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

hardBBQ said:
Bump!

I had a scare yesterday with my FW900 popping with a sound like an antique camera flash, and the image being smeared and out of focus for a few separate moments, after booting up for the first time of the day. It hasn't happened again, so far.

I immediately started looking up information on the current state of LCD displays for a possible replacement. I like what I've read about the highend NEC LCDs.

Other people have commented on experiencing similar problems that have simply disappeared, so hopefully my monitor will continue to operate normally. I really lucked out in finding this mint FW900 locally (Toronto area) last year.

Revisiting this thread, I also want to address this recent comment:




For the obsessive, perfectionist types, the FW900 has an aspect ratio of 1.5642, not 1.6, so 1.6 AR resolutions will be slightly vertically stretched in a maxed-out display area. I run my monitor with a reduced vertical image size to compensate and show 16:10 resolutions properly. This topic was discussed previously in this thread.

For some games, a preferable resolution would be 1600x1024, with an AR of 1.5625 to closely match the maximum viewable area on the FW900. ;)
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That HAS ALREADY been stated at the VERY START of this THREAD.

BUT the peep above was obviously too lazy to read this so I gave him some info.

16:10 is near enough, its even in Sony's specs and I have calibrated my screen and a circle is round not oval, its near enough.;)

5:4 and 16:10 are both Bastard Ratios anyhow.. :D
 
I am trying to find one of these. I was wondering, how will this compare to a samsung 2493HM? I am probably going to be using my 360 and ps3 on it, how will they look?

Also, when was this crt first released?
 
brumby05 said:
How so?
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You can easily try it. If you have a CRT monitor, change the refresh to 60. You'll feel eye strain almost instantly. Ofcourse i have not tried out my Xbox 360 on my baby yet.. May have to try it now before i sell it off. Play a game on it and maybe try out a HD movie with the 360 HD Player for kicks.
 
Though terrible for text or any office task, I never had an eyestrain issue with 1080i at 60 Hz for movies. And even watched a few films at 48 Hz for fun...
 
SH1 said:
Though terrible for text or any office task, I never had an eyestrain issue with 1080i at 60 Hz for movies. And even watched a few films at 48 Hz for fun...
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consider yourself lucky. I used my 360 vga cable for about 30 minutes before giving up and looking for the visine tears.
 
beelzibub said:
I have a major issue....I think my red gun might be dead on my HP A7217A! Where ever red is supposed to be, it's just black! I tried to calibrate using a Huey calibrator, and it does nothing. I tried using the expert mode in the monitor's adjustments, and changing the red bias and gain do nothing! Any suggestions? Would Windas even have a chance? God would it suck to have to junk this monitor!

Update: Nevermind! I'm an idiot and didn't check the cable! It was backed out a bit, so all I had to do was push it all the way back in and I'm back in business! :eek:
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Try resetting the VGA cable (and/or the DVI adapter). Then make sure the video card's snugly slotted, and screwed in tight.

Don't forget the cable's connection to the monitor itself, and perhaps try a new VGA cable.

Good luck.

/edit: I'm too smart, AND too lazy. :D Too lazy to read the entire post, that is.
 
Initial Setup Panic? "Image Restore" to the Rescue!
When you first unpack and power up your monitor, do not worry if black levels and color are way off. Let it warm up for about 30 minutes. After thirty minutes in the powered-on state (don't let the monitor enter "sleep" mode), the "Image Restore" option becomes available under the "Expert" and "sRGB" color settings menu. Set your preferred color temperature in the Expert area and then activate the "Image Restore" option. Your colors should then "pop" into place.
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As im sure everyone knows this is from the first page, i wanted to ask if this "image restore" just resets the OSD values to default, or does it go a step further and reset the G2 value too(among its other settings)? I am pretty sure it doesn't default the G2 because Ive read here that "every FW900 etc. monitor is different" so one specific value wont work on all monitors. Could someone confirm this?
 
The image restore feature doesn't change any OSD values (color settings, convergence, geometry, etc. are not impacted). This restore process cycles through a set of colored screens of varying brightness. Based on what I've read, this image restore process does make an adjustment to the G2 voltage, but I don't know if it resets the voltage to default, or if it adjusts it based on the testing it does.

HB
 
I just did the image restore on my 7 year old W900 and let me shout THANK YOU to every one of you. It had the too-bright problem and I was pondering replacing it. It cost me an arm and a leg when i bought it ($1,700 US) but I was having trouble focusing on it lately. It sits side-by-side next to my Sony 234 LCD, but I was no longer putting windows on the Trinitron if I actually needed to read fine text (like code).

Now I'm back to 3840 x 1200 dual screen goodness. (About 39" of horizontal display, not counting bezels.)

No need for WinDAS cable, no need to buy a flat panel while I risk opening up the monster.

My machine, known as BORG, is back! I called it BORG because the W900 comes in a 29" cube of a box. It takes over. It dominates the desktop. It's 100#. And it rocks.
 
hardBBQ said:
Bump!

[snip]

I immediately started looking up information on the current state of LCD displays for a possible replacement. I like what I've read about the highend NEC LCDs.

[snip]
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I was just doing a bunch of panel research, fearing my W900 was due for the scrap heap. Here's what I found:

The NEC LCD 2490 WUXI-BK ($1,100) is simply the best panel out there. It's not wide gamut, so your sRGB colors come out unadulterated. It's got rather good color calibration out of the box. If you want (and have the burning need) you can pony up and get the -SV version which comes with color calibration device to set the 10 bit LUT. If none of that made sense, you don't need it.

For $90 more, ($1,200) you can get the NEC LCD 2690 WUXI-BK with slightly biigger pixel pitch. However, it's wide gamut, so only color aware programs will have the right colors. If you need and can use wide gamut, that's $90 well spent to get easier on the eyes bigger pixels.

Then there is the Planar PX2611W which uses the same 25.5" panel that the NEC 2690 uses. Fewer bells and whistles, but much less input lag (gamers take note). Same wide gamut issues. Some of them have backlight bleed issues and a few people can see other things they don't like. Not everyone notices these things, so it's up to your eyeballs and unit-to-unit variation. The killer is that it is less than $800, which means that ponying up for two of them is cheaper than one Sony W900 brand new was. Planar is not well known outside of medical imaging circles. (All thrree of these panels are marketed at medical imaging).

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1180069

Start here for LCD research:
http://forums.anandtech.com/message...=2049206&highlight_key=y&keyword1=lcd2690wuxi
 
Thanks for the summary, nak.

Colour management is definitely important to me. I'm actually just about to buy the ColorEyes Display Pro DTP-94 bundle.

My FW900 has got problems! It did the out-of-focus/pop-into-focus thing again. Now I notice that there is a very faint, thin yellowish band to the right of dark/black vertical edges. Thin vertical lines that are white appear yellowish, as in a cross-hatch pattern. Damn.


Edit: Yellowing problem solved! It was the bloody BNC cable! I have two computers connected to the monitor, and I hadn't been using the VGA one in the past few days. I just suddenly thought to check the cable. The donkey's back up and I get to whip it some more. :)
 
Hello people of [H]ard|Forum,
I bring you the news of an owner who has acquired a Sun branded FW900. The screen is great, image restore helped(seems like it most likely does lower the G2), and im having the most awesome backpain of the year.

On the other hand, i sortof might maybe not probably have a problem. While the screen is GREAT, the cabinet is, . . . Well not so great. See i was expecting something broken, but to my relief and dismay the top portion of the Bezel has been severely "chinked". Take a look for yourselves.

Damage 1
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Damage 2
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On desk just to show what it lewks lyke.
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So yeah, i got it off of Ebay, and i apparently had "shipping insurance" when i payed. Do you guys think i should call the seller to get a partial-refund somehow? I wouldn't want to break their record of 100% feedback in the past 12months with 6200 feedback's.

Also, i cant seem to correctly install the drivers for the monitor. When i tried, the PC wouldn't boot onto the Welcome Screen and i had to revert back to "last known good configuration". Any help as to how to uninstall my past monitor and/or install the FW900's driver w/o a floppy drive, or at least, a USB floppy drive, would be greatly appreciated. (if i don't install the drivers is that necessarily a bad thing? What would i be missing besides absolutely tailored Display Properties?)
 
the drive issue... it does help ie: with a game like STALKER:shadows of chernobyl when u run it(without divers) you get messed up video(no video, squiggly lines, diagonal lines or static) as if it were out of sync or out of range. i installed drives and game ran fine.
about the ebay if they have 100% feedback then they will work it out SOMEHOW not sure how but u need to give it a try. you paid all that money AND insurance for nothing???????
 
i finally got my Sony GDM FW600

but this thread blows

it has tons of information, but zero organization
 
I use the FW900 driver that comes with Vista, don't just search for compatible devices, tell it to show you the whole list and pick Sony GDM-FW900.
 
kohan69 said:
i finally got my Sony GDM FW600

but this thread blows

it has tons of information, but zero organization
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Pretty much every regularly brought-up question is covered in the first post.

If you would like to help "organize" the thread, feel free to browse it, take notes, and then send the OP (mathesar) the tips/tricks you feel warrant inclusion in the first post. That's what I did. . . and that's why the first post has that list of tips and tricks. You're free to do the same.

I don't think people who post a new thread are signing onto a long-term, full-time job of organizing the thread and constantly updating the first post in perpetuity. But at least Mathesar, even after 3+ years, has been kind enough to continue to update the first post when people get motivated enough to be constructive rather than just complaining that a public, long-running thread has gotten long and therefore "blows." He even updated it just a few weeks ago.
 
For FW900 folks:

I just picked up Vista ultimate. I've been googling for hours trying to figure out how to get games to run at the proper refresh rate, to no avail. Desktop is fine. Directx games (like Civ 4) seem to default to 60hz.

No luck with Refreshlock, ATI Tray tools (even after I spent an hour figuring out how to install unsigned drivers for it), etc.

Absolutely no luck on my ATI card / Vista combo.

Anyone have any input?
 
Maybe it depends on the game. In Half-Life 1 for example you have to disable vertical sync in nvidia control panel and in the ingame console fps_max 100 (or whatever). Not too sure about the exact procedure, but you may find information about the setting in particular games in the internet.
 
GreenMonkey said:
For FW900 folks:

I just picked up Vista ultimate. I've been googling for hours trying to figure out how to get games to run at the proper refresh rate, to no avail. Desktop is fine. Directx games (like Civ 4) seem to default to 60hz.

No luck with Refreshlock, ATI Tray tools (even after I spent an hour figuring out how to install unsigned drivers for it), etc.

Absolutely no luck on my ATI card / Vista combo.

Anyone have any input?
Click to expand...
Civ 4 will use the same refresh rate as your desktop as long as the desktop and the game are set to the same resolution.

At least, that's been my experience with nvidia drivers.
 
GreenMonkey said:
For FW900 folks:

I just picked up Vista ultimate. I've been googling for hours trying to figure out how to get games to run at the proper refresh rate, to no avail. Desktop is fine. Directx games (like Civ 4) seem to default to 60hz.

No luck with Refreshlock, ATI Tray tools (even after I spent an hour figuring out how to install unsigned drivers for it), etc.

Absolutely no luck on my ATI card / Vista combo.

Anyone have any input?
Click to expand...


I made the Sony Driver work on 64bit Vista, so that and Refreshlock makes 99% work.

Crysis Warhead is the exception but it will now run 85HZ instead of 60HZ (should be 100HZ).

Nvidia BTW (far easier to add Custom RES+HZ).
 
Don't know why there are so many shenanigans installing the FW900 driver in Vista. The driver is built-in. Just elect to choose the driver from a list and select Sony-->GDM-FW900.

No need to install the XP one or download the driver from Sony. It's already there.
 
You obv don't have a clue about MS or Windows.

There is no Drivers from Sony for XP 64bit or Vista 32bit or Vista 64bit, and MS sure as hell do not make one.

Windows is full of Basic crap Generic Drivers, they do not contain proper Colour or RES/HZ, settings.

Only a n00b would for example install a Nvidia Driver through Windows update (it lacks settings).

I'm only the noob who converted the Driver to 64bit and have full range of RES+HZ and 3 Colour .ICM's. :rolleyes:
 
helmutcheese said:
You obv don't have a clue about MS or windows.

There is no Vista Driver made by Sony for 32bit or 64bit, and MS as sure as hell do not make one.

Windows is full of Generic Drivers, they do not contain proper Colour or HZ, settings.

Only a n00b would for example install a Nvidia Driver through Windows update (it lacks settings).
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There is no relation/correlation/analogy at all between the utility of monitor drivers vs chipset/video/audio drivers. That's a ridiculous comparison.

I merely pointed out that for the vast majority of users, the embedded driver is enough.

It would be nice if you wouldn't assert ignorance/cluelessness on the part of people you don't know from Adam. . . nor do I think you would say that I "must know nothing about Windows" were you to peruse my other posts in this thread or elsewhere. And if you knew me personally, you'd feel rather foolish yourself right now.
 
Stop backtracking.

You don't know what your talking about IMO and you were the one to cast insults on peeps who want a proper driver.

It does not give the correct HZ in Vista64 with the crappy Driver that MS includes for many Games.

Do you understand Vista 64 messes with HZ and many games will be 60hz in Vista 64 ?.
 
helmutcheese said:
Stop backtracking.

You don't know what your talking about IMO and you were the one to cast insults on peeps who want a proper driver.

It does not give the correct HZ in Vista64 with the crappy Driver that MS includes for many Games.

Do you understand Vista 64 messes with HZ and many games will be 60hz in Vista 64 ?.
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Considering I've been using XP 64-bit for two years, with this monitor, and am now using Vista 64-bit, and have none of these issues with the embedded driver, I don't know what to tell you other than that the video card driver plays a role as well. With nvidia video cards, I have no issues. As I stated, as long as in-game and desktop resolution match, dx game tends to use the desktop refresh rate.

And, where exactly did I insult anyone? Jeez, touchy much?

Edit: Rather than start a pissing match, why not post your modified driver or the instructions on how to modify it ourselves? If it really does solve the 60Hz problem for those suffering from it, great! But for the record, I posted a solution that works for a lot of people. I and many others suffer no issue with refresh rates using the built-in driver.

Also for the record, the monitor driver isn't the only factor here that can (and does) cause the "60Hz issue". . . I'm also the guy who posted how to manually fix the 60Hz issue (and add custom resolutions via the registery) for nvidia users during the period before nvidia re-added the custom resolutions applet to their control panel for Vista.

I posted a solution that works for most people. Why you need to turn that into a pissing match and call names is beyond me.

Geez, welcome aboard!

H
 
The built-in FW900 driver works fine.

The problem is just games. I did a lot of googling and it appears to be a mostly unsolved problem for ATI users. Nvidia users can set a "preferred" resolution and that fixes the problem at least for DX9 games.

*sigh* Vista. I should have known better. *sigh*
 
just picked up a fw900 for $100 locally. Good luck huh?

It's in really good condition. Took awhile for everything to warm up. I think it was about 2 hours and some tweaking before the picture came into its own. Still some things to tweak and get just right.

I've pored over a lot of these many pages but it might be just as easy to ask. It seems my ati drivers, or CCC, recognizes my monitor as a "default monitor" yet I have it recognized as a fw900 under windows device manager. Is there any disadvantage to this? Also, windows didn't automatically recognize it as such and any attempt to update drivers sets it as a default generic monitor.
 
just brought my fw900 out from the closet. i havent used it much in the past 2 years.


i forgot how awesome this monitor is. although i am having slight red convergence problems on the lower right, everything else is good though.

i wish i had like 4 more of these. :D
 
people still buy these things? I still have mine but I'm thinking about getting rid of it
 
Ricoch3T said:
people still buy these things? I still have mine but I'm thinking about getting rid of it
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Yes they are. Like the previous poster said, you can usually around $200+ for one in good shape that has not lost too much of it's brightness. Of course shipping the damn things costs an arm and a leg, and large crt monitors do not seem to survive shipping unscathed unless shipped in their original box or in a well padded box on a pallet.

I myself would likely never buy one unless I could pick it up myself.
 
Picked up a Sony CPD-E540 21" CRT on Ebay for about $102 shipped, after cashback. I couldn't find an FW900 for less than $325+ shipped, and I didn't want to shell out much money on a CRT on which I had no real assurance of condition. That being said, I think the E540 might do the trick for a bit. I really just wanted a fast display for FPS gaming, Anyway, I'm letting it warm-up, right now, and the thing is in great condition. Really impressive packaging, too, for a $50 + shipping CRT. I'm hoping to pick up a FW900, when I can find one cheaply or locally. The screen area on the E540 is pretty similar to my 22" widescreen LCD.

This is the link to these:http://cgi.ebay.com/Sony-STYLEPRO-C...QptZComputer_Monitors?_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116

The packaging was incredible and the monitor that I received is in very decent shape. I am very impressed for the money. If you need a substitute until you can find a 24" widescreen CRT, this thing isn't a bad idea. It is preferable for an East Coaster, as it is shipped from Baltimore. I'm not even sure I'll keep looking for an FW900, if this seems suitable. I would like the extra width, but I think this one will be alright for fragging. The advantage to the 24" obviously is the fact that the objects are slightly larger and easier to hit.
 
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I'm in southwestern Michigan, mine is in decent shape last I remember, if anyone is interested drop me a line and I'll take some pics.
 
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