The Biggest CRTs still in use: The Sony PVM 2950Q Trinitron Pro Monitor

[@RetroTechUSA]

In case you need more information on the Sony PVM 2950Q, I have links to all my videos on the PVM 2950Q listed in the description. Thanks

[@JohnyTheWizKid]

I messaged you the other day that I was considering in obtaining the 3230 and wanted to have it calibrated, recapped and cleaned. I tested component cables with bnc adapters and it wouldn't display full color. Only green and I wanted to know if you would be able to fix that. But the guy selling it wanted 5k for it. I couldn't even fit it in my car. So I didn't take it but that one was the biggest crt pvm I personally saw.

[@JC-qu5lv]

If you ever want another one to show off and work on let me know :D. I don't think it's ever been serviced but seems to be holding "ok". Using your calibration video for it I got mine back to almost perfect for it which was great!

[@TNVGAMING]

@@JohnyTheWizKid PVM-3230’s don’t accept component. It has to be RGB w/ Sync. It’s why I went with a 2950.

[@TNVGAMING]

Is this going to be for sale?

[@JohnyTheWizKid]

@@TNVGAMING How about if you get an adapter that goes ypbpr to rgb w/ sync, if they exist. I can have it go to scart male, then female scart to bnc rgb cables. Its annoying but will it work?

[@BrandonTweed]

My absolute favorite PVM. Great work, Steve! And thank you for documenting the screen droop issue. A friend and I figured out those transistors were the culprit, and it's nice to know a solder reflow should do the trick.

[@RetroTechUSA]

Thanks dude! That's awesome. Such a near repair. This is definitely my favorite sonyxCRT too

[@nobodytonobodysbusiness]

Timestamp?

[@r-ea]

I physically recoiled when he put his bare hand on the flyback transformer

[@djm9600]

I have 2730qm and for me these Sony Series are the best pvm 's ever made ! The Picture is amazing, the colors are beautiful, scanlines is something incredible

[@Sybernetix]

I have the droop on my 2950Q, and was unsure how to fix it! Thank you so much!

[@rivage3900]

I have the "Droping" issue on my 2950qm! Will try the resoldering of the board.

[@NickMatzkeMusic]

Awesome video Steve! I love my 2950! It’s a dream retro gaming monitor.

[@Oldgamingfart]

A superbly-engineered piece of kit, and really Sony at their best! I shudder to think how much they cost when they were new!

[@JC-qu5lv]

Not as much as the BVM series, but still several thousands of dollars, in the 90's and 00's lol. I've heard BVMs were 15K+ so honestly still relatively cheap today :).

[@Oldgamingfart]

@@JC-qu5lv Indeed, that's very true. Professional equipment in general almost always ran into the thousands! :0

[@itamarazulai6767]

Wow that monitor looks great. I have an older similar model (2730qm) and the picture is really great on those beast's.

[@barryklinedinst6233]

I worked on a couple of those bad boys. I always loved working on sony equipment. Every brand made brakes . But when you take the back off of a Sony you can tell its well made. The boards aren't all warped up from heat. They are well designed pieces of gear

[@Soloist1983]

Oh, I almost forgot the KING, the Mitsubishi XC-3725 pro monitor, that was another great one. If you ever get the chance try to grab the following CRT's, I had all of them, multiples of some, they were EPIC --NEC XP/XM29+ had 4 of these, gave one to a friend, legendary, high contrast mode will melt faces, super high res --NEC 3PG (PG-2710) Probably the best gaming/pro CRT, not as high contrast as XP/XM+ --Mitsubishi XC-3725 behemoth that is right up there with the PVM-2950Q I'd LOVE to see your reaction to these SUPER Tubes!!! :) The only downside is you might have to buy a forklift to get them into your place :D

[@SQLrs]

You forget the Mitsubishi EUM-4201A, i got it and it's a beast ! kzbin.info/www/bejne/hKOanpd6mN2SjaM

[@GodfatherNick17]

Making me miss my 2950Qs! Love these things

[@Soloist1983]

Back in my monitor collecting days, back in the 2000s, these were the ONLY Sony CRT's I cared about. Honestly though, I think the NEC XP29+ and XM29+ were better, that high contrast mode blows you away, and the ability to handle close to full 1080p was amazing. The other noteworthy model was the NEC 3PG, damn that was a great monitor. The pro-grade shadow mask CRTs had WAY better blacks and almost no light leakage compared to the aperture-grille based Sony's.

[@leifcian4288]

Yeah they're popular because of brightness and that was important for a main general use display. These days a little phone is my main general use display and wouldn't use CRTs outside of low light autumn and winter evenings for preservation and energy economy reasons. So definitely found I prefer shadow masks for modern CRT use cases in my view.

[@gamingtv394]

I have one with its original speakers. The screen is very sharp, and the colors are strong, probably did not see much use. I use it more than my 20L5.

[@Renan230f]

I wanted to ask you if this monitor is 15ghz, another guy told me that this monitor 2950q is 31ghz not 15ghz. it told me it is a computer based presentation monitor and it does not have 15ghz like a normal PVM and BVM.

[@finanzasiji6534]

What a beauty! Great vid.

[@RetroTechUSA]

Thanks

[@ronch550]

That TV is the Soniest Sony TV I've ever seen.

[@the_platapus3522]

I have been eyeing a Trinitron for retro gaming, although ebay prices are high. I have heard the PVM models are very great for that too. The largest PVM i know of is the PVM-4300, which is a 43 inch model. But it tips the scale at a whopping 441 pounds (~200kg).

[@winstonsmith478]

Beautifully engineered modularized hardware...

[@giovanni4304]

This is my new favorite channel, probably nostalgia driven from when I was a kid in the 90's. I remember being jealous of my friend's DLP, not the TV itself but the booming sound that came out of that cabinet. Me being me, i saved up some money and bought two Technics subwoofers from the pawn shop and hooked them up to my 13" Zenith 🤣the tiny Zenith didn't really push them but it still gave my friend a run for his money, haha good times. Love the content!

[@beebot]

I have one - it's a truly excellent monitor for MAME/Mister and emulation. I also have the PGM which serves as a vertical shooter (rotated) setup for the 360 via VGA. Many people see 600 TVL and dismiss it, but I much prefer it to the higher TVL BVM monitors for retro gaming.

[@Renan230f]

can you tell me if this monitor outputs audio through the bnc cable, or do you need to put speakers.

[@beebot]

@@Renan230f It has seperate stereo audio input (L/R) and passthrough. Plus it has L/R speaker terminals for external 8W speakers (there are lugs on the side to accept the default set).

[@Renan230f]

@@beebot I wanted to take the opportunity and ask if this monitor does 480P by component video on ps2.

[@beebot]

@@Renan230f It takes RGBHV. So no, I don't believe so. You will have to convert from component to RGBHV via an Extron or OSSC (or similar). The PVM does, but the PGM does not have those inputs.

[@Renan230f]

@@beebot Thanks! One last question, on another channel I saw a message from a guy who said he can't tune his ps1 through Csync. Have you tested the ps1 on this monitor with Csync?

[@DCol]

Man this is too beautiful

[@miro5052]

Absolute beauty, so envious.

[@weegeesoul]

Great Overview. Gonna get mine in a few weeks. I'm very excited to finally have one of THE PVMs! I think the monitor looks much simpler on the inside than the older 2730qm I have, which hopefully translates to fewer points of failure.

[@Zalibidas]

i think there was a slight tilt ot something. could see it from the top

[@eol6632]

My high school had two like that back in 1999.

[@chromium5988]

Awesome video. It will come in handy if I ever need to repair mine, god forbid!

[@BlockABoots]

@0:49 on Super Metroid , what cases the sides of the display to flex like that when it display bright colours (in this case the lightning in Metroid). Ive seen this on a fair few sets over the years and never knew why it happens??

[@Prison3r_X]

Good question. Idk myself but maybe old caps?

[@akhtarshaikh9809]

Very good vedio from Mumbai India

[@prozacgodretro]

About 20 years ago I had a monitor like these that was really old my brother had picked it up secondhand actually got two of them. Gave me one of them. It had VGA and 800x600 support looked amazing.. do you know of any models that might sort of be the same as this I believe it was 27 in looks just like that Sony where it had the big handles in the back had a VGA port on it as well. I'd love to try to find that model although it's definitely out of my price range.

[@passipassiLAP]

How do you usually keep track of off the connectors between boards? Do you take some pictures before taking all the boards out?

[@crtinkering7323]

I go and buy the cheapest finger nail polish assortment i can find and use different colors/patterns on each connector. This way when you go to put it back together its just a matter of connecting matching colors... easy peasy. You can come up with all sorts of patterns and colors.

[@calzonemaniacsvideocorner0804]

An amazing CRT.

[@TNVGAMING]

Is this one going to be for sale? I have one myself but cosmetically it’s beat to shit. I’d love to work out a trade if possible.

[@Prisoner_X]

Same. Found mine on a street curb

[@TNVGAMING]

@@Prisoner_X how bad is yours?

[@bok..]

I love crts, I don't miss the high pitched hum from them though

[@33ordie]

I have a damaged bezel on my 2950Q happened while moving. Would you happen to know where I could get a replacement one? It just looks bad with the small damage otherwise the buttons still work.

[@ygtx44]

i wish i would have a place like yours to get my sony serviced i live in Finland

[@Charlie-Cat.]

WOW! It's like a mountain Steve. What a beauty. 8^) Anthony...

[@RetroTechUSA]

It's a big one! Thanks Anthony

[@50shadesofbeige88]

That dot pitch through... 😍

[@retrogamestudios6688]

I have a few large Sony reference pvms in my studios back storage. Plus I know there's a few nib addon pcb cards I'd be happy to donate em but they don't have flight cases

[@TheSmorsked]

Hello Steve, I have an idea of a video that would be great if you wanted/had time to make. Most people have access to decent consumer CRT:s but they are in 95% of the time in severe need of some maintenance, but aside from the condition is a fine monitor kv-29x5e in europe or xbr:S in the us. I assume most people at best can install some convergence strips and perhaps order a cap kit to remedy geometry issues. That is good and all but that is not really assuring that everything with the TV is to factory spec sense it is just a blind repair meaning that no measurements of key voltages has been made. It would be awesome if you find some great CRT in poor condition like an XBR and go through the service manual and measure the test points with an oscilloscope and compare the measurements to the factory measurements given by the manual. It would be quite informative to people i think to see how to properly use the manual with an oscilloscope. Most of the issues with consumer crt:s today is imo that the geometry problems cannot be completely adjusted for in the service menu, but a repair back to factory condition certainly will. One video idea might be to correct the PSU and measure the different voltages. one video might be deflection etc.

[@terrythe2dmaniac71]

Amazing, but rarer than a black lotus....lol Great video btw, keep up the good work man.

[@SuperVexxy]

In Memory of my old KX-27Ps1 System

[@Watcher3223]

Out of curiosity: what would be the estimate to do a recapping of a PVM-2530. Considering the number of boards in the set and the sheer number of electrolytic caps, I have to imagine that it's most assuredly not going to be cheap.

[@WrYSVrZrtr]

Doesn't make sense, anyway. Just replace the bad/failing caps.

[@Watcher3223]

@@WrYSVrZrtr Okay, so aside from any obvious operational issues, just hunt around with an ESR meter and replace any that are found with suspicious readings, right? And approach it with some sense: concentrate on areas where the caps would be most stressed because of heat and operating frequencies.

[@MrOrthopedia]

What was that music at the end?

[@WanderingNasi]

which would you prefer between this and the NEC XM29?

[@ecruz010]

Awesome video! Do you think this PVM is better than the JVC D-Series you reviewed earlier?

[@JohnyTheWizKid]

I have a 36" one. Freaking massive

[@crestofhonor2349]

Absolutely yes. Professional monitors are much better than consumer sets whether they're from Sony, JVC or any other company

[@mariokart8715]

But not as practical & more expensive.

[@JohnyTheWizKid]

@@mariokart8715 Well honestly, I only paid $800 for mine as opposed to 5K for the 3230 the guy wanted to sell it for. So I settled with the D-series.

[@mariokart8715]

Which is a consumer model.

[@eol6632]

Soon many high schools had these....and those dangerously easy to tip over high TV carts on wheels

[@Maisonier]

There is any difference if you change the flyback red wire and install a new one, thicker with oxygen-free copper? or it won't make any difference?

[@Rob8]

Any pvm-4300s still around?

[@WrYSVrZrtr]

unicorn of unicorns

[@Manny2211]

Enjoy your crt 10 years from now most will die and find a replacement won’t be easy in 15 to 20 years from now they will be mostly a memory for those who grew up with the good old crt

[@WrYSVrZrtr]

Lol no we will have CRTs for a long time to come.

[@ScoopexUs]

Mine is 32". But yours is nice too. :D

[@davidcarmichael4006]

Have you ever done a video on video passthrough from a PVM to a CRT? Unfortunately I’m not sure what connections and cords are correct to use if it’s possible at all.

[@LameGaming]

Depends what you mean by crt... I assume a consumer set with component input? You need to pass the rgb from the pvm through a rgb to ypbpr component transcoder to the consumer set.

[@6vibe150]

Aww yeah I have one of these

[@wasisjetztwieder]

does anyone know the original new price of the PVM-2950 at that time?

[@WrYSVrZrtr]

One arm and two legs.

[@808music3]

Old vintage monitors from Sony especially 29”inches had poor pictures sharpness and quality. Thank god todays tv are cheap and reliable.

[@fozzythemexican]

So do you have a list of repair men in the Dallas area by chance that are as good as you?

[@ranchhodlalvishwakarma3784]

Sir maray pas Sony kv 2060 model crt tv hay usmay 2sd 3505 or 2sc 1395 karab hay kya ap say magasaktay hay yde ho sakay to communicate may namber daway

[@sojungvage9740]

I just rescued a PGM 2950E, it looks the same, does anybody know what a CRT like this is worth?

[@adamgardner28]

What's the difference between the 2950Q and 2950QM?

[@chromium5988]

I have a QM, I think it's regional. I'm in Australia. I'm guessing Q for US, QM for Europe, Australia, etc

[@chromium5988]

What would be the best way to use the YPbPr and RGBS input without having to constantly disconnect and reconnect cables all the time? Would BNC splitters work?

[@StephanieHua]

So the 2030 has the old RGB but the 2950Q has the BNC RGB? Or are these PVMs both totally different generations (ie 30 vs 50)?

[@JohnyTheWizKid]

The 3230 does too but only bnc. Components don't work with adapters. I tried it. :/

[@JC-qu5lv]

it has RGB just not component plugs or BNC. It uses a different 25 pin connector for RGB so you need a special cable for it.

[@Prisoner_X]

Different gens

[@sneff212]

Oh boy! Who cant wait for heckin youtuberinos to drive the price up yet again!

[@williamsnider7599]

Sony will always be the best

[@PapiFed]

Tilt looks terrible at 12:00 😬

[@RetroTechUSA]

Come on now Fed my boy. That's a bit harsh.

[@PapiFed]

@@RetroTechUSA Was that the best it could get ? I know the 2950 is capable of better 🙂

[@RetroTechUSA]

Maybe you can try my cap kit on yours and see how you can get it to look. Good luck.

[@leifcian4288]

Amazingk... and incredibru... You wish, you just... just wish...

[@EmperorMAR]

😂I had a dream about a huge crt last night

[@yepp5922]

Hey I've got an interesting one for anybody here. My CRT monitor is 1024 x 768 and in 85hz mode it jitters in certain parts of the screen. Is this due to a bad cap?

[@kit-ekat8139]

what i wouldnt give....

[@reminon]

I'll trade you a mister for it. Lol

[@cristianmedico2476]

Wao, Sony at that time made very good tv as well, sadly they lost that position.

[@edjose2285]

3.6 amp wtf 3600 watt.

[@elpablo4003]

Far from one of the biggest CRTs

[@JC-qu5lv]

If you really want a super tube, there's the PVM-4300, which is just insane - i.imgur.com/a5cVqzz.png