Does anyone collect old CRT VGA computer monitors?
 

Hey everyone!
Just wondering if anyone here likes to collect old CRT VGA monitors? I really don't collect them, but I find them interesting and some display much better picture quality than their LCD counterparts.

If you can find one, get your hands on an original NEC Multisync monitor. (only the first and second version.) They can work with computers such as the Apple IIgs, Amiga 1000, Atari ST and other computers that had oddball video scan rates and will produce a fabulous picture! They're getting extremely rare now but do show up occasionally.

If you can find one of the Zenith Data Systems monitors with the truly flat screen you should also grab it... they didn't have the greatest picture but they were i think the first to market a truly flat screen crt monitor.

Thirdly, I don't remember the model number but there is an IBM "G series" VGA monitor from the mid '90's that was quite nice.

I just got a 2002 Compaq 7500 monitor for free. Very sharp picture and BRIGHT! I did a gamma calibration on it and the brightness has to be set at 10 percent. Contrast at 85 percent works best.

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My brothers and I still have old commodore monitors. Way back I used to have an amiga 1000 then a 500. found the monitors made excellent tv's when used with a vcr. They didn't care for copy protection tho. My brother would pick them up at thrift stores for 5 bucks. He had a huge pile of them, then gave them to me. To make room for more radios and tv I have been finding homes for them. I gave a slug of them to a church I used to attend. the AV guy was happy to have nice color video monitors for productions. The 1084's have a bad solder joint on the bottom of the board. But it is easy to find.
I think I have maybe two left, perhaps 3. My son is using one to play video games on in his room.

The only CRT monitor that I can't seem to get rid of is this neat little 7" color cash register monitor that I have had for years. It always served as my test monitor when I used to fix PCs. It only can sync to 800x600, so it's not much use anymore, but I can't seem to get rid of it.

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That sounds like a cool little toy! I used to like the cash registers with mini monitors, but I only remember B&W ones. I have a 9" IBM one.

I sold my two larger CRT monitors on Craigslist recently, a Sony 17" and a Gem (brand-X) 19". They just took up too much space here and I didn't expect to ever use them again. Friends were surprised that I even got any money for non-flat-panel monitors.

Yeah, it's neat-o. I guess I underestimated it's size though. I got it out and measured, the CRT measures 8.5. Here it is for your viewing pleasure. I put a CD there for scale.

http://midohiovideo.redirectme.net/z...nymonitor1.jpg
http://midohiovideo.redirectme.net/z...nymonitor2.jpg

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It really looks a lot like the big ViewSonic monitors!

I'll echo a few people here... I've got a couple of Commodore monitors (and matching C64s)

I've got a few other CRTs... two 17" Trinitrons (Dell rebadged) and a Viewsonic 21" professional 813 (aperture grille as well). The video amp in the Viewsonic had a bad blue channel, and I was given it for free. Replaced the amp for $20 (parts from viewsonic themselves!) and it worked again. Awesome picture, esp. when using the BNC connectors, but DAMN, that thing is HEAVY.

I could run those things at 1600x1200 and the text would still be clearly legible.

They've since been replaced with 2 Samsung 206BW LCDs. Definitely can't complain, not a single bad pixel on either of them, and they look great.

I have an NEC Accusync 75F, its a flat display and it seems to work ok. although it doesnt get used hardly anymore, one in part due to a bad VGA cable, and i have newer monitors now.

I used to have an old NEC Multisync, it wasnt flat, but it had a good picture. Then one day the picture just slowly got real wide and the horizontal folded over on both sides. shortly after that, SNAP dead.

I would like to collect such stuff, but I ain't got enough room for it.
But I use from time to time to watch pictures and "I.B.M." P96 with <<Trinitron>> tube . The monitor made in 2001? in Japan! :thmbsp: It's a really monster! :thumbsdn: And is not very friendly with the eyes. :tears: But I got it for free! :banana:
I also own a 14"? "Sampoo" <<AlphScan>> 410 manufactured in 1996. I wanted to give it away, but still I hadn't. It's not so big, so when I want to operate another computer in the living room and the L.C.D. monitor is in use is good.
How I wish me an old monitor with <<Trinitron>> tube.

I have several CRT VGA monitors. I like them better than LCD displays, as CRTs usually have a wider color gamut. Usually twice the gamut "area" on that sharkfin pattern.
http://www.videokarma.org/attachment...3&d=1269294026

Using a larger VGA CRT for a HDTV display: http://www.videokarma.org/attachment...2&d=1273457807
It's fed by an RCA DirecTV ATSC and satellite box, which works on ATSC without a satellite subscription.

I used to have one of those Gateway Destination 36" CRT VGA monitors in my basement. It could only do 800x600, but I loved it. I loved to play emulator games on it with a PC. I also liked to watch TV and movies on it with an external tuner box. I sold it to a friend when I moved into a smaller house.

Last I knew, my friend still uses it as his bedroom tv.

I moved again recently into a larger house. I just might have to get that monitor back... I need a garage TV :)

I remember in the late '90's going to a Gateway 2000 store and seeing demonstrations of those Destination PCs. HTPCs were a novel concept back then.

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Pics! :)

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It's too late to collect as most are now at e-waste centers.

I have several PC CRT monitors that are capable of various V&H scan rates. They are capable of up to a 180 Hz refresh rate. I was hoping to use one for a CBS sequential color monitor requiring H=29160 and V=144.

The problem is that they all seem top be "programmed" to lock only to specific combinations of standard scan frequencies.

How does one unlock the programming to allow this oddball H=29160 and V=144 scan combination? Thanks for any help.

Cliff

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I have a Hewlett-Packard mx70 monitor I use with my PC. It had a great image when it was new some five years ago (more or less), but about a month ago I noticed the raster was bending rather severely, as if the auto-degausser had quit. I tried everything I could think of to restore the raster to its proper size and shape -- pincushion adjustments, centering, positioning, you name it (this monitor has quite a few adjustments for raster parameters such as pincushion, pin balance, etc. in a menu called "advanced geometry") -- but, try as I might and did, I couldn't get it right, and I fiddled with the thing for days.

I was about ready to throw in the towel and get a new flat-panel monitor. As I write this, however, three weeks or so later, the problem seems to have corrected itself, as now the raster is 99.9 percent straight (still some very slight curvature, hardly noticeable, at the extreme right side of the screen). What could have caused this problem, and why did it go away on its own? :scratch2: I thought these problems only got worse with time, until the monitor either went up in smoke or the raster was so distorted as to be completely unusable.

BTW, I wonder if the MX70's pincushion correction is digital. As there are no potentiometers for setting brightness, contrast, etc. (as I said, everything on this monitor is controlled through software; all adjustments are made via menu selections and bar-graph controls, activated by "select" and +/- buttons on the monitor's front panel), I would think the mx70 is at least partially digital.

This will be of no help, but this reminds me of when I was an IT guy, this woman said that every morning her screen flickered and distorted. Only in the morning, and never again, and never when I was around.

I finally solved it when I was in the next cubicle over, to work on that PC. When I turned on the monitor, she yelled "there it did it!". Here it was the degaussing coil in the next cubicle interfering with hers when the person in the next cubicle turned on their monitor in the morning. Their monitors were back to back, with the cubicle wall between them. LOL

The only CRT monitors I'm saving are the 14" TTL amber that came with the original IBM XT, (Plus the PC itself) An EGA 9-pin 9" Electrohome, and a 22" Sony with DVI.

I had a VGA CRT monitor for my old Dell computer from 13 years ago. When I bought the computer that I am using now (Compaq) a few years ago it came with an LCD monitor.
About 2 months ago I tried to use my old CRT monitor with my new computer just to see what it looked like. It had a very nice picture. But after a few uses with my new computer the CRT monitor broke. My guess is that such an old monitor couldn't keep up with the speed of the new computer. I threw the monitor away. Oh, well!

Not all of them.
There's a Thrift Store near me that always has a rack full of CRT Monitors, everything from an E-Machines to Sony, most still work and most are $5.00.

They generally aren't terribly old, mid 90's and up.

If I had room I'd grab a nice 21" model just to have. I had a Sony but got rid of it when I got this HP LCD, so much space saved on the desk by doing that!

I do still have a 15" Sony that I got new about 10 years ago, it works but the CRT seems to be getting old, it's not as sharp and bright as it used to be (but neither am I)

There was a 14" and I believe a 9" Sony Trinitron monitor that was produced around the late 80's. It was VGA and would do 800x600 interlaced. They were cool and I used to have one in my office connected to and old 386SX (Laser) was the make of the computer. You guys remember those, lol, believe it was an old Price Club branded computer. The Sony monitor however only had the EGA 9pin, but there was a converter cable that would connect it to a 15pin VGA. THe monitor also had the old VTR olive green connector too. It looked strangly similat to the 80's small professional broadcast monitors.

By "VTR olive green" do you mean the old EAIJ connectors?

Yes that's the one.

Saw a 1992 "Tandy" monitor at the thrift today, nothing special but the Tandy name stood out.

Be on the lookout for the Tandy CM-8 Color monitor. It's a special RGB monitor for the Color Computer. They bring good money on e'bay.

EDIT- Well, they used to bring good money. Now looks like the only one on completed went for $26. Man, they used to go over $100 easy. They are still rare though.

I remember when I was first learning computers as a kid we had an IBM setup running Windows 3.1 with a VGA crt monitor..One day I got overly ambitious in the graphics settings and maxed out the resolution, number of colors, etc and I must have increased the refresh rate because the raster collapsed and the thing shut down...I had to launch system settings via a floppy diskette to even get the monitor back on-line...my father was pissed.

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