I got a new Retro gaming TV that is a dream come true... Check out Bonk on it

[WCP]

I've known for quite some time that Sony makes some incredible professional monitors, that can be used with old video game systems. Many older game systems can output RGB. If you can get that RGB signal to some of these Sony monitors, the end results can be fantastic. The thing is, normally it's very difficult to find a Sony PVM or BVM monitor in really good condition. I've owned a number of them over the years, and they all have one problem or another. Of course, all of these have been well used, and have probably seen countless hours of use in some video prodction facility or what not. I've never got ahold of one in perfect condition. Till now....

I was able to buy an almost brand new Sony PVM-20M2MDU monitor. I say "almost" brand new, because the monitor had been used, but only for maybe a month, if that. It was manufactured in September 2003, and it was used for about a month, and then packed away and never used again. Here is an example of what it looks like:




These monitors were made for the medical industry. They are typically used as endoscopy monitors. Luckily, they also work extremely well for analog rgb devices like old school video games. I was able to borrow a buddies RGB modded TG-16, and test the puppy out. Only had two games to play unfortunately. Keith Courage and Bonk's Adventure. These pictures aren't going to do the real thing justice. Trust me, in person this monitor looks absolutely spectacular. I've seen RGB modded Turbografx systems before on various monitors, and they almost always look good, but this goes even beyond that. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that this monitor is basically brand new. All of the other monitors I've seen are from the mid 90's, and they've seen heavy usage. This baby is like it just came from the factory a week ago.



Keith Courage
















Unfortunately, I just don't think the pictures above really do this monitor justice. I don't have the kind of camera that would be necessary to try to capture what the quality is like. The only way I could describe it, is that it was similar to like when you would go to a local Arcade, and they just got in a brand new cabinent, and you can tell that everything is new. The monitor is crystal clear, and sharp. The color and detail is just off the charts. I can see every tiny little detail. I can't recommend these Sony monitors highly enough. Especially if you can get one in near new condition, one that was made in 2002 or later and doesn't have a ton of hours on it. I think the BVM-20F1U is even better than this one, but I haven't had any luck finding one in near perfect condition. For now though, I'm perfectly happy with this one.

[wingzrow]

Outstanding pictures. I too hope one day to find a RGB monitor like yours. My sony trinitron only does S-Video at most.

What size is it, and what kind of jacks does it have in the back? If it has composite, s-video, AND RGB, I may have to track one down myself.

[Tron 2.0]

The picture for that monitor looks sharp to me and how much do they go for ?

[treismac]

Wow. That monitor looks absolutely beautiful!!! Very nice find. I need to make some contacts in the medical industry.

[wiggyx]

Pics of CRTs always suck. That said, the colors in those pics are beyond intense! Looks incredible. I think I have a toy to start hunting for...

Good find!

[WCP]

What size is it, and what kind of jacks does it have in the back? If it has composite, s-video, AND RGB, I may have to track one down myself.

The monitor is a 20 inch monitor, but I think the screen size is 19 inches viewable. It has composite, S-video, RGB and component (the component is non-progressive scan). It also has a single speaker, but I just send the audio to my stereo. One thing I must mention, is that the connections on the back are BNC type connectors, so you have to go to Radio Shack to get the little BNC adpaters to use regular RCA type cables with it. I'm pretty sure all the professional Sony monitors are like that.

The picture for that monitor looks sharp to me and how much do they go for ?

A used Sony PVM-20M2MDU can go for as cheap as 50 bucks, to as high as one grand. Just depends on where you're getting it from. The most I would pay is about $200, and that would only be for a brand new one. I paid $100 for the one I got. I did an Ebay search and turned this up:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/290784906330

That guy is selling supposedly brand new ones for $150 plus shipping. If these are truly brand new, then it is an absolute steal. It's extremely rare to see a brand new Sony PVM being sold for less than $500 or more. It says in the auction that the guy has 10 of them. Maybe he has a warehouse that just had a ton of them sitting in there, and they are just liquidating them or something.

Wow. That monitor looks absolutely beautiful!!! Very nice find. I need to make some contacts in the medical industry.

There are lots of different kinds of Sony PVM and BVM monitors that will work. You don't have to get one of the medical ones. I only got this one because I found a guy locally that had one that was used in a medical office for only about a month, and then put away in storage for about 9 years. Honestly, the best Sony monitors that I've seen for use with old school video game consoles are the BVM-20F1U monitors. Those things are absolutely spectacular. Back in the early 2000's, you could buy a brand new BVM-20F1U for the nice tidy sum of 14 grand. I'm not joking. The Sony BVM 20F1U actually sold for 13 to 14 grand brand spanking new in the early 2000's. You might wonder how the fuck Sony could get so much money for them? Well, primarily they were used in Television production studios. For example, you know how Monday Night Football has these TV production trucks that they send to the site of each game ? Well back in the late 1990's and early 2000's, I'd imagine that they would have maybe 30 or 40 BVM-20F1U's rack mounted on their trucks for use with the production of the broadcast.

The amazing thing is, you can find these BVM-20F1U's on Ebay now for as cheap as $100 or $200, but you still have to be careful. Some of these monitors were used in situations in which they would be running almost 24/7. You don't want to get one that has a ton of hours on it. Also, preferably, you'd want to get one that was manufactured in 2002 or 2003 or 2004 or something like that. You don't want one from 1996, because it's probably seen so much use over the years, that it's lifespan could be running out, or it could have other issues. Still, if you can find one in good condition, made in the 2000's, with relatively low hours on it, then you can enjoy some unbelievably high quality video signals from any console that is capable of analog RGB output.

[jb143]

At my last job we had some of these(or something very similar at least) on our surface mount pick-and-place machines. They were attached to some kind of microscope camera so you could see the components up close. They had a really sharp picture and I always thought they'd make great gaming monitors.

[wingzrow]

"It only has one speaker"

Does the BVM-20F1U happen to two speakers?

If neither has it, what's my best option if I want to make one of these my main retro gaming TV?

I'm seriously considering ordering one as an early Christmas present.

PS: They never made these in 27 did they?

[Tanooki]

I've seen those tv's before and they do CRT some fine justice when it comes to games. I'd bother finding one but I have a Sharp NES TV in exceptionally good shape which I get awesome results on with that or through the RF the Master System and N64 I have jacked into it too.

[Jack_Burton_BYOAC]

The 20M2MDU has an incredible picture and it's in the running for best retro display device, but I would also consider an NEC XM 29 or a Mitsubishi AR series to be very, very close or better in certain ways.

One cool thing you can do if you are just looking to test what it looks like or want a taste of the same sort of razor sharp, pixel perfect performance of the PVM series is you can use a CRT PC monitor like this one.



Take note that this monitor is a trinitron too, but it doesn't really have to be. All it needs is to be able to support 240p at 120hz. By doubling the refresh rate of standard 240p/60hz you can enable true 240p RGB on pretty much any old CRT monitor made in the last 15 years. The only visible difference from a regular 60hz 240p mode is that there will be less flicker to the screen, and that's usually a -good- thing. Too bad this is pretty much only possible with emulators.

[Edmond Dantes]

I've seen devices that allow you to use computer monitors as televisions, and hook up RGB or S-Video devices into them.

My main concern with such a thing would be light gun games. I'm given to understand that they only work on certain kinds of monitors. I have an Emerson TV with a built-in VCR and DVD player (works great, but for Playstation or above games I often have to turn the brightness or contrast up because it makes the picture dark) that I've used since about 2005 and it hasn't let me down yet.

[WCP]

"It only has one speaker"

Does the BVM-20F1U happen to two speakers?

If neither has it, what's my best option if I want to make one of these my main retro gaming TV?

I'm seriously considering ordering one as an early Christmas present.

PS: They never made these in 27 did they?

Well, the thing is, the built in speakers on any TV is usually going to be crap. That's just the way it is, so I always run the audio to somewhere else. If you just need a super tiny amp to connect two speakers to, then I'd recommend a Dayton DTA-1 amp. It's a little tiny amp that provides good sound, and allows you to hook two speakers up to it. The input on it is like a microphone jack type input, and you just go to radio shack and get a thing that has a microphone jack on one end, and a red and white female RCA connectors on the other end, and you're in business.


There are 25 inch Sony PVM's, and I think 27 inches as well, but honestly, I'd stick with the 20 inch ones. You can get a Sony PVM-2530, which I believe is 25 inches, but I've owned 3 of those things over the last 10 years, and all 3 of them have had various problems. Plus, I think they stopped making them in the late 90's, so you're not going to find one that was made in 2003 or anything like that. More likely they will have been made in 1995, and have a ton of wear and tear from heavy usage. Again, the 20 inch Sony BVM-20F1U is the gold standard.




Here is a couple of Genesis pics on my monitor:

[Jack_Burton_BYOAC]

I've seen devices that allow you to use computer monitors as televisions, and hook up RGB or S-Video devices into them.

My main concern with such a thing would be light gun games. I'm given to understand that they only work on certain kinds of monitors. I have an Emerson TV with a built-in VCR and DVD player (works great, but for Playstation or above games I often have to turn the brightness or contrast up because it makes the picture dark) that I've used since about 2005 and it hasn't let me down yet.

Those devices will scale the image up to some higher resolution like 640x480. They don't provide the ability to play in native 240p. As far as I know there aren't any dedicated devices out there that will double the vertical scan rate of a signal coming from a game console.

If there's one drawback to using PC monitors as your primary display it is that they aren't designed to give off as much luminosity as a TV because you're usually less than two feet from them. That can make games look a little bit dull.


That PVM is looking nice and bright. Even though it is technically a monitor it still has the same luminousity specs as a tv, or maybe even better. For colorful games you'll never beat it. I agree that the 20 inch size is about right. Over that size the reliability of these sorts start to plummet. I've owned about a dozen "pro" RGB monitors, and my little PVM-1271Q looked and performed the best.

[wingzrow]

The 20M2MDU has an incredible picture and it's in the running for best retro display device, but I would also consider an NEC XM 29 or a Mitsubishi AR series to be very, very close or better in certain ways.

One cool thing you can do if you are just looking to test what it looks like or want a taste of the same sort of razor sharp, pixel perfect performance of the PVM series is you can use a CRT PC monitor like this one.



Take note that this monitor is a trinitron too, but it doesn't really have to be. All it needs is to be able to support 240p at 120hz. By doubling the refresh rate of standard 240p/60hz you can enable true 240p RGB on pretty much any old CRT monitor made in the last 15 years. The only visible difference from a regular 60hz 240p mode is that there will be less flicker to the screen, and that's usually a -good- thing. Too bad this is pretty much only possible with emulators.

I can't seem to find anyone online selling a NEC XM29, but the size they made them in is really appealing. How long did they make these?

[Jack_Burton_BYOAC]

I can't seem to find anyone online selling a NEC XM29, but the size they made them in is really appealing. How long did they make these?

I don't know how many years they were made. There are far fewer in the wild than the PVM series. Your best bet to grab one is to check the buy/sell/trade section of a few different websites and ebay.

I go to

forum.arcadecontrols.com
shmups.system11.org

[Scotterpop]

I've got the PVM-1954Q, an older model, but the picture quality is freaking outstanding. Can't recommend these monitors enough. Truly the best tube-based gaming monitor I've ever used. And the picture fine-tuning options are absolutely ridiculous. "Get you one!"

[Tron 2.0]

The monitor is a 20 inch monitor, but I think the screen size is 19 inches viewable. It has composite, S-video, RGB and component (the component is non-progressive scan). It also has a single speaker, but I just send the audio to my stereo. One thing I must mention, is that the connections on the back are BNC type connectors, so you have to go to Radio Shack to get the little BNC adpaters to use regular RCA type cables with it. I'm pretty sure all the professional Sony monitors are like that.



A used Sony PVM-20M2MDU can go for as cheap as 50 bucks, to as high as one grand. Just depends on where you're getting it from. The most I would pay is about $200, and that would only be for a brand new one. I paid $100 for the one I got. I did an Ebay search and turned this up:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/290784906330

That guy is selling supposedly brand new ones for $150 plus shipping. If these are truly brand new, then it is an absolute steal. It's extremely rare to see a brand new Sony PVM being sold for less than $500 or more. It says in the auction that the guy has 10 of them. Maybe he has a warehouse that just had a ton of them sitting in there, and they are just liquidating them or something.

Thanks my old commodore 64 1702 has been flaky as of late and i all ways thought,i need to replace it one day.

[wingzrow]

Well, I just bit the bullet and bought one ($237 yikes), but I've seen nothing but praise about these, not only here, but on every other forum I looked it up on, and I've never had a RGB or VGA monitor for old games before, so this should keep me busy for awhile. My wii has emulators hacked onto it, and they supposedly display at their original resolutions, so that's what I'm hoping will hold me over until I start modding my older systems for RGB.

What do I need to prepare for this new monitor before it arrives?

You said it has BNC plugs in the back so I can't use component right out of the box right?

Also need some speaker recommendations, since I don't have an amp, OR a speaker to use with it yet.

[Jack_Burton_BYOAC]

Which specific model did you buy?

You'll want to visit radio shack and purchase BNC to phono adapters for your component cable. They look like this:



If you bought the XM29 you probably won't need external speakers. The built-in ones are very good.

I don't want to steal WCP's thunder, but I think I have a pretty good monitor too. It's a Mitsubishi AM-3501R. It's quite old, and quite large.

The tube is an odd size, 35" with 33.5" viewable.


There are quite a few connections.



R-type Leo



Super Street Fighter II Turbo


Street Fighter III: Third Strike


This monitor is not quite as razor sharp as the PVM series. However, that is not necessarily a bad thing. You only want the display to be clear enough to display all the detail of the game. If the dot pitch of a monitor is too fine then the scanlines of the display will be too visible. You actually want a rather coarse pitch when it comes to 240p gaming. With a course pitch you get a fuller, brighter image. IMO the older the 15khz RGB capable monitor you can find, the better.

[wingzrow]

The exact one linked earlier from eBay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/290784906330