Philips 14C

My dad bought this new.

It was used with his Cyrix 133, max res. 800x600, 14".

hwh wrote on 2024-05-14, 00:54:

My dad bought this new.

It was used with his Cyrix 133, max res. 800x600, 14".

This was the same monitor that our first family PC had, though I think it was under a different brand. Man did I miss those simple analog dials after upgrading - every monitor that I used since is just garbage when it comes to settings, especially CRTs where I had to constantly move and stretch the image using the awful menus where the button functions keep changing.

Philips 107E5 - got this insanely cheap ($3nz) a few months ago. Has a few minor issues - it's quite yellowed on the back (who cares) and the buttons are a bit stuck (but still work if you push hard enough).

It does up to 1280x1024, but I run it at 1024x768 and use my 16:10 LCD for anything above (mostly 1600x1200).

Overall very happy with this purchase. I swore I wouldn't buy another CRT (I have a Sony PVM for my consoles that cost a bomb) but couldn't resist, took a punt on this and wasn't disappointed.

Relisys Analog/TTL monitor

I just picked up a new old stock Samsung SyncMaster 753s ! I I had the 19" version of the SyncMaster back in the day, but this 17" is even better with the limited space I have now. I'll post pictures of my retro closet later.

Lodge_ wrote on 2024-06-29, 10:41:

I just picked up a new old stock Samsung SyncMaster 753s ! I I had the 19" version of the SyncMaster back in the day, but this 17" is even better with the limited space I have now. I'll post pictures of my retro closet later.

Holy F. Good find. That these things are still lingering in warehouses, store rooms or wherever... I hope it still works. Do show followup photos when you get a chance.

My retro corner has:

Siemens Nixdorf MCM 2110 NTD:
Absolute beast of a 21” computer monitor. Awesome picture and glorious size.

JVC DT-V 1710CG
Professional 17” multi-sync CRT that does 15khz all the way up to 720p/1080i. Perfect for Amiga and other stuff that gives 50/60hz signals.

Also added a bonus pic that better shows what a chunky boi the Siemens Nixdorf is.

My spare monitors for the C64/Amiga. I'll have to book a time to use a 3D printer at the local library to make the missing front panel of the 1084S.

The monitors are:
Phillips CM833-II
Commodore 1084S-P
Commodore 1084S-D2

The main 1084 is missing from the picture, because that's the one i'm using.. not daily but weekly or montly.

NEC 17 and 15 CRT to match the desktop. Acer Monochrome 14. JVC-TM15cg for my Amiga 1200 which i would love to switch to commodore’s 1084.

On Console side a pair of Sony BVM D20 and A20

Hi! New here. Starting off with an easy thread. My Sun Micro System GDM-5410. 21" of 1600x1200 max goodness! Scooped for free off Craigslist 4 or 5 years ago.

Complete with VGA (HD15) output and 13W3 integrated cable.

A few minor scuffs on it that I could probably get off without too much effort if I ever actually tried, but I'm also too busy playing on it. 😁

How come the HUD is all messed up?

Lodge_ wrote on 2024-06-29, 10:41:

I just picked up a new old stock Samsung SyncMaster 753s ! I I had the 19" version of the SyncMaster back in the day, but this 17" is even better with the limited space I have now. I'll post pictures of my retro closet later.

Wow... nice find!!

devius wrote on 2024-10-03, 21:23:

How come the HUD is all messed up?

Doom95 which doesn't play right in this system for some reason. I just clicked on the first thing my mouse pointer found to out something gamey on the screen. 😀

The (not so) impossible has happened, free CRT VGA monitors have disappeared in the neighborhood so I asked if someone in the community had one for sale. Nothing. Recyclers are going from house to house now to collect copper sources so the golden days are over.
Managed to get this trio from the next town. The 765MB is so dim and blurry that I'm ashamed of showing it but the IBM G74 and the LG Studioworks 773 are excellent. The LG is a little strange because it doesn't have any labels on the front and it's missing the big LG logo on the back. Whatever, I didn't think I'd have to travel and PAY to get midrange CRT VGA monitors.

I have three CRT monitors but this one is oldest and maybe most interesting. It seems to have no geometry adjustment settings but that's ok for now because the geometry is very good. This monitor came with a mail order 386 my family bought in 1991. Never had any issues with it. Unfortunately the image doesn't display all the way to the plastic bezel, no matter the resolution there's always a good half inch square border between the bezel and the displayed image. It can do 640x480, but I'm not sure if it can go 800x600. Kinda don't want to test that in case it lets out the magic smoke. It's doing fine with my 386 where it's permanently on lower resolutions anyway. I'd hate to lose it.

Here you can see the constant black border since the image does not fill the screen. I don't think anything's breaking down, I don't think it ever filled the screen.

Hi, some months ago I got a 19" Philips 109B6 that reaches 1600x1200@75Hz, a cool upgrade from my previous 17" equivalent. I love the aesthetics of these Philips, also the relative small size and weight and thin bezels. And I can have more icons on each desktop as at 1280x960 it reaches 85Hz!

Some time later I was lucky to get a silver Samsung SyncMaster 957MB. Has similar refresh rate specs, but several improvements:

• Detachable VGA cable, so I could use a short one and get a sharper image on high res high refresh rate modes.
• BNC input, which gives even sharper image. And allows to have two inputs connected without using a VGA KVM that in my experience degrades sharpness.
• Better border geometry, specially in corners. This tube looked like aperture grille instead of shadow mask like the Philips, but reading about it perhaps it has a slot mask (NEC Cromaclear) that's a hybrid of both. Anyways, I don't have a Trinitron to compare with but the image quality is just fantastic.
• MagicBright: the monitor image is relatively dark by default, I had to crank parameters to the max and even then I'd like to get 10% or so brighter image for common use. But the idea is if you want a brighter image you then use the MagicBright button, that increases the brights leaving the blacks practically untouched, so in fact increasing the dynamic range. This is sort of getting a "HDR" image from SDR content. The fact is, in dark games like Quake or Unreal, I set MagicBright to max position and it makes bright lights like candles or explosions super bright, but the dark part of image not washed out at all. Then when going back to desktop brights come to the default, which are pretty comfortable. And if I have reflections from the window in a sunny day I can also use the MagicBright button to get instant image compensation.

On the other hand the SyncMaster has a higher minimum horizontal refresh threshold and I had to work hard to get the real standard 640x400 video mode timings.

Since then I've found a couple of 21" CRTs that I'd love to experience, but the price gets higher and most importantly I don't have enough space to place it without becoming a problem. So I'm happy for now, with the Philips as backup in case the Samsung dies some day in the future.

And a quick tip: increase the Saturation in the video card control panel output settings about 10%, these tubes can provide that extra colorful output without distortion.