Lacie Electron 22 Blue CRT Monitor

[BlueMagician]

Hi All!


I finally got hold of a new Lacie E22B4 CRT, but have some troubles..

When turning the monitor on from cold, the geometry of the display shifts and changes over the first 45 minutes or so. The most noticable thing is the fact that for the first half an hour, the bottom of the screen is clipped off the display (ie: Windows task bar is half missing in 1600x1200).

Despite the percentages and values in the OSD remaining the same, the effect is rather like something has altered the Vertical Linearity or Vertical Balance by around 20%. Over the half hour or so, the bottom of the screen slowly draws up into view. I also get a slight hooking in the top and bottom right corners, and pinching in the top left.

All of this sorts itself out in around 45mins after a cold on.

Lastly, when using the OSD (which is a bright white box) over an empty black Windows desktop), I get a thin red line on the right edge of the OSD, and a thin blue/green line on the left of it - which I don't seem to be able to irradicate with convergence adjustments.


Is any of this normal?? I've heard of CRT's needing up to an hour for their colour to stabilise, but never heard of such dramatic shifts in geometry etc..


Many thanks in advance,
S.

 

[xtknight]

I think your CRT is still warming up. As for the edges-I don't know. I remember when I had an old 17" CRT the geometry would eventually come in, but it was like 2 minutes. Sorry I can't be of any more help.

 

[Eureka]

Yeah, it most likely is your monitor warming up, I've heard larger monitors have longer times... it might also be a defect. Maybe you should try RMAing it?

Norm

 

[monster64]

Same thing happens on my multiscan e200 crt. when I first turn it on the image is bigger than the borders, so I make it smaller to fit and then after some time it becomes too small as it drops below the borders, so I have to make it larger again.

 

[CP5670]

I got that same shifted image issue you described on one of the three defective Mitsubishi 2070s I went through, but it was only offset by a couple of pixels and there were no changes in the geometry. I don't know about the lines though. Your monitor is internally the same thing as mine, so I think you may have gotten a bad one, which was very common with these CRTs near the end of their production.

 

[BlueMagician]

Thanks to all for your quick responses.

Yes, it is a late manufacture monitor (Q1 2005). Whilst the image seems spot on after that 45 minutes, it's a bit mad to see a new monitor acting like a 7 year old £50 CTX when first powered up... I'm intrigued to hear the similar experiences with monitors all using the DiamondPro tube, and it's a shame.


I've registered it and sent a support request to Lacie to see what they think, but I thought I'd ask here whilst they got around to responding.

I would return it, but the company I got it from implicitly stated that the warranty was 'with Lacie', presumably implying that they had no more in stock if there was a problem. However, Lacie's autoresponder to my support request stated that I should deal with my reseller, so I could be playing RMA tennis..

Plus it's soooooo damned heavy to move, and a nightmare to courier - around £25/$40 a throw to send it anywhere, I would imagine...


Gargh.

Thanks guys,
S.

 

[JRW]

Originally posted by: BlueMagician
Hi All!


I finally got hold of a new Lacie E22B4 CRT, but have some troubles..

When turning the monitor on from cold, the geometry of the display shifts and changes over the first 45 minutes or so. The most noticable thing is the fact that for the first half an hour, the bottom of the screen is clipped off the display (ie: Windows task bar is half missing in 1600x1200).

Despite the percentages and values in the OSD remaining the same, the effect is rather like something has altered the Vertical Linearity or Vertical Balance by around 20%. Over the half hour or so, the bottom of the screen slowly draws up into view. I also get a slight hooking in the top and bottom right corners, and pinching in the top left.

All of this sorts itself out in around 45mins after a cold on.


S.

My 24" FW900 behaves the same way (manufacture date May 2002) ,when I first turn it on in the morning the task bar is slightly cut off at the bottom but after about 30 minutes it looks fine and picture quality is superb, Im not sure about the OSD red / blue line symptom you speak of tho.. If you dont see the lines during normal usage (games / browsing etc.) then I guess its not a big deal.

 

[BlueMagician]

Originally posted by: JRW
My 24" FW900 behaves the same way (manufacture date May 2002) ,when I first turn it on in the morning the task bar is slightly cut off at the bottom but after about 30 minutes it looks fine and picture quality is superb

Now that's random - A sony tube exhibiting the same issue?

TBH, I can live with the slight hooking/pinching (which really is slight) for that length of time, but the fact that half of my damned task bar is missing is a bit extreme. At 1600x1200 about 5mm of it is cropped off. The top of the screen is fine however, which means the image is actually stretched downward, rather than offset.

And no, I'm not putting my task bar at the top...


Not what I'd expect from a £600 monitor.. D'oh.
S.

 

[xtknight]

Too bad they can't make any decent CRTs anymore. FEDs are your next best bet. Perfect geometry.

 

[CP5670]

Yes, it is a late manufacture monitor (Q1 2005). Whilst the image seems spot on after that 45 minutes, it's a bit mad to see a new monitor acting like a 7 year old £50 CTX when first powered up... I'm intrigued to hear the similar experiences with monitors all using the DiamondPro tube, and it's a shame.


I've registered it and sent a support request to Lacie to see what they think, but I thought I'd ask here whilst they got around to responding.

I would return it, but the company I got it from implicitly stated that the warranty was 'with Lacie', presumably implying that they had no more in stock if there was a problem. However, Lacie's autoresponder to my support request stated that I should deal with my reseller, so I could be playing RMA tennis..

Plus it's soooooo damned heavy to move, and a nightmare to courier - around £25/$40 a throw to send it anywhere, I would imagine...

Yeah, the January 2005 SB Diamondtron tubes were apparently the really bad ones. It seems that Mitsubishi's quality control started to decline sharply around October 2004 and had become so pathetic by January that I think it was a good thing they stopped production at that point.

Try calling up LaCie's tech support and see if you can get them to send you a replacement that was manufactured earlier. I managed to do that after going through three bad January 2005 2070SBs, each with its own set of problems, and got a June 2004 one that has been perfect. For the first RMA, the NEC/Mitsu CSR also told me to go to the reseller, but when I did that and asked for an RMA, I kept getting redirected to some guy's voicemail saying that he wasn't available. At least the other NEC reps I talked to didn't bring up the reseller again. NEC's RMA procedures were otherwise very good, as they sent the replacement in advance and paid for shipping and pickup both ways, but I don't know about Lacie.

That being said, are you having any problems with the focus along the left and right edges? That was the one common problem with all of the ones I got, so if the things you described are the only issues you're having, then you are probably better off keeping what you have, since any newly manufactured replacements are likely to be worse.

 

[BlueMagician]

Originally posted by: CP5670
...That being said, are you having any problems with the focus along the left and right edges? That was the one common problem with all of the ones I got...

It's March 2005, which has got to be one of _the_ last made then. Everything looks okay elsewhere - I've downloaded the NEC test pattern software, and got things about as close as I can before I lost patience and my eyes went boggley looking at funky patterns.

However, this monitor replaces a 17" Trinitron which was damned fine for its age, just too small. I've never used a Mitsi tube CRT before, so I'm not sure if what I'm seeing is normal.

Hmm... What to do, what to do...

Appreciate your support and opinions all,
S.

 

[Sonikku]

My Sony FW900 has horrible geomtry. It's at it's worst when I first turn it on, then after half a hour it's just lousy. (I can't get it even remotely right no matter how much I play with the settings) My slightly-better-looking NEC had excellent picture and geomtry in under a minute.

 

[BlueMagician]

I've worked with dozens of cheap Shadow Mask CRT's over the years, and a couple of Sony NF Trinitron's and never seen a CRT shift over time - not by half a centimeter!

I'll wait and see what Lacie UK say, but if they're gonna charge me postage to send it back and forth, I think I'll keep it!

S.

 

[xtknight]

The geometry settings on a CRT are a bitch to set.

 

[JRW]

Originally posted by: Sonikku
My Sony FW900 has horrible geomtry. It's at it's worst when I first turn it on, then after half a hour it's just lousy. (I can't get it even remotely right no matter how much I play with the settings) My slightly-better-looking NEC had excellent picture and geomtry in under a minute.

Thats a shame sorry to hear it,you dont have any speakers etc. nearby do you?... I probably would've sent it back to the Seller although im not sure what conditions his "30 day warranty" carries, My FW900 has excellent geometry,its just as good if not better than my previous 21" Sony G520P.

 

[BlueMagician]

Originally posted by: CP5670
Try calling up LaCie's tech support and see if you can get them to send you a replacement that was manufactured earlier. I managed to do that after going through three bad January 2005 2070SBs, each with its own set of problems, and got a June 2004 one that has been perfect.

Well, I have to say, Lacie support have been superb about this... so far...

The good news is that they advanced shipped a replacement within a week of me opening the support call, and they pay shipping both ways. That bad news is, having recieved the replacement unit, that too is completely b0rk3d in a different way..

The bottom left 2" of the screen is all ghosted red and green and out of focus. With an RGB convergence test pattern displayed, you can easily see that for that 2" area, the gun convergence is totally out of alignment, by 3mm or more. My Start button looks like it's found a stockpile of LSD.. :Q

The replacement unit was a refurbed late 2003, and I can't believe they let them leave the factory in this condition, so it's gotta be the shipping doing the damage? The amuzing thing is - bear in mind I live about 40mins drive outside of London - that my replacement unit was shipped from France!


I'm hoping they'll be as helpful second time around...

S.

 

[CP5670]

If that was a newer manufacture then crap like that would actually be a standard thing, but given the 2003 date it does sound like it was damaged in shipping. The Superbright Diamondtron tubes back then were top quality, unless it has something to do with the fact that it's a refurb. If it's not costing you anything you could try it one more time, but send back this bad replacement instead of the original one. Unfortunately getting a brand new replacement is going to be difficult these days and getting one that's also an older manufacture doubly so.

Actually, my case was somewhat similar in that all three Fedex-shipped replacements I got from NEC had beat up boxes (the box for the second one was badly dented and torn in several places) and broken packing foam, although the monitors themselves seemed to be okay at least from the outside. The box for the original one I got from the reseller came by UPS and was in perfect shape though.