I’ve yet to come across a post where anyone has bigged up another brand/model of CRTs / PVMs other than the Sony Trinitron. These are (usually) found super expensive, so what is comparable but at a cheaper price, which people have had positive experiences with?
You can save $ with a consumer or prosumer Trinitron (the ones with the rounded black plastic cases)
JVC, Panasonic, Ikegami.
I have a JVC TM-H1750CG, it’s probably a little less accurate color-wise than my Sony PVMs but it has higher TVL count resulting in a sharper image that pops more.
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Panasonic and JVC quality varies from model to model, though JVC is better overall. I have four 19" Panasonics I’m selling, though I’m keeping almost all my (dozens of) others. JVC TM-22U is nice and compact but not the best picture. Late model Samsung CRTs can be decent. Ikegami made high res CRTs, especially the black and white monitors. Sony is best for color, accuracy (image problems are more readily spotted on Sony), stability (Sony handles flicker better than most any others- even the prosumer models).
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Thanks for the replies all!
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Any insight or opinions on the going rate for used Sony PVMs? I know that there are only 3 thousand variants, but what’s today’s ball park for working units?
I think there are too many factors and the sample size is too small to come to any meaningful conclusion. In the last five years I’ve paid as low as $75 dollars (CAD) for a 17" JVC and as high as $400 for a 20" Sony.
The one thing gamers are looking for is RGB inputs so that’s one aspect that can help in lowering the price of a unit if you are only looking for composite and S-Video but even then it’s hyper competitive.
There’s basically no supply at this point so any that do show up will base their price on sold listings unless you get lucky with a seller that’s not checking.
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I would add that it’s a very risky investment, as these things are not getting any younger and finding a technician willing to work on a CRT is pretty tough. If I wasn’t already into retro gaming I probably would have stuck to consumer CRT TVs and concentrated more one converting and upscaling to modern displays.
I guess it’s more a question of what value a CRT monitor will add to your system and workflow
for feedback, surely the varying characteristics of different monitors will impart different effects on the video - but “best quality” wouldn’t be as critical as it is for monitoring and rescanning… but on that, how “good” does a 30~40 year old screen look?
Is it part of the aesthetic you’re pursuing, can the appeal be attributed to the romanticism of antiquated technology? Tough questions to ask yourself 
As Vdot touched on, conversion and upscale seems to be the way forward to many - especially with Gen3 LZX opening the realm of HD video
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Oh, I can do the work & maintenance although I don’t want someone’s basket case.
Super annoyed with a guy on German Ebay Small Ads right now (Kleinanzeigen).
I bought a Panasonic BT-M1400psn off of him. He sent me a few photos of the unit in action and I asked twice about his ability and commitment to safe shipping from DE to Austria. He assured me that he could do it with no problem.
It came in a decent enough box but was without arrows marking ‘which way up’ and no warnings of fragility on the box. It was left in front of my door on what would turn out to be its face (glass down).
Unit does not power up. Packaging was quasi-decent with foam blocks taped to the sides but LOTS of loose newspaper stuffed in the spaces as if that would do anything to prevent shock to a monitor.
Dude cares not and told me that even shipping it to me was ‘a favor’… I’m not even going to go into that ex post facto absolution of responsibility.
Cracked it open last night to start the investigation (naturally, focused upon the power button area first (yeah, yeah, yeah, discharging through a 100W resistor and other safety precautions were actually first, etc…)
I don’t see how this could have happened in shipping given the fact that the box is in ‘good’ and monitor is in ‘very good’ cosmetic condition. I think that he did a switcheroo on me. There is no damage to the button or that area.
I’ve got two words to describe that guy: one starts with “F” and the other with “A”.
First and last time I’m buying a CRT without inspection and personal pickup. I should have listened to myself about shipping CRTs by persons lacking the track record; or care!
That’s such a shame. I buy a couple CRTs a month (project) and rarely have any trouble. If you bought it through eBay they should refund you for the lot, they always side with the buyer. Even if you have to post it back it’s at the sellers cost
Sadly, that service is not offered with the small ads. I’ll fix it tonight and carry onward.
