Stack it on a Pelican/Gamestop component switch off Ebay and you’re set.
Finally got a JVC D-series! (Please excuse the dirty car, I’ve had to truck around some gnarly stuff lately)
I’ve been wanting to try one of these out based on my love of the pro JVC sets as well as some other members’ posts.
I found this 20" at the local thrift store for $3. Couldn’t believe it. It had some cable damage, but nothing a little electrical tape couldn’t fix. It is also a little beat up, but I’m sure it’ll clean right up.
It’s a pretty unique picture in my opinion. Not the warm and fuzzy bloom of low-end shadow mask sets, but scanlines are pretty weak compared to a Sony. Color, contrast, and brightness are all strong and look very good near default settings in the standard menu. Geometry isn’t perfect, but the issues I’ve noticed are minor.
Upon first impression, I certainly like this set but it’s an odd man out. It looks a little too good to illicit that bloomy shadow mask nostalgia, but not quite sharp enough to compete with a Sony.
This really puts the quality of Sony consumer sets into perspective. Both my low and high-end Sony sets hit much closer to the IQ of a PVM than this JVC does compared to it’s professional brethren. Of course it’s not fair to compare pro and consumer sets, but since JVC makes my favorite tubes, I’m not going to give up. I’ll give this set more TLC before making any further judgements.
Looks nice and soft and consumery to me. What inputs does it take?
It has it all, RF-component, thought he RF has been broken off it seems. In the pictures I’m testing with s-video since all of my component cables are firmly velcroed to my main setup.
I found the same thing with my D series. After years of hearing how great they were I was deeply dissapointed when comparing it to my Sony 310.
Unrelated but I thought this was an excellent write-up about scart cables.
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I really like Retro Access. Been buying from the very first cable I ever got on their ebay store.
Also still no luck on a 310. Seen 2 300 listings in the past week, both disappeared fast. There is a good looking PVM-20L5 up in the same city I’m in that I’m trying to not buy since they want $1300 for it…. Really just want a 310 now and think I can be happy with that and the other monitors I have and things like the OSSC going forward.
Read through some more of her articles. This one in particular stands out as really sad:
People were assuming we used off brand capacitors, which is something we stopped doing in 2014. Some people would then go to a forum and state that we still weren’t using Panasonic capacitors. We suspect that this info was relayed to more respected forum members, who repeated it. This is damaging to us, we can’t afford to be spending extra money on well renowned brands only for people to then assume we don’t use them.
Great read.
I’ve purchased cables from both suppliers. These days I usually go with RGCUK because I can just order whatever I need whenever I need to. I’m not a fan of the way they run things at Retro Access although I understand why they do it. I’ve been really happy with both and have no complaints about either.
I can’t say I wasn’t a little let down. I really just want a 20" version of the TM-A13SU for my low-line-count needs. I’ll have to look for one of their larger models or security monitors and see if that scratches the itch. This set has a completely different look to it. Objectively, it’s still the sharpest set in my collection after pro monitors, PC monitors, and the Sonys.
As for cables, I recently got a 6’ M>M component cable from HD Retrovision and I love it. I can honestly see a difference from the cheap spaghetti cable it replaced. I wish they offered 3’ and 1.5’ options, I’d replace all of my component cabling with them (although the rest of my cables are pretty nice already). I’m also hoping to see an Xbox cable from them soon, if I’m going to buy a $50 component cable I’d rather it be new.
Isn’t it just an aperture grille tube with low TVL (hence the appearance of vertical lines)? That’s what it looks like to me from the pics. You’re not going to get that classic glowing image you want unless you actually hunt down a shadow mask or slot mask tube.
edit: just saw the post above. TM-A13SU is what I also have and I love the PQ. Try to track down something like an Ikegami TM20-17RA altho from a quick look online it still looks a little too sharp (600 lines) for the desired effect. probably needs to be a 250-400 line monitor.
Yeap, that’s it exactly. I played some more on it last night and I’m warming up to the look, even if I prefer shadowmask sets. I think I’ll take a chance on some CCTV sets soon, if I can find any in good condition (not been ran to death).
Didn’t know where else to put this but the new version of the gscartsw (now v5.1) will be going up for preorder (http://www.gretrostuff.com/store/) on the 27th (August). May take a while to ship out but he is leaving it up for preorder for “quite a while” and letting people know that they may need to wait.
Apparently it has several notable improvements. Deciding weather to wait to see if anything goes wrong with it since it is a new revision or to finally get one.
what are the differences?
I’ve kinda lost track of all of them, as it seems to be a bunch of stuff . A few completely new things that he has been testing but can’t find a single post with all of them it seems. Read the last few pages of his thread here for more details as that is where I got all my info from;
https://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=50851&start=3180
http://www.gretrostuff.com/store/gscartsw/
Preorders are live and that page has info on changes/updates. Looks like the main improvements are full SoG comparability (which apparently also allows for support YPbPr for component pass through if you need that kind of thing) and more audio/video protection that “fixes” the issue the switch had with the WindyGaming SUPERGUN thing.
Sync on green and $30 more 
Is what it is I guess. I normally regret getting into these kind of things too early, like with the ossc, but I think I would have been better off with the older version here.
Still, not too bummed since who knows, I may appreciate the additional support down the line. or will I wait longer…
There are other options, like Lotharek’s Hydra for 5, 8 or 16 inputs
https://lotharek.pl//products.php?id=35
Just read into some of the benefits of the SoG support and seems it may be worth it. From the thread on shumps:
SoG support means I’ll be able to output 480p+ (1080i on GT5) from my PS2 over RGB SCART and have the GSCARTSW convert it into RGB for me