RGB on a Sony Trintron TV - a few pics and comments

[MtothaJ]

Hi All,

Just thought I'd give you a quick look of Mega Drive via RGB on a Sony Trintron TV. The TV is question is a SONY KV-21CL1K (BX1 chassis), key features:
- 21" screen
- 4:3 screen ratio
- stereo sound
- 2 x SCART (RGB input signal via one of the SCART connectors)

tv1b.jpg

9 P1010806.JPG

7 P1010795.JPG

8 P1010798.JPG

6 P1010781.JPG

A few comments from my side, comparing also to the Sony BVM-14M4DE RGB monitor I also have:
+ really bright and vibrant, almost neon-like colours - makes these old games look amazing
+ very user friendly - apart from the usual volume and brightness etc. being adjustable from the remote, one can also adjust RGB horizontal picture shift as well as all of the geometry settings (via a service menu), no need for BNC cables etc.
+ excellent value - at least in the EU these sets can be had for next to nothing
- geometry is very good, but is better on BVM (that said its only visible when bringing up a cross hatch test pattern)
- BVM display is sharper, pixels are more profound

The bottom line from my perspective is that if you live in a part of the world where RGB TVs are cheap and plentiful then there is not really much point bothering with the hassle associated with getting a pro-monitor. In theory the image may be sharper and geometry marginally better but in real life you are more likely to find a TV thats in better condition than a pro monitor, and the TV others SCART connector, speakers, remote etc. Also it is cool that geometry and screen position are fully adjustable from the remote via on screen display - I can also adjust these on screen on my BVM but certain PVM's require one to unscrew the backand fiddle with some pots which I guess is a bit of a pain. THe other no brainer is that TV's offer on average larger screen sizes - 14" on the BVM is just a bit too small... 21-25" is about right IMO and its a lot easier to find a TV that size.

[4Runner]

21" is too small for me. I got a 27" Toshiba and it's pushing it for size. I'd like a good 32" but I'm tired of moving them (had 2 in the past year). It's hard to find TV's in the states with SCART inputs. Yours does look great though!

[retro nick]

21" is too small for me. I got a 27" Toshiba and it's pushing it for size. I'd like a good 32" but I'm tired of moving them (had 2 in the past year). It's hard to find TV's in the states with SCART inputs. Yours does look great though!

As I understand, these never existed, except for video production monitors.
Even then, I've never been able to find info on one of those. Unless you are talking about BVM/PVMs. And those were never sold to the public.

[MtothaJ]

As I understand, these never existed, except for video production monitors.
Even then, I've never been able to find info on one of those. Unless you are talking about BVM/PVMs. And those were never sold to the public.

From what I am aware, some sets were sold (sometimes they were called EIA Multiport). Might be available on some higher end European TV's (Loewe, Grundig) which may have been sold in the US.

Just a few more pics:

- grid pattern from the 240p test suite - almost ok but could do with a little fine tweeking in the corners:

2 P1010789.JPG

- horizontal centering of RGB picture is available from the standard menu - handy

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- root of service menu:

4 P1010792.JPG


- geometry sub menu (scrolls down to include more items)

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As for size - I would say 25-27" is very comfortable. I find that the bigger screens tend to offer a loss of sharpness and also above a certain size (say 29") even CRT tend to be 16:9 which is a major deal breaker for me.

[Tom M.]

I would say that any recent TV with SCART will give you more or less perfect picture when you use RGB on the Mega Drive. For instance I bought a brand new portable CRT in 2009, which is nothing but a cheap 14 inch Turkish Luxtronic, and the picture is still amazing. Also, when considering the size of the screen, the old school video games resolutions fit perfectly onto smaller screens around 19 inches. The bigger screen the more pixellated visuals. The same applies to more modern consoles like PS2 or Xbox. They just do not provide so many pixels and due to 3D nature of those games, there are just no detailes on larger screens.

[MtothaJ]

I would say that any recent TV with SCART will give you more or less perfect picture when you use RGB on the Mega Drive. For instance I bought a brand new portable CRT in 2009, which is nothing but a cheap 14 inch Turkish Luxtronic, and the picture is still amazing. Also, when considering the size of the screen, the old school video games resolutions fit perfectly onto smaller screens around 19 inches. The bigger screen the more pixellated visuals. The same applies to more modern consoles like PS2 or Xbox. They just do not provide so many pixels and due to 3D nature of those games, there are just no detailes on larger screens.

I agree with you comment concerning screen size - above a certain size the image is just too pixalated and looses its sharpness.
As with regard to the cheap CRT - its hit and miss - it is true that some do look amazing, but more often than not the cheap ones have serious geometry problems. Might not be such an issue when just watching some TV, but with video games its very furstrating when lines are not straight, edges of the screen curve / warp, the screen is shifted slightly with no easy way to adjust horizontal shift or rotation etc.
Just two days ago I had to pay to get rid of a 25" Royal Star CRT which I had at another place - also had RGB etc. but geometry on that one was really bad and the sound was a bit distorted when the TV was on for a few hours.

[Greg2600]

For US players, I would just find a 27" Trinitron, and use a SCART to component adapter. The lag is not that bad, and it's an inexpensive solution.

[NeoVamp]

I'm fucking pissed at my own (Euro) Trinitron tv, it's quite similar to OP's tv but I can't seem to get the left and right sides straight,
they bend and it looks horrible.. and I don't want to hide it with overscan because then stuff like lifebars in fighting games get cut off.

I tried messing with the settings, but it seems impossible to get them to be reasonably straight.

[MtothaJ]

I'm fucking pissed at my own (Euro) Trinitron tv, it's quite similar to OP's tv but I can't seem to get the left and right sides straight,
they bend and it looks horrible.. and I don't want to hide it with overscan because then stuff like lifebars in fighting games get cut off.

I tried messing with the settings, but it seems impossible to get them to be reasonably straight.

I don't know what model / chassis you have but I would start with returning the geometry to default setting (in my model its TT code 43 when in test mode and with channel 59 selected) and then try the most appropriate adjustment. The cross hatch patterns defienietly help, as for the adjustments sometimes its a bit of trial and error and finding stuff out e.g. in my set rotation was in the main menu and not in the test menu, where I spent some time looking for it.

[sheath]

I'm thinking about selling my 32" HD Trinitron to make room. What do these things go for now that the CRTpocalypse has happened?

[NeoVamp]

I'm thinking about selling my 32" HD Trinitron to make room. What do these things go for now that the CRTpocalypse has happened?

25 to 50 bucks if you're lucky.

[Greg2600]

Yeah pretty much, sometimes they are offered free if you can carry them. A 32" is really tough to give away, because you will kill yourself trying to carry it.

[evilevoix]

I runs 34" Sony trinitron that is hd so 1080i. It's brilliant via SCART to component but lightgun games do not work. It's nice to have for VGA on my Dreamcast and ps2 has some enhanced games. One I get a wii I can test out some 480p goodness.

[Mzo]

I'm using a 32" Wega Trinitron and a SCART to YUV converter.

Genesis games look way better than they ever did before, but you should see the difference in Master System games. It's crazy that the system was putting out something this pretty so long ago and there I was, ruining it with noisy composite garbage.

[MtothaJ]

Yeah pretty much, sometimes they are offered free if you can carry them. A 32" is really tough to give away, because you will kill yourself trying to carry it.

Thats a best case scenario. More often than not nowadays in the EU due to electronic waste disposal regulations you actually have to pay for an authorized recycling centre to dispose of the set in an environmentally friendly manner. If you just leave the set out in the street or at a rubbish / litter point you could be on the recieving end of a rather large fine :P