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

i can't do the 1920x900 mode for VDC alignment in CRU
TTTjQq5.png


but i guess it's the same as 1920x1200 but with top and bottom 150rows black.
 
Well I was just trying to play the game at 800x600 at 144hz, which worked before when I had the 980ti. But I guess the converter and the game dont believe the "lcd vga" could possibly rin at that hz?

You just need a custom resolution utility like CRU or use the custom resolution panel of your graphic card to set the resolution you want,the adapter has no problems with 144 Hz or more.
 
So a little off topic, but CRT related. I emailed the PVM tech in California with a question regarding a PVM-9L3 issue I'm having. Basically, the monitor lets out a squeal when I turn it on from a cold boot, about 8/10 times. He told me that it's a bad cap in the power supply. So today, I disassembled the thing and have pulled out the G-Block assembly (the assembly that houses the power supply) and tomorrow I'll take said assembly apart and test the caps with my ESR meter. Thoughts and prayers / wish me luck! Hopefully I can find the bad cap, change it, and put it all back together and have it still work - hopefully better than when I disassembled it! :D
 
flod, is WinDAS complaining about the resolution?
nop it told me to do 1920x900, which is not possible in that version of CRU

but the timings are the same as for 1920x1200 with 150pixels off at the top and bottom. so i made such an image in gimp

also: in the factory preset part, i couldn't do mode 5 (gtf_107 or something). it would say the monitor is in mode 10 (which i assume is prime mode?) and gtf_107 is the same settings as prime mode
 
also: in the factory preset part, i couldn't do mode 5 (gtf_107 or something). it would say the monitor is in mode 10 (which i assume is prime mode?) and gtf_107 is the same settings as prime mode
That's not unusual, the monitor might detect a slight difference between mode 5 and the signal it receives, and calls that a different mode, despite being the same. That can be often prevented by erasing all display settings with a long push on the reset button before using Windas.
 
So a little off topic, but CRT related. I emailed the PVM tech in California with a question regarding a PVM-9L3 issue I'm having. Basically, the monitor lets out a squeal when I turn it on from a cold boot, about 8/10 times. He told me that it's a bad cap in the power supply. So today, I disassembled the thing and have pulled out the G-Block assembly (the assembly that houses the power supply) and tomorrow I'll take said assembly apart and test the caps with my ESR meter. Thoughts and prayers / wish me luck! Hopefully I can find the bad cap, change it, and put it all back together and have it still work - hopefully better than when I disassembled it! :D
Good luck ! But it may be faster to actually replace all capacitors since you'll have to desolder them for testing. On the top of that, if one (electrolytic ?) is completely gone, there are probably others pretty worn out, so replacing just one isn't the most durable fix. ;)
 
mystery solveddddd

apparently if you start off in sRGB mode in the OSD menu, you can't adjust settings except for g2 in wpb

wouldn't have spent all afternoon starting from an MPU and doing all the alignments if i knew that :p
 
You just need a custom resolution utility like CRU or use the custom resolution panel of your graphic card to set the resolution you want,the adapter has no problems with 144 Hz or more.
Yeah, that's the problem. I created the custom resolution before I even started the game. I guess I should either redownload it or check if I can check the game's ini settings.
 
Yeah, that's the problem. I created the custom resolution before I even started the game. I guess I should either redownload it or check if I can check the game's ini settings.

You have to restart your computer after creating new resolutions, or use the "restart64.exe". Then the game should re-check for available resolutions next time you launch. No need to reinstall the game.

Also, I'm having issues with CRU and my AMD card, but if you're on Nvidia your should be good.
 
mystery solveddddd

apparently if you start off in sRGB mode in the OSD menu, you can't adjust settings except for g2 in wpb

wouldn't have spent all afternoon starting from an MPU and doing all the alignments if i knew that :p

well now, that's interesting.
 
Good luck ! But it may be faster to actually replace all capacitors since you'll have to desolder them for testing. On the top of that, if one (electrolytic ?) is completely gone, there are probably others pretty worn out, so replacing just one isn't the most durable fix. ;)

So dumb question... I'm using an ESR meter. They are able to test in-circuit, correct? So far I have only found one suspect/bad electrolytic.
 
mystery solveddddd

apparently if you start off in sRGB mode in the OSD menu, you can't adjust settings except for g2 in wpb

wouldn't have spent all afternoon starting from an MPU and doing all the alignments if i knew that :p

Thanks for sharing. I didn't know that either. For what it's worth, I think sRGB mode just locks the monitor in 6500k white balance and prevents the user from adjusting contrast/bright. Makes sense that it doesn't allow you to adjust cutoff and drive either.
 
Yeah, that's the problem. I created the custom resolution before I even started the game. I guess I should either redownload it or check if I can check the game's ini settings.

If you can set that resolution on desktop you are fine, after that load the game and make sure that the resolution in not changed (with game previously set to 800x600)
If the game limits the FPS to 85 look here for some tips:

https://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Call_of_Duty:_Black_Ops
 
So dumb question... I'm using an ESR meter. They are able to test in-circuit, correct? So far I have only found one suspect/bad electrolytic.
I don't think so.

I mean, when testing in circuit, if you run into a bad cap you might get a high value but you may also find a low value when you are testing a bad cap, for example if there are other (good) capacitors in parallel. I'm not experienced with branded ESR meters (I use a mk-328 component tester), but normally you should be able to make a reliable measurement only out of the circuit.
 
alignment question:
is it better to align to be parallel to the edges of the plastic bezel, or to the edges of the viewable portion of the screen (i.e. where the glass becomes solid black)

on mine, those edges aren't always parallel (only by like 1mm)
 
I rather use the edges of the viewable portion of the screen, making them more easy to see by using a flashlight. Using the bezel isn't a good idea IMO, since the display area is not on the same level regarding depth. It's easier to be mistaken.
 
hmm it seems like the entirety of my screen's viewable region is very slightly tilted relative to the bezels. i thought it was just one edge.
 
Hello Every Buddy,

I was lucky enough to recently purchase an sgi gdm-fw9011.

Thanks to searching this forum i hooked it up to a gtx 1060 6gb with a delock 87685 mini DP tot vga adapter and new, hq cables. (fyi: i inquired about the availability of the LT8612UX convertor with the German distributor, but he stopped replying after i had to tell him i only needed one : )

I hate to bother you all about previously addressed issues, but this is some thread! I’m getting inconsistent full screen results with some games showing black borders (even when i set them to windowed or borderless for that matter) in spite of the correct 16:10 aspect ratio and corresponding resolution (of the desktop and in game). I tried all of the scaling and display settings in Win 10, but to no prevail. I have the aforementioned issue that black borders are drawn at the top and bottom part of the screen as you can see in the pictures. My desktop is fine, but then:
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The game Control works perfectly fine no matter what 16:10 resolution i set it in, just like Dirt Rally, Dusk and Resident Evil Hd for example. But then Sekiro, Monster Hunter World, Wreckfest and Vanquish show black borders no matter what i do or they stretch horribly, cutting off the Steam overlay. (RE4 doesn’t even display a resolution higher than 720p even when the desktop is in 1440p). When these games show borders the steam or Special K overlay does show fullscreen at the top and buttom, but the game itself has borders no matter what i do. I hope i am missing something obvious, but the more win 10 or nividia settings i try out; the worse the results get (blown out or partly visible, tiny, doubled,...). I cannot deduce a common factor between the games that display correctly and show borders, neither. Even uncalibrated the monitor looks fantastic when it works, but i am utterly clueless about when it does, or doesn’t. Thanks in advance and what a joy to have such a thread still going!
 

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Well, it may simply be that the games your have problems with support all resolutions but have been developped only with a 16:9 display area, meaning you'll have black borders if your display isn't 16:9. I know one game with that kind of "feature", Crying Suns.

BTW, looks like you're the one who got the screen in Brussels. I hope you didn't pay too much for it, I went on that classifed add some time ago and the price the guy was asking was ludicrous. ;)
 
le. But then Sekiro, Monster Hunter World, Wreckfest and Vanquish show black borders no matter what i do

Somebody didn't do their homework...

Let me introduce you to PCGamingWiki, here's the page for Vanquish: https://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Vanquish

in which you will see a link to this: vhttps://www.wsgf.org/dr/vanquish/en

which shows the command line option to unlock aspect ratio, originally posted by the developer here:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/460810/discussions/0/2132869574260825536/

I don't know about the other games, but I bet there are ways to make it happen.
 
Oh my, your bet is right; it’s just a game specific lack of correct aspect ratio, which i didn’t think off even if MHW i.e. only has the option between 16:9 & 21:10; even in 1920x1200. And i use PCGamingWiki for older stuff, but it didn’t come to mind to use it for more recent games as well...So thanks for both of your answers, they are absolutely correct.

and btw: yes it’s the one that was for sale in Brussels. it was only a 20 min drive for me. his asking price was 600€, the highest bid was at 325 so i went and paid 400 in the end. i didn’t have a lot of time to play around with it just yet but i hope to hook it up to 420p console as well some day.

An early observation some of you might interest: i mostly looked forward to playing games like Outrun 2 & F-Zero GX in Dolphin, but the results on a G-Sync screen in 1440p are much smoother, they have no visible stutter at all. They look and play far worse on the crt. No such thing with more recent games or older fps, motion clarity and smoothness are fantastic there.
 
there are games that only support 16:9 no matter what, so will display black bars at the top on botton on a 16:10 monitor, fortunatelly, those ratios or not too far from eath other, so the bars dont cut a lot of vertical space as using 16:9 on a 4:3 monitor, also i use a custom 16:9 resolution for those games, for example 1920 x 1080 60hz and scretch the resolution to fill the screen via monitor OSD, since the stretching is not that big an ugly due to similarities of those 2 aspect ratios, i like screen entirelly filled with 16:9 games, the slight stretching does not annoy me.

in any case 16:9 is used on a 16:10 monitor, either using 16:9 resolution stretched or leaving the horizontal black bars, i recomend to first switch the monitor resolution to the desired game 16:9 resolution and launch the game, because there are games that wont switch to their 16:9 resolution properly leaving a even bigger horizontal black bars visible if you launch the game coming from a 16:10 resolution first, a way i easily do this resolution switch before launching the game is to launch the game´s short cut via a batch file in which i tell windows to first swith the resolution and then launch the game, and when i exit the game, windows will return my prevous 16:10 resolution again.

for this i use a exe file called "nircmdc.exe" which allows me to change resolution - refresh rate via command line, so for example i want to launch a 16:9 only aspect ratio game at 1920 x 1080 60hz , but my typical desktop resolution is 1920 x 1200 60z, so i create a batch from a text file, in this case i put extension "cmd" when saving the text file, and create the following lines inside it

nircmdc.exe setdisplay 1920 1080 32 60 -updatereg
game.exe
nircmdc.exe setdisplay 1920 1200 32 60 -updatereg

so that way, when i click that batch file, display resolution wll be switched to 1920 x 1080 at 60hz, and launch the game, and when i exit the game, it will be switched back to 1920 x 1200 60hz automatically, without me needing to do that manually, just by a single click
the "nircmdc.exe" needs to be in the same directory of the game executable as well as the batch file.

An early observation some of you might interest: i mostly looked forward to playing games like Outrun 2 & F-Zero GX in Dolphin, but the results on a G-Sync screen in 1440p are much smoother, they have no visible stutter at all. They look and play far worse on the crt. No such thing with more recent games or older fps, motion clarity and smoothness are fantastic there.

i am sure there is someting not correctly configured on your CRT monitor, i have tested one of the games you mentioned on my FW900, F-Zero GX in Dolphin and the game runs completelly stutter free and smooth with life like clear motion.

i beileve most likely you have a mismatch monitor refresh rate - game framerate there, since those games run at 60 fps by default, you need a refresh rate of 60hz to match both and have a stutter free smooth clear motion experience on CRT
if you have a different refresh rate than 60hz on a 60 fps game, things like stutters or double images will be present.

or in case you have a match on your refresh rate - game framerate and still see stutters, you may have set vertical sync setting disabled in your graphics card control panel , this will also casue similar stuttery feeling

interesting to know what 1440p monitor model and specs is that you mentioned.
 
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So some updates. I think I found the bad capacitor. I went ahead and took it off the board and ordered a replacement, which should be in by Wednesday. I talked to the engineer in California (not Unkle Vito, someone else) and he's a real nice guy. Told me why my monitor was exhibiting the issues it was exhibiting and explained to me what's going on. Man, I wish I had his knowledge. Anyways... Crossing fingers. He has a whole bunch of stock of the power supplies so if I mess something up and need to get another board (hopefully don't damage anything else) I can always get a replacement from him for not too much money.

Also, I was digging through some of my old photos I have on my hard drive:

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Top is of my old G70 projector. Bottom is my old FW-900. Man I miss that monitor.
 

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... on a G-Sync screen in 1440p are much smoother, they have no visible stutter at all. They look and play far worse on the crt.

On a CRT, you have to manually make sure that your frame rate matches your refresh rate. So either with vsync, a frame rate cap, or my current personal favorite, scanline-sync from RTSS (requires some GPU utilization overhead though)
 
Oh my, simply setting the refresh rate to 60Hz for games capped at 60 fps resolved every issue indeed. Thanks for stating the obvious, I had the games running in anything from 75Hz to 120Hz (presuming they'd be smoother for it, ahum, while poorly optimised games like MHW and DQXI struggle to maintain 60 fps on my old processor).

And yes the same games look absolutely beyond compare in 60Hz on the CRT compared to the 144Hz 1440p G-sync screens I played them on (Acer IPS XB270HU & VA LG32GK850G). Not the slightest stutter, and motion clarity that looks absolutely incredible in 1440p. F-Zero GX in particular even feels faster - and harder for that matter - just like it does on GameCube on my old PVM.

And Dear Gawd, I will make sure to try out scanline sync from RTSS once I upgrade my pc, I edited Vanquish through that command line you linked, Enhanced Interrogator. Monster Hunter and Sekiro had a fix as well, I'll be doing my homework from now on!
Most fixes leave the HUD a lil funky, so I'll make sure to try out nircmdc.exe as well, 3dfan; thank you for your elaborate reply!

Through a Glass Darkly, I see clearly now!
 
;)

thanks for the monitors models info, (y)

just for curiosity, and of course if you want, can you please test the following motion clarity test site on those 144hz 1440p monitors, and tell if you can clearly read the text on that map image while the map is moving? if posible, also do the test with those at 60hz as well? thanks

https://www.testufo.com/photo#photo=toronto-map.png&pps=1440&pursuit=0&height=0
 
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;)

thanks for the monitors models info, (y)

just for curiosity, and of course if you want, can you please test the following motion clarity test site on those 144hz 1440p monitors, and tell if you can clearly read the text on that map image while the map is moving? if posible, also do the test with those at 60hz as well? thanks

https://www.testufo.com/photo#photo=toronto-map.png&pps=1440&pursuit=0&height=0

I could only check the Acer, but since the LG has a slightly slower response time I presume results are similar. I tried 144, 122 and 60Hz with Gsync enabled and I can safely say all of them are a blur. 144Hz Is best, but I could only read larger fonts such as 'Queens''. I did the same test with ULMB mode on and even at 85Hz results are perfect, everything is legible.
Nice test btw, much easier to see results compared to the UFO ; )

ps: I got a reply from someone still calibrating CRT`s; saying I`d be better off purchasing an X-Rite i1 Display Studio and regularly calibrate the monitor myself. The calibration guide in this thread recommends the X-Rite i1 Display Pro. Any benefits from the Pro over the Studio version or vice versa?
And (is there such a thing as) the best place to find a WinDas cable nowadays?
 
I could only check the Acer, but since the LG has a slightly slower response time I presume results are similar. I tried 144, 122 and 60Hz with Gsync enabled and I can safely say all of them are a blur. 144Hz Is best, but I could only read larger fonts such as 'Queens''. I did the same test with ULMB mode on and even at 85Hz results are perfect, everything is legible.
Nice test btw, much easier to see results compared to the UFO ; )

thanks for the report,, :)

sadly, motion clarity with gsync on still sucks at any refresh rate even at 144hz, as i myself have experienced (reduced at 144hz but still notable).

i guess you did not test ULMB at 60hz because the monitor did not allow you, did it? from what i have read, modern strobing (ULMB) monitors still suck at strobing at refreshes lower to 85hz due to severe flicker worse than CRT at 60hz, and for that matter, monitor manufaturers decided to lock the option arround minimum 85hz.

also from what i have seen and read, on modern monitors even latest ones a lot of brigtness is reduced when enabling ULMB, and on some monitors trying to overcome that issue brightess becomes higher when strobing, but way too high without the user being able to adjust brigthtness level. did you experience any of these issues with brigntess while using ULMB?

as for the UFO test, yes, i believe the moving UFO can be a good reference to test a relative motion clarity, but for a more absolute motion clarity test i find the map moving image a better test
 
ps: I got a reply from someone still calibrating CRT`s; saying I`d be better off purchasing an X-Rite i1 Display Studio and regularly calibrate the monitor myself. The calibration guide in this thread recommends the X-Rite i1 Display Pro. Any benefits from the Pro over the Studio version or vice versa?
And (is there such a thing as) the best place to find a WinDas cable nowadays?

Don't get the studio, it's a somewhat neutered version of the pro.

More details here

My recommendation is the OEM rev b (one caveat is that I don't think that version will work with the Xrite software, but you won't be needing that software anyway).

WinDAS cable is not a special cable, it's just a usb to ttl cable. The PL2303HX chipset is the one I use, and I think has been tried and tested successfully by others here.
 
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Well, actually I do not think spacediver's issue is really bad focus, rather bad convergence making the display less accurate. I've quite a bunch of trinitrons and I've yet to see any with focus problems in any area of the display, dynamic focus is absolutely excellent on these. On contrary focus seems to often get bad in the corners on Mitsubishi / Iiyama screens when they age.

Did some more work on the monitor today. Was definitely a focus problem, not a convergence issue. I've managed to improve it substantially, and can now read text across the whole screen, though it's not perfect. Did a dynamic convergence procedure too which was greatly aided by the use of a loupe.
 
by the way for convergence, i think it might be better to use rgb colors like 100,0,255 because blue is harder to see than red with 255,0,255. has anyone tried this before?

Gonna try this on my next attempt at dynamic convergence. In the mean time, here are some white, magenta, cyan, and yellow 1920x1200 crosshatch patterns for you guys. These have no antialiasing so they're ideal for convergence and focus adjustments, especially when aided by a loupe.

Also, just did a WPB yesterday. Before making changes to the LUT, delta Es were under 0.5 for all grey levels. After LUT adjustment, picture looks fantastic again. My eyes, on other hand, are starting to age! Definitely gonna have to get some reading glasses in the near future to fully enjoy these beast :)
 

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Yea, I went by your guide, but didn't have time to fully test out the green raster adjustments. Also, I think there's a bit of optimization involved, since the zones aren't completely independent. So you need to pay attention to surrounding regions as well when making the adjustments.

Also, I have an idea about optimizing focus, but will need to think about it a bit more and do some experiments.
 
Don't get the studio, it's a somewhat neutered version of the pro.

More details here

My recommendation is the OEM rev b (one caveat is that I don't think that version will work with the Xrite software, but you won't be needing that software anyway).

WinDAS cable is not a special cable, it's just a usb to ttl cable. The PL2303HX chipset is the one I use, and I think has been tried and tested successfully by others here.

Thanks for the recommendation, according to this link https://www.lightillusion.com/i1_display_pro.html the OEM version has the exact same firmware as the Pro Plus version, along with the exact hardware specifications as well. So as I understand it, no harm in going higher spec for CRT, as the Pro Plus version states it has a wider range for brighter HDR screens?

Thanks for clearing out my WinDAS cable confusion as well, any good guides covering that prerequisite process, including setting up WinDAS and eeprom files are more than welcome!


... i guess you did not test ULMB at 60hz because the monitor did not allow you, did it? from what i have read, modern strobing (ULMB) monitors still suck at strobing at refreshes lower to 85hz due to severe flicker worse than CRT at 60hz, and for that matter, monitor manufaturers decided to lock the option arround minimum 85hz.

also from what i have seen and read, on modern monitors even latest ones a lot of brigtness is reduced when enabling ULMB, and on some monitors trying to overcome that issue brightess becomes higher when strobing, but way too high without the user being able to adjust brigthtness level. did you experience any of these issues with brigntess while using ULMB? ...

Yes, brightness goes way down on the Acer, but the panel tech is from around 2015. And it doesn't enable at 60 Hz, 85 Hz minimum. The LG didn't have ULMB.
 
Thanks for the recommendation, according to this link https://www.lightillusion.com/i1_display_pro.html the OEM version has the exact same firmware as the Pro Plus version, along with the exact hardware specifications as well. So as I understand it, no harm in going higher spec for CRT, as the Pro Plus version states it has a wider range for brighter HDR screens?

From your link:

Note: The OEM version of i1 Display Pro is exactly the same hardware & firmware as the more expensive i1 Display Pro PLUS retail version, with exactly the same measurement capabilities.

In other words, it looks like the OEM has same measurement capabilities as the Pro PLUS, including the wider range. Also see this thread

There is something that the Pro Plus advertises called "black current subtraction technology", which is aimed at low luminance displays, but it's unclear if this is a hardware upgrade, a firmware upgrade, or a software feature of the bundled i1 profiler software.

Industry insiders are claiming that the OEM rev B (which you can buy online, but not retail) is identical to the Pro Plus, which is available retail, so it's unlikely that there is a hardware upgrade.

The disadvantage of Pro Plus is that it isn't as widely supported. Leading software products, such as CalMAN, will not work with the retail Pro Plus, if I'm not mistaken, and according to Graeme (creator of argyllCMS), it's unclear whether his software will work with it at this point, although I have confidence he'll add support for it eventually.

Thanks for clearing out my WinDAS cable confusion as well, any good guides covering that prerequisite process, including setting up WinDAS and eeprom files are more than welcome!

Here's an excerpt of an email I recently sent someone (was it you, by any chance?)


Once you plug the USB end of the cable into your laptop, you'll notice a listing for it in device manager. Make sure it's plugged into a USB port that shows a COM number between 1 and 4. If you can't find a port that is within this range, you can remap the COM port number easily in the device properties (within device manager).

You'll need to connect this cable to the back of the FW900. It's a bit of a pain , but once it's in, I recommend leaving it there permanently. The service port is at the bottom right corner at the back of the monitor (if you're facing the back of the monitor). There's a little plastic hatch you can pop off. It's real finicky to get the cable connected. You have to connect each of the pins, and tweezers can help. You can make things easier by removing the outer casing of the monitor before installing the cable. You need to connect the pins in the following order, from top to bottom: black, red, green, white. If you choose to remove the outer casing, follow the instructions (only the first three photos) here


3: A laptop with WinDAS installed. I have a dedicated windows XP laptop for this purpose, but I believe you can get windas to run on win 7 and 10.

In the comments section of this video, there is a link to the WinDAS software, along with instructions on how to get it running in windows 7 (and presumably windows 10). Note: The "calibration" procedure the guy follows in the video is not what I recommend, so my advice is to ignore that.


You can always post back here if you're having problems setting anything up, we'll be glad to help.
 
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