24" Widescreen CRT (FW900) From Ebay arrived,Comments.

[ellover009]

I think my friend has an old windows 98 laptop with that port. Gonna borrow it.

 

[ellover009]

Got the laptop, old as hell, windows 98 I think it's a pentium 1, but it has parallel port.

Still trying to get win Das working, it's a bit harder since most of the links are caches to stuff from 5yrs ago, it's always missing some file, I wonder with the technology they had when they developed that software they couldn't come up with a solution so all files came with it.
Nokia monitor test refuses to work with windows 7 64. I will have to postpone some of the work until Friday unless I can get my act together with this.

 

[Rock&Roll]

You might be able to get away with win7 x64 using XP mode (virtual PC) and a USB->RS232 cable.

 

[haste]

Got the laptop, old as hell, windows 98 I think it's a pentium 1, but it has parallel port.

Still trying to get win Das working, it's a bit harder since most of the links are caches to stuff from 5yrs ago, it's always missing some file, I wonder with the technology they had when they developed that software they couldn't come up with a solution so all files came with it.
Nokia monitor test refuses to work with windows 7 64. I will have to postpone some of the work until Friday unless I can get my act together with this.

have u tried the package i put together a few years ago? i think it includes everything you need...please let me know if it doesnt!

http://haste.4saken.org/windas/WinDAS.zip

 

[ellover009]

You might be able to get away with win7 x64 using XP mode (virtual PC) and a USB->RS232 cable.

I think the problem is more of you need win das to run off a 2nd computer so that you can make adjustments while looking at the calibration software from the main pc. it also allows you to revert a setting without being affected as much since win das is being displayed on another monitor.

Haste that package is godsend. Any idea if nokia monitor software can be made to work with windows 7 64 or if the web has been littered with false copies of it?

 

[Flybye]

Well guys, I cracked again.

My HP died a few months ago if some may remember. I just bought a GDW off ebay from a guy claiming to have very low hours on it. Judging from the professional equipment he has sold in the past, and the number of very happy customers, I am really hoping I have made the right decision.

For a month of been stuck using my 27" 1080 TV. I'll probably get a little sad at the reduction in screen size at the beginning, but man do I miss my 1920x1200 @ 90hz. Its amazing that even at 1920x1080, I've had to turn off v sync just to get decent performance otherwise I get that jello mouse feeling with my TV. I kept going back and fourth with a high end 1920x1200 monitor and even started considering a 2560x1600 monitor, but I read too many times that refresh rate is king, and I've felt it too many times to know its true.

Heres to crossing my fingers that my eBay buy will be even better and longer lasting than my HP.

 

[rudy]

Is there anywhere left we can get FW900s that are in good working condition?

 

[headless]

Can new Nvidia drivers make it so the refresh rates don't work anymore?

Are there certain "classic" drivers FW900 works well with?

I've got A hacked edid and monitor .inf that will work with latest nvidia drivers to allow you higher resolutions/refresh frequencies - at least, I am running 260.99 and it works for these... PM me your e-mail address and I will e-mail them over.
Some games still ignore these refresh rates and don't have the ability to set refresh rate in game. I hate those games. Others, like Source based games (tf2 etc.) you can add command line arguments to force the resolution with the higher refresh rate to work (it didn't work even with command line overrides before my hacked edid/inf), and others just let you set it in the menus which always works

The new inf file changes the monitors 'native' res to 1280x800@130hz and adds some new resolution/refresh rates like 1680x1050@100hz, 1600x1000@120hz, 100hz, and runs 85hz @ 1920x1200. Because the 'native' res is very low, win7 and nvidia drivers don't do the stupid ass software scaling crap that used to result in always being stuck in 1920x1200, with blurry ass images because of software scaling. Tricking the drivers into believing that all the resolutions I use are actually greater than the native res of the monitor makes it possible to actually switch resolutions/refresh rates rather than have win7 or nvidia drivers take over and try to 'helpfully' keep you at your native res but use software scaling to give you the lower res rendering.

To create the EDID files and .inf file,, I had to use a couple of programs - Phoenix, Moninfo and Softmccs. I learned about how to do this through many posts in this thread and by reading this thread on sevenforums:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/7947-force-dvi-hdmi-resolutions-refresh-rates.html

At some point I ran into problems with 64bit windows .inf formats being different than 32bit windows .inf's, so my .inf is kind of a hacked version of the hacked version So it works on win7 64bit. In any case, I can give you the .inf, and both my original and my 'post editing' EDID.dat files if you give me your e-mail address. I used to have them hosted on webspace online (in post http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1035009057), but the webspace has since been taken offline

Hope this information was useful. I have 2 FW900 (well, 2 A7127A's ) and want to buy 2 more because of how awesome these monitors are. I drive 5 hours for one of them, across an entire state, and 3.5 hours for the other one. No regrets, and honestly have toyed around with making 15+ hour drives to pick more up on several occasions....

People really just don't understand how badass they are.

 

[ZeosPantera]

Remade the calibration chart for 1920x1080.

Figure I could use it on TV's. I just hope the variation isn't to finite for LCD's and Plasma's..

Made an explanation image

 

[haste]

ive got an HP branded fw900 sitting in my closet. its has some very minor issues but id be willing to break it out and set it up to take some pics of the image quality if anyone is interested.

im in southwest, virginia.

 

[headless]

Sitting in your closet? How sad

 

[haste]

Sitting in your closet? How sad

better than the trash, right?

 

[Epiik]

I've got A hacked edid and monitor .inf that will work with latest nvidia drivers to allow you higher resolutions/refresh frequencies - at least, I am running 260.99 and it works for these... PM me your e-mail address and I will e-mail them over.
Some games still ignore these refresh rates and don't have the ability to set refresh rate in game. I hate those games. Others, like Source based games (tf2 etc.) you can add command line arguments to force the resolution with the higher refresh rate to work (it didn't work even with command line overrides before my hacked edid/inf), and others just let you set it in the menus which always works

The new inf file changes the monitors 'native' res to 1280x800@130hz and adds some new resolution/refresh rates like 1680x1050@100hz, 1600x1000@120hz, 100hz, and runs 85hz @ 1920x1200. Because the 'native' res is very low, win7 and nvidia drivers don't do the stupid ass software scaling crap that used to result in always being stuck in 1920x1200, with blurry ass images because of software scaling. Tricking the drivers into believing that all the resolutions I use are actually greater than the native res of the monitor makes it possible to actually switch resolutions/refresh rates rather than have win7 or nvidia drivers take over and try to 'helpfully' keep you at your native res but use software scaling to give you the lower res rendering.

To create the EDID files and .inf file,, I had to use a couple of programs - Phoenix, Moninfo and Softmccs. I learned about how to do this through many posts in this thread and by reading this thread on sevenforums:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/7947-force-dvi-hdmi-resolutions-refresh-rates.html

At some point I ran into problems with 64bit windows .inf formats being different than 32bit windows .inf's, so my .inf is kind of a hacked version of the hacked version So it works on win7 64bit. In any case, I can give you the .inf, and both my original and my 'post editing' EDID.dat files if you give me your e-mail address. I used to have them hosted on webspace online (in post http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1035009057), but the webspace has since been taken offline

Hope this information was useful. I have 2 FW900 (well, 2 A7127A's ) and want to buy 2 more because of how awesome these monitors are. I drive 5 hours for one of them, across an entire state, and 3.5 hours for the other one. No regrets, and honestly have toyed around with making 15+ hour drives to pick more up on several occasions....

People really just don't understand how badass they are.

Cool, I sent you a PM and hopefully it works. Main games I'm playing right now are TF2, Black Ops, BC2, and FIFA.

 

[2yen]

Not too shabby for a crt.

 

[rudy]

So I found some FW900 locally and purchased 2 of them, I love them already, absolutely smooth game play in TF2 at 120hz 1600x900. My question is generally I like to run 1 monitor with games and the side monitor is sort of like a windows hud has the task bar gadgets and everything. But is it reasonable to run eyefinity on these things with 3 monitors? Have people tried this successfully I may switch to an ATI card and pick up another monitor

 

[Epiik]

Hey rudy how did you get 120hz working with x900?

 

[Flybye]

Jeesh, Rudy. I've been trying to look for em locally for 2+ months with no luck and here you are getting 2 of them!

 

[Rock&Roll]

So I found some FW900 locally and purchased 2 of them, I love them already, absolutely smooth game play in TF2 at 120hz 1600x900. My question is generally I like to run 1 monitor with games and the side monitor is sort of like a windows hud has the task bar gadgets and everything. But is it reasonable to run eyefinity on these things with 3 monitors? Have people tried this successfully I may switch to an ATI card and pick up another monitor

I know DisplayPort to analog converters haven't proven to work real well in my experience. Would it work with NV surround? Maybe.

Hey rudy how did you get 120hz working with x900?

Search for info on EDID in this thread. Assuming you're on Win7/Vista, you need to disable EDID by breaking a pin on your VGA or DVI connector. Then, install a modified INF driver for the FW900 and you're good to go with high refresh rates. All info is available somewhere in this thread.

 

[Epiik]

lol yea I know all the info is in this thread somewhere but like some previous poster mentioned it's not organized in any way.

I agree with the idea of making a wiki or using the subreddit /r/fw900

I got some refresh rates working with this Refresh Rate Overrider program when you search "fw900 custom inf" in google. The 1st result should be a mediafire site and this thing actually works.

 

[rudy]

I did not do anything to get 120hz at 1600x900 working, I just made a custom resolution in the nVidia control panel, tested it and it worked. I am running windows 7 pro, gtx 480. However in the only game I tried so far which was TF2 120hz would not work unless I added -refresh 120 to the shortcut arguments.

I am not going to try eyefinity I guess if it is not known to work decently well. Would have been nice though to run something like 3x 1280 x800 at 150hz

 

[headless]

Cool, I sent you a PM and hopefully it works. Main games I'm playing right now are TF2, Black Ops, BC2, and FIFA.

For TF2, right click on the game in your steam library listing, and choose properties', then click ''set launch options" and enter:
-refresh 100

Then set your res to 1680x1050 in game - you'll be at 1680x1050 @ 100hz. You can also do 1280x800 @ 130hz, just enter in -refresh 130 instead and choose 1280x800 in game. Because the hacked inf file made from the edid.dat tells your drivers that the native resolution is 1280x800x130, windows + nvidia drivers will allow it. Same with 1680x1050.. and 1920x1200x85 work too. Without the hacked .inf file, my GTX260 would not actually change resolutions to the lower 1680x1050, 1280x800, 1600x1000, etc. The nvidia drivers would just software interpolate the lower res and stick me @ 1920x1200 which it thought was my native res...things looked fuzzy and it was stuck @ 85hz - even with custom resolutions added in my nvidia control panel.

Rock on Rudy - You got lucky finding 2 locally. I am driving 11 hours each way sometime in the next 2 weeks to go and purchase 2 FW900 that are supposed to be in mint condition. 22 hours of driving will be worth it if they are in good enough condition - supposedly they have less than a week of run time on them. I am excited. If i found 2 for sale locally i might cry tears of joy

 

[rudy]

I should tell that to my woman she was complaining, they were 1.5 hours away but sort of on the way to somewhere else I had to go.

BTW is there anyway to tell how much run time they have had?

 

[sblantipodi]

is there someone who sold this monitor?

 

[tonyptony]

Well, my hoped for replacement showed up today. I've mentioned in a couple of posts that my FW900 is not coming out of sleep mode. At least not easily. So I happened upon a fellow on eBay (a very nice guy BTW - I spoke with him extensively by phone) who bought up a bunch of HP FW9012 models. I bought one and it got here. I paid less than what Sony would have charged to repair mine, plus the very high shipping cost to and from the West Coast.

Turned it on and I'm a bit unhappy. There is a very slight (but noticeable) shifting of color uniformity from the center, to the left and right. To the left it's slightly blue and to the right just a bit more yellow. There's also a very tiny (maybe 3 mm round) nick in the screen coating about dead center left to right, but only about 1" up from the bottom. It's really only noticeable when the screen is dark.

I think I could live with all that, but I'm very concerned about this last observation. I let it stabilize for about two hours and then decided to calibrate it with my i1Pro. When I got to the RGB levels I could not get the R, G, and B to remain stable and centered in their measurement ranges. My FW900 R, G, and B remain dead locked on the i1 measurement scales, but on this monitor they'll swing so that at one moment the overall temp is 6500K. Then a few seconds later it's 6400K, and then after a few more 6600K.

On the other hand it is electromechanically sound. No noise, goes into and comes out of sleep mode just fine. Text is razor sharp. The shipping cost to send it back will push the price up to where I could have sent mine in to Sony.

Is this instability of RGB settings something anyone has experience with?

I do happen to have another one of these lying around. Could a parts swap fix this?

 

[headless]

I should tell that to my woman she was complaining, they were 1.5 hours away but sort of on the way to somewhere else I had to go.

BTW is there anyway to tell how much run time they have had?

LOL, yes, you should mention I drove 3 hours 1 direction for my first one - 3 hours totally out of town. Then 6.5 hours 1 direction for my second. Now this time 11-12 hours 1 direction if I can pick up two more.
I'm blessed - I mentioned I found a source for 2 more FW900 but that they were 12 hours away - and my wife immediately without pause asked "When do we leave?" LOL
I don't know of any way to tell runtime amount. Maybe with the winDAS stuff it's possible to read uptime from the monitor? Dunno.

 

[Rock&Roll]

I have a few FW900's--Two that work. I like to rotate them on and off my desk to make sure they both stay used every few months.

I've noticed my one FW900 will kind of have a shaky/wobbly display on the left side when using 1920x1200 @ 85Hz. However using 1920x1200 @ 100Hz, the image is completely stable. Any suggestions how to fix this, or what may be causing it? Some sort of syncing issue?

 

[tonyptony]

Turned it on and I'm a bit unhappy. There is a very slight (but noticeable) shifting of color uniformity from the center, to the left and right. To the left it's slightly blue and to the right just a bit more yellow. There's also a very tiny (maybe 3 mm round) nick in the screen coating about dead center left to right, but only about 1" up from the bottom. It's really only noticeable when the screen is dark.

I think I could live with all that, but I'm very concerned about this last observation. I let it stabilize for about two hours and then decided to calibrate it with my i1Pro. When I got to the RGB levels I could not get the R, G, and B to remain stable and centered in their measurement ranges. My FW900 R, G, and B remain dead locked on the i1 measurement scales, but on this monitor they'll swing so that at one moment the overall temp is 6500K. Then a few seconds later it's 6400K, and then after a few more 6600K.

I decided to update my own post. It'd been such a long time since I made OSD adjustments to my first FW that I forgot what was there. I cleared up the color uniformity by using the landing controls. Got it visually close but I'll use my i1 to insure a consistent color temp across the screen.

The fidgety RGB levels at max luminance seem to have settled down some. Keeping an eye on that. Still unhappy about the nick on the screen. Is there anyway to repair something like that?

 

[Flybye]

Tony, I was also going to suggest the landing!

When I first got my HP, the colors were really funked up around the edges. I was very sad because when I got mine, it was brand new in the box. I was lucky enough 5 something years ago to have gotten an new/old stock example.

But quickly playing around with the settings easily fixed that. I know this could be a bit anal, but if you grab a magnifying glass, you can easily see the colors converging. It took me a LONG time to fine tune my HP.

As far as the front glass, is it the actual glass that is chipped or just the coating?

 

[tonyptony]

Tony, I was also going to suggest the landing!

When I first got my HP, the colors were really funked up around the edges. I was very sad because when I got mine, it was brand new in the box. I was lucky enough 5 something years ago to have gotten an new/old stock example.

My opinion of this monitor is improving. After adjusting the he!! out of it and calibrating with my i1Pro the thing is dead nuts on. About as perfect as you can get it. A dE2000 of .29. Color temp dead on. Even the jittery RGB levels settled down. The only thing that worries me about the performance related aspect is the Red gun seems a bit "weaker" than the Green and Blue. My RGB Gains are 90, 75, and 81 respectively. My older FW900 had them much closer together in value for a 6500K calibration.

As far as the front glass, is it the actual glass that is chipped or just the coating?

I'm not sure. If I run my finger nail over it it feels a bit rough. It may be in the actual glass.

 

[Flybye]

....
I'm not sure. If I run my finger nail over it it feels a bit rough. It may be in the actual glass.

Na I doubt it. Take a look here:
http://www.liquidninjas.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=16104

I had a deep scratch that was annoyingly noticeable on my coating. As you can see, I ripped that off a while back.

I am almost sure it is the coating if it is still there. I doubt that the coating would have been removed from any business. Of course, you could always just remove the casing & bezel and confirm at the corners like in my pics that the protector is still on there.

 

[headless]

I have 2 FW900; one of mine was horribly scratched up. It was only the coating on the screen too. It is VERY tough and quite thick - unless someone tried to stab through the glass with a knife or something equally sharp, the glass will be OK and the coating will be the problem. I pelled the coating off. Definetely makes the monitor look quite different. I relegated that FW900 to a parts monitor for my other.

If you do take the coating off, however, it will effect the color reproduction; it's tinted specifically.

 

[tonyptony]

I think I'll leave it; it'll be okay. It's just a bit over 1" up from the edge of the botom bezel. As I said it is in the center, but it does not seem to interfere with my use. I suspect in a bit I really won't notice it.The color accuracy is too important to me to risk what would happen if I take the coacting off.

I just mesured it. It's 8/100" across and about half that high. A speck, really.

 

[lastmile77]

Well, since I don't have enough posts to list this in the for sale form where it belongs I'll stick it here.

I've got the SGI-branded gray FW900 for sale, $250 OBO. Very good shape, anti-glare film removed, perfect glass, no problems that I'm aware of. I'm in ZIP 19464 and this is pickup only since I don't want to pack it and I want the buyer to see it before purchasing so I know they're happy with it. I can supply a matching keyboard (PS/2) if you want your keyboard and monitor to match. Send a PM if you're interested.

 

[CZ Eddie]

I just listed a nice DVI cable equipped FW900 (actually 9010) one on eBay with a $150 starting price. I'm hoping someone in Austin, TX will pick it up. But I can ship also.



Sorry if this is against the rules - feel free to remove. I found this thread a couple years ago when I bought my FW-9010 on Craigslist and it was a HUGE help.

Thanks to this thread, I was able to remove my glare film from the front and also fine-tune the focus!

Btw, I replaced this 9010 with a Dell UltraSharp LCD and was really disappointed in how the Dell is nowhere NEAR as good. I just wish I had the extra space for the 9010 to stay.

 

[tonyptony]

So since I think I'll be keeping my newly purchased HP version, I decided to do a couple of things to insure there is no unnecessary wear done to the display. Trying to keep it for as long as possible. When this one goes I suspect there won't be any left worth buying.

I moved all of the icons on my desktop into a "My Desktop" folder and moved this to a new Toolbar (I'm on Windows 7). I also turned off the default icons (Control Panel etc), so there is nothing that will be sitting there causing uneven phosphor burn in. I also have the desktop background set to rotate every 15 minutes, for the same reason.

Now as to the question of sleep mode or power off. My system, for various reasons, runs 24/7. In the past I had monitors set up to go into screen save at 15 minutes, and then sleep mode after 1 hour. I figured this was better than hitting the power button time after time, plus the possible impact of the initial power surge hitting the display electronics every time that happens. But is sleep mode really a worse thing to do? The power consumption should be pretty small, but does the tube still "burn its life away" even a little in this mode or is it totally off?

 

[ibex333]

dbl post

 

[ibex333]

Uhh... What the heck is so special? I got an ASUS 24" at HALF the price and it looks just as good if not better. Is there something I am missing?

EDIT: Nvm. did some research. I see what the big deal is now.

Keep in mind that the reason why most people switched to LCD is not just for the novelty factor. It's also the health reasons. Lower refresh rate - easier on the eyes. And you only get one pair! No replacements!
CRT emits much more electro magnetic radiation both from front and especially in back. The LCD emits very low, if not completely negligible amounts of EM radiation from the front and does not require a screen filter. Clearly, a lot of folks in this thread choose to ignore these little facts.

I gladly sacrifice color quality, and refresh rate to reduce the health risks.

 

[tonyptony]

Uhh... What the heck is so special? I got an ASUS 24" at HALF the price and it looks just as good if not better. Is there something I am missing?

EDIT: Nvm. did some research. I see what the big deal is now.

A flat panel is fine if you can live with the problems relative to the use. For image processing enthusiasts like me, you can't get a decent color critical flat panel for less than $800 or $900, and even then it pales in comparison the the FW900.

Keep in mind that the reason why most people switched to LCD is not just for the novelty factor. It's also the health reasons. Lower refresh rate - easier on the eyes. And you only get one pair! No replacements!
CRT emits much more electro magnetic radiation both from front and especially in back. The LCD emits very low, if not completely negligible amounts of EM radiation from the front and does not require a screen filter. Clearly, a lot of folks in this thread choose to ignore these little facts.

I'm not sure I'd agree with that. IMO most people chose flat panels because they're lighter, more convenient, and because once they started getting produced in quantity the rate of CRT monitor production dropped like a rock. Wasn't worth it for the mass consumer. Those who chose them for health reasons I suspect were in the great minority.

I gladly sacrifice color quality, and refresh rate to reduce the health risks.

There's no argument for a compromise that leans in favor of one's health. Although I'm not sure I've seen any studies that proves sitting in front of a CRT vs. a flat panel is any worse or better. If one is not willing to compromise, however, there is only one king in this display world.

 

[CZ Eddie]

Uhh... What the heck is so special? I got an ASUS 24" at HALF the price and it looks just as good if not better. Is there something I am missing?

EDIT: Nvm. did some research. I see what the big deal is now.

I find that difficult to understand. I bought the Dell 24" UltraSharp which is highly touted as being one off the better LCD's for video quality.
And my FW-9010 absolutely blows it out of the water in every respect. Depth of image (and black level) is the biggest improvement with the FW-9010. Just an amazing difference even after contrast was tweaked on the LCD.

This was NOT the case before I removed the anti-glare film though. Prior to that, the FW-9010 was mediocre. Hard to believe that single mod made such a huge improvement.
Did you remove yours? If you did, then maybe I just got a bad LCD. Or my eyes are just more critical than yours.

 

[ZeosPantera]

It's also the health reasons. Lower refresh rate - easier on the eyes.

Um, I am pretty sure that is backward. Lower refresh rates are harder on the eyes. LCD's don't refresh the same way as the CRT which is why 60Hz is "acceptable" on it.

As for the radiation, using a CRT for one year is the same as a single arm X-Ray.