Dear Steve, the green screen with retrace lines is due to a bad resistor near the flyback, it Is the "heater resistor" Look for one 3.3 -1. 5 ohm 1/2w.
I keep seeing videos on the FW900. I always had Sony PC CRTs as a kid. I really wish we had CRT rebuilders still so we could keep these lead glass tubes out of landfills. Today we even have Quantum dots that you could replace burnt phosphor with. It would be really sweet to have a display technology that you could just continually recycle to get years of use out of.
Look at laser MEMS projection, that's the closest thing that does raster scanning nowadays (at least that I know of). That said, it doesn't come close to high end CRTs in scanning frequency, yet at least. I'd be curious to see how this tech evolves, it's pretty rare.
@@Slay3rOne I have two of the Anybeam mems projectors. I posted about them on the CRT gaming subreddit this past August. Some people were excited for me other people heckled me LOL. It really is as close as you can get today to a CRT technology, and one without burnin
@@jamescampbell8482 r/crtgaming is simultaneously great and terrible. half the folks are chill and just enjoy gaming on a crt, whether it's RF, composite, or RGB. then there's the folks like dangerouscousin who are absolute jerk offs on every single post lol
No way will anyone manufacture a technology that can be made new when old. It won't make sense for a company to do that. 🤔. Even if they say global warming is bad 🥺
Back in 1999 we had these as desktop monitors at BofA IT department. They were behemoths. The power cord and the vga cable were also as thick as 0 gauge. At least the ones we had did. I remember the desks were specifically ordered extra wide to accommodate two on each. Never had any issues. I remember only a set of these we connected via RGB just for kicks. When we moved to a new location I clearly remember that all of these type of monitors were left behind. I talking about maybe 20-30 per floor and there were 8 floors. All went to the trash. They were simply too heavy and bulky, back then made no sense to spend on moving them, they opted to purchase lcd instead. I wish I had taken a couple home. I was given the choice to take as many as I wanted.
I will advise to to start measuring all voltages on cathodes, screen and focus electrodes and heater filament as well. It would be useful to check flyback pulse with oscilloscope.
I think the FW900 has a header on the back side of it that can be exposed and adapted to USB to plug in directly to a PC and tweaked with software called WinDAS. Just look into it first before tinkering with it, I know it is used to modify G2 voltage but as others have mentioned a troublesome resistor that is worth looking at too.
Many years ago I had self made converter from RS-232 to TTL to service them. All colors offsets and gains controlled from WinDAS. Also G2 voltage. Definitely the best CRT monitors ever made.
I think you'd want to keep the neckboard connected when you go to discharge a CRT. As I recall there's a connection on the tube pins (the end of the tube the neckboard connects to) that acts as the ground side of the CRT. CRT is a big capacitor and basically one of the pins on the neck is one pin on that capacitor (the ground connection in this case!) and the anode connection is the other. If you pull off the neckboard you are basically just touching one end of that capacitor and not shorting it because the ground connection leading to the neckboard (which then connects out to the CRT frame you are trying to ground your screwdriver to) isn't connected anymore! So always discharge the CRT before you pull the neckboard! ;) This is the case with most TVs. Perhaps there's an alternate route the connection can take in monitors but that's been my experience with the 2 13 inch Trinitrons I have. They don't ground out unless I have the neckboard still attached! (with the ground wire going to the neckboard also still attached to the CRT mounting frame)
I brought FW-900 2006 from used computer parts shop for $35 in my country. I'm still using it as secondary monitor. Those days LCD monitors are hitting market and CRT monitors are fading away.But now all are talking about FW-900 are the king.
@@ITGuyinaction I live in Sri Lanka. In 2006, that monitor is expensive than other brands(LKR.12000). dell and nec are LKR.9000, 19" are like LKR.7000.
To enjoy a crt monitor at its best you need to push the refresh rate over 90hz, then you can "unsee" the flickering ... and apreciate the quality of the refresh rate, 1 pixel at a time... that's how the brain reads the picture made by a crt: from left to right, one pixel at a time is drawn on the screen, at least 90 times per second; that keeps the brain busy and entertained, more than watching 120 frames drawn on an oled instantly... it's like only 120 still motion pictures per second instead of an animation of 1.3 million pixels painted one by one.
Greeting. A few years ago, I used a screwdriver to adjust the focus a bit on the Philips Mach Line 29pt90009 LCD TV. When I opened the back there are 3 potentiometers for adjustment. One is focus, the other is brightness, but I didn't know what the third one was. Basically, in addition to those two, I also turned the third one. At first, the sharpness changed slightly. However, when I turned it a little more, I got lines on the screen similar to what you saw on the fw900. Although I returned the setting to standard, the lines remained in the picture for a while, and later the picture became normal, but after that the process of turning on the TV from standby took three times longer than before. Also, an error would be displayed in the service menu every time the TV was disconnected from the mains
Sending you a like Steve, that’s a lot of work. My heart sank a bit when it malfunctioned on you. I’m sure yours did too a little. Good luck, if anyone can get it running it’s you! Otherwise keep it for parts? There’s a decent CRT crowd here in the PNW I have just learned. I’ll keep an eye out for you.
I picked up a couple of 4:3 Sony Trinitron VGA monitors probably 10+ years ago. Mine had a similar picture except the screen was over bright with the same diagonal lines. I wonder if removing the capacitors may have reset some of the calibration. I read that I might be able to fix the monitor just by building a special cable that plugs into a PC serial port. I bought the necessary chip to build the cable. But never built it. Supposedly you have to run the software on a Windows 95 or XP computer. I have unfortunately ditched that monitor. Along with a nice 17 inch NEC which I'm deeply regretting. I still have the working Sony trinitron.
I wish I could contribute in a more technical way, but I was heartbroken by two Sony Wega 21 inch TV sets with the same problem, one was with this red tint with traces and it died on me; the second was with this green tint and also died on me. No one in my country wants to repair Sony TV sets anymore, it's always the tube. I hope you get lucky on this one.
Surely ,a good millionaire with great vision and heart could be a good bussines and super charity to this amazing technologic,i wish the owner of tesla motor see this videos,thanks
I would check the grid voltage on the green line (since this is a trinitron it may only have one gun, but seeing that the menu was showing through is an indication that there might be a resistor short to ground on the green, at the back of the tube. Grounding either color on the back of the tube would make it glow on the whole screen.
Nice catch. Usualy analog monitor will tolerate with partialy bad capacitor but not with soldering joints and circular cracks on that joints. Try to check soldering joints around HV transformer and CRT nec board with magnification glass. Time, cycle heating and oxidation do its job, so 90% disease for old CRT's are bad soldering joints. p.s. small screen and visible retracing lines points to HV overvoltage, try to decrease it by pot on HV multiplier
😜😜😜🤔🤔🤔🤔 Some time ago I had Sony tv set and Sony monitor (both crt sure) and I sold them. How much I regret that now...! P.S. You have great channel and many interesting videos!
This monitor has a reputation, there is a kill flaw that apparently triggers after a certain period of time and after that it will no longer work. Why does it do that? I don't remember exactly, but when I was monitor hunting several years ago a lot of forums talked about it.
Steve, I have an FW900 with similar issue. WinDAS will specify error codes, I get HV failure, even with a brand new flyback. Pretty sure the tube is shorted.
My gamer mate I've known for 20+ years has one that just died this morning, he might post about it here, he needs the UK version of you ;) Now it makes a crackling sound. He's gonna check if its actually arcing inside (without actually opening it). One's currently going for £2500 on ebay but maybe a bit much.. actually I think the ones available now have some kind of issue like the anti glares been pealed off or something.
looks to me like the g2 is either waaaayy too high and needs to be turned down through a simple windas .dat file edit, or the flyback is on its way out.
i wish you would have showed the back so we could see all the types of video and audio inputs it can take. but i could have missed that part of you in fact did show that.
for me it looks like there is a problem with the cathode driver on the green electron gun. Normally this happens when the cathode is grounded you get this strong color with traces back to the start. there should be a voltage similar on the 3 cathodes so I would check this first. you can have a bad cathode driver transistor on the board. I had a few Trinitrons myself in the golden age but sadly the picture tubes got so worn out I had to replace them but boy did they look good when they were good
I wonder if one the drive transistor is shorted as it will cause what ever gun it is connected to to go full blast or other words cause the tube to over load. I have seen that happen on a tv and it gave the same results as what your having with that monitor except it was the red gun instead of the green. It could be the tube but check the circuit that drives the tube.
Steve, maybe you can help me. I bought a 20" Sony Trinitron CRT. I was planning on playing my PS2 using the component input. Once I plugged the PS2, I only got the sound, no image. Funny thing is that the component input on my TV is named Video 3, and even the green word Video 3 flickers / fuzzy... I wonder if my TV Component input is broken... I don't know what to do.
There is a video output changer built into ps2 startup when no disk inaerted but to change output setings you must put it in composite yellow red and white leads on a regular tv to see what your doing first. That trinitron is working if you see a screen number
I also have FW900 and mine is working but not without problems. Main problem is that when it is just turned on I have green instead of black. And it requires about 30 minutes to warm up before black becomes black. Other problems with geometry which cannot be fixed with menu controls, however not very badly.
i dont think your warm up time is a "problem", this is normal behaviour on the FW900, as long at its black levels are normal after warmup, and this happens after the monitor as been turned off for some time, similar also happens on mine, in my case the blacks look way grayish, like you have the setting "brightness" (black level) maxed out, when i turn the monitor on after being off for a while (hours) but at about 30 min as well as yours, its back levels are back to normal. as for geometry, i dont know how imperfect it look on yours, but its normal you cannot get 100% perfect geometry on this monitor, but you can get close to perfect with some geometry tweaking from the OSD menu, that you hardly note its geom imperfections in normal monitor usage, and just at the sides of the monitor. the following are the settings i use for geometry on my FW900, i am aware not all CRT monitors including FW900 behave the same as other same brand and model ones and most like my settings would not work on yours as in mine, but it doesnt hurt me to share, so my settings for geometry are: at order of appareance from top to bottom from the OSD GEOM FW900 menu settings: 38 53 45 69 49 those settings give me a satisfying geometry to my likes. however i also have a greenish issue similar to how it looks in this video when i turn my monitor after being off for several hours, but fortnately it only last some few seconds and dissapear, some times it auto shuts down the monitor automatically, sometimes not, strangely this issues started to occur after the monitor was not used for about 3 months, before that, it never happened but now always occurs after being off for several hours.
@@3dfan797 thanks for your response. Yes, when not warmed up mine also looks washed out but also with green tint on the blacks. Ok. Maybe it’s not the big of a problem. And I can fix geometry to a decent level from the menu. But few parameters maxed out. But as I know after geometry board recap it should be more correct on the default settings and easier to make it closer to perfect.
@@wormbagged Oh, yes. Thank you. I completely forgot about it! I've tried to adjust G2 a bit. Don't remember the exact result. But then I thought to find some local experts to help with recap and adjustments. And since then didn't touch it for more than a year now. I'm from Ukraine and I think you know the situation right now. Not sure when I can try it again
please excuse my ignorance, i am not expert on electronics, but, someone that saw this video and seems to have experience in electronics claimed that this is a mistake to test capacitor while being soldered on the board, for acurrate capacitor readings from what i have heard, they must be removed from the board and then tested, because when you test them while soldered on the board, you are also reading and testing other parts that share traces with the capacitors. also i remember i heard this as well in the past from an electronics teacher, so just wanted to make this comment in case it makes sense.
The curved version of the FW900 is the W900, I would be absolutely ecstatic if I owned both of these, or really just one of them lol, but the curved one would be incredible for classic widescreen PC/console games, the FW900 is the ultimate modern gaming display.
my sony FW900 is showing that retraced lined greenish screen everytime i turn it on after being off for several hours, it has been doing it since many months. some times i had to turn it on many times due to it auto turning off as with this video but after some seconds the greenish screen dissapears. weird thing is it never happens when the monitor is warm, always happens after several hours being off, and this issue started to happen after the monitor was not used for about 3 months, as if that greenish screen seemed to be related to someting being cold with the monitor and needs to get warm to get rid of that.
I own a few of these I have one that works for a while then shuts off after about an hour . I havent done anything with it because I've got others. I'm following to see what is wrong awesome video. I also subscribed keep it up.⁶
Hey Steve! Would you consider looking at another FW900 in the future? It is functioning, and I got a TTL to Serial adapter and Era appropriate laptop. :)
Haha, as long as it is a preventative maintenance job and not a "maybe the tube works" Job. I actually wanted to try this one before yours to get a little experience on a donor model.
@@RetroTechUSA sounds great actually! I’ll get some pics and send it over! BTW Sad this HP wasn’t functioning after that recap job, but still really enjoyed the video!
I was referred to this channel since I have been searching for someone that could help repair these monitors. The expertise for restoring these beasts are disappearing fast. I got two FW-900s, but only really used one to its current death and have no guts to try the other yet. I can describe the way it died since it also yields the same blinking amber led: In its dying days, the monitor had to "warm up" with dark images/screens for a while, as any bright/white screen will send it into that blinking amber led failure state. It also had those diagonal lines on the image while "warming up" but they were light blue. People online kept mentioning something about windas, but I have no idea if that would even work with the monitor now that it no longer could even "warm up" and just goes straight to that blinking failure mode. I imagine a lot of the capacitors and resistors has gone bad by the time 2013 rolled around thus its current death. I've quit video games until I have the means to resurrect the beauty. While I'd prefer to have 2 working FW-900s, I may have to make the tough decision to Frankenstein's up a single superior model. Where does one find someone that can service these monitors?
I have a trinitron monitor inside of a mame conversion that I built. On cold starts it has that green tint/ crooked green lines, same as yours. But with mine as it warms up it it goes away over the span of 10-15 minutes. Then works perfect for hours. Not sure what kind of problem it is but would like to know. Its not really bothered me too much because it goes away but I am sure my monitor is on its way out one of these days.
The G2 voltage needs tweaking a little, there will be a pot on back inside you can calibrate with a screwdriver, needs to be done when switch on, so you can see where it needs to be so careful not to touch anything high-voltage.
So you have the C520K and the FW900 now, haha you are one very fortunate guy, the C520K is actually slightly superior to FW900, and IMO there is still one better than both of these monitors, the Sony GDM-5002PT9, all three have the amazing SMPTE-C phosphors, which render unbelievably rich and vivid colors, but the 5002PT9 has a slightly curved screen, it's otherwise exactly the same as the C520K, but the curved screen just makes everything pop more on the screen, it also gives the image more depth, so the overall IQ of 5002PT9 is just unbeaten and the best I've ever seen on any other CRT, look forward to watching the vid.
So far after comparing different CRTs, the one that stands out far above the others would be the F520 to me. The sharpness is really something else with its 0.22mm aperture grille, and the specs are amongst the highest as well. I much perfer that one compared to the FW900, but I have to say the aspect ratio of the FW900 can be really appreciated depending on what you are using it for. The F520 also has SMPTE-C phosphors, and when calibrated correctly is absolutely mindblowing. Now if I have to mention another CRT that I would appreciate a huge lot, but for different reasons, it would be the Iiyama Vision Master Pro 514. That one has no hardware vertical or horizontal refresh rate limit, and it's quite fun to see lower resolutions at a whooping 300+ or even 400+ Hz. It's the same for the smaller Vision Master Pro 454, but I haven't tested this one. I never thought there was a PC CRT able to do that, but this one does. It has a really nice picture as well, with a Diamondtron tube this time. But of course nowhere close to the picture quality of the F520.
The C520K is not special, its near identical to the Dell P1130 and bunch of other CR1 Sony monitors. The GDM-F520 is the only CR1 chassis with a .22mm tube and it also has upgraded video board and other small differences.
@@Slay3rOne The VMP514 is a piece of garbage that has a hilariously low real bandwidth for its specs - the high resolutions look blurry as hell. Iiyama in general is Samsung-grade as a brand.
@@anomyymi0108 Not true at all for the blur at high resolutions, at least not on mine. That's weird. And what do you mean low bandwidth?! I literally displayed 2880x1800 at 105Hz interlaced, 1600x1200 at 210Hz interlaced, 3840x2880 at 52Hz interlaced (that one was dumb, but fun to see working). I've never seen anything blurry at all! Same thing for progressive at around half the refresh rate. Now you have the limitation of the aperture grille of course. This is a 0.24mm AG pitch, which is not as good as some other models, but it resolves what it can, and does so as sharply as it can at least on mine.
@@Slay3rOne I could be wrong, I'm basing this off reviews from the time and general experience with iiyama as a brand (they have a habit of underspeccing their amps). Can you try 1440p93hz, and compare it to 1440p75hz, how much difference in smearing is there between the two?
Thanks I did check voltages going into the tube before it shuts itself off. The green voltage is 0 pretty much. That means there could be a component out. The issue is just figuring out this neck board. It's really unique and more than likely involves one of the internal boards also. May be hope yet!
Hello, very good channel with a real crt screen enthusiast, I would like to have an expert opinion like you, here I have a 20 inch sun microsysteme pc screen, the screen works perfectly I just have a problem on a very small horizontal line, is it repairable?
I had a trinitron crt that would have these lines sometimes, and not power on. But after putting a heat blower on it for a couple minutes it would work again. Ps I am way less technical than you, just an experience i had. In more technical comments below also talk about heat i see.
@@wormbagged Just because of Linus TT inflation. Sometimes prices are bullocks on the net. Same with certain game cartridges. Everyone sell their used one for say 100 bucks, but there are always like 100 available on Ebay. They just follow the others like sheep, and none gets actually sold. Just find a "Make an offer" one, offer 50%, and big chance you get it.
Bought one of these exact models in 2008. Lasted about 5 years. One day the power went off and I could never turn it back on. Dropped it off at Best Buy for recycling. Nothing I could do to fix it. Sad day. That being said... I don't miss it too much. You could always see the aperture grill wires which annoyed me. 😔
It depends on the use you make of it. Me personally I'd take a high end CRT monitor over a PVM/BVM anytime, for its flexibility. By that I mean it is not limited to specific standard resolutions like 480p, 1080i and else, it can display whatver you throw at it as long is it's within its specs. But that said, most PC CRT monitors including the FW900 do not natively display 240p/480i contents, and would require adapters to connect consoles. For 240p for example, using a line doubler like the OSSC brings a monitor like that as close as you can get to what would be displayed on a native 240p CRT, with the scanlines looking exactly the same as well. Now, note that I am more interested in PC games when we talk about retro gaming, so I can't say I was able to do a lot of comparison myself with consoles, but I did run some tests with a SNES, PS2 and PS3 on the FW900, F520 and a few other Trinitron and Diamondtron monitors. Basically, with the correct adapters and if the monitor is well calibrated (there is software for that with Sony monitors), I can't imagine a BVM having a noticeable better display quality. And also note than the FW900 has the same tube than the BVM D24 but the D24 is limited to the 1080i standard when the FW900 does 1080p, and 2304x1440 at 80Hz (which is only useful if using it on a PC, though). Fun fact, the FW900 (or was it the F520? I don't remember) can also display 4K60, when using the right hardware and pushing things to the absolute limits, but there is no real usefulness in that. To conclude, I, myself, feel much more at ease using a high end Trinitron/Diamondtron PC monitor compared to a PVM/BVM for the flexibility. I wouldn't see a PVM/BVM as an upgrade at all, rather a downgrade. But that's my own opinion, remember that I play more on PC than consoles, that of course does affect my judgement quite a bit here.
I believe you are just changing way too many things at the same time, of course its hard to have this outcome when you have put this much time in one project, that's why you have to test one thing at a time. wanna recap the whole monitor? no problem, but find the problem first
This is so overhyped. A CRT is great for PAL/NTSC game consoles. This one does not support those. And if you consider it is like 2 grand at least, that is quite a bit for a CRT without relevant use case. Imagine doing 1080p games on this. A free-to-collect Pioneer Plasma from 2009 destroys this with perfect geometry, wider gamut, greater contrast and more sharpness. For 0€! And it is MUCH easier to hook up, and it DOES work with your old consoles, as it has, drums ruffling, 3x SCART (RGB+composite+C/L), S-video, Component, 4x HDMI, VGA, composite and rusty goo'ol RF. Compare that to 1 VGA and 1 BNC input (try to find cables for that!)
Thanks for stopping by and helping out. I will be here once the premiere starts to chat.
This reminds me of the Indextron.
How did you get it?
Dear Steve, the green screen with retrace lines is due to a bad resistor near the flyback, it Is the "heater resistor" Look for one 3.3 -1. 5 ohm 1/2w.
This
Yep i can confirm this since i had the exact same problem with my Sony PVM-1390/KX-14CP1 monitor
Yes it’s not always capacitor related. 92 capacitors you’ve replaced and could it be a just one resistor or transistor.
This issue is only due to a bad heater resistor or a short inside the tube itself (rare) on this particular sony pro tube.
Wow
I keep seeing videos on the FW900. I always had Sony PC CRTs as a kid. I really wish we had CRT rebuilders still so we could keep these lead glass tubes out of landfills. Today we even have Quantum dots that you could replace burnt phosphor with. It would be really sweet to have a display technology that you could just continually recycle to get years of use out of.
Look at laser MEMS projection, that's the closest thing that does raster scanning nowadays (at least that I know of). That said, it doesn't come close to high end CRTs in scanning frequency, yet at least. I'd be curious to see how this tech evolves, it's pretty rare.
@@Slay3rOne I have two of the Anybeam mems projectors. I posted about them on the CRT gaming subreddit this past August. Some people were excited for me other people heckled me LOL. It really is as close as you can get today to a CRT technology, and one without burnin
@@jamescampbell8482 r/crtgaming is simultaneously great and terrible. half the folks are chill and just enjoy gaming on a crt, whether it's RF, composite, or RGB. then there's the folks like dangerouscousin who are absolute jerk offs on every single post lol
@@busterscrugs He's very knowledgeable, but yeah the way he treats people can be pretty off-putting.
No way will anyone manufacture a technology that can be made new when old. It won't make sense for a company to do that. 🤔. Even if they say global warming is bad 🥺
Great video, these things are so rare.
Just like the Indextrons.
These are not rare, just expensive.
For the wealthy only.
Back in 1999 we had these as desktop monitors at BofA IT department. They were behemoths. The power cord and the vga cable were also as thick as 0 gauge. At least the ones we had did. I remember the desks were specifically ordered extra wide to accommodate two on each. Never had any issues. I remember only a set of these we connected via RGB just for kicks. When we moved to a new location I clearly remember that all of these type of monitors were left behind. I talking about maybe 20-30 per floor and there were 8 floors. All went to the trash. They were simply too heavy and bulky, back then made no sense to spend on moving them, they opted to purchase lcd instead. I wish I had taken a couple home. I was given the choice to take as many as I wanted.
I will advise to to start measuring all voltages on cathodes, screen and focus electrodes and heater filament as well. It would be useful to check flyback pulse with oscilloscope.
Havent even watched this and Im already jealous…
Me 2
Fantastic video! Thanks for your positivity, I am sure this experience will help with the future FW900's you work on.
Awesome video, Thanks and continue with the CRT videos.
I think the FW900 has a header on the back side of it that can be exposed and adapted to USB to plug in directly to a PC and tweaked with software called WinDAS. Just look into it first before tinkering with it, I know it is used to modify G2 voltage but as others have mentioned a troublesome resistor that is worth looking at too.
Yes, this is common with Sony FD Trinitron PC CRTs. Its a TTL connection.
Many years ago I had self made converter from RS-232 to TTL to service them. All colors offsets and gains controlled from WinDAS. Also G2 voltage. Definitely the best CRT monitors ever made.
CRT was invented 120 years ago and it is no longer used in home, but to me it still look like complex and mysterious high-tech electronics machine.
They're used in my home.
Thanks for sharing your hard work on this monitor with us. Hope you were able to get it working.
I think you'd want to keep the neckboard connected when you go to discharge a CRT. As I recall there's a connection on the tube pins (the end of the tube the neckboard connects to) that acts as the ground side of the CRT. CRT is a big capacitor and basically one of the pins on the neck is one pin on that capacitor (the ground connection in this case!) and the anode connection is the other.
If you pull off the neckboard you are basically just touching one end of that capacitor and not shorting it because the ground connection leading to the neckboard (which then connects out to the CRT frame you are trying to ground your screwdriver to) isn't connected anymore!
So always discharge the CRT before you pull the neckboard! ;)
This is the case with most TVs. Perhaps there's an alternate route the connection can take in monitors but that's been my experience with the 2 13 inch Trinitrons I have. They don't ground out unless I have the neckboard still attached! (with the ground wire going to the neckboard also still attached to the CRT mounting frame)
I hope you can fix it. These monitors are amazing. I wish I had one.
Was the King ! Never had it on my hands!
I brought FW-900 2006 from used computer parts shop for $35 in my country. I'm still using it as secondary monitor. Those days LCD monitors are hitting market and CRT monitors are fading away.But now all are talking about FW-900 are the king.
In which country do you live? Isn't it that crt monitors are becoming more and more expensive?
Hey hows life been since 2006?
@@ITGuyinaction I live in Sri Lanka. In 2006, that monitor is expensive than other brands(LKR.12000). dell and nec are LKR.9000, 19" are like LKR.7000.
@@kapilsds7 Here, in Poland, the prices of old crt are increasing quickly... P.S. Wow! My videos are being watched also in Sri Lanka...! Nice!
To enjoy a crt monitor at its best you need to push the refresh rate over 90hz, then you can "unsee" the flickering ... and apreciate the quality of the refresh rate, 1 pixel at a time... that's how the brain reads the picture made by a crt: from left to right, one pixel at a time is drawn on the screen, at least 90 times per second; that keeps the brain busy and entertained, more than watching 120 frames drawn on an oled instantly... it's like only 120 still motion pictures per second instead of an animation of 1.3 million pixels painted one by one.
Greeting. A few years ago, I used a screwdriver to adjust the focus a bit on the Philips Mach Line 29pt90009 LCD TV. When I opened the back there are 3 potentiometers for adjustment. One is focus, the other is brightness, but I didn't know what the third one was. Basically, in addition to those two, I also turned the third one. At first, the sharpness changed slightly. However, when I turned it a little more, I got lines on the screen similar to what you saw on the fw900. Although I returned the setting to standard, the lines remained in the picture for a while, and later the picture became normal, but after that the process of turning on the TV from standby took three times longer than before. Also, an error would be displayed in the service menu every time the TV was disconnected from the mains
Sending you a like Steve, that’s a lot of work. My heart sank a bit when it malfunctioned on you. I’m sure yours did too a little. Good luck, if anyone can get it running it’s you! Otherwise keep it for parts? There’s a decent CRT crowd here in the PNW I have just learned. I’ll keep an eye out for you.
Oh yeah? Where in the PNW? I’m in north-central Oregon..
Man sucks you couldn’t get it working. Wish they still made these (at least monitors) such a beautiful picture.
I picked up a couple of 4:3 Sony Trinitron VGA monitors probably 10+ years ago. Mine had a similar picture except the screen was over bright with the same diagonal lines. I wonder if removing the capacitors may have reset some of the calibration. I read that I might be able to fix the monitor just by building a special cable that plugs into a PC serial port. I bought the necessary chip to build the cable. But never built it. Supposedly you have to run the software on a Windows 95 or XP computer.
I have unfortunately ditched that monitor. Along with a nice 17 inch NEC which I'm deeply regretting. I still have the working Sony trinitron.
I wish I could contribute in a more technical way, but I was heartbroken by two Sony Wega 21 inch TV sets with the same problem, one was with this red tint with traces and it died on me; the second was with this green tint and also died on me. No one in my country wants to repair Sony TV sets anymore, it's always the tube. I hope you get lucky on this one.
I have a 23?in wega that was left in the rain and it somehow still works. They're great sets when they work.
Is Sony aware that this monitor is popular? if they made some more copies they would sell out no problem.
Surely ,a good millionaire with great vision and heart could be a good bussines and super charity to this amazing technologic,i wish the owner of tesla motor see this videos,thanks
I would check the grid voltage on the green line (since this is a trinitron it may only have one gun, but seeing that the menu was showing through is an indication that there might be a resistor short to ground on the green, at the back of the tube. Grounding either color on the back of the tube would make it glow on the whole screen.
So did you ever find/fix the problem?
I have a Hewlett Packard monitor with a sony tube in it. The tube is model number M50LMD15X. I run Dreamcast with vga to it and it looks super crisp.
All I can think anytime I see these videos pop up is Borat “you will never get this, you will never get this!”
Lucky! If I were to find one I'd use it as a daily driver over my LCD monitors lol
You don't want.... You'll miss the stable and uniform backlight, geometry perfection, stable colours and sharpness after a single day.
Nice catch. Usualy analog monitor will tolerate with partialy bad capacitor but not with soldering joints and circular cracks on that joints. Try to check soldering joints around HV transformer and CRT nec board with magnification glass. Time, cycle heating and oxidation do its job, so 90% disease for old CRT's are bad soldering joints.
p.s. small screen and visible retracing lines points to HV overvoltage, try to decrease it by pot on HV multiplier
😜😜😜🤔🤔🤔🤔 Some time ago I had Sony tv set and Sony monitor (both crt sure) and I sold them. How much I regret that now...! P.S. You have great channel and many interesting videos!
This monitor has a reputation, there is a kill flaw that apparently triggers after a certain period of time and after that it will no longer work. Why does it do that? I don't remember exactly, but when I was monitor hunting several years ago a lot of forums talked about it.
cool there is a GDM-FW900 for sale on Abdou Express !
Good video Retro Tech
Steve, I have an FW900 with similar issue. WinDAS will specify error codes, I get HV failure, even with a brand new flyback. Pretty sure the tube is shorted.
Where you managed to buy a NOS flyback?
My gamer mate I've known for 20+ years has one that just died this morning, he might post about it here, he needs the UK version of you ;)
Now it makes a crackling sound. He's gonna check if its actually arcing inside (without actually opening it).
One's currently going for £2500 on ebay but maybe a bit much.. actually I think the ones available now have some kind of issue like the anti glares been pealed off or something.
Check neck transistors. If good, put it on a rejuvenator and check for shorts.
looks to me like the g2 is either waaaayy too high and needs to be turned down through a simple windas .dat file edit, or the flyback is on its way out.
Whaa? I have an F520, I consider it much better than the FW900. The wider tubes have focus issues.
i wish you would have showed the back so we could see all the types of video and audio inputs it can take. but i could have missed that part of you in fact did show that.
for me it looks like there is a problem with the cathode driver on the green electron gun. Normally this happens when the cathode is grounded you get this strong color with traces back to the start. there should be a voltage similar on the 3 cathodes so I would check this first. you can have a bad cathode driver transistor on the board. I had a few Trinitrons myself in the golden age but sadly the picture tubes got so worn out I had to replace them but boy did they look good when they were good
I wonder if one the drive transistor is shorted as it will cause what ever gun it is connected to to go full blast or other words cause the tube to over load. I have seen that happen on a tv and it gave the same results as what your having with that monitor except it was the red gun instead of the green. It could be the tube but check the circuit that drives the tube.
92 caps? That's quite a lot my man. I hope you get this sorted
Steve, maybe you can help me.
I bought a 20" Sony Trinitron CRT. I was planning on playing my PS2 using the component input. Once I plugged the PS2, I only got the sound, no image.
Funny thing is that the component input on my TV is named Video 3, and even the green word Video 3 flickers / fuzzy...
I wonder if my TV Component input is broken... I don't know what to do.
There is a video output changer built into ps2 startup when no disk inaerted but to change output setings you must put it in composite yellow red and white leads on a regular tv to see what your doing first. That trinitron is working if you see a screen number
@@sirconkers342 Yes I have done that already and changed the Composite Output from RGB to YPbPr.. still not working 😕
Don't you have a CRT Tester like B&K 467? This would help you to find out if the Tube is shorted
I also have FW900 and mine is working but not without problems. Main problem is that when it is just turned on I have green instead of black. And it requires about 30 minutes to warm up before black becomes black. Other problems with geometry which cannot be fixed with menu controls, however not very badly.
i dont think your warm up time is a "problem", this is normal behaviour on the FW900, as long at its black levels are normal after warmup, and this happens after the monitor as been turned off for some time, similar also happens on mine, in my case the blacks look way grayish, like you have the setting "brightness" (black level) maxed out, when i turn the monitor on after being off for a while (hours) but at about 30 min as well as yours, its back levels are back to normal.
as for geometry, i dont know how imperfect it look on yours, but its normal you cannot get 100% perfect geometry on this monitor, but you can get close to perfect with some geometry tweaking from the OSD menu, that you hardly note its geom imperfections in normal monitor usage, and just at the sides of the monitor.
the following are the settings i use for geometry on my FW900, i am aware not all CRT monitors including FW900 behave the same as other same brand and model ones and most like my settings would not work on yours as in mine, but it doesnt hurt me to share, so my settings for geometry are:
at order of appareance from top to bottom from the OSD GEOM FW900 menu settings:
38
53
45
69
49
those settings give me a satisfying geometry to my likes.
however i also have a greenish issue similar to how it looks in this video when i turn my monitor after being off for several hours, but fortnately it only last some few seconds and dissapear, some times it auto shuts down the monitor automatically, sometimes not, strangely this issues started to occur after the monitor was not used for about 3 months, before that, it never happened but now always occurs after being off for several hours.
@@3dfan797 thanks for your response. Yes, when not warmed up mine also looks washed out but also with green tint on the blacks. Ok. Maybe it’s not the big of a problem. And I can fix geometry to a decent level from the menu. But few parameters maxed out. But as I know after geometry board recap it should be more correct on the default settings and easier to make it closer to perfect.
You need to adjust G2 in WinDAS
@@wormbagged Oh, yes. Thank you. I completely forgot about it! I've tried to adjust G2 a bit. Don't remember the exact result. But then I thought to find some local experts to help with recap and adjustments. And since then didn't touch it for more than a year now. I'm from Ukraine and I think you know the situation right now. Not sure when I can try it again
Windas
Loved it, keep it coming
Looks like one of the monitors john carmak wrote the doom 3 engine on
please excuse my ignorance, i am not expert on electronics, but, someone that saw this video and seems to have experience in electronics claimed that this is a mistake to test capacitor while being soldered on the board, for acurrate capacitor readings from what i have heard, they must be removed from the board and then tested, because when you test them while soldered on the board, you are also reading and testing other parts that share traces with the capacitors.
also i remember i heard this as well in the past from an electronics teacher, so just wanted to make this comment in case it makes sense.
cool one clean one is for sale on ebay right now
curious if you would sell the recapped boards out of this monitor. Thanks
Steve sounds like he’s doing the station announcementa for the London underground “oi guvnor, there is a short on the tube in the green line”
I'm really loving using the GoPro and the feeling I get now like I'm really talking to the audience. Oh, and damn that Green line!
I would pay big bucks for Sony to make a new run of these legendary monitors. Extra points for putting in a curved tube.
The curved version of the FW900 is the W900, I would be absolutely ecstatic if I owned both of these, or really just one of them lol, but the curved one would be incredible for classic widescreen PC/console games, the FW900 is the ultimate modern gaming display.
my sony FW900 is showing that retraced lined greenish screen everytime i turn it on after being off for several hours, it has been doing it since many months. some times i had to turn it on many times due to it auto turning off as with this video but after some seconds the greenish screen dissapears.
weird thing is it never happens when the monitor is warm, always happens after several hours being off, and this issue started to happen after the monitor was not used for about 3 months, as if that greenish screen seemed to be related to someting being cold with the monitor and needs to get warm to get rid of that.
I'd still hold onto it if you can't get it to work in the hopes that you come across another broken one and can piece together one fully working unit
Aw man... I'm sure all those nicely re conditioned boards and parts will come in handy or sell for a gud amount sooner or later.
I got a 30 inch trinitron, works fine kind of.. colors are pinks though, can't adjust it with the settings, thinking the tube is shot..?
I own a few of these I have one that works for a while then shuts off after about an hour . I havent done anything with it because I've got others. I'm following to see what is wrong awesome video. I also subscribed keep it up.⁶
Awww, such an awesome sweet guy
I got a fw900 too that stopped working but have zero clue on how to fix it:(
you get it working yet? Looks like such a nice crt
Hey Steve! Would you consider looking at another FW900 in the future? It is functioning, and I got a TTL to Serial adapter and Era appropriate laptop. :)
Haha, as long as it is a preventative maintenance job and not a "maybe the tube works" Job. I actually wanted to try this one before yours to get a little experience on a donor model.
@@RetroTechUSA sounds great actually! I’ll get some pics and send it over!
BTW Sad this HP wasn’t functioning after that recap job, but still really enjoyed the video!
Just like that tiny Indextron from the 80s.
Maybe five years ago I saw a craigslist ad giving away a FW-900 for free lol
I was referred to this channel since I have been searching for someone that could help repair these monitors. The expertise for restoring these beasts are disappearing fast. I got two FW-900s, but only really used one to its current death and have no guts to try the other yet. I can describe the way it died since it also yields the same blinking amber led:
In its dying days, the monitor had to "warm up" with dark images/screens for a while, as any bright/white screen will send it into that blinking amber led failure state. It also had those diagonal lines on the image while "warming up" but they were light blue. People online kept mentioning something about windas, but I have no idea if that would even work with the monitor now that it no longer could even "warm up" and just goes straight to that blinking failure mode. I imagine a lot of the capacitors and resistors has gone bad by the time 2013 rolled around thus its current death.
I've quit video games until I have the means to resurrect the beauty. While I'd prefer to have 2 working FW-900s, I may have to make the tough decision to Frankenstein's up a single superior model. Where does one find someone that can service these monitors?
Is this better than the KD superfne pitch hdmi and atsc tuner equipped usa models?
Out of curiousity legit asking.
I have a trinitron monitor inside of a mame conversion that I built. On cold starts it has that green tint/ crooked green lines, same as yours. But with mine as it warms up it it goes away over the span of 10-15 minutes. Then works perfect for hours. Not sure what kind of problem it is but would like to know. Its not really bothered me too much because it goes away but I am sure my monitor is on its way out one of these days.
The G2 voltage needs tweaking a little, there will be a pot on back inside you can calibrate with a screwdriver, needs to be done when switch on, so you can see where it needs to be so careful not to touch anything high-voltage.
@@Wobble2007 Thanks!
So you have the C520K and the FW900 now, haha you are one very fortunate guy, the C520K is actually slightly superior to FW900, and IMO there is still one better than both of these monitors, the Sony GDM-5002PT9, all three have the amazing SMPTE-C phosphors, which render unbelievably rich and vivid colors, but the 5002PT9 has a slightly curved screen, it's otherwise exactly the same as the C520K, but the curved screen just makes everything pop more on the screen, it also gives the image more depth, so the overall IQ of 5002PT9 is just unbeaten and the best I've ever seen on any other CRT, look forward to watching the vid.
So far after comparing different CRTs, the one that stands out far above the others would be the F520 to me. The sharpness is really something else with its 0.22mm aperture grille, and the specs are amongst the highest as well. I much perfer that one compared to the FW900, but I have to say the aspect ratio of the FW900 can be really appreciated depending on what you are using it for. The F520 also has SMPTE-C phosphors, and when calibrated correctly is absolutely mindblowing.
Now if I have to mention another CRT that I would appreciate a huge lot, but for different reasons, it would be the Iiyama Vision Master Pro 514. That one has no hardware vertical or horizontal refresh rate limit, and it's quite fun to see lower resolutions at a whooping 300+ or even 400+ Hz. It's the same for the smaller Vision Master Pro 454, but I haven't tested this one. I never thought there was a PC CRT able to do that, but this one does. It has a really nice picture as well, with a Diamondtron tube this time. But of course nowhere close to the picture quality of the F520.
The C520K is not special, its near identical to the Dell P1130 and bunch of other CR1 Sony monitors. The GDM-F520 is the only CR1 chassis with a .22mm tube and it also has upgraded video board and other small differences.
@@Slay3rOne The VMP514 is a piece of garbage that has a hilariously low real bandwidth for its specs - the high resolutions look blurry as hell. Iiyama in general is Samsung-grade as a brand.
@@anomyymi0108 Not true at all for the blur at high resolutions, at least not on mine. That's weird. And what do you mean low bandwidth?! I literally displayed 2880x1800 at 105Hz interlaced, 1600x1200 at 210Hz interlaced, 3840x2880 at 52Hz interlaced (that one was dumb, but fun to see working). I've never seen anything blurry at all! Same thing for progressive at around half the refresh rate. Now you have the limitation of the aperture grille of course. This is a 0.24mm AG pitch, which is not as good as some other models, but it resolves what it can, and does so as sharply as it can at least on mine.
@@Slay3rOne I could be wrong, I'm basing this off reviews from the time and general experience with iiyama as a brand (they have a habit of underspeccing their amps). Can you try 1440p93hz, and compare it to 1440p75hz, how much difference in smearing is there between the two?
i have one of these, needs an unobtanium rgb amplifier/driver
check the bias voltage and bias resistor
Did you try swapping the green drive for another colour (on the neck board) - just to see if you can prove if the green gun is borked?
Thanks I did check voltages going into the tube before it shuts itself off. The green voltage is 0 pretty much. That means there could be a component out. The issue is just figuring out this neck board. It's really unique and more than likely involves one of the internal boards also. May be hope yet!
Hello, very good channel with a real crt screen enthusiast, I would like to have an expert opinion like you, here I have a 20 inch sun microsysteme pc screen, the screen works perfectly I just have a problem on a very small horizontal line, is it repairable?
Sounds like a stabilisation wire for the aperture grill of a Trinitron/Diamondtron tube.
Oh wow! 🎉
Big transistor in psu or flyback transistor &capacitor
I miss tube TVs
This monitor was manufactured in 2001.
got one for sale to canada ?
Is there sommes to buy?
I had a trinitron crt that would have these lines sometimes, and not power on. But after putting a heat blower on it for a couple minutes it would work again. Ps I am way less technical than you, just an experience i had. In more technical comments below also talk about heat i see.
23 / 29 caps bad, why not just do a full recap at that point?
Cool tv… how much for that sweet Elsa bike in the background?
Treasure like gold coins and shiny jewelry can be reproduced. These monitors will never be made again.
Rip that tube. :(
Off ebay, I can't even afford one of these without going to a blood bank and donating my kidney.
Sucks that it’s dead…I was really hoping this was more of a dev dive of it
Just like that tiny Indextron from the 80s that will never work; there’s a video he made about that.
Stupid me:
3:00
I can verify that the CRT-Tube does not need to be discharged while its un-pluged or pluged-in XD
*this model
Only to think that I had the chance to buy a FW900 4 or 5 years ago for only 90€ 😑
Have you ever got around fixing this bad boy?
This monitor reminds me of the Indextron; both don’t work and are very rare.
The FW900 is not rare, just expensive.
@@wormbagged Just because of Linus TT inflation. Sometimes prices are bullocks on the net. Same with certain game cartridges. Everyone sell their used one for say 100 bucks, but there are always like 100 available on Ebay. They just follow the others like sheep, and none gets actually sold. Just find a "Make an offer" one, offer 50%, and big chance you get it.
Bought one of these exact models in 2008. Lasted about 5 years. One day the power went off and I could never turn it back on. Dropped it off at Best Buy for recycling. Nothing I could do to fix it. Sad day. That being said... I don't miss it too much. You could always see the aperture grill wires which annoyed me. 😔
Ya got one! 😬
HP didn't make the screen. They were made by Sony. I know, I used to work for Sony and we just supplied the CRT's to them.
Best is tv color sharp mod c2199b.
I want one, I want one now😑
Is it better than a BVM?
The tube is basically the same as in a A24 and D24 BVM.
It depends on the use you make of it. Me personally I'd take a high end CRT monitor over a PVM/BVM anytime, for its flexibility.
By that I mean it is not limited to specific standard resolutions like 480p, 1080i and else, it can display whatver you throw at it as long is it's within its specs. But that said, most PC CRT monitors including the FW900 do not natively display 240p/480i contents, and would require adapters to connect consoles. For 240p for example, using a line doubler like the OSSC brings a monitor like that as close as you can get to what would be displayed on a native 240p CRT, with the scanlines looking exactly the same as well.
Now, note that I am more interested in PC games when we talk about retro gaming, so I can't say I was able to do a lot of comparison myself with consoles, but I did run some tests with a SNES, PS2 and PS3 on the FW900, F520 and a few other Trinitron and Diamondtron monitors. Basically, with the correct adapters and if the monitor is well calibrated (there is software for that with Sony monitors), I can't imagine a BVM having a noticeable better display quality.
And also note than the FW900 has the same tube than the BVM D24 but the D24 is limited to the 1080i standard when the FW900 does 1080p, and 2304x1440 at 80Hz (which is only useful if using it on a PC, though). Fun fact, the FW900 (or was it the F520? I don't remember) can also display 4K60, when using the right hardware and pushing things to the absolute limits, but there is no real usefulness in that.
To conclude, I, myself, feel much more at ease using a high end Trinitron/Diamondtron PC monitor compared to a PVM/BVM for the flexibility. I wouldn't see a PVM/BVM as an upgrade at all, rather a downgrade. But that's my own opinion, remember that I play more on PC than consoles, that of course does affect my judgement quite a bit here.
@@Slay3rOne Elden Ring 4k 60fps on this monitor...I would love to see this.
@@joshforsyth5710 It has some noticeable flicker at 60Hz though, so I'm not sure it would be too comfortable playing long like that.
@@Slay3rOne 1440p then?
I just foundlike 4 or 5 of those CRTs that gamers always buy... bought all of them sold one for 400$ already
The male (?) alternative to Vinted clothing resellers.... Maybe you spend 400$ at the gym to be actually strong enough for this side hustle?
CRT
I wouldn't put it ahead of a D20 or D24 or D32 ☺️
Eh it might just be :) well d32 is the boss. I should know lol.
Definitely looks like a shorted tube.
Sony monitors have G2 drift which can look like a shorted tube.
ich habe einen funktionierenden zu verkaufen. Versand in Österreich oder nach Deutschland.
I believe you are just changing way too many things at the same time, of course its hard to have this outcome when you have put this much time in one project, that's why you have to test one thing at a time. wanna recap the whole monitor? no problem, but find the problem first
If anyone needs an adapter dp-vga that can reach 375mhz aka 3000x1600 @60hz. Just let me know.
This is so overhyped. A CRT is great for PAL/NTSC game consoles. This one does not support those. And if you consider it is like 2 grand at least, that is quite a bit for a CRT without relevant use case.
Imagine doing 1080p games on this. A free-to-collect Pioneer Plasma from 2009 destroys this with perfect geometry, wider gamut, greater contrast and more sharpness. For 0€! And it is MUCH easier to hook up, and it DOES work with your old consoles, as it has, drums ruffling, 3x SCART (RGB+composite+C/L), S-video, Component, 4x HDMI, VGA, composite and rusty goo'ol RF. Compare that to 1 VGA and 1 BNC input (try to find cables for that!)