Sony PVM-2030: About to buy one, made in 1989 - Need Your Opinions Please!

c0dehunter · Jul 16, 2012

Hello all,
I just found a Sony PVM-2030 which is made in 1989 and sells for $80 US. I am hoping to connect it to my modern PC, via a custom made cable (25pin to 15pin VGA), using Soft15Khz to run MAME and other emulators. (currently I am using my Commodore 1084S-D1 for this purpose, and it looks great!)

I have the following questions:

1) How good these monitors are? I have heard they are even better than 1084s, is that true? :eek:

2) Did Sony made these in late 90s as well? In other words, since it is made in 1989, I hope it is not too old, since I have heard that they go bad when they get old (unlike 1084s I guess) In other words, should I wait to see if I can find one made in late 90s? Or should I grab this?

3) I would really appreciate any diagram, pinout, VGA to 25pin schematics, etc. so I can connect it to my modern PC and run MAME via Soft15KHz please!

Here are some screen-shot of the monitor:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48901682@N02/7584295744/in/photostream/lightbox/

I would really appreciates your thoughts, concerns and comments on this!

Thanks in advance!

daskrabs · Jul 16, 2012

1) I have several. They're awesome. I know of nothing better short of an arcade monitor.
2) Don't know. Guessing they produced them for several years.
3) Look on google for VGA pinout. The 2030 manual has the pinout for the 25 pin connector. All you need to connect is R-G-B-H-V and Ground.

300wins · Jul 16, 2012

I don't know anything about Soft15KHZ, but I can tell you that a Sony PVM-2530/2030 are 15khz monitors and won't do VGA without an upscan converter or something.

daskrabs · Jul 16, 2012

I've used soft15. It should work, but the BIOS and splash screens will be out of sync. Once Windows boots, it should be fine.

Adderall · Jul 16, 2012

I have had situations where soft15 doesn't work but powerstrip does... so don't give up if one doesn't work right away.

c0dehunter · Jul 16, 2012

I have found these pinout and diagrams:
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=av:pvm-2030
http://gamesx.com/wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?cache=&media=av:pvm2030_cmptr.jpg
http://gamesx.com/wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=av:vgatopvm.png
http://nfggames.com/forum2/index.php?topic=4028.0
http://nfggames.com/forum2/index.php?topic=3768.0

Do you think for someone who has never soldered before, I can make such a cable?

Alternatively, I think there is a ready-made BNC to VGA cable which does the trick:

http://images.monoprice.com/productlargeimages/5631.jpg

Do you think I should make my own cable or get the ready made one instead? Also, is there going to be any difference quality wise between VGA-->BNC and a custome made 25pin-->VGA?

Thanks!

ChuChu Flamingo · Jul 16, 2012

Forum member broken should be able to make you a cable for this.

c0dehunter · Jul 16, 2012

Looks like the Sony 2030 does not accept BNC, so VGA to BNC is out of question and I am stuck with making a custom cable!

c0dehunter · Jul 17, 2012

I need to know where can I connect the GROUND pins (diagram says pins 15 through 24, do I need ten connectors?)
Here is what I mean!
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=42245

NEO-GEO man · Jul 17, 2012

One should do it. They will all be connected inside.

c0dehunter · Jul 18, 2012

300wins said:
I don't know anything about Soft15KHZ, but I can tell you that a Sony PVM-2530/2030 are 15khz monitors and won't do VGA without an upscan converter or something.

Well, my video card can output 15Khz (is that a composite sync signal?)

daskrabs · Jul 18, 2012

c0dehunter said:
Well, my video card can output 15Khz (is that a composite sync signal?)

No, all video cards output H and V sync, not composite.

NEO-GEO man · Jul 18, 2012

Not true, some video cards DO have s-video and composite video output. And yep, that will be 15.75kHz.

daskrabs said:
No, all video cards output H and V sync, not composite.

You seem to be also confusing composite video with combined sync, which is not the same. Composite sync will require the sync to be separated by another circuit, combined sync is totally different and is simply H and V syncs mixed together.

daskrabs · Jul 18, 2012

NEO-GEO man said:
Not true, some video cards DO have s-video and composite video output. And yep, that will be 15.75kHz.

You seem to be also confusing composite video with combined sync, which is not the same. Composite sync will require the sync to be separated by another circuit, combined sync is totally different and is simply H and V syncs mixed together.

I know the difference. I thought he was asking about sync.

c0dehunter · Jul 18, 2012

Thank you so much for your responses. Over these forums, user named RGB32E is making the following statement: "you need to convert horizontal sync and vertical sync into composite sync, as a PVM-2030 won't accept separate syncs when feeding analog RGB."

http://nfggames.com/forum2/index.php?topic=4028.msg32188#msg32188

I really don't understand this (and he was making fun), so would you kindly please let me know what does it mean? That it means I can not solder R, G, B, H-Sync, V-Sync, Ground and make a custom cable?

He also made a cable for another user, so it is possisble, but I am not how to make this cable (I am going to ask a professional electrician make it for me, just like when he made a 15pin VGA to 9pin for my Commodore 1084S-D1)
http://nfggames.com/forum2/index.php?topic=4656.0

NEO-GEO man · Jul 18, 2012

daskrabs said:
I know the difference. I thought he was asking about sync.

Thats good

For a minute there it appeared as though you were saying composite video is sync.

C0dehunter, if the set has BNC connections on the back, all you usually need to do if you have H and V sync and want to connect it to "combined sync" is use a BNC T adaptor, so you can connect both the H and V to the same BNC on the rear of the set. You cant convert H and V sync into composite sync, only combined sync. Composite sync is what you get when you take the sync signal from composite video.

What would you connect that has separate H and V sync anyway??

c0dehunter · Jul 31, 2012

malignantpoodle · Jul 31, 2012

Sync is off. There is a switch on the back just above the 25 pin connection point which reads, "sync on green". Try flipping that and see what happens.

NEO-GEO man · Jul 31, 2012

This is exactly what i see when the set is out of calibration. Not certain if that is the case here cause im used to NECs.

Have you tried another RGB source? What resolution is that youre feeding in? Try a different resolution to so if it locks to the signal after you try the switch spoken about above.

c0dehunter · Jul 31, 2012

Xian Xi · Jul 31, 2012

Are you using it for analog or digital? If you use it for analog signals you leave pin 9 on the DB25 open but if you want to use a digital source like a computer you need to ground pin 9.

c0dehunter · Jul 31, 2012

NEO-GEO man said:
This is exactly what i see when the set is out of calibration. Not certain if that is the case here cause im used to NECs.

Have you tried another RGB source? What resolution is that youre feeding in? Try a different resolution to so if it locks to the signal after you try the switch spoken about above.

OK, when it is OFF, I get NO picture at all. When I turn it to ON, I get the image, but as you can see, it is distorted.

c0dehunter · Jul 31, 2012

Xian Xi said:
Are you using it for analog or digital? If you use it for analog signals you leave pin 9 on the DB25 open but if you want to use a digital source like a computer you need to ground pin 9.

Well, I guess DIGITAL, since as I have previously stated, I am trying to connect my modern PC (with a 100% compatible video card with Soft15KHz) for game emulations (MAME, etc.)

c0dehunter · Jul 31, 2012

NEO-GEO man said:
This is exactly what i see when the set is out of calibration. Not certain if that is the case here cause im used to NECs.

Have you tried another RGB source? What resolution is that youre feeding in? Try a different resolution to so if it locks to the signal after you try the switch spoken about above.

Actually it is running at 320x240 (using PowerStrip). This is the same machine, the shows a PERFECT image on my Commodore 1084S-D1. As soon as I disconnect 1084 and connect Sony, I get this.
I tried 640x480, still same thing.
any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

It does not have anything to do with this "composite" sync, does it? (as you can see, pin 3 and 11 are connected to H and V respectively)

Xian Xi · Jul 31, 2012

c0dehunter said:
Well, I guess DIGITAL, since as I have previously stated, I am trying to connect my modern PC (with a 100% compatible video card with Soft15KHz) for game emulations (MAME, etc.)

Ground pin 9 on the DB25. You can just connect it to the long bead of solder on the pins below it.

Sony PVM-2030: About to buy one, made in 1989 - Need Your Opinions Please!

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