New Monitor: LaCie Electron 22 Blue IV

So I got a new monitor today: a LaCie Electron 22 Blue IV. I had to drive an hour each way to get this thing, but it was totally worth it. It's a 22" high-end, late model CRT computer monitor. Like other late model CRTs, it has a completely flat screen. It can display up to 2048 x 1536, but I'll mainly be using it for 640 x 480 stuff. It's a strange color - sort of a dark blue color. It's difficult to show its actual color in a photo, but it's interesting. I feel like it would go well with an SGI workstation. It's heavy, but not nearly as heavy as my 20" PVM. I can actually haul this thing around without feeling like my arms are about to snap off.

I got it mainly for Dreamcast games and, to a lesser extent, for Gamecube and Xbox games. I could go on all day about how good the image looks, but it's ultimately meaningless unless you've actually seen it. Sufficed to say that it looks amazing, and that it's probably the best (albeit a bit excessive) way to play Dreamcast games. When I first got it, I had a hard time believing that it was actually displaying the DC at its native resolution - it almost looks like each pixel is a square. But it does display VGA natively - it's just very, very sharp.

Some information off of the back of the monitor: It was manufactured in January 2004, so this was towards the end of CRT production. There's a label that says "NEC-Mitsubishi Electric Visual Systems Corporation", so I'm guessing it was produced by those companies and sold in the US by LaCie. It was made in Nagasaki.

EDIT: looks like this monitor is essentially a Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 2070SB.

I plan on making a video of it in the near future. In the meantime, enjoy these pictures.

 

DAMN DUDE!!

That thing is bigger than my TV set! It has a 21.5" diagonal screen.

I wanted to get a 34" monitor off FleaBay for $250 but it was local pickup only from California and I'm in Texas...
It could take composite, s vid, component, 15k RGB, and VGA. Could display up to 1080i resolution and is a CRT. Oh well...

 

I had one, my GDM-C520K is better but there's a huge price difference. Good monitor anyway.

Looks more like PVM than computer monitor - 22" professional computer CRTs from 1999 and newer can usually go up to 2048x1536@85-150, which is bigger than 1080p.

 

That is a Mitsubishi Diamond monitor. I had one too years ago and yes, the Dreamcast on that through VGA is fantastic!

 

I had a similar nice experience last night.

I was looking to pick up a 17" 4:3 1280x1024 LCD monitor. A mate popped round as he wanted to abuse my 60mbit internet connection to update his PC (he gets around 2mbit) but I told him he cant as I have a dozen computers in the room already, so he brought the screen to use his pc in another room and said I can keep it lol. The picture quality is surprisingly good and it has built in speakers too

I would still prefer to get a 29" arcade monitor but this will certainly tide me over for some time.

 

It's a nice looking monitor as well.

 

Indeed it is. It looks pretty good sitting next to my PVM. Now I need to get some type of small table to put it on, because at the moment it's just sitting on top of my supergun enclosure.

One thing I didn't mention or show in the pictures is that it comes with a hood that attaches by velcro. It's supposed to shield it from sunlight, I guess. I don't really need it, but it's nice to have. I have the original box, too.

So far, the coolest thing for me is playing games that are ports of Naomi games. It's pretty much like playing at the arcade, except arguably better because of the incredible sharpness of the monitor.

I also tried connecting it to my computer last night. It's cool, but it's pretty much unusable at the highest resolution. It's almost like a retina display at that resolution, except not as crisp. Photos look really good, though. For high resolution stuff it's really no match for a modern LCD. For VGA it's amazing, though.

 

I found a 22" CRT VGA monitor on FleaBay recently. Starting bid is $60 USD plus another $40 for shipping. 2.5 days left on bid with 0 bids ATM. Finances willing, I'm gonna go after it if no one else bids in the last 30 minutes of auction. No links since I'm sure SOMEONE here will be willing to give more than $60 for it...

Yeah, I'm a jerk. :suspicion:
DEAL WITH IT!

 

Very nice! CRT is still my favourite way to play games, I hear a lot of people say CRT is still the best for HD gaming as well, maybe one day I might do the leg work and invest in a proper CRT monitor and get rid of this TV set.

 

aaahh big ass CRT monitors are great. i had a 21" fujitsu and it was great (but maaahoosive and damn heavy) had some serious armour plating inside used to use it for a 2nd screen on pc and for dreamcast. until it died, had to get rid. sad times!

i'd love another one for an arcade cab project

 

Now that I've bought this beast, anyone care to tell me if it's any good or not?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/iiyama-Visi...T4AhIYtRGYtfLwCONcJ3Vow=&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

Paid $100 USD flat shipping included.

 

should be good , thats one thing i like about them huge monitors normally they have a powered USB hum in the base so few more usb ports. not sure i'd pay the price + shipping for one tho

but anyway should serve you will, hope you've a strong back for lifting it haha.

 

Don't matter since this is for classical game consoles. May serve me Xbox well as well as my PC once I plug it in for more comfy YouTube cinemas.

Only one on FleaBay and damn sure cheaper than older shit half the size screen wise.

I'm a strong mutha $@#&^. I can lift shit most people gawk at. It won't be a problem.

 

I was actually surprised at how (relatively) light the LaCie monitor is. I haven't weighed it, but if I had to guess I'd say it's probably 30 or 40 lbs. Compare that to my PVM, which is a 20" model, and weighs 66 lbs.

I got the original box out last night. It's not in great shape, but it's all there. I might take a picture of it later.

 

Looking forward to seeing the video, sounds like a great monitor.

 

Not very good when it comes to work with text at higher resolutions, excellent when it comes to games, movies and photo editing.
Got three of them.

Yeah it got 4 port hub, USB 1.1 though i think, but still free ports for keyboard, mouse and two gamepads (or gamepad and pen tablet)

 

yeah or desktop fan / light / 5v supply so can come in handy.

for text at higer res you might need to increase the font dpi

 

Well this is going to replace my TV set and be used for consoles and such. This isn't for use on my PCs although I may move the desktop over to the couch for a media center once I get my new system in. Solely for images, videos, and games.

 

Not sure if a monitor like that is a good substitute for a TV. For 640x480 stuff it'll probably be great, but if it's lower than that, it'll have to be upscaled. I'm sure you realize you'll need converters and such if you want to use older consoles, watch TV, etc. Also, if you're going to use it for older consoles, you might want to consider getting a scanline generator like the one beharius is selling in the marketplace.

 

I know as much. Converter picked out.

I have a list of converters picked out including that RGB, EGA, CGA, component, ect. to VGA board for arcade revival. Also on list is a massive amount of switchers for VGA, component (since I think RGB SYNC should be able to pass through them and yes they include composite and S-vid for extra lines on SYNC and such), and others.

I have been thinking on that and I might as well if I'm going this deep...