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

Kisiel said:
Hello!
I'm new to this forum so allow me to explain what brought me to this specific thread. Recently I've been replaying one of my favourite games from my childhood.Thief II The Metal Age. As I was playing throug it slowly but secuirly a thought that something is off grew on me. I went to my basement to get my old pc with it's 17' lg flatron crt monitor. After starting both up it was obvious there is something silvery about black on my philips ips monitor. Now I want to get a crt monitor to play all the great games like baldurs gate 2 . I won't mind a 4:3 crt, but 16:10 is preferable. There is one avalaible for sale close to where i live but it's not gdm-wd 900 but gdm-w900 instead. What's the difrence between them? Is it any good?
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Biggest difference is that W900 is round, and can max out at 1920x1200 75 hz. Also, it uses a different interface and service software for recalibration. Instead of WinDAS, it uses DAS. Honestly, if it's in good shape, I'd go for it. It may be round, but it's still a Trinitron.
 
spacediver said:
thanks jbl, nice review :)

LD 50 also refers to half the lethal dose of a particular substance ;)

Always better to have a dark gray bezel (preferably the same chromaticity as d65) as this allows for a better image. Having other colors in the surround can actually change the appearance of the image dramatically.

See this for some incredible examples.

That's interesting that there are different picture preset options. What are they called?
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I listed them. Professional - which is the darkest, Standard - brighter, and Dynamic - brightest.
 
Oh, and now that I'm running 1920x1440, I'm going to need a better video card than the GTX-560. Them's a lot of pixels. I couldn't imagine running THREE F520's! (5760x1440)
 
spacediver said:
lol, though I imagine two of your F520's might be enough to kill someone out of sheer excitement - would be a decent death though :)
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And in that case, well... Yeah. One A+ F520 is half the lethal dose of TWO F520s! :D LOL. I'll edit my original post to reflect the proper bezel code.
 
jbltecnicspro said:
I listed them. Professional - which is the darkest, Standard - brighter, and Dynamic - brightest.
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Ah, I thought you were referring to other tv's/displays, I didn't realize that the F520 has those particular modes.

Found this:

2) The F520 has three preset modes that affect gamma principally - Standard, Dynamic and Professional. The manual vaguely indicates that "professional" is for accurate colour response, standard is suited to desktop apps, and dynamic is for gaming and movies (which I've used it for). During the whitepoint part of profiling the software showed me meters of R, G and B and told me to center them. I noticed that without getting into separate R,G,B adjustments it was best centered on "standard", which surprised me. Just wondering if anyone has any comments on whether "professional" is actually good for something.
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Looks like professional would be the way to go :)
 
You might find the old, contemporaneous, articles on these monitors, principally from Maximum PC, a fun read on Google Books.

As to the F520's picture modes, I do think they're useful to get a temporary boost in brightness sometimes. As they raise the black level though, I'm not a huge fan...

As to the F520 versus the FW900, I long ago concluded that they were basically apples and oranges. With the F520 having the superior picture, e.g., uniformity (pitch, luminance), but with the FW900 being still spectacular in image quality and strikingly larger. (Subjectively, somehow, more than it actually is.) And with either monitor at the end of the day being a wonderful centerpiece to an enthusiast machine. What I never figured, was that it would be 2014 and we'd still be talking about either one. But LCD happened. And SED and OLED did not. (Not really there yet on OLED anyway). And here we are...
 
Agreed on all counts. Like I said - neither one replaces the other, though the 520 is the better all-rounder. Crazy that it's 2014 and we're still fawning over how great these screens are.
 
jbltecnicspro said:
Vito has said many times on this thread that running it at higher than recommended isn't good for the tube. So yes, he's confirmed it. ;)
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LAGRUNAUER said:
That is correct! All I have to say for those of you performing experiments on your units, who think they know what they are doing is... "You Play.... You Pay..."

UV!
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Note taken, I'm dialing down :)

spacediver said:
buddy just brought over his unit for calibration. So there were four FW900's under the same roof. Couldn't resist a photo :)
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Hi, Gang :D

jbltecnicspro said:
...
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Nice review and congratulations for your purchase. I'm 16:10 kind of guy, but I would love to have one of these as well.

SH1 said:
...SED...
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I was REALLY looking forward to it, sadly it wont be. Maybe MEMS would fix that. It promises more or less the same things - faster response, wider gamut, multi-sync, wide viewing angles...
 
Th3_uN1Qu3 said:
Turns out there was a little difference in the video circuitry of the P1130 (built in 2003) as opposed to the P1110 (built in 2000). Take note of pin 17 of the cutoff amp, with the funky self-biasing transistor circuit. Someone had analyzed the circuit before and it turns out it was some kind of thermal compensation, but noted that it does affect brightness. Well, compensation or not, the P1130 didn't have this, and instead connected pin 17 directly to ground. It also didn't have the brightness drift issue.

So, connecting the dots, i bypassed the drift correct thingy on the P1110. The brightness got significantly lower, i had to adjust G2 value with WinDAS again. The new G2 voltage for the P1110 was almost identical to the one the P1130 wanted. And... NO MORE BRIGHTNESS DRIFT!!!!
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The FW900 has this circuit as well from what I've read. With this info, I will be trying this out on my second 900 that's coming in. From the pictures on ebay, it looked like there were some retrace lines barely visible. I'll know when it gets here...

I'll let you guys know the results. Source
 
hello guys i need help to connect my CRT to WinDAS.
i did buy the cable and connected it and my laptop is recognizing the CRT but only as USB not as F520. when i want to SAVE file it says: can't connect the Monitor! Check Bus line and condition.
Btw with this laptop i use XP but my monitor is connected on my main PC with win8.1 64bit running (over VGA), so only the winDAS cable is connected to my Laptop.
PLease help me i want to connect that monitor and so some calibration.
 
saprer said:
hello guys i need help to connect my CRT to WinDAS.
i did buy the cable and connected it and my laptop is recognizing the CRT but only as USB not as F520. when i want to SAVE file it says: can't connect the Monitor! Check Bus line and condition.
Btw with this laptop i use XP but my monitor is connected on my main PC with win8.1 64bit running (over VGA), so only the winDAS cable is connected to my Laptop.
PLease help me i want to connect that monitor and so some calibration.
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I'll answer your question over lunch at work. Relax. :)
 
saprer said:
hello guys i need help to connect my CRT to WinDAS.
i did buy the cable and connected it and my laptop is recognizing the CRT but only as USB not as F520. when i want to SAVE file it says: can't connect the Monitor! Check Bus line and condition.
Btw with this laptop i use XP but my monitor is connected on my main PC with win8.1 64bit running (over VGA), so only the winDAS cable is connected to my Laptop.
PLease help me i want to connect that monitor and so some calibration.
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Alright, on lunch. Please excuse me when I say that I can't really understand what you're trying to say. Have you physically connected the cable to the monitor in the 4-pin connector? Do know that the F520's 4-pin connector is inaccessible with the case on. You're going to have to remove it first to access it. You can't just hook a VGA cable into a computer and control the monitor for calibration.

Second - what are you trying to calibrate exactly? Are you the user who wants to adjust the focus? You won't need to run WinDAS for that. Simply adjust the focus potentiometers (knobs) on the Flyback Transformer until the whole image is in good focus. Last - if there's nothing wrong with it, don't bother.
 
First thanks for you help :)
Ive hooked up the 4 pins to the monitor( yes i have acces it through opening the case)
And i want to adjust the convergence on the edges of the screen
 
u got the pins in the right order? (in my experience it's been black, red, green, white: ground, +5v (stndby), rx, tx (those last two as labeled on monitor).

Did you install the correct drivers for your cable?
Did you select the correct com port in WinDAS?

Where did you dload your copy of WinDAS?
 
spacediver said:
u got the pins in the right order? (in my experience it's been black, red, green, white: ground, +5v (stndby), rx, tx (those last two as labeled on monitor).

Did you install the correct drivers for your cable?
Did you select the correct com port in WinDAS?

Where did you dload your copy of WinDAS?
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Huh i need driver for cable? Its selected on Com port 1
And i swapled the Rx and Tx but still no succes.
I downloaded it from pclist.com (found it while writing winDAS in google search)
I think my problem are the drivers. Can someone give me the drivers for the cable or tell me where to get? Thx
 
you need to download drivers specific to your cable. Are you able to identify the chipset of your usb to ttl converter?
 
btw anyone notice that some CRTs made an appearance on the second season of House of Cards?

There was one in a newsroom, and a Dell Trinitron in Raymond Tusk's office. I wonder what the thinking behind the second choice was. Tusk is one of the most powerful men in the country, so his choice to use a CRT was not an economic one. I doubt he's a gamer either.

Perhaps he just appreciates good old school tech :)
 
jbltecnicspro said:
Does your version have all models available? Ala F520? :D
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just checked, yep it has the 520 (and the 520 J which I assume is Japanese one).

In total my version supports 225 models.

One issue, though, is that my version of WinDAS crashes the first time I load it and try to run something. But then if I reload the program it works fine.
 
spacediver said:
just checked, yep it has the 520 (and the 520 J which I assume is Japanese one).

In total my version supports 225 models.

One issue, though, is that my version of WinDAS crashes the first time I load it and try to run something. But then if I reload the program it works fine.
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So you verified and didn't get an error when you looked at the procedure list and selected a procedure? If the file isn't there, you'll see it immediately. :)
 
not sure what you mean :p

You asked if my copy of WinDAS supported the F520, so I just loaded up WinDAS and chose model sel, and went through the list. It was listed there, along with 224 other models.

The crashing issue is a completely separate issue.
 
spacediver said:
not sure what you mean :p

You asked if my copy of WinDAS supported the F520, so I just loaded up WinDAS and chose model sel, and went through the list. It was listed there, along with 224 other models.

The crashing issue is a completely separate issue.
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Just because the 520 is listed doesn't mean it has the file. Select a procedure and see what happens.
 
Ah, i see what you mean. Next time I connect my cable to my display, I'll do the experiment, although will it give me an error if I try intiating a procedure on the wrong model?

Have you ever had an issue with WinDAS not having the file despite listing it?
 
spacediver said:
Ah, i see what you mean. Next time I connect my cable to my display, I'll do the experiment, although will it give me an error if I try intiating a procedure on the wrong model?

Have you ever had an issue with WinDAS not having the file despite listing it?
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Yes, my build of WinDAS is very barebones. I only have the folders pertaining to the devices I own. I have all folders that are listed in another directory, but they aren't active in WinDAS. If I selected Dell P1130, for example, it will give me some kind of "File not found" message in the Procedures list. (I think it's Program not found or something like that). Let's use Dynamic Convergence as an example. I select P1130, even though I don't have the correct folder, it allows it anyways. I then select Dynamic Convergence, and the window shows up with the list of the specific procedure (Dynamic Convergence). Except now, it won't show Dyn_Conv, and instead will have an "is missing" message of some sort.
 
Interesting. So far I've been able to successfully use WinDAS on a sony FW900, the HP rebrand, an IBM P275, and a Dell P1130. So I'm guessing mine isn't barebones by default (tho I understand u made yours barebones intentionally).
 
spacediver said:
Interesting. So far I've been able to successfully use WinDAS on a sony FW900, the HP rebrand, an IBM P275, and a Dell P1130. So I'm guessing mine isn't barebones by default (tho I understand u made yours barebones intentionally).
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Correct. Since I'm not a shop, I don't keep all models active.
 
jbltecnicspro said:
So you're the one who posted that Craigslist wanted. I'm over in Columbia. Currently have no plans on selling my FW-900 though.

EDIT: NVM - maybe you didn't. :)
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Actually I did post that wanted ad on Springfield, MO Craigslist :)

Still searching for one out there.. no bites yet tho! ;)
 
Anyone one familiar with NEC MultiSync FP2141SB if so will it work on windows 7 or 8?

Ive pretty much givin up finding a FW900 for now and have no problems finding Diamondtrons but dont want to get if its not compatible with OS
 
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pcalltheway2 said:
Anyone one familiar with NEC MultiSync FP2141SB if so will it work on windows 7 or 8?

Ive pretty much givin up finding a FW900 for now and have no problems finding Diamondtrons but dont want to get if its not compatible with OS
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Everything is compatible, in terms of CRT's and OS's. The biggest question is does your video card have analog out? And do you have proper adapters? The only thing you'll have to look out for in Windows 7 and 8 is that you don't allow the OS to treat the monitor like an LCd and allow scaling. Other than that - you're set.

And as an FYI - I would get a new Diamondtron over a used FW900 any day of the week, despite the widescreen. Don't get me wrong - I love the FW900.
 
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jbltecnicspro said:
Everything is compatible, in terms of CRT's and OS's. The biggest question is does your video card have analog out? And do you have proper adapters? The only thing you'll have to look out for in Windows 7 and 8 is that you don't allow the OS to treat the monitor like an LCd and allow scaling. Other than that - you're set.

And as an FYI - I would get a new Diamondtron over a used FW900 any day of the week, despite the widescreen. Don't get me wrong - I love the FW900.
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GTX 780 so id be using dvi to vga adapter
By default i think windows will just detect as plug in play and technically it will work but will i have access to higher res/hz I can set custom res/hz with nvidia control panel not sure if this work correctly

Monitor im looking at is only $20 so not like im taking a huge risk
 
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