1997. Peak beige. Peak phosphor. Peak “we accidentally made something too good and nobody noticed.” This is not a monitor. This is that moment where I lean in way too close to the glass like a psychopath and just get excited.
My fiance and I went to a Retro/Vintage media expo local to us. I saw on their Facebook advertisement that CRTs would be for sale. So obviously we had to go. On a weird old card in the corner was a stack of monitors priced…. Disgustingly. The guy wanted $120 for a burned-in IBM monitor with the VGA cable cut. Ugh. Then I saw this thing. He prominently had a note card scotch taped to the front of the screen “broken / doesn’t work / make me an offer”. I paid $20. That’s the entire story right there. Didn’t test it. Didn’t ask questions. Because I’ve seen this before. “Broken CRT” usually means: someone doesn’t understand analog, or the cable is screwed, or they gave up too early. So yeah. $20. Into the truck. I brought it home and hooked it up to a crappy HDMI to VGA adapter and…. NOTHING. Yellow flashing light next to the power button ((Sony Multiscan 200SX flashing (Amber/Yellow blinking) = NO SYNC / NO SIGNAL / UNSTABLE SIGNAL)). This girl either hated the sync I was giving it OR the VGA connection was dirty as hell. Monitor can’t lock? Blinking LED. This is the exact symptom the guy described. After fiddling with the cable a bit I was able to achieve sync BUT if you moved the VGA cable: sometimes you lost red, sometimes green ,sometimes blue, sometimes sync. Every time you bent it, it picked a new color to kill. Not the tube. Not the monitor….Just a nasty, oxidized VGA connection. The Fix (aka basic human effort). This should be one of the best idiot fixes for most old electronics before getting technical. If this does work? Its time to start checking the real stuff like cracked/broken solder joints, bad caps, ETC. All I did was I scrubbed the VGA connector with 99.9% alcohol and a toothbrush, let it sit and dry for a full day then hit it with DeoxIT. Plugged it back in and it locked in like nothing ever happened. No dropouts. No flicker. No BS.
Condition
This is the part that doesn’t make sense. This thing is MINT. Like one of those barn finds you see on Youtube of old racecars and pickup trucks except this monitor has no yellowing, no scratches, plastic still tight, even the scotch tape didn’t leave a mark. Besides a thin layer of dust it was clean enough to come in the house (which is rare for some of my finds LOL) That perfect barely touched by UV beige. Let's hype her up a bit before I keep rambling about how much of a score this was. 17" Trinitron VGA monitor. Aperture grille. 1024×768 @ 85Hz. Perfection.
She is very picky though, This thing does not like garbage signal. Get your crappy HDMI to VGA away from her! Feed her real analog and she locks in like a laser.
Geometry? Mint. Color? Mint. Sharpness? Mint. Brightness???? 0% with 85% on the contrast for all of these pictures you see. Refresh rate? 85hz.
Downsides?
She is super long. Its very hard to keep her on my desk with a keyboard and mouse. Also you’ll find tiny edge behavior if you go looking hard enough but that's with all of these. Oh and duh she hates crappy converters. That’s it.
Verdict.
Should you buy one? If you ever see one labeled “broken”, you grab it immediately and don’t say a word.
Who is this for?
Retro computers or anyone who wants a God tier CRT. Oh and obviously people who actually understand what they’re looking at. Wait until you see what a QUALITY HDMI to VGA paired with a Retro Tink 2x Pro -> 4k can do on this thing.
Who should avoid it?
People who think a cable issue = dead monitor.
In conclusion, She wasn't broken, she just needed to be loved. Oh and she was waiting for someone to spend 20 bucks and 10 minutes actually giving a crap.
Maybe CRT nerds would have an easier time finding a partner if they took that advice BUT Ill leave it at that.
My score? 9.2
Good NIGHT.
Brand:
Sony
Manufacturer:
Capetronic
Model:
CPD-200SX
Series:
CPD
Viewable Size:
16″
Input Signals:
HV Sync, CSYNC, Sync on Green
Native Resolutions:
VGA, SVGA, XGA, SXGA
Horizontal Scan Range:
30kHz, 70kHz
Vertical Scan Range:
50 Hz, 150 Hz
Adjustments:
OSD Customer Controls, Software Calibration
Aspect Ratio:
4:3
Mask:
Aperture Grille
Tint:
Dark
Removable Glare Film:
No idea bub. Its not scratched so I’m not going to try.
Sound:
None
Chassis:
RMH7T10
Weight:
44 lbs
Dimensions (W/H/D):
16.2 x 16.7 x 18.2″
Application:
Computer Monitor
Cabinet Material:
Plastic
Launched:
1996
Country of Manufacture:
USA
Market:
Worldwide
Power Standard:
120v, 220v, 100v
Mounting:
Desk Stand
Degaussing:
Auto-on power, Manual
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