Sony PVM-1354Q - Question about display

Jackie_Chan_Fan wrote on 4/30/2005, 5:23 PM

I just bought a used Sony PVM-1354Q monitor of ebay and the monitor appears to be working fine however when i go into 16:9 mode on the monitor, I see three thin horizontal lines. 1 Red, 1 Green, 1 Blue.

These 3 lines do not obscure the 16:9 display. They are drawn just above/outside the 16:9 frame image. (They are only on the top of the screen)

Is this normal? These lines are not visible in 4:3 mode unless I turn on underscan.

Otherwise the monitor appears to be working fine. Just curious if anyone has experience with this monitor and has seen this.

Comments

GlennChan wrote on 4/30/2005, 10:15 PM

I have the same monitor (half the screen works) and I see those three lines.

Um yeah, buying used monitors off eBay is sketchy. A bad experience for me personally. Plus, aged CRTs get color drift.

Jackie_Chan_Fan wrote on 4/30/2005, 11:11 PM

Well the picture on the monitor looks to be good to me although its my first time with a PVM.

I do 3d animation for a living so i tend to think i have a good eye overall... but it is still my first pvm.

What do you think those 3 RGB lines are? Are they perhaps normal?

The color seems more muted to me than my TV when set at the default chroma nob setting (12 oclock) but it looks nice still. Turning it to about 1oclock gives a more saturated look and looks similar to my Tv.

I dont have a way of previewing dv to the monitor yet. My TRV900 firewire port blew out (thanks sony... i used your 6pin to 4 pin cable!) So now i'm hunting for a cheap miniDV cam to use as a firewire deck for capturing and playback.

pelladon wrote on 4/30/2005, 11:16 PM

Don't forget to calibrate the monitor.

Jackie_Chan_Fan wrote on 4/30/2005, 11:39 PM

I will once i get a new cheap dv cam to use as a deck.

GlennChan wrote on 5/1/2005, 12:54 AM

Yeah just feed the monitor color bars and go into the menu for the auto calibration feature.

No clue what those three lines are btw.

dcrandall wrote on 5/1/2005, 6:03 AM

The following is an excerpt from a Sony FAQ site:

"One of the unique features of the Sony Trinitron CRT is what is called the Aperture Grille. An Aperture Grille consists of a series of long vertical slits fastened with strong vertical tension to a steel supporting frame. Electron beams pass through the Aperture Grill to illuminate phosphor on the faceplate. The vertical tension of the Aperture Grille absorbs any thermal expansion, thus eliminating the problem of doming or color spill and resulting in a superior picture quality.

Since the CRT requires a vacuum to function, a damper wire which is approximately 15 microns in diameter is strategically placed on the Aperture Grille to reduce susceptibility to resonance. The "line" that some customers see on the screen is not a fault but the damper wire which has always been an integral part of Sony Trinitron technology."

-Dan

GlennChan wrote on 5/1/2005, 6:50 AM

It's not those finely tensioned wires, although those are there.

pelladon wrote on 5/2/2005, 10:45 AM

Oh, and a word of warning about buying "monitors" on ebay.

Production monitors, especially when used heavily, wear out. So studios may have to dump them after only a few years of use. Man, some of those monitors have heavy screen burn and badly faded images, yet sell for hundreds!

Make sure you check it out carefully and don't pay too much.

Steve Mann wrote on 5/2/2005, 11:58 AM

Gnerally a used PVM monitor that doesn't meet studio quality specs is still far, far better than most off-the-shelf television monitors.

Even if a bug is burned into the screen, the other 90% is probably good enough for color correction for the budget-minded user.