Need help setting up my fw900 with windows xp for the 1st time

[Anar]

Hi. I got a fw900 the other day. Have read the manual and all that. But I still have no clue on how to set it up. some forums say you shouldn't need drivers for windows XP. Others say you do. Instead of the default video to video CRT cable, I got a BNC cable with it. I think it is an RGB to BNC cable. The manual says this cable does not support plug and play feature. I am not sure what this all means. Now this is the information that i have found on sony website. I am pasting it below. To me it sounds like a rocket science to be honest. If you are going to explain anything to me, please do so as you would to a 6 year old : ). I want to use it mainly for games. Thanks.
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1. Download the FW900WinXP.EXE file to a temporary or download directory (please note this directory for reference).
2. Insert a blank formatted floppy disk into the computers floppy drive.
3. Go to the directory where the file was downloaded and double-click the FW900WinXP.EXE file to begin the installation.
4. At the "GDM-FW900 Information File" box, leave the "A:\" entry, and click the OK button. The .INF files for all of the operating systems will be extracted onto the floppy disk.
5. Leave the floppy disk in the drive.
6. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
7. At the "Control Panel" window, double-click the Appearance and Themes icon.
8. At the "Display Properties" window, click the Settings tab.
9. In the Settings tab, click the Advanced button.
10. At the "[Monitor] and [Graphic Controller] Properties" window, click the Monitor tab.
11. In the Monitor tab, click the Properties button.
12. At the "[Monitor] Properties" window, click the Driver tab.
13. On the Driver tab, click Update Driver button.
14. In the "Welcome to the Hardware Update Wizard" screen, click to select the "Install from a list or specific location" option, and then click Next.
15. In the "Please choose your search and installation options" screen, click to select the "Don't search, I will choose the driver to install" option, and then click Next.
16. In the "Select the device driver you want to install for this hardware" screen, click the "Have disk" button.
17. At the "Install From Disk" box, leave the "A:\" entry (which should designate your computer floppy drive) and click the Browse button.
18. At the "Open" window, click to select the "Snymon17.inf" file, and click OK.
19. At the "Install From Disk" box, click OK.
20. At the "Select device" window, click to highlight the SONY GDM-FW900 entry and click Next. Please wait while the files are installed.
21. In the "Completing the Hardware Update Wizard" screen, click Finish.
22. Click Close to close the Driver tab.
23. Click OK to exit the "[Monitor] Properties" window.
24. Click OK to exit the "Display Properties" window.
25. Click the X in the top-right corner to close the "Control Panel" window.
26. Remove the floppy disk from the drive.
27. Label the floppy disk "Sony GDM-FW900 Monitor .INF Files," and store it for future use. This procedure will need to be repeated if your system is ever fully reinstalled.

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[Anar]

The thing is that the procedure is referring to a floppy disk but I do not have a floppy drive.

 

[Anar]

Also the seller told me he had calibrated it a few times using professional tools to show true colors. He was using it for color correction. But I want to use it mainly for games. Is there any settings to reset things to default or something like that as I don't need it to work that hard. So that I can get some life out of the unit. Thank you.

 

[XoR_]

Is there any settings to reset things to default or something like that as I don't need it to work that hard. So that I can get some life out of the unit.

could you explain deep thought process that you had which lead to conclusion having colors set to better match color specifications is putting more strain on monitor?

 

[Anar]

could you explain deep thought process that you had which lead to conclusion having colors set to better match color specifications is putting more strain on monitor?

) good one. I told you explain like you would to a 6 year old. I wouldn't know. The seller said getting calibration done only every so often is not too bad for the life of the unit. So I thought the less frequent the calibration the more life the unit has got left. That is my deep thought process sir ))

 

[Anar]

could you explain deep thought process that you had which lead to conclusion having colors set to better match color specifications is putting more strain on monitor?

Also, I have read somewhere on the forums that if a CRT monitor is dying, they can compensate for that by increasing the drive. I have no idea what it means. So I thought it was referring to some kind of calibration too. Could you please explain what "increasing the drive" means as in relation to CRTs? Thanks

 

[XoR_]

Dude, just set luminance ('contrast' not 'brightness' which is for black cut off) to level you see as comfortable for you and do not worry too much about things breaking down. Over time you will probably need to lower 'brightness' to compensate for rising G2 voltage and after years of usage do White Point Ballance thing which is on this forum called 'WPB' and which is most probably 'calibration' seller was referring to. Or just lower G2 voltage if you do not have calibration probe and do not want to buy one. But if seller did WPB before selling you the unit you will have few years of uninterrupted fun with the monitor.

As for setting up monitor, if you use VGA cable instead of BNC windows will set up all resolutions without you needing to do a thing.

There are manuals how to set up monitor for BNC cable somewhere in FW900 thread https://hardforum.com/threads/24-widescreen-crt-fw900-from-ebay-arrived-comments.952788

 

[Anar]

Dude, just set luminance ('contrast' not 'brightness' which is for black cut off) to level you see as comfortable for you and do not worry too much about things breaking down. Over time you will probably need to lower 'brightness' to compensate for rising G2 voltage and after years of usage do White Point Ballance thing which is on this forum called 'WPB' and which is most probably 'calibration' seller was referring to. Or just lower G2 voltage if you do not have calibration probe and do not want to buy one. But if seller did WPB before selling you the unit you will have few years of uninterrupted fun with the monitor.

As for setting up monitor, if you use VGA cable instead of BNC windows will set up all resolutions without you needing to do a thing.

There are manuals how to set up monitor for BNC cable somewhere in FW900 thread https://hardforum.com/threads/24-widescreen-crt-fw900-from-ebay-arrived-comments.952788

Why does the color temp matter anyway? The seller confirmed today that he did the calibration at 6500 temp.

 

[spacediver]

Why does the color temp matter anyway? The seller confirmed today that he did the calibration at 6500 temp.

Please read the introduction in this guide

Also, as pointed out, there is an entire thread dedicated to this display. There's no need to create separate threads for each question.

 

[XoR_]

small deviations from target 6500K for white point are just fine for 'consuming content' but not too much and should be almost exclusively along the curve (in CIE space) that is defined as 'temperature', so if you set display to eg. 7500K instead of 6500K then all is fine. 6500K is the best though, most white.

thing about calibrating is that it need to be the same chromatic point for all gray scale including black and this part is hardest to do without calibration probe. You could set any arbitrary 'white' looking color for white and it would not be as bad but setting the same for dark gray is rather tricky and you do not want to have differences in colors for different gray scale levels

different elements of tube wear slightly differently making periodical re-calibration necessary. This also mean that factory calibration values are worthless after few years of usage

ofcourse using monitor calibrated by eyes is just fine, especially for games
but calibration probes are so cheap nowadays it doesn't make sense to not buy one