a plethora of external CRT issues

[allen]

i have a sony HMD A240 trinitron CRT hooked up to my T60p via advanced mini dock, my system specs are in my signature.

i'm getting mixed signal as to whether or not this CRT is good for 1280 x 1024 SXGA up to 85Hz. sony's horrible IM tech support claims yes it is.

this has a link to the tech specs:
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model- ... dl=HMDA240

my first issue is, i can't get my CRT to 1280 x 1024 at 85Hz.

2nd issue, 1280 x 1024 is a 5:4 aspect ratio, and offered as the CRT's max resolution.
the thinkpad is a 4:3 aspect ratio, as well as 1024 x 768, 800 x 600, and the thinkpad's 1400 x 1050. as well as the physical measurements of this monitor's display area, 13in x 9.75in, a 4:3 ratio. when i set the CRT to 1280 x 1024, you can see it's squished. how are you suppose to use this? 1024 x 768 is way too low for a screen resolution setting.

stressed,
allen

[pianowizard]

when i set the CRT to 1280 x 1024, you can see it's squished. how are you suppose to use this? 1024 x 768 is way too low for a screen resolution setting.

Have you tried 1280x960? That's a 4:3 aspect ratio.

[zern]

1st issue:
Have you tried setting it to 1280x1024 at 75Hz?
Have you looked under: Display Properties/Right-click on the CRT/Properties/Adapter/List All Modes?
Or go to the ATI Catalyst Control Center / Displays Manager panel and you can set the desktop area and refresh rate there also.

2nd issue:
If you can see an image on the screen but it is squished, you can use the monitor's hardware adjustment controls to manually change the vertical and horizontal size. This is probably called v Size and H Size on the OSD (On-Screen Display). The specsheet says these controls are available.

I have a CRT hooked up to my T60p (directly, no dock). When I switch resolutions - say from 1280x1024 to 1400x900, clearly different aspect ratios, I always have to fiddle with the V Size and H Size to get the perfect display.

Hope this helps.

[allen]

just tried the list all modes method, no dice. i've tried the other methods.

i did resize the vertical and horizontal, but, i get abouth 3/4 inch black bars on the left and right sides of my display then. the only thing that works is to set my external to 1400 x 1050, it's pretty small, but i've been getting used to it, hoepfully not hurting my vision, as a photographer that would suck. also the reason i was going for high refresh rate, it's like silk on your eyes.

are you doing any color critical work on your CRT? mine is much less saturated and less contrasty than my flexview, both calibrated with spyder2

[zern]

Yes - when the displayed pixels are not the same ratio as actual screen you will get some "wasted" areas. When I had mine at 1440x900 I had 2 huge black strips top and bottom
Still, better the black bars than a distorted display where a square is not so...

High refresh rate on CRT is an absolute necessity otherwise I get headaches. My base minimum is 75Hz. Currently at 85Hz. I don't know how people work with 60Hz CRTs.

No, I don't do colour critical work. Long ago I decided that agonising over colour makes my life unpleasant. So I just accept that there will be a minor shift now and again in CMYK or PMS print work. I have swatch books for ref. Though for photography colour accuracy is more critical. I have been doing all my graphics work on non-flexview LCDs since my T21. Yes, the gamut is less than a CRT, but the end results have never been dramatically different from the intent.

[tomh009]

The HMD-A240 is a 70 kHz monitor, not a very high bandwidth. To determine the maximum refresh rate, divide the monitor bandwidth by the vertical resolution. So you could probably do ...
90 Hz at 1024x768 (ugh)
72 Hz at 1280x960 (proper 4:3)
66 Hz at 1400x1050

Now, I don't know whether your driver (which video?) supports 1280x960; if it does, that would be my choice.

You may be able to do somewhat better than the refresh rates above as CRTs often have a little bit better performance than the published specs.

[allen]

yes, well, 1280 x 960 would be amazing, but i havent been able to get that resolution to come up. otherwise i'm stuck at 1400 x 1050 at 60hz, cant' even geta 66 hz to work, under list all modes it's not there. i have the firegl v5250, which it seems there is a new driver for at the ati site, but i can't get it to download and install, and the newest version posted by lenovo is the version i have.

thanks, i dont know what else to do but to give up, i've been on the phone w/ lenovo tech support all week,they're horrible

[tomh009]

If you have no resolution choices I don't have many good ideas.

If you prefer a CRT, I would look on craiglist or eBay for a nice 20" or 21" model that's local to you. For example, here is an HP 21" for $129:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0073420613

You could probably recoup some of that by selling yours ...

[pianowizard]

Many people are throwing away their CRT monitors for free on Craigslist. Look for them in both the "Computers" and the "Free stuff" sections.

[allen]

you think those CRT's for free or used are good enough?
my guess is that they'd be pretty old and beat up, and probably harder to find a trinitron one...

if i'm going to spend money on a new monitor, the questions then comes to me, should i replace it with a CRT? or LCD flat panel, which is better, and which CRTs are better than others, and which LCDs are better than others. i might just have to deal with this CRT until it's broken, unless the answers to those are easy and inexpensive.

[tomh009]

Maybe, maybe not. Good monitors can last a long time, even CRTs, but one never knows how they were handled. That's why a local purchase would definitely be the best bet.

If you go new, the one factor in favour of a CRT rather than LCD would be colour reproduction accuracy. Depending on your requirements, that might sway the vote in favour of staying with a tube. On LCDs, you would want to locate an IPS- or S-IPS-based display, which unfortunately are not the easiest to identify.

If you're not aflush with cash, my inclination would be to scope out eBay and craigslist for local displays, and take a look in person. You might find a lovely professional monitor -- Trinitron or otherwise (Trinitrons tubes are fairly common in the 20/21" sizes, regardless of the manufacturer) -- for a very nice price. Just check the specs beforehand, as you should really get a 100+ kHz monitor to support 85 Hz at 1600x1200.

[allen]

my previous monitor was a dell p780:

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/m ... n/spec.htm

same size and trinitron like this sony one.
but apparently the dell p780 was a 85khz monitor.

but, it was purchased in like sept. 2001, so it's like 5 years old, pretty sure it was getting old, which was my inclination to swap w/ my parents' sony monitor that was bought a couple years after my dell one.

the dell just turned on would be noticeablye brighter than after it "warmed up" after 1/2 hr - 1 hour.
i haven't noticed that yet with the sony CRT., it would just go from bright to dark and level off after warmed up. isn't that an indication of getting old? i would just calibrate after warmed up.

i'll have to test the dell's capabilites next time i go to my parents.
i swapped when i got my T60p in dec., and never tried the T60p with dell CRT, and never tried the desktop PC with this Sony CRT.

thanks.

[tomh009]

The p780 specs look much better -- as long as it doesn't die on you!

[pianowizard]

you think those CRT's for free or used are good enough?
my guess is that they'd be pretty old and beat up, and probably harder to find a trinitron one...

Some are beat up but others work perfectly well. I have given out several CRT monitors that our lab no longer needed, even though they were in perfect working condition. You can email the donors and set up a time and place to take a look before picking them up.

[allen]

i stand corrected, the sony does have a noticeable shift from just turned on to warmed up, brighter to darker. so... we'll see about the dell p780 tomorrow or sunday

[benplaut]

Consider the Omega drivers instead of ATI Catalyst. They allowed my 19" monitor to run at 1400x1050@75Hz, and it probably has more tricks in stock, too

[allen]

update, tested the dell p780, could get 1280 x 1024 at something higher than 60 hz, i forget now, but i'm really not trying to use 1280 x 1024 ratio. i couldnt get the 1400 x 1050 to do anything but 60hz, that might actually be a video card restriction.. according to horrible thinkpad tech support.

the resolution i really used to like on the dell CRT was 32 bit 1152 x 864

omega drivers... will have to look into that in a couple weeks when i'm back at the desk.

would you care to elaborate on them? and what video card and thinkpad system you're using benplaut?

[allen]

according to the omega drivers site, they work with any ati video card with the word radeon in it. the fire gl video card doesn't have the word radeon in it, so what's the deal?

allen

[allen]

this is an old post, still trying to solve the same problem, i've just been dealing with it, but now am ready to buy a new monitor.

however, is it safe to say that, if my desktop properties isn't offereing the 1152 x 864 option, or 1280x960, that it wouldn't offer them with a newer model CRT? if it were the same size? or different size?

i'm considering one of these 2:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/3 ... K_17_.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/3 ... 9_CRT.html