So, picked up the next one. 🤣 A PVM-20M2E. I think now I'm really set with those monitors 🤣
This thing is a real monster. Pictures on the internet simply don't do it justice. It doesn't have the HR tube (going by the lack of the logo) but I have to say games look absolutely stunning on it just due to its sheer size. It's basically an arcade monitor.
I found the situation with the brightness to be similar to my BVM. It's a bit better when comparing medium settings on both but I simply prefer the brighter, more vibrant colors when contrast is set to max. Am I the only one feeling like that? I remember the contrast setting causing the colors to quickly become oversaturated and ugly on consumer sets, but with these professional ones not at all for whatever reason. It just feels like this is the "real" brightness setting, as the actual brightness dial just causes everything to go white.
Funnily enough, the moire when feeding it interlaced video is just exactly the same. It must be either due to the 3rd party AV cable im using with the PSX or it's just what the console outputs. Either way I can't imagine the two monitors having the exact same defect.
It does have its own imperfections though... the convergence is a just a tad off, and it seems like it's only affecting the bottom part of the screen. I only notice it with white text. It's certainly not visible when sitting far enough away. Also something that I have to get used to when using this beast is the high pitched noise. With 14"ers it's insignificant but here... yeah, it is audible (when not running a game at least). I don't want to know how loud a 27"er would be. But that and the bulkyness is just the price you have to pay to use a CRT 😀
Edit:
Figured the moire issue out... it was simply the cable not making good contact with the AV out. Can happen with 3rd party peripherals.
Also, figured out how to bring up the service menu (menu, degauss+enter), so no need for any monitor opening 😀