Sony FW900 (24"WS) blurry with a X1800XT

M

Mysterae

Gawd
Joined
Sep 11, 2005
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648
I didn't want to jack the FW900 ebay thread...

I have built a new pc recently, and the only thing staying the same is my 4 year old FW900 Sony 24" CRT monitor.

I've jumped from a 9700Pro to a X1800XT vid card, and now my 2D desktop is kind of burry/fuzzy at 1920x1200, at any usable frequency. I know it's not the monitor as it's perfect when connected to the 9700Pro and was sent to Sony to be recalibrated about 8 months ago due to a contrast problem, and is working flawlessly - until it's connected to the X1800XT.

Now, I had this problem before, when I upgraded my pc the last time (3 or so years ago) and I got a GF-Ti4600. The 2D was just the same, blurry, out of focus and completely unusable. I sent the Ti4600 back 3 times with the same fault then lost faith in NV and got the ATI 9700Pro and has worked perfectly since.

The penny drops - both the Ti4600 and the X1800XT have dual DVI connectors, whereas the 9700Pro has one DVI and one VGA connector. I only ever used the VGA connector with the 9700Pro. The DVI - VGA adaptor seems to be the common factor here.

Could it be the DVI to VGA adaptor that is causing my problems? What cable / vid card to you guys use to supply the FW900 when running a high 2D resolution?

I'm wondering if I bought a straight DVI - VGA cable will it fix the 2D problem with the X1800XT?
 
Have you tried using both DVI connectors on your card? Usually the bottom connector is for analog DVI/VGA output.
 
Would you believe I haven't?!! Connected to the top DVI port at the moment.

I'll power that pc up and give it a try and report back...
 
It's a little better thanks, but still a bit off. It seems to be certain parts of the screen, the outer edges - like the text below any icons and the text of the bottom taskbar.

I'll setup the monitor with the Nokia program and see if I can sharpen it up!
 
I use the same monitor on a BFG GeForce 6800 GT OC... it has one DVI and one VGA output, so it works just fine.

I hooked the monitor up to my old computer with the GeForce 2MX card and it looked like crap though. :p
 
OH! I had this exact problem with my fw900 with my 6800ultra. Go to frys/whatever and get the most expensive dvi to vga CABLE -- NOT CONVERTER you can get. If you cant find a good beefy one then dont get it, trust me this is one cable u dont want to cheap out on.

This will only fix it if you have unsharp text everwhere... if the text is sharp in the middle and blurry in some corners thats the convergance that is off...
 
Does it matter if the DVI - VGA cable is fully wired? It's the only type I can get locally. I don't see how it can really be 'fully wired' as the digital signals would be useless in an analogue monitor.

I don't think it's the monitor. I have both pc's running side by side, running the same resolution, frequency. Plugged into the VGA of the 9700Pro, perfect....plug it into the DVI of the X1800XT and the picture loses focus or sharpness.

Off to get the cable!
 
Sorted!

I got a Banbridge DVI VGA cable and the display is a lot sharper, a big improvement.

However, it looks like I still need to adjust the monitor very slightly; the X1800XT's colour profile is a smidge different from the 9700Pro's, noticable when viewing white text on a black background.

It's amazing that that little adaptor can cause such a drop in quality.

:p guess that Ti4600 wasn't faulty after all!
 
Are you serious? It made that much of a difference? So you are saying that the VGA adapters that come with all new video cards are garbage? Can anyone confirm this because I need to know whether to order a good quality cable from newegg or just stick with the adapters that the video cards come with. I will be using an FW900 as well.
 
It depends largely on the vga cable and the converter you are useing. But if you feel your image quality is lacking and you cant seem to fix it this is a worthwile endeavor.
 
jaguax said:
Are you serious? It made that much of a difference? So you are saying that the VGA adapters that come with all new video cards are garbage? Can anyone confirm this because I need to know whether to order a good quality cable from newegg or just stick with the adapters that the video cards come with. I will be using an FW900 as well.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't have believed it either if it didn't see it with my own eyes. The adaptor I was using was the one that came with the X1800XT (Sapphire). It's the clear type so you can see the shielding through it and has ATI embossed on it. The cable was the one that originally came with my FW900.

Wait until you get your FW900 and remember it was only at the high resolution of 1920x1200 that I experienced this. I would take a pic of the screen but the camera probably wouldn't pick it up.
 
good stuff !!! I've been after anything that makes my FW900 look better. I may have missed this, but where and what cable did you buy!?
 
Mysterae said:
it was only at the high resolution of 1920x1200 that I experienced this.
Click to expand...
Bingo

Running a very high resolution will reveal how well your cables/adapters are engineered.

Good find on the adapter weakness, i had always suspected they weren't built 100%, but i'm fairly sure they're not all built the same either.
 
MrkXCeL, PM'd you but I'll reply here to for completion sake!

The cable was a Banbridge make, with ferrite cores at both ends and gold pin contacts (woo :p ). I'm in the UK so I got it from a local Maplin store. I'd say it's average quality compared to the cables I use for my AV setup (VGA and component on 42" plasma) but it will do until I can find something better.

Any recommendations from anybody on a quality DVI-VGA cable would be appreciated!

SJetski71, I kind of suspected this (as in my original post) as it was fine in other lower resolutions. Process of elimination my dear Watson!
 
Any recommendations from anybody on a quality DVI-VGA cable would be appreciated!
Click to expand...

I second this. I'm waiting for an FW900 myself, and I never did like those VGA-DVI adapters. I'd prefer to get a good quality cable.

- D.
 
I had similar problems, had the fw900 hooked up to my 6800gt through dvi to vga adapter, could see some blurryness. Then i hooked it straight to vga and it improved a lot, and sharper. Where did u get the cable? I would like to find a VGA cable, the one that I have might be getting some electromagnetic interference. I have cable line close to monitor wire, so are the speaker wires.
 
Before you go and buy a new cable you can also try a different vga cable with your dvi-vga adapter. The vga cable could be the problem as well!
 
My X800 has a DVI port and a VGA port. I'm wondering if it'd be at all beneficial to hook up my FW900 using one of these DVI-VGA cables instead of a normal VGA cable. If this question is very stupid, please disregard it as a joke... *awkward laugh*
 
it would be identical. Because you would be connecting the DVI thourhg DVI- A(analog) same as VGA in quality.
 
I have the same monitor with a BFG 6800OC and the problem I'm having with it is damn weird. Everytime I maximize to full screen with a white background, the damn thing shuts off and I have to turn the monitor off, then restore the screen to anything but full screen. The vidcard has dsub and dvi connectors, but I'm currently using a dsub to bnc cable for better color. (I think)

Anybody have this problem, it sux not being able to use the monitor full screen when i open word, notepad, or firefox with google as homepage. Like I said, weird. It doesn't seem to affect any games I play, I can run those in full screen, but I haven't come across a game with an all white stage or anything.

Kwincy
 
Kwincy said:
I have the same monitor with a BFG 6800OC and the problem I'm having with it is damn weird. Everytime I maximize to full screen with a white background, the damn thing shuts off and I have to turn the monitor off, then restore the screen to anything but full screen. The vidcard has dsub and dvi connectors, but I'm currently using a dsub to bnc cable for better color. (I think)
Click to expand...
Maybe i'm stating the obvious here but have you tried hooking up dsub to dsub directly and skipping BNC altogether?
 
Kwincy said:
I have the same monitor with a BFG 6800OC and the problem I'm having with it is damn weird. Everytime I maximize to full screen with a white background, the damn thing shuts off and I have to turn the monitor off, then restore the screen to anything but full screen. The vidcard has dsub and dvi connectors, but I'm currently using a dsub to bnc cable for better color. (I think)

Anybody have this problem, it sux not being able to use the monitor full screen when i open word, notepad, or firefox with google as homepage. Like I said, weird. It doesn't seem to affect any games I play, I can run those in full screen, but I haven't come across a game with an all white stage or anything.

Kwincy
Click to expand...

Sounds like an internal problem with the monitor :( .. I came across this when searching Google:

" 22.21) TV shuts down with bright picture or when brightness is turned up


This is probably a protection circuit kicking in especially if turning power
off or pulling the plug is required to restore operation.

The detection circuit could be in the power supply or horizontal deflection
output circuit. It may be defective or the current may be too high for some
other reason. A couple of tests can be performed to confirm that it is due
to beam current:" - Rest of the article here: http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/F_tvfaq4.html#TVFAQ_019
 
Yeah, I tried the dsub to dsub cable at first since I didn't immediately have the bnc cable. I'll look at the link from above, as it acurately describes the problem I'm having.

Thanks for the replies!

Kwincy
 
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