Thinking about getting a PVM

[Gypsy]

I'm not saying to go to TV stations. That's not probably going to work. I'm saying that if you have TV stations in your area then some of these things exist or at least existed in your area. They go to auction, they go to employees, they go on Craigslist, eBay, whatever. TV stations, video services, things like that, these are the only places that bought these things originally. No consumer wanted a 19" display in 1998 with no tuner and a price tag of $1800, just the commercial market.

Keep looking, check Craigslist more than anything, be prepaired to drive if you live in BFE. If you live in a city don't be afraid to drive *to* BFE. Be creative in your search terms. Most people in the real world don't use terms like "PVM". Don't limit yourselves to Sony, I have a JVC that is amazing (quite possibly it's a rebadge Sony, I don't know).

This is very true. I actually know a guy in my area that gets most of the stuff from the school districts, tv stations etc... He won't talk about it much, but clearly he has an in. The nice thing is, he is quite reasonable on his prices. I figure he must get them for free or close to it, because the last ancient monitor I picked up from him was only $5. He knows I'm looking for this stuff, so typically I have first dibs. Nothing amazing yet but I have acquired some fun tech things from him. Anyway main point being, I originally met this guy through a CL ad when I was looking to buy a cheapy PC tower. So you never know when you can make a great connection like this.

[jtucci31]

I checked CL for well over a year semi-regularly before I found one. DragonmasterDan helped me out and I went to pick it up the next day, was about an hour drive into the city. Totally worth it, I love my PVM. I wish I had more honestly but getting them on ebay is the last way I'd go

[SignOfZeta]

Yeah, eBay is not prefered.

[johnnykonami]

There's a freebie Sony-KD-34XBR960 local to me, it's a widescreen CRT.  I assume it will simply stretch 4:3 signals to the edges so I'll probably pass on it.  It would be good for PS2 but I can't just stock up on giant televisions for obvious reasons.  Anyone have any experience with these?

[SignOfZeta]

I have one and I LOVE IT. It has no trouble playing anything at its proper aspect ratio because a: it's from 2004 when most content was still 4:3 and 2: it's a top level $2500 TV from Sony, not some cut rate "size matters" piece of shit Vizeo. My newest TV is from about two years ago but nothing I've ever owned has forced things wide. I consider that a mark of a bad product but I don't review TVs for a living so I don't know what's normal. Regardless, the XBR960 is a miracle. One of the greatest CRTs ever.

However, I can't really recommend it for SD gaming. It's designed to play LDs and DVDs, you know, movies, and while games certainly don't look bad at all on the thing, it's not like what people think of when they thing "CRT". It is an HDTV in every way. All sorts of fancy signal processing that you can adjust but never turn off. Even an HDMI input. It scales everything to whatever its native res is...I can't remember, 720p I think. It does a flawless job of it but it becomes totally smooth and sure as shit has no visable scanlines at all. I do play games on it all the time but my PVM crushes it in what we consider a good picture for gaming. Let's say B- with the qualification that there is a lot of variation in taste in this department. PS3 and up look amazing. Blurays are holyf*ckamazing.

For your LD collection, absolutely, for PCE...only if you already have it for your LD collection.

Also, it weighs 250 lbs, doesn't have good handles, and nobody I've found will even attempt to repair or calibrate one, largely due to it being a house call situation. For the hardcore CRT enthusiast these concepts are thrilling but it is extremely impractical. I'm almost (almost) glad LCD exploded in popularity like it did because TVs really couldn't get much heavier than this and not damage some homes.

[Digi.k]

just do it guys if you can get it cheap... then you can stress over whether you should have stuck with your previous set up or prefer the PVM and then you will spend more time tinkering with it till you get the right balance of color and contrast etc...

I much prefer the color of plasma as its quite close to the colors you get from emulators. BVM pics

[SignOfZeta]

Mine is currently in the shop (power supply) but I have some pics from when I first got it.

From the JAMMA PCB:













Now, check this out. This PC Engine setup?









Thats a composite hookup. You know, the shitty hookup nobody wants because its garbage. Straight to the display, no mods or repairs or anything, totally original PCE. Lighting was terrible when I took these pics too which is most of why they don't look as good as the RGB from Street Fighter.

When I'm back up and running I'll post better pics. I have a s-video Genesis that looks like MAGIC on this thing. This has honestly lead me to a new apreciation of Genesis. I think maybe half of the reason I always associated the Genesis as being a brown blurry POS was because the composite on mine back in the day was so bad. I always used one of those C64 monitors back then and the SNES and Duo looked way better, now the Genesis looks great too.

[Gypsy]

There's a freebie Sony-KD-34XBR960 local to me, it's a widescreen CRT.  I assume it will simply stretch 4:3 signals to the edges so I'll probably pass on it.  It would be good for PS2 but I can't just stock up on giant televisions for obvious reasons.  Anyone have any experience with these?

Yeah I actually have a similar tv. I have one in the same line (presumably) but the number is 800. It does not stretch the picture. You get black bars on the sides. You can stretch it if you want to, but yeah.

The biggest general difference is the one I have has DVI input instead of HDMI. I mostly use it for multi-player gaming when inviting people over.

Also I can back up what Zeta said. It's definitely an HDTV. There is input lag playing old games. And yes like he said these effers are heavy, so make sure you can lift it if you do go. I'd say probably at least one other person unless you are quite strong, preferably a third to make it easy peasy.

And yes most Genny composite is total crap. It's one of the systems that benefits the most from other video options IMO.

Edit: I can't read.

[crazydean]

There's a freebie Sony-KD-34XBR960 local to me, it's a widescreen CRT.  I assume it will simply stretch 4:3 signals to the edges so I'll probably pass on it.  It would be good for PS2 but I can't just stock up on giant televisions for obvious reasons.  Anyone have any experience with these?

Thats a badass TV. 7 inputs, including two S-video, two YPbPr and an HDMI. Definitely the way to go if you don't want to bother with a commercial monitor.

[Joe Redifer]

Composite video from the PCE looks great in still images. But what those stills don't show is the weird dithering that flickers back and forth, kind of like the NES. Boot up the YS Book 1 and 2 title screen and watch Feena's hair flicker like CrAzY. Jump down, kill th spider and then climb up that rope in The Legendary Axe and the background gets all fuzzy as it dithers all over the place as it scrolls. NES does the same thing. I do NOT miss that on either system since going to RGB.

[Zero_Gamer]

Even South Carolina has TV stations.

What the hell do you know about SC?

[SignOfZeta]

I'm sorry. I just assumed SC had TV stations. My mistake.

[Zero_Gamer]

I'm sorry. I just assumed SC had TV stations. My mistake.

We don't! Don't assume shit. That's lazy! Here in SC we have to sit on the floor and watch marionette shows, and listen to the radio... But you know what!? We are in stellar shape because of it!

Here in SC, we don't need TV programming, long cords, PVMs, Pokemon GO, or guys named Zeta(a southern man don't need him around anyhow).

All SC needs are hot women,TG16, PC Engine, Beer, Crazydean, and the old rover!!! 

[Digi.k]

Problem now is that you tend to notice imperfections where you didn't before.

I now started noticing jail bars on my screen shots...

[SignOfZeta]

You might be able to calibrate that out. The image looks too bright anyway. The white digits are blooming and the colors look...too happy. I'm not an expert on PoP but Rondo looks like it's way too bright.