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

Well look on the bright side. If you are a console gamer you can probably pick up a 34-36 inch Wega with SFP tubes for under $300 off craigslist. Spend about the same amount having it calibrated then apply the tweaks and watch your friends cry bitter tears that they spent over $2000 on their new LCD.;) Also, depending on how good the ISF technician is don't be surprised if your local plasma owning friend is also a little jealous. I mean, his TV-penis may be bigger but, yours will have that extra something for the ladies.
 
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Could always go with a 120Mhz LCD while you hunt for another fw900.
Dude, I would LOVE a 120Mhz LCD :p (sorry, I'm an aspiring electronics tech, I had to..)

Well look on the bright side. If you are a console gamer you can probably pick up a 34-36 inch Wega with SFP tubes for under $300 off craigslist. Spend about the same amount having it calibrated then apply the tweaks and watch your friends cry bitter tears that they spent over $2000 on their new LCD.;)
Alas, I already have an okay-ish 42" 1080p LCD. Plus, even though the gf likes shiny electronic toys, I don't think she'd appreciate a hulking (but awesome) 32 inch+ tube :(
 
Well look on the bright side. If you are a console gamer you can probably pick up a 34-36 inch Wega with SFP tubes for under $300 off craigslist. Spend about the same amount having it calibrated then apply the tweaks and watch your friends cry bitter tears that they spent over $2000 on their new LCD.;) Also, depending on how good the ISF technician is don't be surprised if your local plasma owning friend is also a little jealous. I mean, his TV-penis may be bigger but, yours will have that extra something for the ladies.

I think a lot of us would accept a good 1080p plasma display if you could get one in smaller sizes. I'd kill for a 22" - 26" 1080p plasma, but alas, such a thing doesn't exist. Panasonic used to have a 37" but it was only 720p.

Plasma is acceptable display tech - great blacks, no backlight, wide viewing angles, great color accuracy, little ghosting, generally minimal input lag (depending on company).
 
I've been using my FW900 for over three years now, and still love it.

However, I recently purchased an ATI Eyfinity 5870 video card at a good price that features only six DisplayPort connections. I know that this card is meant for Eyefinity, but I don't plan to use Eyefinity. Is there any way I connect my FW900 to this video card and get the monitor's full resolutions and refresh rates? I'm afraid I didn't properly research DisplayPort before buying the card; I assumed there'd be some easy-to-find DisplayPort-to-VGA adapter that would work fine.

Unfortunately, it appears that DisplayPort-to-VGA adapters (both passive and active) only support a maximum resolution and refresh rate of 1920x1080 at 60Hz according to their tech specs. I'm used to gaming at 1920x1200 at 85Hz or 2304x1440 at 80Hz and playing in interlaced stereoscopic 3D using the iZ3d Driver and eDimensional shutter glasses at 1200x800 at 120Hz. Using two 4890 cards in Crossfire.

None of those resolutions are going to be possible with a DisplayPort-to-VGA adapter, will they?
 
I've been using my FW900 for over three years now, and still love it.

However, I recently purchased an ATI Eyfinity 5870 video card at a good price that features only six DisplayPort connections. I know that this card is meant for Eyefinity, but I don't plan to use Eyefinity. Is there any way I connect my FW900 to this video card and get the monitor's full resolutions and refresh rates? I'm afraid I didn't properly research DisplayPort before buying the card; I assumed there'd be some easy-to-find DisplayPort-to-VGA adapter that would work fine.

Unfortunately, it appears that DisplayPort-to-VGA adapters (both passive and active) only support a maximum resolution and refresh rate of 1920x1080 at 60Hz according to their tech specs. I'm used to gaming at 1920x1200 at 85Hz or 2304x1440 at 80Hz and playing in interlaced stereoscopic 3D using the iZ3d Driver and eDimensional shutter glasses at 1200x800 at 120Hz. Using two 4890 cards in Crossfire.

None of those resolutions are going to be possible with a DisplayPort-to-VGA adapter, will they?

You can't return the card? (If you can, Palit has some cards with VGA out, a retro feature to most, but not to us... :) )
 
If I had to move back to LCD, then I'd go with a really big display or multiple monitors or such, something cool as a trade off...

i came from an fw900 to a 37" 1080p LG lcd tv for my monitor and dont regret it one bit.

my fw900 has been in the closet for more than 1 1/2 years now. the red gun has a slight issue, but other than that it works great so if anyone is interested, shoot me a pm.
 
I've been using my FW900 for over three years now, and still love it.

However, I recently purchased an ATI Eyfinity 5870 video card at a good price that features only six DisplayPort connections. I know that this card is meant for Eyefinity, but I don't plan to use Eyefinity. Is there any way I connect my FW900 to this video card and get the monitor's full resolutions and refresh rates? I'm afraid I didn't properly research DisplayPort before buying the card; I assumed there'd be some easy-to-find DisplayPort-to-VGA adapter that would work fine.

Unfortunately, it appears that DisplayPort-to-VGA adapters (both passive and active) only support a maximum resolution and refresh rate of 1920x1080 at 60Hz according to their tech specs. I'm used to gaming at 1920x1200 at 85Hz or 2304x1440 at 80Hz and playing in interlaced stereoscopic 3D using the iZ3d Driver and eDimensional shutter glasses at 1200x800 at 120Hz. Using two 4890 cards in Crossfire.

None of those resolutions are going to be possible with a DisplayPort-to-VGA adapter, will they?

I have the same video card and enjoy gaming at 1680x1050 at 100Hz. I also have it setup for 1920x1200 at 85Hz. You can do any resolution but you will need to turn off edid detection and get a good .inf file for the OS you are using. The other option is to pull the edid pins off your cable. Google any of this or search the forums but it does work.

For me, I use a DVI to BNC cable where I pulled the 2 pins that identify the monitor. Then I downloaded the test.inf driver for Windows 7 64 bit that someone posted here.

Bottom of the page for this link.
http://hardforum.com//showthread.php?p=1035009057#post1035009057

Here is the link to removing the pins on the DVI side.
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1035764538#post1035764538
 
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Ah, thanks for this encouraging info. The thing is, the 5870 is an Eyefinity 6 card that only has mini-DisplayPort connections. And I noticed that the DisplayPort-to-DVI adapters included with the card won't connect to the DVI-to-BNC cable that I've been using for awhile now with my 4890s. The DVI-to-BNC cable's male DVI connector features four extra pins surrounding the "minus" "-" shaped pin.

I assume those pins are for analog signals, which DisplayPort cannot send to a DVI-to-BNC cable?

What kind of DisplayPort adapter are you using, Sinizar?

I have the same video card and enjoy gaming at 1680x1050 at 100Hz. I also have it setup for 1920x1200 at 85Hz. You can do any resolution but you will need to turn off edid detection and get a good .inf file for the OS you are using. The other option is to pull the edid pins off your cable. Google any of this or search the forums but it does work.
 
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Well the focus is getting screwy and having static pops on my now 3rd FW900. I've had a helluva ride with these babies.

I'm now debating on going with the new Panasonic plasma model 42ST30. I wish plasmas came in smaller sizes, so I think this is the smallest 1080p plasma for this year. Panasonic has the least input lag and best (out of the bunch) blacks.

Do you think I will be happy with this coming from FW900s? I'm not exactly a hardcore gamer, but am interesting in gaming at 1920x1080 with the bells and whistles and have the hardware to do so. I like dark games such as Doom 3 and that's probably the main reason why I love the FW900 so much.

I haven't made my mind up gambling on another CRT. Plus having more size would be nice. LCD is out of the question. Too much lag, and the 120hz models aren't good enough quality yet. The 42ST30 will be around $1k so not too bad. Has anyone here gone from the FW900 to a 42" 1080p plasma or the like for PC gaming and has been satisfied?
 
Ah, thanks for this encouraging info. The thing is, the 5870 is an Eyefinity 6 card that only has mini-DisplayPort connections. And I noticed that the DisplayPort-to-DVI adapters included with the card won't connect to the DVI-to-BNC cable that I've been using for awhile now with my 4890s. The DVI-to-BNC cable's male DVI connector features four extra pins surrounding the "minus" "-" shaped pin.

I assume those pins are for analog signals, which DisplayPort cannot send to a DVI-to-BNC cable?

What kind of DisplayPort adapter are you using, Sinizar?

DisplayPort is digital only. You have to buy a converter with its own external DAC to run VGA.

The ones I'm seeing are limited to lower resolutions and refresh rates (e.g., 162MHz). Maybe there's a high performance converter out there?
 
Has anyone here gone from the FW900 to a 42" 1080p plasma or the like for PC gaming and has been satisfied?

Search for posts from mathesar in this thread, he posted his thoughts on the FW900 vs his KURO plasma. IIRC he also had the 32" Sony CRT with SFP tube.
 
Bummrus[H]a;1036915894 said:
Search for posts from mathesar in this thread, he posted his thoughts on the FW900 vs his KURO plasma. IIRC he also had the 32" Sony CRT with SFP tube.

I just got the Panny 50GT25 in from Amazon last week ($999...or $8xx from Paul's TV if you want to go that route) for the basement HT.

I had a Darkchip2 DLP projector for a long time, too...

A plasma is the only thing I'd give up my FW900 for. DLP can make a nice display too - especially since they're actually burn-in proof - but that's bulkier.
 
Ah, thanks for this encouraging info. The thing is, the 5870 is an Eyefinity 6 card that only has mini-DisplayPort connections. And I noticed that the DisplayPort-to-DVI adapters included with the card won't connect to the DVI-to-BNC cable that I've been using for awhile now with my 4890s. The DVI-to-BNC cable's male DVI connector features four extra pins surrounding the "minus" "-" shaped pin.

I assume those pins are for analog signals, which DisplayPort cannot send to a DVI-to-BNC cable?

What kind of DisplayPort adapter are you using, Sinizar?

Mine is the older version that had two dvi ports and one hdmi port. I run the first DVI port for my Sony FW900 using a modified DVI to BNC cable. The second DVI port and the HDMI port go into my iZ3D so I can run 3D on my 2nd display.

Maybe this would work for you.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...BESTMATCH&Description=displayport+dvi&x=0&y=0
 
For anyone who has had the "fw900 gets fuzzy and then makes a loud *POP*, then is crisp" issue - how long did your monitor last from when this started until the monitor died? Or is it still alive and kicking?
 
For anyone who has had the "fw900 gets fuzzy and then makes a loud *POP*, then is crisp" issue - how long did your monitor last from when this started until the monitor died? Or is it still alive and kicking?

Mine did this a few times before it died but the occurrences were spread out over several months.

The last symptoms it had were different and occurred for around 3 months before it quit, Whenever I turned it on in the morning it would attempt to turn on then make a shrieking sound and power down, I usually had to hit power 2 or 3 times before it would finally turn on.

The last day when I attempted to power on it made the loudest shrieking sound yet followed by what sounded like electrical surges, It wouldn't even attempt to turn on after that.

Now it sits in a corner waiting to be repaired :(
 
The last day when I attempted to power on it made the loudest shrieking sound yet followed by what sounded like electrical surges, It wouldn't even attempt to turn on after that.
:eek: Yeouch. That doesn't sound good. Over how many months did it do this? Mine has been doing it every once in a while for about...3 or so. It happens more when it's cold in the room.

Every once in a while, mine goes through this ritual of sorts. It makes this faint *ping* sound and at the same time, a horizontal line of distortion will quickly appear and disappear somewhere on the screen. It will do this multiple times at different points in the screen, and the rate at which these occur gradually increases until *POP*! - the screen suddenly shrinks to nothing but then blows back up to full size, in about 1/3rd to 1/2 of a second. Otherwise, it's been fine...but I'm still crossing my fingers...
 
:eek: Yeouch. That doesn't sound good. Over how many months did it do this? Mine has been doing it every once in a while for about...3 or so. It happens more when it's cold in the room.

Every once in a while, mine goes through this ritual of sorts. It makes this faint *ping* sound and at the same time, a horizontal line of distortion will quickly appear and disappear somewhere on the screen. It will do this multiple times at different points in the screen, and the rate at which these occur gradually increases until *POP*! - the screen suddenly shrinks to nothing but then blows back up to full size, in about 1/3rd to 1/2 of a second. Otherwise, it's been fine...but I'm still crossing my fingers...

Yea the sounds it made weren't good at all but at the same time I didnt see any smoke or smell anything burnt inside the monitor right after it happened so there's still some hope lol. Hopefully its just the flyback transformer which shouldn't be TO expensive of a repair.

I tried calling Sony to find a local authorized repair shop but they were unable to help even after giving me 2 other Sony phone numbers to try (due to it being a CRT I guess, they dont even have FW900 as a recognized model in there system anymore).

Ill have to find a local mom & pop shop and hope they can fix it.

p.s. hopefully your monitor holds up for awhile, my screen never shrunk during these random pop sessions but the focus did get blurry very briefly right before the pop sounds occurred.
 
Hopefully you can find someone to fix yours...it's hard to find anything that can fill an fw900's shoes. Or bezel, I guess.

Anyone else have bad fw900 symptoms followed by the monitor ceasing to function?
 
Hi. Long time reader, first time owner.

I'm getting a greenish tint on my screen (which I'm guessing is due to the cable and/or adapter. I opened up the menu and the shadow showed pure black.) and it's kind of annoying me at the higher brightness levels. I'm using a VGA to DVI converter due to the fact that my video card doesn't have a VGA port.

So is there anything I can do to fix this? I payed $270 for this monitor and I don't want to have to operate on a very low brightness just to get deep blacks.
 
Run the Image Restorer function. Its in color under sRGB. The monitor needs to be on for a while before you are allowed to use it.

I did that already. I turned the brightness to 50 and back down to 25 after it was finished and I still don't see any difference, there's still that greenish tint in the background.

Also forgot to mention, the contrast is way off in dark scenes, even when I let it warm up for a while.
 
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I did that already. I turned the brightness to 50 and back down to 25 after it was finished and I still don't see any difference, there's still that greenish tint in the background.

Also forgot to mention, the contrast is way off in dark scenes, even when I let it warm up for a while.

Might just need a good calibration. Someone might have set the defaults funny. You can tweak the colors in the menu. At a minimum load up an HDTV calibration disc (Digital Video Essentials / Avia Guide to HT), or maybe someone has a link to some calibration display images?
 
So it comes out at higher brightness? Sorry if it sounds like I'm starting basic but I don't know what you have done already. Did you try setting the color to sRGB before or after the restoration? Mine have seemed to get pretty close to D65 with that, most will need to adjust to how dark it is and D65 always seems a tad red to my eyes.
 
As a reminder, I intend to pair the FW900 with two LCDs both using 1920x1200 and both being 24" to match the FW900's size.

Remember that CRT's are usually measured roughly from Bezel to Bezel while LCDs are screen area only, so the FW900 is probably closest to a 22" LCD. I can take a picture next to my 24" LCD to make sure later.
 
Remember that CRT's are usually measured roughly from Bezel to Bezel while LCDs are screen area only, so the FW900 is probably closest to a 22" LCD. I can take a picture next to my 24" LCD to make sure later.

It might just be worn out. I have purchased over a dozen of these monitors and the few that have failed usually started with a focus issue or one color overpowering the rest. When image restore does not get rid of it a lot of the time the tube is just tired. Ask Uncle Vito on here about it. I have one in the garage right now I am saving for the Bezel that has a green tint. I would try to get your money back if it is not to late.
 
So it comes out at higher brightness? Sorry if it sounds like I'm starting basic but I don't know what you have done already. Did you try setting the color to sRGB before or after the restoration? Mine have seemed to get pretty close to D65 with that, most will need to adjust to how dark it is and D65 always seems a tad red to my eyes.

I've tried setting it to sRGB before and after the restoration. It seems to work initially but I'm still getting unusually high brightness.

Is it possible that the G2 voltage needs adjusting, the person I bought the monitor from says it hasn't been used in 6 years and maybe it's the problem.

Also it's going to be hard to get my money back. I payed $270 for this monitor on Craigslist from someone who's in Bakersfield, I'm not sure if he'll accept refunds.
 
I've tried setting it to sRGB before and after the restoration. It seems to work initially but I'm still getting unusually high brightness.

Is it possible that the G2 voltage needs adjusting, the person I bought the monitor from says it hasn't been used in 6 years and maybe it's the problem.

Also it's going to be hard to get my money back. I payed $270 for this monitor on Craigslist from someone who's in Bakersfield, I'm not sure if he'll accept refunds.

It's very common for the black levels to be overbright as the monitor is warming up BUT If the monitor is still showing weak black levels even with the brightness set on 0 after at least 20 minutes of warmup time then the G2 voltage needs to be adjusted.

This will give you an idea of what I was dealing with on a G400 CRT before & after I adjusted the G2: link.
 
I've had my FW900 for a few years now and love it, but recently it has gotten "wiggly" and is essentially unusable.

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks in advance.
 
So I finally got my ECS cable in and I'm eager to tweak my monitor. Only problem is I can't seem to get WinDAS to work. Every time I try, it gives me a "the memory could not be "read" error.

I've read that you can swap the cables but unfortunately it's going to prove difficult with this cable, is there any fix to this? I'm afraid of what to do with the monitor if I can't lower the G2 voltage.
 
Okay, so I finally swapped the TX and RX cables around and wouldn't you of know it it worked. I managed to lower the G2 to 72 and so far colors are looking fantastic, no more green background.

Unfortunately I'm plagued with the "blurry text on a bright background issue." I can't seem to fix it with focus and I don't know what the problem is.

Still, one issue down right?
 
How blurry? CRT blurry since text is never as clear as an LCD.

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

I think he quoted me $80 for the part and $45 for an hour of labor. Not bad to get the old FW900 up and running again. I still had a perfect FW900 in storage so for now I put the other one away and will have it repaired if my current one ever goes out.
 
My monitor just started doing the same thing. Can anyone help figure out what part needs to be replaced? I'd like some info before I take it into a shop so they don't BS me too much.

Thanks


I've had my FW900 for a few years now and love it, but recently it has gotten "wiggly" and is essentially unusable.

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks in advance.
 
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