VOGONS


Reply 20 of 35, by Sune Salminen

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Take a look at the Samsung 943BX. It's from around 2008 and I don't know what the used market looks like. But it's a fine monitor.

19"
5:4
1280x1024
Rotates
DVI and VGA

Reply 21 of 35, by Carrera

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Most CRT have a small dial for "gain" that you can adjust to make it brighter.
You may have to remove the housing to get to it.
I had a first generation Acer Aspire and the only way to adjust the gain was to remove the housing.
Do that you have to wait a good 24 hours with the monitor completely unplugged to make sure everything is discharged (might not be 100% necessary but I would rather wait than get hurt).
Carefully remove the housing so you can see the back of the monitor.
Do NOT lift or move the monitor or physically touch anything. Many components in CRT have poisons in the them and also if you break the tube it CRT will be dead.

On the back, usually near the bottom under the tube there should be little dials, usually with a Philips (cross) head on them. The may even have a label somewhere

At this point you have to hook the monitor up to a computer to see if the adjustments.

Using an isolated screwdriver (or if they do not have slot use isolating gloves e.g. latox/rubber) carefully and SLOWLY turn the dials to adjust the picture until it looks the way you want it.
Once everything looks good shut everything off. Disconnect everything, probably wait another 24 hours and reassemble.
https://youtu.be/_Qi1D1delPk?t=30

Reply 22 of 35, by SPBHM

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xjas wrote:
Finally got around to running the testing suite on the Samsung. It's been a while since I filled out this form! :P […]
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Finally got around to running the testing suite on the Samsung. It's been a while since I filled out this form! 😜

-----
Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 214T
Native res.: 1600x1200
Scaling: Crisp interpolation
Aspect ratio: 4x3, seemingly no options
Machine: P233MMX, S3 Virge DX, FreeDOS / 386DX, ET4000AX, PC DOS (Copper, Do)
UniVBE: No
Tested by: xjas

OVERALL COMPATIBILITY RATING: 11/14 - pretty good

  Application          P   F   CP  Notes
,-----------------------------------------------------------------------------.
| Ambience | | | X | Started out of range, holding 'down' until |
| | | the refresh lowered enough got it to |
| |-----------| display. Very flickery when it did. |
| Luminati | | | X | Flickered like Ambience. Displayed OK on |
| |-----------| fresh start. |
| Timeless (56Hz) | X | | | Worked perfectly. OSD showed 55 Hz. |
| Timeless (60Hz) | X | | | Worked perfectly. |
| Dowhackado | X | | | |
| Kukoo2 | | | X | Scrolling jerky. Flickers & unstable. |
| Copper | X | | | Wobble sections slightly blocky, as the |
| | | display tries to compensate for the |
| | | changing scan offset leading to a "stair |
| | | step" effect. Have seen this on other |
| | | panels too e.g. Dell 2001FP, but not all. |
| |-----------| Performance otherwise very good. |
| Sunflower | X | | | Fakemode looks good, handles mode changes |
| |-----------| pretty quickly |
| Yo | X | | | |
| Impulse Tracker | X | | | |
| CubicPlayer 132x43 | X | | | |
| Tweak 256x256 | | | X | Displayed at 240p, cropped 16px top+bottom |
| Tweak 360x480 | x | | | |
| Tweak 376x564 | | X | | Out of range. |
| PAL-on-VGA | | X | | Went into standby |
| NTSC-on-VGA | | X | | Went into standby |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Note: it seems to convert 70Hz -> 60Hz by dropping frames, as almost all panels of this era do. That causes some slightly jerky motion in scrollers, but it doesn't bother me too much. I suspect a 'true' 70Hz 1600x1200 TFT panel in a consumer-grade monitor literally doesn't exist.

I was expecting PAL & NTSC modes to work on this, as most monitors with composite & s-video jacks (like this one) allow that, but sadly no dice. 🙁 I'd still recommend it for DOS use despite its imperfect results; the parts where it failed are really edge cases. The display is REALLY vibrant & bright for a 2006 panel. It actually impressed me a lot on some of these old demos compared to the 2001FP or EP19AV (it replaced both of them in my setup.)

EDIT: FWIW the Dell 2001FP can definitely display PAL/NTSC/15kHz modes over the VGA port. They're popular with Amiga/Atari ST crowd for that reason (I sold mine to a friend to use on his A1200.)

almost all of the old (mid 2000s) LCDs that I have support up to 75Hz on windows with analogue input, and will display DOS content at 720x400 70Hz OK, for me it's difficult to say if there is frame skipping, I'm inclined to say there isn't, is there an easy/reliable way of testing it?

Reply 23 of 35, by xjas

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Just watch something you know should have smooth scrolling & look for jerkiness. If you don't notice it, it's not important. 😜

I used this: https://youtu.be/5o1bIjFmeG4?t=289 <-- note that this video has already undergone a 70->60Hz conversion. The actual demo scrolls smoothly at 70Hz.

This demo might be another good one to try.

twitch.tv/oldskooljay - playing the obscure, forgotten & weird - most Tuesdays & Thursdays @ 6:30 PM PDT. Bonus streams elsewhen!

Reply 24 of 35, by SPBHM

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xjas wrote:

Just watch something you know should have smooth scrolling & look for jerkiness. If you don't notice it, it's not important. 😜

I used this: https://youtu.be/5o1bIjFmeG4?t=289 <-- note that this video has already undergone a 70->60Hz conversion. The actual demo scrolls smoothly at 70Hz.

This demo might be another good one to try.

the youtube video doesn't look smooth
the demo on my phillips 170s at 720x400 70Hz looks perfectly smooth for me

I also checked this website https://www.testufo.com/frameskipping
I've tested on a couple of my monitors and I fail to notice any frame skipping (I also find the UFO test useful), at 70 and 75Hz on windows, one is a HP from 2010, max res is 1440x900 60hz (with dvi), one thing I like about this monitor is that it offers a 4:3 scaling option accessible with a single press of a button in the front panel, I tested it at 1024x768 70 and 75hz DVI and it seems perfectly smooth, took a picture and it all looks correct.
also tested the same Phillips 170s from 2006 which only supports analogue and up to 1280x1024 75Hz, and again 70 and 75Hz looked perfectly fine without skipping, this is a fairly average (or even bellow) monitor for mid 2000s, if it can handle 70Hz without skipping I would have a hard time thinking that not handling 70-75Hz properly is the norm for old LCDs, too bad is 5:4

Reply 25 of 35, by Chaniyth

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Since I couldn't find a Samsung SyncMaster 214T anywhere online or locally I've went ahead and purchased a Dell 2001FP manufactured in May 2005 [I can also confirm that it does indeed support 15kHz!]. Ambience and Luminati work just need to adjust it a bit with the up/down arrows from within the demo itself. Copper isn't working properly [could just be my video card; Paradise Bahamas64 S3 Trio64 VLB with 1MB]. The only downside for me is the 16ms response time however, overall I am REALLY impressed with the Dell 2001FP so far; it syncs well with classic hardware, it has great color reproduction and image quality is really good. 😎 😁

All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies, and when they catch you, they will kill you... but first they must catch you. 😁

Reply 26 of 35, by xjas

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Nice, glad you're happy with it!
Mine was a really early one from ~2001 & was getting pretty tired, I don't doubt they're great retro panels when in good shape.

twitch.tv/oldskooljay - playing the obscure, forgotten & weird - most Tuesdays & Thursdays @ 6:30 PM PDT. Bonus streams elsewhen!

Reply 27 of 35, by Windows9566

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My CRT died, i guess due to age, it was made in 1996 so it's the same age as me and my Socket 7 DOS gaming PC. It just bit the dust, died peacefully, nothing shows up, no magic smoke, nothing. I just gave up with CRTs, they're too big and not too reliable due to ageing components and also many CRTS are way past their MTBF. so i went with LCD, a Gateway FPD1810 to be exact. it's beige, which matches the old PC and the peripherals and has a 4.3 aspect ratio, it's also in good shape with no scratches to the panel and no stuck pixels or dead pixels, i steer clear away from 16.9 screens for retro gaming cause they look awful.

Last edited by Windows9566 on 2019-04-26, 04:37. Edited 2 times in total.

R5 5600X, 32 GB RAM, RTX 3060 TI, Win11
P3 600, 256 MB RAM, nVidia Riva TNT2 M64, SB Vibra 16S, Win98
PMMX 200, 128 MB RAM, S3 Virge DX, Yamaha YMF719, Win95
486DX2 66, 32 MB RAM, Trident TGUI9440, ESS ES688F, DOS

Reply 28 of 35, by Ozzuneoj

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Windows9566 wrote:

My CRT died, i guess due to age, it was made in 1996 so it's the same age as me and my Socket 7 DOS gaming PC. It just bit the dust, died peacefully, nothing shows up, no magic smoke, nothing. I just gave up with CRTs, they're too big and not too reliable due to ageing components and also many CRTS are way past their MTBF. so i went with LCD, a Gateway FPD1810 to be exact. it's beige, which matches the old PC and the peripherals and has a 4.3 aspect ratio, it's also in good shape with no scratches to the panel and no stuck pixels or dead pixels, i steer clear away from 16.9 screens for retro gaming cause they look awful.

Pretty sure that monitor is actually 5:4 ratio. 4:3 ratio LCDs are quite a bit harder to find.

Now for some blitting from the back buffer.

Reply 29 of 35, by dkarguth

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I've managed to resurrect a fair amount of my CRT monitors by just replacing the electrolytics. They have a hard life in a CRT monitor, as they get quite hot from the heat of the tube, and oftentimes they spent a while in an attic or a garage after someone upgraded.
As for LCD monitors, I second the recommendation for the Dell monitors, they are generally pretty good quality, and they are cheap as crap if you know where to look.

"And remember, this fix is only temporary, unless it works." -Red Green

Reply 30 of 35, by Windows9566

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dkarguth wrote:

I've managed to resurrect a fair amount of my CRT monitors by just replacing the electrolytics. They have a hard life in a CRT monitor, as they get quite hot from the heat of the tube, and oftentimes they spent a while in an attic or a garage after someone upgraded.
As for LCD monitors, I second the recommendation for the Dell monitors, they are generally pretty good quality, and they are cheap as crap if you know where to look.

mine still "works" but makes a clicking sound accompanied with the screen flickering every couple minutes, i'm afraid that it might blow up on me so i just have retired it and considered it as "dead". hopefully i can fix it in the future. if it's not fixable, i'm just gonna scrap it. My iMac G3 fruit color 333 mhz and Apple //e color monitor and crt tv are still kicking though. The failing CRT monitor is a no name one, not a dell or a nec or anything, something generic. I have recently found a samsung CRT monitor at the thrift store but my mom wouldn't let me have it.
HZPvjLo.jpg
i just found a photo that i took of it back in 2014 off a burned CD that i have. thats what the monitor looks like.

R5 5600X, 32 GB RAM, RTX 3060 TI, Win11
P3 600, 256 MB RAM, nVidia Riva TNT2 M64, SB Vibra 16S, Win98
PMMX 200, 128 MB RAM, S3 Virge DX, Yamaha YMF719, Win95
486DX2 66, 32 MB RAM, Trident TGUI9440, ESS ES688F, DOS

Reply 31 of 35, by hwh

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I was thinking about "recycling" one of my old CRTs, which bit the dust after a stint in a damp closet, but lately my inner pack rat is telling me the parts/repairability is worth something these days, stuff gets rare. It's a Dell (Sony) P780, bought it second hand from a shop after ViewSonic screwed me in 2006...

Probably just parts at that though, the case of the monitor is cracking at the corners of the screen and one fateful night, I leaned on the grille with my hand and cracked it down the center. *sigh*

I originally resisted TFTs because of their native resolutions, but now having used them, they obviously look better in that one resolution, and they aren't awful in others especially with the right scaling software. Also CRTs have a, uh, glow, a glare to them that is part of the picture. So although they beat the panels in sharpness in other than their native resolution, they do have that weird glare, like a halo that tints the picture.

I got 3 others on top of that and I'm very annoyed with their large size and general impracticality. I just wish they hadn't changed the aspect ratio...

Reply 32 of 35, by Ultrax

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hwh wrote:
I was thinking about "recycling" one of my old CRTs, which bit the dust after a stint in a damp closet, but lately my inner pack […]
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I was thinking about "recycling" one of my old CRTs, which bit the dust after a stint in a damp closet, but lately my inner pack rat is telling me the parts/repairability is worth something these days, stuff gets rare. It's a Dell (Sony) P780, bought it second hand from a shop after ViewSonic screwed me in 2006...

Probably just parts at that though, the case of the monitor is cracking at the corners of the screen and one fateful night, I leaned on the grille with my hand and cracked it down the center. *sigh*

I originally resisted TFTs because of their native resolutions, but now having used them, they obviously look better in that one resolution, and they aren't awful in others especially with the right scaling software. Also CRTs have a, uh, glow, a glare to them that is part of the picture. So although they beat the panels in sharpness in other than their native resolution, they do have that weird glare, like a halo that tints the picture.

I got 3 others on top of that and I'm very annoyed with their large size and general impracticality. I just wish they hadn't changed the aspect ratio...

I would say repair it, if the cosmetics aren't *too* bad. Trinitrons are hard to come by nowadays. If the cosmetics are really bad though, or if repairing it is too difficult, just harvest it for parts and recycle the rest. I've heard of people online using special (MEK?) glue to fix plastics, but that's beyond my scope of knowledge.

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Reply 33 of 35, by XTac

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Interesting topic. I've got a somewhat odd LCD screen - Eizo CG210. It is a 21 inch 1600x1200 display. All 4:3 resolutions look really sharp, and movement looks much smoother than any other "normal" LCD I have tried (I would get smudging effect, very noticeable in shooters). Unfortunately (due to age, I assume), it has a slight yellow-ish tint to the picture, as well as a dark spot in a corner.

Managed to run the Copper demo on this screen, signal from a Voodoo 3 PCI. Was able to display an entire second of the wobble demo, then it blacks out until it is over. The "zoom" test also looked incredibly wrong - other than that, it looked okay.

Reply 34 of 35, by detritus olentus

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Sometimes with a google maps search, depending on where you live, you might still be able to find television repair shops. If they're run by someone who has been doing it a while they will likely be able to repair CRT stuff for you. I stopped in one recently and they said they could do it (my biggest CRT has begun clicking randomly) but its costly. Dude said he had repaired some retro gamer's PVM monitor but it was close to $200 with all the labor involved.

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Reply 35 of 35, by dkarguth

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hwh wrote:
I was thinking about "recycling" one of my old CRTs, which bit the dust after a stint in a damp closet, but lately my inner pack […]
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I was thinking about "recycling" one of my old CRTs, which bit the dust after a stint in a damp closet, but lately my inner pack rat is telling me the parts/repairability is worth something these days, stuff gets rare. It's a Dell (Sony) P780, bought it second hand from a shop after ViewSonic screwed me in 2006...

Probably just parts at that though, the case of the monitor is cracking at the corners of the screen and one fateful night, I leaned on the grille with my hand and cracked it down the center. *sigh*

I originally resisted TFTs because of their native resolutions, but now having used them, they obviously look better in that one resolution, and they aren't awful in others especially with the right scaling software. Also CRTs have a, uh, glow, a glare to them that is part of the picture. So although they beat the panels in sharpness in other than their native resolution, they do have that weird glare, like a halo that tints the picture.

I got 3 others on top of that and I'm very annoyed with their large size and general impracticality. I just wish they hadn't changed the aspect ratio...

If you care more about the rigidity of the plastic than the cosmetics,you can 'weld' the plastic together using a soldering iron. By melting the plastic along the crack just enough to mix it together (make light swirling motions along the surface, but don't plunge the iron deep into the plastic) you can keep the crack from spreading for the most part. Keep in mind though, it doesn't always look pretty.

"And remember, this fix is only temporary, unless it works." -Red Green