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YMMV: Sony GDM-FW900 24" monitors coming off lease

T

Titan

Golden Member
In these days of LCD monitors popping up everywhere, there are those of us who still cling to the past and prefer the bulky, but proven technology of a CRT. I was looking for a couple monitors for my LAN party a couple weeks ago when I stumbled into ebay auctions for the Sony GDM-FW900 monitors. Ebay searches now help you find items close to you and since I wanted to not pay shipping, I found a lot of 4 monitors within 2 hours of me and just got them in.

Before they came of lease (meaning warranty expired) these were the pinnacle of graphics designer models. A 24" flat trinitron 16:10 display, insane resolutions and good refresh rates. They used to go for 2k new, still go for 800 bucks packaged new, and used you can find many for less than 300 bucks. I only bring it up here since it seems there are a lot of them out there right now and some of you guys may want to hunt them down. Naturally a lot of them won't have any kind of warranty, but the longevity of some CRTs well cared for can be very high (at least I hope). Shipping will be high since each monitor weighs 100 pounds. :Q

I will say it is a pleasure to sit in front of a 24" widescreen display. It is so much better than my 21" CRT work monitor because it is so wide, you don't feel like you are looking into a box all day. You can read 2 pages side by side.

As I said, they weigh 100 pounds each and you definitely need a friend's help moving one, I did, and I am big and strong. Most places allow for local pickup so it may be worth it for those of you who still like the beasts and can find one near you. This is the king of the beasts!

so ebay and froogle away for GDM-FW900, or google the specs. I'm loving mine.

Good hunting!

EDIT: I have realized that the GDM-FW900 is not the only model number for this type of monitor, just the number on mine. So in case those of you want to broaden your search, you may want to look for 24" CRTs instead of by part number.
 
This is my dream monitor, but i can't afford it! $400 shipped and I'm there. It would be so nice to have a widescreen that is actually fast enough to game on. I guess I will have to stick wtih my 21" square CRT for now. One question, if you run it at a 4:3 resolution will it just stretch the crap out of it or is there some sort of way to get the correct ratio with bars on the sides?
 
Originally posted by: jkostans
One question, if you run it at a 4:3 resolution will it just stretch the crap out of it or is there some sort of way to get the correct ratio with bars on the sides?
Click to expand...

The monitor supports many video resolutions. Some are 4:3 resolutions that will be stretched or shrunk. Like any CRT, you can play with the image size/position controls to get it how you like it. It is notable that not all games have 16:10 or 16:9 video modes supported so your image may look stretched on some games, if you don't resize things.
 
Just be wary of some of the later model Trinitrons. I have seen well over 50 of these that were made around the same time (2001-2002? time frame) branded by different manufacturers (KDS, Viewsonic, Sony, Sun, Dell, etc.) that start "fading." What I mean by this is the blacks start turning more grayish and makes the picture washed out since black is not truly black.

Given that, if these monitors do have that issue, it's a heckuva deal!
 
Yeah, that was a common issue on those - I had a Dell trinitron monitor that did the same thing - it was an easy and 30 cent fix, thankfully. It was just a resistor that drifted out of spec over time. Pop the back cover off, solder a new resistor in, and it was back to new again. Took ~10 minutes and a <$1 resistor.
 
I was noticing a very tiny amount of color fade on mine last week, down in the bottom right corner, the blue system tray looked light blue/tealish. So I turned my color temps down (they were on max). Now it looks fine. Hopefully it wasn't my eyes messing with me. My old 17" CRT started to fade once, and turning doiwn the color temps has kept it alive longer.

I was just curious, AdamsJabbar or ThingyNess, or anyone else, if you could point me to some old resources regarding the problem you mentioned. In case it happens to me, I'd like to know how to diagnose it and know which resistor to solder in 😉
 
Originally posted by: tkotitan2
I was noticing a very tiny amount of color fade on mine last week, down in the bottom right corner, the blue system tray looked light blue/tealish. So I turned my color temps down (they were on max). Now it looks fine. Hopefully it wasn't my eyes messing with me. My old 17" CRT started to fade once, and turning doiwn the color temps has kept it alive longer.

I was just curious, AdamsJabbar or ThingyNess, or anyone else, if you could point me to some old resources regarding the problem you mentioned. In case it happens to me, I'd like to know how to diagnose it and know which resistor to solder in 😉
Click to expand...

I'm not the right person to ask about it because I don't know about the fix! haha
 
I ordered one of these Sonys last year from
http://www.baysurplus.com/customer/home.php?cat=3

They dont have any in stock right now, but do have some 21" 'sun' trinitrons for 175$
These guys sell it for over a grand
http://www.accurateit.com/details.asp?iid=474

Mine says Sony. They are also rebadged as SGI, but be careful because _some_ SGI will not work with Grapics cards in todays systems.

I have been using the sony GDM-FW 900 for 10 month and besides my new truck its my favorite thing in the whole world (well material thing).
I got it for 450+100$ shipping, so if you can get it for less go for it. Half the cost and twice the performance of the LCD (well depends on how you mesure performance, but response time, color accuracy - how can a thousand graphics designers be wrong?)
 
I've actually ordered from azatek before. I got the monitor that I'm using right now, from there. I didn't know if there was any other places that might sell these though.
 
I have a 21" sony also. It has a slight blueish tint on the lower left corner. It is only noticeable when the screen is white (such as word processing). If anyone knows where to get more info on the resistor fix I would really appreciate it!

Thanks.
 
Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Originally posted by: Dragoon42
anyone else know a good place to order these monitors? I'd try ebay but that's a little too risky for me...
Click to expand...

http://www.azatek.com/details.asp?iid=786
Click to expand...



WOW!! Free shipping. Man these monitors are a good deal, plus these guys have a 6 months free exchange warantee.

I just got the 24" Dell LCD super duper monitor to sit next to my this monitor.

It is really hard to choose the best, the Dell 2405fpw 24" LCD has bright (even with brigtness turned all the way down) vibrant colors, the Sony GDM-FW900 has 'richer' colors.

The LCD is just as fast response time as far as I can tell and the resolution is actually higher (well there seems to be a small amount of additional horizontal viewable space making higher resolution (1920x1200 native)). But the Sony GDM-FW900 seems sharper, because I cant make out the individual pixels.

Of course when running around in WoW, the colorful bright LCD seems just as nice as the richer Sony, and when in the heat of battle of Battlefield 2 at 1920x1200 I cant really remember that I am on a computer, let alone pay attention to the monitor.

But, for the money, I would go with the Sony. The only drawback is that I had to construct a very sturdy extra support for the center of my gaming table to support the 120 lbs CRT, wheras the LCD weighs a tenth as much.

This place is even selling the Sony Monitors with stands that have ports. Nice.
The 6 months free exchange seems to make it a no brainer for someone wanting an excellent massive monitor.
 
Originally posted by: CRPGer
Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Originally posted by: Dragoon42
anyone else know a good place to order these monitors? I'd try ebay but that's a little too risky for me...
Click to expand...

http://www.azatek.com/details.asp?iid=786
Click to expand...



WOW!! Free shipping. Man these monitors are a good deal, plus these guys have a 6 months free exchange warantee.

I just got the 24" Dell LCD super duper monitor to sit next to my this monitor.

It is really hard to choose the best, the Dell 2405fpw 24" LCD has bright (even with brigtness turned all the way down) vibrant colors, the Sony GDM-FW900 has 'richer' colors.

The LCD is just as fast response time as far as I can tell and the resolution is actually higher (well there seems to be a small amount of additional horizontal viewable space making higher resolution (1920x1200 native)). But the Sony GDM-FW900 seems sharper, because I cant make out the individual pixels.

Of course when running around in WoW, the colorful bright LCD seems just as nice as the richer Sony, and when in the heat of battle of Battlefield 2 at 1920x1200 I cant really remember that I am on a computer, let alone pay attention to the monitor.

But, for the money, I would go with the Sony. The only drawback is that I had to construct a very sturdy extra support for the center of my gaming table to support the 120 lbs CRT, wheras the LCD weighs a tenth as much.

This place is even selling the Sony Monitors with stands that have ports. Nice.
The 6 months free exchange seems to make it a no brainer for someone wanting an excellent massive monitor.
Click to expand...

ARgghh... Thats the only thing keeping me from pressing the button. This thing is going to be a PAIN to move and just a whale on my table.
 
take caution with the 24 inch sonys.. i looked into buying one of these last year and found that alot of them were damaged.. i ended up getting the dell 24 inch lcd 🙂))
 
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