[comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware] SONY Trinitron tube characteristics

fangchin@leland.Stanford.EDU (Chin Fang) (04/14/91)

In article <1991Apr14.021735.8177@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> skesterk@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Shane Kesterke) writes:
>Since Sieko and Sony monitors have been a hot item of discussion lately I've
>got question.
>I have a 386SX-20MHz system with a Prodesigner-II (512K) and a Sieko 
>CM1440 (I'm pretty sure that's the model, it's the interlaced Sieko monitor)
>It's got a very good picture but there's one thing that really annoys me.
>There's a very thin horizontal black line about 1/3 the way up from the
>bottom of the screen that NEVER goes away. It becomes more and more visible
>the lighter the background gets.
>I called Sieko tech support and they said it's normal and it's part of Sony's
>monitor technology (since Sony manufactures Sieko's picture tubes).
>I just wondered if the rest of you Sony and Sieko owners have to deal with
>the same odity that I have to deal with because sometimes that little line
>annoys me so much I just want to trade my monitor in for a not-so-high
>quality one.     
>Was the Sieko tech support right or do they just tell their customers that
>so they don't have to go through the hassles of replacing faulty monitors?

*******************************************************************************

This is a really interesting question.  I don't have a firm answer yet. 
But I will tell you as one with lots exposure to SONY Trinitron (R)
tubes used for PCs and Workstations (SUN SPARCstations 1, 1+, 2, IBM/RS6000s,
and DECstations 3100, all use color monitors OEMed by SONY).
 
As far as I can tell, SONY's 1304HG Multiscan DOES have the thin line you 
mentioned, so do many 14" monitors using the Trinitron tubes, eg, your own
and AcerView 35, which btw, is a probably the best buy 14" Trinitron, 
because it's wider horizontal sync range and much lower price $490 or so)

Of all brand new AcerView 35s that I have seen, all show the thin line you 
mentioned.  I have also seen many brand new SONY 1304HGs do the same.

Next, workstation OEMed monitors.  On DECstation 3100s, I tried to tell 
such thin line without any success, 13 of them.  Of all 13 IBM/RS6000s that
I take care of, I have never seen any thin line either.

BUT, on Sun Sparcstation 1s, (not 1+s or 2s),  I DO have noticed that some
of them show the thin line at 1/3 from top going from left to right.  The
rest Sparc 1s and all 1+s and 2s monitors don't have such problems.  I 
manage 54 of them,  but I only have seen such thin lines on a few so
far, and they are among the earlier models.

Honestly, I am puzzled too.  Maybe someone who really understands the 
Trinitron single gun design can provide some insight to this.  I will talk
to someone in SONY of America as soon as I get a chance.  If I can find out
any answer before anyone else reading this newsgroup, I will post.

>Any help or comments on my delema would be very appreciated! Thanks for
>your help!

Well... I didn't help any.  But you are welcome anyway.

Chin Fang
Mechanical Engineering Department
Stanford University
fangchin@leland.stanford.edu

jgw31657@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Jeff Wiedemeier) (04/14/91)

The line across the screen is annoying at first, but I found that I got
used to it very quickly (on a Seiko CM1450). The only time I notice it
any more is in 1024x768 mode with a white or light gray background
(unless I am looking for it).

I also checked our old Sony trinitron TV at home and it also has this line.
It is just a "feature" of the design.


--
 ______________________________________________________________________________
 Jeff Wiedemeier      |Co-sysop, The Prayer Tower ( 217-359-0043 HST          )
 j-wiedemeier@uiuc.edu|* support for Apple IIGS   ( 217-359-0011 HST and V.32 )
 =====================|  - and PC      ________________________________________
 talon (Prayer Tower) |* on-line games |    << Place advertisement here >>    |
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

fangchin@leland.Stanford.EDU (Chin Fang) (04/15/91)

In article <1991Apr14.095832.10706@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> jgw31657@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Jeff Wiedemeier) writes:
>
[some stuff deleted]

>I also checked our old Sony trinitron TV at home and it also has this line.
>It is just a "feature" of the design.
>
But I am puzzled by the fact that MANY Triniton tubes mentioned in my last
post DO NOT show this thin line, how can we explaine this?   I think I have
a pair of very picky eyes having been spoiled by hig-res and pricy monitors
for quite a while, could I still miss something?

Yes I did use WHITE background when I did my checkings.

Chin Fang
Mechanical Engineering Department
Stanford University
fangchin@leland.stanford.edu

phil@brahms.amd.com (Phil Ngai) (04/15/91)

The line(s) is(are) how you tell if it is a genuine Sony Trinitron
tube or not. (the bigger tubes have two lines)

(of course, you only need this if you can't recognize Sony's
distinctive cylindical shape)

--
	The best way to preserve your RKBA is to vote Libertarian.

hudgens@sun13.scri.fsu.edu (Jim Hudgens) (04/16/91)

In article <1991Apr15.041623.4963@amd.com> phil@brahms.amd.com (Phil Ngai) writes:
>The line(s) is(are) how you tell if it is a genuine Sony Trinitron
>tube or not. (the bigger tubes have two lines)
>


I've been following this thread, and wondered if everyone had missed
the top line, which is clearly visible on the SS1 I am using right now.

It has 2 lines visible at about  1/4 and 3/4 the height of the screen.
Its a 16" monitor with 1152x900 resolution.

Nice monitors, for sure.

JHH


-- 
Jim Hudgens		Supercomputer Computations Research Institute
hudgens@sun13.scri.fsu.edu
"Nothing's for sure except DEC and VAXe .. er, death and taxes"

liggio@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Vincent J. Liggio) (04/16/91)

The line on a Trinitron tube is definitely not a faulty monitor.  Because
the Trinitron design uses a screen behind the phosphor that creates the
vertical (?) separation of lines, there has to be something to hold this
little screen up.  The little line that you see is a minute wire that runs
behind the screen.  Larger monitors have two since they have more to
support.  Why on the bottom?  Don't know.

I have a Sony 1304, and I only find the line noticible when I have a white
screen.  In general I never notice it.  Actually, I had worked on one quite
often, and never noticed it until someone one the net posted about it and I
was stupid enough to look, because now I notice it!

Vince

fangchin@leland.Stanford.EDU (Chin Fang) (04/16/91)

In article <2753@sun13.scri.fsu.edu> hudgens@sun13.scri.fsu.edu (Jim Hudgens) writes:
>In article <1991Apr15.041623.4963@amd.com> phil@brahms.amd.com (Phil Ngai) writes:
>>The line(s) is(are) how you tell if it is a genuine Sony Trinitron
>>tube or not. (the bigger tubes have two lines)
>
>I've been following this thread, and wondered if everyone had missed
>the top line, which is clearly visible on the SS1 I am using right now.
>
>It has 2 lines visible at about  1/4 and 3/4 the height of the screen.
>Its a 16" monitor with 1152x900 resolution.

I can tell you one more puzzling thing that I have observered on one of our 54 
SPARCs.  This particular Sparc 1 (not 1+ or 2) monitor has vertical lines,
three of them, evenly spaced from left to right (or vice versa, if you prefer)
I can tell you, I am really puzzled by this.  To bad I am too darned busy
lately to get hold of my contact in SONY of America to straight this out.

>Nice monitors, for sure.

Agreed.  Once one is in X windows, who cares these thin lines?  You never
see them.

Chin Fang
Mechanical Engineering Department
Stanford University
fangchin@leland.stanford.edu