corner on mine flickers a bit sometimes but it usually goes away after a few seconds.

As for the geometry my fw900 has the exact same imperfection, It wasn't there when i first got the monitor but showed up one day out of the blue, nothing i've tried has got rid of it yet. The convergence magnets won't help but there should be other magnets on the yoke for correcting geometry.I'd like to try them myself but my stupid desk is too damn small and i don't have enough room to work with.

The lines kinda sound like the retrace lines that appear when your brightness is too high, maybe you need a G2 adjsutment? I suppose it could be a side effect from tweaking the focus but i've never seen it happen before.
 
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Ok, here's my story:

Got my FW-900 in the middle of July, set up was easy, I'm using those BNC cables that are linked at the front of this thread. Installed the drivers for the cable, everything has ran fine since then, been playing CS:S and all other games @ 1280x800 (100 Hertz) cause I'm only using a 6800GT (I didn't think that was a really stressfull resolution). Anyways, now I just started playing Dawn of War: Dark Crusade and when I play sometimes the monitor will "flicker" in and out objects or part of the screen...first I thought it would be the video card causing problems, well, my GPU isn't having problems running the game, it's not overheating and definately not with other games. So then I thought it might be just the game...haven't seen anyone else have this sort of problem on Relic's forums. And now today while playing the monitor just "popped" (heard a popping sound) then the image on the screen got all blurry and I exited the game immediately, only to find out that my desktop (or for that fact, whatever I was viewing - desktop, game, windows log on screen) was blurry too. I quickly shut down and shut of the monitor. Waited about 5 minutes restarted and everything seems to be running fine again (monitor is not blurry at all).

Is this a warning that my monitor is dying (it was manufactured in October? 2001)? Or just that DoW: DC is over stressing my monitor at the resolution and/or 100 hertz refresh rate I'm using?

I'm going to try lowering the refresh rate and see if that makes a difference...then resolution... :(

Any thoughts or opinions would be greatly appreciated!

:(
 
I also had the popping problem on an FW900 manufactured in September 2001. Some others with the problem speculated it was caused by electrical arcing due to some contaminants in the system.

I left the monitor on solid for a day or more, hoping the contaminant, if that was what it was, would burn out. Since then, no more pops and such.

However, that monitor has since relocated to my Dad's house, which might have cleaner power, so I can't say for sure that leaving the unit on is what did the trick...
 
I have the blurring/pop issue also.. When I turned the monitor off every night, it would happen within 2 hours of turning it on pretty much every day. Leaving it on all the time, it has only happened once since.

Only problem with leaving it on is, the brightness issue is much more pronounced and you have to use Windas to fix it. I just got mine fixed a month or so ago but I think its slowly going too bright again.
 
So it's not dying.......just has something to do with the monitor or electricity?

Weird, never heard of this happening to a monitor before.

About electricity problem, I'm not sure that would be it, I just moved into a brand new house 2 years ago...so the wiring isn't old like in some houses/apartments...you don't supposed they put in shitty wiring do you? Anyway to find out?

Thanks for the input guys!

(anyone else is still welcome to comment though)

On a side note: Might have to look into a Windas kit eventually...
 
I just got my monitor set up. Thank you all for this helpful thread. 1920x1200 @85Hz! CRT brilliance! I love this thing!

I've got it next to my CRT 21". So many square inches of screen real estate....

I haven't adjusted a thing and it already looks brilliant. Now to find a good 3520x1200 background...
 
I think you mean 3840x1200 ;)

What's the max res the FW900 will do? I currently have a 21" Sun GDM-5410 running at 2048x1536@75 Hz that is kinda nice (especially with Vista's lame extra large desktop icons - it's the only way I can fit all my junk on my desktop).

What's the max res the FW900 will do at 85 Hz? Is 1920x1200 the most it will do at 85Hz? Just looking for a few more vertical pixels ;).
 
wildcard442 said:
I think you mean 3840x1200 ;)

What's the max res the FW900 will do? I currently have a 21" Sun GDM-5410 running at 2048x1536@75 Hz that is kinda nice (especially with Vista's lame extra large desktop icons - it's the only way I can fit all my junk on my desktop).

What's the max res the FW900 will do at 85 Hz? Is 1920x1200 the most it will do at 85Hz? Just looking for a few more vertical pixels ;).
Click to expand...
max res is 2304x1440@72hz(??) (i run some games at this res)

the desktop res i use is 2048x1280@85hz
 
I just opened up my HP to set the focus and wow what a difference. It wasn't off by much at all to start with and it was definitely acceptable, but now it is sharper than I ever thought posible on a CRT. I got some pictures of the process and may upload them later. I am a bit hesitant because I don't want the average Joe to attempt this having seen my guide and wind up seriously hurt. The parts inside of there can and will kill you dead where you stand if you don't respect them. For now, if you know what you're doing and your text is a bit fuzzy, give those focus pots a whirl and you'll fall in love with this monitor all over again.

Joe
 
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