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[LoadWB]

They're up for sale, now. (Jump down here)

I have four Commodore and Amiga CRT monitors in the top of my closet. I believe I have two 2002, a 1084 and a 1084S. When I put them up they worked, but after about seven years I'm not certain how well they work but I am certain that I will not use them again.

I figure I might be able to get about $25 for each, but shipping won't be exactly cheap as they are pretty heavy. Normally I won't ask a question like this, but getting them prepared is going to be a good bit of time on my part and I would rather have an opinion beforehand: is it even worth bothering to get these ready and put up on eBay?

[Effy]

If you trust the postal services then go on with it, personally I shipped my old monitors to the local city dump and started connecting my Amiga's to TFT monitors using external scandoublers or using a video-to-scart cable and hook it to a TFT tv instead ...

[LoadWB]

I would be shipping them via FedEx as it has a much better track record with equipment I ship, less expensive, and I get airline miles. But, yeah, I trust 'em. The local dump is actually less than 1/2 mile from my house, so it's easy enough to just drop them off. I was hoping to give someone a chance to own them in working condition if said someone had a real need for them.

Anymore the CRT is useless to me as I can, relatively inexpensively, purchase whatever adapters I need to connect my various equipment to LCD monitors -- S-Video for the Commodore and Atari stuff, SVGA for the TI via the F18A, DVI/HDMI on the Amigas via Indivision MKII or SVGA via SD/FF and video cards, and so on. My two 20" LCD monitors even have composite and S-Video inputs, so no conversion necessary there.

The only thing I have not researched on connecting is the RGB-I interface on my 128/128D. But I'm sure that's a small stretch to success.

[Speelgoedmannetje]

Most tft monitors have el-cheapo scandoublers and therefore give an utterly rubbish picture on standard SCART RGB. Good scandoublers like the xRGB cost a LOT. A commodore monitor is "the real thing", and will always give you the right picture, as well as it's the cheapest solution.

[Damion]

A lot of guys still RGB mod their consoles, or configure their PC video card to output 15 kHz for MAME use. The 1084 is considered to be one of the "holy grail" monitors among this crowd. Personally, I think a line-doubled display from a good scandoubler (like the PIV), combined with a well adjusted Trinitron/Diamondtron CRT blows the 1084 (or anything else for that matter) away WRT gaming perfection, but the 1084 still maintains a loyal following as one of the legends.

Anyhow, I'm sure you'd find some takers on ebay, question is whether or not it's worth your time and the potential hassle. I have a bunch of these in my garage and have been asking myself the same question for a number of years now.

[TjLaZer]

DO NOT throw good Amiga gear away please! Even CRTs. Post an ad on CL or here to offer them cheap or FREE if you must.

Yes they are worth it, some of us like to use the Amiga with it's original monitor. Now if they do not work, that is another matter.

If you do ship them make sure and you pad the monitor on all sides, even the BOTTOM and TOP of the box. Thay way if it gets dropped it will minimize the damage to the case. I found old monitor boxes with the styrofoam works great for CRTs.

[Matt_H]

Commodore CRTs are still my favorite display for Amigas, even if they are small by modern standards. The picture quality is unbeatable.

[partycentralpartygirl]

Originally Posted by Matt_H

Commodore CRTs are still my favorite display for Amigas, even if they are small by modern standards. The picture quality is unbeatable.

Everyday I fight the urge to order a CRT from this page, I am afraid it won't work properly. One day I might just say "who cares" and buy one anyway, unless anyone wants to give it a shot and report back.

http://www.xgaming.com/store/categor...d-accessories/

[persia]

Personally I've re-imagined the past where monitors were always flat and light.

"I reject your reality and substitute my own!"

Doctor Who, the Deadly Assassin 1974

[Damion]

Originally Posted by partycentralpartygirl

Everyday I fight the urge to order a CRT from this page, I am afraid it won't work properly. One day I might just say "who cares" and buy one anyway, unless anyone wants to give it a shot and report back.

http://www.xgaming.com/store/categor...d-accessories/

Recently I was lucky enough to find 2 NOS Sony PVM-20M2U monitors for a reasonable shake. Had to make an Amiga -> BNC cable, but they are truly phenomenal. (15 kHz, 50/60 Hz no problem.) 20" is a bit large for sitting up close with low-res Amiga games, fortunately they have an underscan function which comes in handy.

The only problem with buying old, or even NOS CRTs - they are fragile as heck, and even in the factory boxes will often get jostled around enough during shipping to knock them way out of calibration. But if you go through the long process of dialing them in, there is nothing better (IMHO) for classic gaming. The smaller ones like the 1084 usually fare a lot better though than the 80lb beasts.

Personally I've re-imagined the past where monitors were always flat and light.

"I reject your reality and substitute my own!"

Doctor Who, the Deadly Assassin 1974

I wish I could find a monitor with perfect convergence, geometry, etc, but without the smearing, lag, and resolution scaling problems of flatscreens. I also can't handle any type of "scanrate conversion" that entirely molests the signal and produces b0rked scrolling. (Or the periodic mouse pointer hop and tearing artifacts in WB when the Amiga and scandoubler re-synch.) That said, I wouldn't even consider using a CRT with a modern computer. With the Amiga, I have yet to find a monitor that does everything perfect. The closest is probably a little 17" late-90's iiyama I have connected to a Picasso IV. It's simply fabulous.

[LoadWB]

Okay, they all work. Two Commodore 2002 and two Amiga 1084.

One of the 1084s has been modified internally to take in two audio inputs and feed them to two outputs on the sides with a power outlet at each, as well, for a set of speakers which are no longer present. The internal speaker does work. This unit also appears to have a small problem with the vertical deflection as the screen is a thin horizontal line which gets larger as the unit warms up.

Being as late as it is, I of course have not yet had the opportunity to take them up to see about boxing and weighing for shipping costs. I'll make the offer here right now and negotiate over shipping as we go on. If anyone here is interested in any or all of these, make an offer for the units alone. I'll provide shipping and packaging costs and let you decide if they're worth it to you. (We can also arrange for local pick up.) PM me with your offer and email address and I'll send you a photo, as well.

If I cannot get a bite here by mid-week then I'll put them up on eBay. If I cannot sell them there then sadly they'll have to go to recycling.

[motrucker]

I doubt you will have trouble selling them, as long the asking price isn't crazy.
I still use Commodore monitors (who ever made them),
I do NOT like flat screen monitors (LCD, etc.) on an Amiga. They look like crap (IMHO).
Good luck with your project.

[mpiva]

I'd be interested to know if they sell. My wife's really been hassling me to clear out some of my old computer stuff but I'd rather give it a good home, if possible, than throw it away. I have a few 1084s and 1942s packed away in my basement that I'd like to sell/give away (I just can't bring myself to throw away anything Amiga), but last time I tried to give away Amiga software manuals/programming books for cost of shipping only, most people weren't interested. Shipping on monitors will be a heck of a lot more than books and I don't want to go though all the hassle of packaging these monitors if nobody's willing to pay shipping from Canada.

[partycentralpartygirl]

Originally Posted by Damion

Recently I was lucky enough to find 2 NOS Sony PVM-20M2U monitors for a reasonable shake. Had to make an Amiga -> BNC cable, but they are truly phenomenal. (15 kHz, 50/60 Hz no problem.) 20" is a bit large for sitting up close with low-res Amiga games, fortunately they have an underscan function which comes in handy.

The only problem with buying old, or even NOS CRTs - they are fragile as heck, and even in the factory boxes will often get jostled around enough during shipping to knock them way out of calibration. But if you go through the long process of dialing them in, there is nothing better (IMHO) for classic gaming. The smaller ones like the 1084 usually fare a lot better though than the 80lb beasts.

I agree totally that CRT's are better for gaming. Even at RCA cable output resolution my media centre computer ran modern games at on my 32" CRT TV looked better than the HDMI signal (colors were better and BRIGHTER on the CRT, though I can read text much better) I was actually kind of mad about it... but TV shows look much better.

I almost want to figure out a way to hook up a 21" CRT monitor I have to my old consoles as the LCD's make me angry.


Something I've noticed with the LCD's is that the pixels will distort and such during fast paced action. I suppose this is the unit stuttering and the LCD is showing the actual output as opposed to just bluring the pixels together like it would on a CRT. Though I am not 100% sure why this occurs.

[Damion]

Originally Posted by partycentralpartygirl

I almost want to figure out a way to hook up a 21" CRT monitor I have to my old consoles as the LCD's make me angry.

http://junkerhq.net/xrgb/index.php?title=XRGB_Wiki

Something I've noticed with the LCD's is that the pixels will distort and such during fast paced action. I suppose this is the unit stuttering and the LCD is showing the actual output as opposed to just bluring the pixels together like it would on a CRT. Though I am not 100% sure why this occurs.

Fast paced, low-res scrolling games are the _worst_ on LCDs, just the nature of LCD technology unfortunately. Could also be the way the monitor is processing the signal, combined with a large screen size.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respons...y_technologies

On the Amiga, you can really see the difference with a pinball game. On a CRT it's smooth as silk, but the smearing is obvious even on "fast" LCD panels. I've always found the problem to be exaggerated when the monitor is displaying a non-native resolution (like a Genesis connected to your LCDTV).