Snapped some SMB shots for you. Most are with Wavebeam.
This is the last week with my 20L5(sold it for $1300,couldnât resist). Bought two Blast City cabinets with nice 29â monitors so itâs not so bad,will be posting a lot of pics this week with my baby before she leaves.
Will be maining my first ever PVM I purchased back in 2005,my trusty 2030. New caps and she looks just as good,if not better than the L5.
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Bummer. L5 is a trusty beast of a monitor. But for 1300 bucks, you did well.
Yeah. Though only really used it for 240 stuff,so not really getting used to its full potential.
Those blast cities have awesome monitors ! Did you get multi res ones? I caught this shot of one while I was in Japan. The Japanese guy next to me gave me the weirdest look LMAO.
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Regret is my most common feeling when reading your posts. If only I put in the effort I could have gotten at least one of those monitors before they became so pricey. ( ._.)
Itâs actually a Blast City and Astro City. The Blast has the auto switching Nanao board. That one has been sent off to get repaired and recapped. The Astro City doesnât do VGA and is manual switching. That one was already serviced and looks amazing. Iâm just using a pi in it for 240p vertical shooters but the money from the 20L5 will be used towards a couple groovymame pcâs.
I know most people here would disagree with me since many of us grabbed PVMs and other fantastic RGB capable monitors for under one hundred bucks only 4 or so years ago, those days are long over and are never coming back.
But I still do think that a perfect condition 20L5 that can produce reference quality visuals for all SD, ED, and even some HD content is worth $1,300 (again in perfect condition).
We pay way more than that these days for much less robust displays. Yes, theyâre larger and brand new, but theyâre also consumer-quality, not rare at all, and less durable than something like a 20L5.
When I consider how much time Iâve already spent with my 20L5 and how versatile it is by being able to handle any sub 1080p system with absolute perfection, (simplifying a lot of my setup) it really does feel like itâs worth that much.
I donât disagree, but just knowing how if I took the initiative and went out looking for them back when I should have I could have gotten some to be happy with will never not fill me with regret. Hell I would pay that much for a good one right now.
As an aside to the PVM discussion, I had a friend who needed to get rid of an old Phillips Magnavox CRT. Far as I know those werenât really good screens so I just decided to take it to the local electronics recycling center in the CountyâŚ
âŚI was blown away by the sheer volume of stuff that people were dropping off! I can almost guarantee there are PVMs going through there. I have no idea how you could get your hands on them, but itâs for sure that so much of this stuff is being thrown away aka recycled!
I shamefully admit that if I had the means Iâd buy a 20L5 or D32 or high-end PC CRT (these can still be found cheap so Iâm hoping!) for Ebay prices. I can abide emulation, FPGAs, flash carts, and (to a lesser extent) new controllers. My only requirement for original hardware in my own retro experience is a CRT.
I am extremely in support of better LCD/OLED tech, upscalers, and the great CRT filters out there, but itâll still be a sad day when CRTs are out of the reach of the average retro gamer.
I have meant several times to sell my sets and capitalize on the market but I just canât bring myself to do it. Not saying itâs a bad thing to do but I couldnât bear to be the one setting that barrier up for someone to get a PVM or even a consumer CRT. If I have a friend thatâs as crazy about this stuff as I am, Iâll just give them a set usually. The only set I sold was a 20M2U for $80 and I even regretted charging that.
If I didnât have a couple backup pvms I wouldnât have sold it. I probably would have traded it though for another 800tvl crt. I donât play anything above 240p so itâs kind of a waste. I just wanted an 800 line monitor to compare and for photos. HOWEVER, I do think 600 tvl looks better for 240p content than 800. Its a softer,more natural look and the scan lines arenât that distracting.
Also, I serviced the 20l5 myself and did a lot of adjustments,itâs also in perfect cosmetic condition so itâs on the upper end of the price scale. Iâve seen beat up ones go for 800.
If you donât play a lot of 720p content then I donât think itâs worth the price difference over an 20F1U or even a 20M4U.
I donât disagree as such, but the thing that tanks the value for me is the probability of them dying at a moments notice with absolutely no recourse if they do.
Yeah very true. Itâs a total risk.
I have a 2030 that needs recapped (quite dim, I assume a cap kit would fix??) and you using one as your main makes me think about calling around and getting the work done higher on my to do list.
Cap kit on a PVM is super easy. Your only changing 10-15 of them so it shouldnât cost too much to have done. Totally worth it though.
Thatâs the kind of worry Iâm having right now.
I can remember a previous computer monitor just had itâs screen flip off and that was that. Then the replacement I picked up I had to fix itâs convergence alignment, but I canât do hardly anything since the tube itself is going dark. Even when my processing hardware is upping the brightness levels on itâs own end.
Great pic!
I really donât understand why these arcades have it so against cameras. Itâs getting to the point that youtube videos are being pulled down and Iâm not sure what these people are trying to hide exactly.
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I didnât run into any problems while I was there and I took pictures of guys running streams and everything.