Got my Sony CPD-G520P Last night

E

equinox654

Gawd
Joined
Apr 7, 2005
Messages
890
Picked the montor up from a guy about 70 miles away. Got it home and plugged it in and it was overbright on 0 brightness and had banding. I left it on 30 minutes and ran image restore and it looked perfect after that. Fixed banding by changing vga cable. Still need to get a new cable. Im using one no thicker than a power cable.

I cant believe the colors on this thing. The text is a little fuzzy, but I bought it for fps games (specifically bad company 2).

It has the most beautiful picture I have ever seen.

w00t
 
Congrats on the new monitor! What resolution are you running it at?
 
Im running the desktop at 1600x1200x100hzso that its the same height as my lcd


I tested bc2 at 1152x864@ 140hz last night and it was slick.

Definately gonna have to get a better vga cable though. The high bandwidth settings are fuzzy.


I'm gonna start collecting these in my garage lol.
 
equinox654 said:
Picked the montor up from a guy about 70 miles away. Got it home and plugged it in and it was overbright on 0 brightness and had banding. I left it on 30 minutes and ran image restore and it looked perfect after that. Fixed banding by changing vga cable. Still need to get a new cable. Im using one no thicker than a power cable.

I cant believe the colors on this thing. The text is a little fuzzy, but I bought it for fps games (specifically bad company 2).

It has the most beautiful picture I have ever seen.

w00t
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70 MILES???!! [H]ard indeed dude :)

I've thought about driving that distance for a grade A FW900 but I'm lazy lol.
 
I still miss my old 21" Trinitron :(

My resolution of choice used to be 1280x960 @100Hz with generous levels of AA to make up for the lower resolution.
 
Godmachine said:
70 MILES???!! [H]ard indeed dude :)

I've thought about driving that distance for a grade A FW900 but I'm lazy lol.
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I forgot to mention the part where I sat in traffic in Fort Worth for an hour and a half lol.


I need to get me a fw900 now to replace my 28" Hanns-G.
 
The Trinitrons were nice, but every one I had lost it's sharpness rapidly after about 3-4 years and nothing would fix it (even the master sharpness controls inside the casing).

I've been using an HP brand Mitsubishi DiamondTron 22" CRT for two-three years now after switching from a Sony FW900. The FW has better res and excellent color, but isn't quite as sharp. The Mitsu tube is still very sharp even now.
 
Here is how I have it set up.

I spin my chair left when I want to game.
Could you guys imagine eyefinity with a fw900 in the middle and a g520p at each side. I wonder if the ramdac on the 5870 could drive 3 displays at high refresh rate.


Uploaded with ImageShack.us
 
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best part about that trip was that we got to go to Cabela's :p

We gotta play some Bad Company tomorrow before I go to work, Equinox. Failure to comply will result in copious amounts of energy drinks being funneled down your over-energetic 4 year old's throat :D
 
I loved the G520P its a shame mine only lasted a few years (bought brand new from newegg) I remember the picture brightness button on front was useful (I think it toggled between standard / dynamic and one other?) anyhow it was a feature I wish the FW900 had.
 
Congrats, that's a good CRT there, I had the 19" G420P variant for a little while and the colors are really superb. Did you check the convergence settings in order to get the picture as sharp as possible? There's many "monitor test" software out there, for example Nokia monitor test that has a pattern of red, blue and green plusses that should form an even line across the entire screen if convergence is optimally configured (which rarily could be adjusted to be perfect all over the screen on Trinitron CRTs but at least most of it). The trinitron CRTs I've owned have had relatively good convergence so the sharpness wasn't far from LCD levels but the higher res paired with higher refresh rate you go the fuzzier it'll get in any case as convergence becomes more and more misaligned. Most 21" trinitron CRTs supporting 1600x1200@100Hz doesn't display it optimally but if convergence is ok it shouldn't be much worse than at 85Hz. Gaming at 1600x1200@100Hz or 1280x960@120Hz on CRT is sweet.
 
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I have a 520 as well. Mine is fairly sharp at most resolutions at or below 85Hz. Above 85Hz it starts getting blurry regardless the resolution. A better shielded VGA cable did not help me with that problem much. The 520 is a great buy for games, and since you have a LCD right next to it you can use that for text/movies anyway.
 
chong67 said:
Whats a few good reason to use tube monitor these days?
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Games, and they can often be had for next to nothing at garage sales, on ebay, or craigslist.
For most other things there are LCDs that are better suited to those tasks. However, only when we have ips screens running at 120hz, will some of us give up CRT's completely.


Until Eyefinity came along, I used a p220fb for games and sd tv, and a 2405 and later a 2410, for most everything else. I used a g520 on my legacy game box until the slightly larger, and aesthetically pleasing, p220fb came available off my main PC.
 
The geometry is pretty good. Convergence is good except about an inch below the top right corner. Just low enough that the top convergence setting wont help.

The text is slightly blurred at 1600x1200 @ 100hz if you set it to 1280x960@85 its damn good for a crt.

This is the first high end crt that I have ever used. Growing up I had a 15" no name that was god awful blury at 1024x768@ 75hz got that with my k6-2 christmas 97.
Got a 17" envision shadow mask from staples when I started working in 2000. 2003 bought a 19" envision just like it. They were god awful. Made me want to get a lcd right away. Bought a 19" samsung at best buy in 2004 and loved it. Then a 22" Westinghouse and I have had 2 of these 28" hanns-g monitors. First one had height and dual hdmi. Sold it with my rig on craigslist and bought the cheaper one with my current build.

Thing that messed me up though is from 2001 when daoc came out until recently I played the crap out of mmos. I would divert here and there to play half life 2, then cs source and tf2, but nothing hard core like when I played cs in highschool. It became apparant pretty quickly playing bc2 that pixel responce is a nasty nasty thing. I noticed when I would aim that the pixel bluring made it hard to see. I had a 17" trinitron given to me that I never used. I hooked it up and even though it was in 1024x768 and I had to use an acog to even see people in the distance, my kdr more than doubled. The more I played on it... the more I loved it. I tried to go back to my lcd, but when I did I could see stuttering and input lag and all kinds of crap that my brain buffered before. Its amazing how much truer your aim is on a crt.


Best $50 ive ever spent!
 
Not to mention how heavy some of these monitor are and cause your desk to buckle like a belt. And rays on your eye? Isnt that bad too?

I am trying to unload my 20" *FLAT* IBM tube monitor for $40. Nobody wants it for weeks now.

I also got a Dell 20" tube monitor too.
 
equinox654 said:
The geometry is pretty good. Convergence is good except about an inch below the top right corner. Just low enough that the top convergence setting wont help.

The text is slightly blurred at 1600x1200 @ 100hz if you set it to 1280x960@85 its damn good for a crt.

This is the first high end crt that I have ever used. Growing up I had a 15" no name that was god awful blury at 1024x768@ 75hz got that with my k6-2 christmas 97.
Got a 17" envision shadow mask from staples when I started working in 2000. 2003 bought a 19" envision just like it. They were god awful. Made me want to get a lcd right away. Bought a 19" samsung at best buy in 2004 and loved it. Then a 22" Westinghouse and I have had 2 of these 28" hanns-g monitors. First one had height and dual hdmi. Sold it with my rig on craigslist and bought the cheaper one with my current build.

Thing that messed me up though is from 2001 when daoc came out until recently I played the crap out of mmos. I would divert here and there to play half life 2, then cs source and tf2, but nothing hard core like when I played cs in highschool. It became apparant pretty quickly playing bc2 that pixel responce is a nasty nasty thing. I noticed when I would aim that the pixel bluring made it hard to see. I had a 17" trinitron given to me that I never used. I hooked it up and even though it was in 1024x768 and I had to use an acog to even see people in the distance, my kdr more than doubled. The more I played on it... the more I loved it. I tried to go back to my lcd, but when I did I could see stuttering and input lag and all kinds of crap that my brain buffered before. Its amazing how much truer your aim is on a crt.


Best $50 ive ever spent!
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My FW900 recently quit on me and im trying to adjust to this Samsung PX2370 LCD, The LCD is sharper & brighter and its actually great for browsing the web / youtube etc. but when it comes to gaming and movies all I can say is I plan on getting the FW900 repaired lol.

I also miss the inky black levels of the CRT its amazing to me how bad LCDs still are in this area.
 
Oh man you're bringing me back good memories. I had the exact same monitor the day it was released. Pure joy. I always regretted selling it
 
chong67 said:
Isnt Tritron always has this faint one line thing across the screen?
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At 19" or higher on the flat trinitrons and diamondtrons, yes there is a wire that holds the grill on. On the FW900 there are actually two of them. The tungsten wire can be visible depending on what is being displayed. I hardly ever notice them on my CRT's, even when they are plainly visible, but they drive some people nuts.
 
Yea these wires never bothered me either with Trinitron PC CRTs, also my 34" XBR960 HDTV has 3 wires but they're rarely visible being you don't sit as close to a TV.
 
mathesar said:
Yea these wires never bothered me either with Trinitron PC CRTs, also my 34" XBR960 HDTV has 3 wires but they're rarely visible being you don't sit as close to a TV.
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OT, but have you used your XBR to play any games? I know they only do 1080i but they should still look pretty good. I had meant to pick one up back when they first came out, but never really got around to it.

For a PS3/360 I would imagine the CRT XBRs would prolly be the best thing going.
 
GORANKAR said:
OT, but have you used your XBR to play any games? I know they only do 1080i but they should still look pretty good. I had meant to pick one up back when they first came out, but never really got around to it.

For a PS3/360 I would imagine the CRT XBRs would prolly be the best thing going.
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I used to game all the time on the XBR before I bought a Plasma, and you're right they looked amazing on the CRT (PS3/360/Wii).

mygameroom.jpg


IMG_1918r.jpg


IMG_1905.jpg
 
Running dell p1110 as reference monitor, as I have a dell 2007wfp (IPS) and Sony G500 (slight brightness problem and slightly fuzzy) and Dell p991. Kinda scared to overuse it at this point.

Brought it new August 2007, (right out of the box, sealed and everything so I know that it was new) and its be so good since. I've read about the brightness problem that p1110 tend to have and i've been watching for it. So far nothing.

Comparing it to my dell 2007wfp, there is some give and take. First, you have to take the size and the performance in a bright environment. In a well sunlight room your CRT is going to suck. Long and short of it. However, after you take the size and sunlight performance, my monitor is literally reference quality. Its awesome. Too awesome actually. Part of me wants to store it away and use my lesser monitors so I can save it for a rainy day, but no. What good is my favorite monitor if I don't use it for anything?

Anyway, nice find OP. I'm always on the look out for used sony crt's. I hope to one day find what you found.
 
GORANKAR said:
At 19" or higher on the flat trinitrons and diamondtrons, yes there is a wire that holds the grill on. On the FW900 there are actually two of them. The tungsten wire can be visible depending on what is being displayed. I hardly ever notice them on my CRT's, even when they are plainly visible, but they drive some people nuts.
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It's not just on 19" and higher models. I have a 17" Trinitron in which the wires are visible.
 
sonyman said:
It's not just on 19" and higher models. I have a 17" Trinitron in which the wires are visible.
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The 17" have them as well? I didn't know, I had thought they were small enough to not require them. My bad.
 
The 15" has one 2/3 of the way up the screen. 17" and above have one 1/3 from the top and 1/3 from the bottom. It braces the aperture grill, so that it doesnt shift and screw the focus.

I found out that the monitor has perfect focus and convergence. I had dynamic set on the color setting. It was over driving the screen making the corners blurry. I looked at a few test patterns and its perfect on the two other settings.
 
My g520 still running strong.
1600x1200x85 is my normal setting.

Play some games at 1840 or whatever sometimes
 
jkmetal said:
Running dell p1110 as reference monitor. ... Kinda scared to overuse it at this point.
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My P1110 has been in service for like 8 years. Going strong with the original and wonderfully thick VGA cable. Looks great.
 
badcaps said:
My P1110 has been in service for like 8 years. Going strong with the original and wonderfully thick VGA cable. Looks great.
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Its the brightness issue I'm kind of worried about. No signs yet. If I do get it I'm just going to windas fix.

What's your contrast/brightness settings? With color meter i' run 34 bright, 74 contrast in games and 15 bright 54 contrast everything else.
 
jkmetal said:
Its the brightness issue I'm kind of worried about. No signs yet. If I do get it I'm just going to windas fix.

What's your contrast/brightness settings? With color meter i' run 34 bright, 74 contrast in games and 15 bright 54 contrast everything else.
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In ideal viewing conditions it's actually pretty dire on that brightness issue, running it at about 14 and 85 contrast; in bright conditions, up to 25 bright and 100 contrast.

In spite of that, it still looks spectacular and doesn't need calibration to beat most any LCD on the market.
 
I noticed this thread the other day and figured I would post in here. I currently have one Sony G520 and two Dell rebranded versions of the G520. I am looking to upgrade to LCDs and will be selling these. I will not ship but if anyone happens to be in the Central Florida area I would be willing to deliver/meet up to sell them. If interested PM me and I can supply pictures.


** I understand this post is outside of the F/S thread and if a mod deems it out of line, please delete.
 
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