G07 19” Monitor - Questions from a newbie

funbobby

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I would like an improved Monitor in my Pole Position cab. it has the originalI G07 installed but my understanding is that some PP machines were shipped with a Matsushita. I began researching the possibility of acquiring a decent 19 inch G07 ( or equivalent ) with minimal burn. Mostly what I see on posts where someone asks for something similar are 'Here we go again' or posting of the 'Merry go round' meme. Nether is very helpful. I know the basic parts (chassis, tube, etc) but I don't know what is repairable, what is rare, or what is extinct. I don't know when I've asked a question that deserves a meme for a response. I know how to keep my game going (pcb, power supply, etc), but with a working monitor I have not been forced to learn much about monitors, so realistically I'll either need a complete replacement I can install myself or to take my monitor to someone else for repair.

So what are my options if I want to stay with a CRT?

Are replacement monitors even available? How much would it cost to get a hoarder to let go of one?
My two issues are 1) the screen seems 'washed out'. Very little contrast. 2) pretty significant burn-in.
Are there shops (or anyone here) that can repair/refresh my current monitor?
What is repairable and what isn't?


Any advice is welcomed and appreciated!
 
It's all subjective based on the amount of screen burn you can live with.

A good burn free one that has been recapped will go for $500+

Expect to pay up unless you learn to recap and rejuvenate the tube yourself.
 
It's all subjective based on the amount of screen burn you can live with.

A good burn free one that has been recapped will go for $500+

Expect to pay up unless you learn to recap and rejuvenate the tube

That certainly gives me a starting point. I'd really like a recapped/burn free monitor….and I'd expect to pay dearly for it.
 
That certainly gives me a starting point. I'd really like a recapped/burn free monitor….and I'd expect to pay dearly for it.

Might want to make a wanted-to-buy post with your location. Hopefully there's someone within reasonable driving distance that can you sell you a nice monitor... maybe even take the old one on trade.

Shipping something like this is possible, but pricey... and opens the door for all kinds of complications. An in-person deal is the way to go here.
 
I would like an improved Monitor in my Pole Position cab. it has the originalI G07 installed but my understanding is that some PP machines were shipped with a Matsushita. I began researching the possibility of acquiring a decent 19 inch G07 ( or equivalent ) with minimal burn. Mostly what I see on posts where someone asks for something similar are 'Here we go again' or posting of the 'Merry go round' meme. Nether is very helpful. I know the basic parts (chassis, tube, etc) but I don't know what is repairable, what is rare, or what is extinct. I don't know when I've asked a question that deserves a meme for a response. I know how to keep my game going (pcb, power supply, etc), but with a working monitor I have not been forced to learn much about monitors, so realistically I'll either need a complete replacement I can install myself or to take my monitor to someone else for repair.

So what are my options if I want to stay with a CRT?

Are replacement monitors even available? How much would it cost to get a hoarder to let go of one?
My two issues are 1) the screen seems 'washed out'. Very little contrast. 2) pretty significant burn-in.
Are there shops (or anyone here) that can repair/refresh my current monitor?
What is repairable and what isn't?


Any advice is welcomed and appreciated!

Others have touched on the cost of a clean "new" monitor. The question is, "what is your goal here?" Do you just want a nice, better looking monitor in your PP, or do you want to learn and get a better looking monitor in your PP? A corollary: which do you have more of: money or time? Plenty of people are not in a position to learn the ins and outs of repair, no harm or shame in that. In that case, if you have the funds, post a wanted post and get a replacement.

As a basic starting point, you probably want to adjust the monitor settings -- the low contrast may well just be a poorly set monitor.

***Obligatory Safety Note*** Working on a monitor will expose you to 100-150V AC and DC voltages, as well as the high voltages that drive the tube. You don't have to be terrified of these voltages, but do treat them with respect. Don't shove both hands in a powered monitor -- keep one behind you back. Watch where your metal tools go -- a screwdriver slipping can be an "exciting" (and expensive) event.

First, take a picture of the position of all the adjustments so you can get back to your starting point if needed.

There are five adjustments on the neck board and one on the HV section that come into play.

Screen: this is on the HV section and is effectively a global brightness
red drive, green drive: these control how strong red and green are. Blue is the baseline/control.
red/green/blue cutoff: these control the minimum intensity of the respective colors, before it is cut off and becomes black.

From your description of "low contrast", the first thing that comes to mind is the screen adjustment is wrong, resulting in an image that doesn't ever go black -- a blank screen showing a gray instead. This results in a washed out, low contrast image. Again, after noting the original position, rotate the screen adjustment and see if things get better or worse and how they change.

This is the actual process for adjusting the screen and cut offs on a GO7. Do this in low light, with no signal connected to the monitor.

  1. Set red drive and green drive to their center point.
  2. Set red/green/blue cutoff and screen to minimum (full counter clockwise)
  3. Turn up the screen control until the first color starts to show. Note which one as you won't touch it's cutoff in the next step (Let's say it's green that starts to show first, for this example).
  4. Slowly turn up the other two cutoff adjustments (red and blue in this example) until they just start to show. You should end up with a very faint gray.
Once you reconnect the game signal, you may need to adjust the screen control slightly to get a proper black level -- full black where there is no image.
The above doesn't set the actual white balance -- you need something that can generate a bright white signal -- a signal generator is best, but you can use the cross hatch display in the game test mode, in a pinch.

With a bright white image displayed, adjust the red drive and green drive settings for an even white color. Note that with the cross hatch up, you may get fringes, blooming, or other artifacts that make parts not look white. That gets deeper into monitor maintenance, but in general you are trying to get red green and blue to be the same intensity so that they mix to white.

The one other setting is the focus setting. It does, effectively, what it's name says. It controls the focus of the beams on the screen. If dots are big and fuzzy, adjust the focus knob for best picture.

You may find that some simple adjustments make a huge difference and that was all you really need. It won't fix burn in, but a good picture will make it much less noticeable when you are actually playing the game. You may also find, in trying to adjust the picture, that things don't behave well -- maybe the drive or cutoff settings have zero impact on a color, or setting jump all over the place with very small adjustments, or no matter what you do, things can't be adjusted to proper black and color balance. This points to other problems with the display, that may take much more in depth repair. If the white cross-hatch lines that aren't straight (within reason), or aren't white (you can see individual colors), then that also points to deeper problems.

Your general path to rehabing a monitor (start at the top and proceed until it is "good enough"):
Adjust basic settings (above)
Cap kit and (possibly) replace some or all of the adjustment potentiometers, and sometimes some other parts that should be replaced as part of the cap kit.
Replace anything that dies after the cap kit
Possibly adjust convergence
replace tube
Definitely adjust convergence

Mainly -- don't be afraid to experiment and adjust a little. Yes, you can make it worse -- but if you make it worse and can't get it back to where it was (you took pictures, right?) then there were probably parts that were already failing and it was just a matter of time anyway.
 
Others have touched on the cost of a clean "new" monitor. The question is, "what is your goal here?" Do you just want a nice, better looking monitor in your PP, or do you want to learn and get a better looking monitor in your PP? A corollary: which do you have more of: money or time? Plenty of people are not in a position to learn the ins and outs of repair, no harm or shame in that. In that case, if you have the funds, post a wanted post and get a replacement.

As a basic starting point, you probably want to adjust the monitor settings -- the low contrast may well just be a poorly set monitor.

***Obligatory Safety Note*** Working on a monitor will expose you to 100-150V AC and DC voltages, as well as the high voltages that drive the tube. You don't have to be terrified of these voltages, but do treat them with respect. Don't shove both hands in a powered monitor -- keep one behind you back. Watch where your metal tools go -- a screwdriver slipping can be an "exciting" (and expensive) event.

First, take a picture of the position of all the adjustments so you can get back to your starting point if needed.

There are five adjustments on the neck board and one on the HV section that come into play.

Screen: this is on the HV section and is effectively a global brightness
red drive, green drive: these control how strong red and green are. Blue is the baseline/control.
red/green/blue cutoff: these control the minimum intensity of the respective colors, before it is cut off and becomes black.

From your description of "low contrast", the first thing that comes to mind is the screen adjustment is wrong, resulting in an image that doesn't ever go black -- a blank screen showing a gray instead. This results in a washed out, low contrast image. Again, after noting the original position, rotate the screen adjustment and see if things get better or worse and how they change.

This is the actual process for adjusting the screen and cut offs on a GO7. Do this in low light, with no signal connected to the monitor.

  1. Set red drive and green drive to their center point.
  2. Set red/green/blue cutoff and screen to minimum (full counter clockwise)
  3. Turn up the screen control until the first color starts to show. Note which one as you won't touch it's cutoff in the next step (Let's say it's green that starts to show first, for this example).
  4. Slowly turn up the other two cutoff adjustments (red and blue in this example) until they just start to show. You should end up with a very faint gray.
Once you reconnect the game signal, you may need to adjust the screen control slightly to get a proper black level -- full black where there is no image.
The above doesn't set the actual white balance -- you need something that can generate a bright white signal -- a signal generator is best, but you can use the cross hatch display in the game test mode, in a pinch.

With a bright white image displayed, adjust the red drive and green drive settings for an even white color. Note that with the cross hatch up, you may get fringes, blooming, or other artifacts that make parts not look white. That gets deeper into monitor maintenance, but in general you are trying to get red green and blue to be the same intensity so that they mix to white.

The one other setting is the focus setting. It does, effectively, what it's name says. It controls the focus of the beams on the screen. If dots are big and fuzzy, adjust the focus knob for best picture.

You may find that some simple adjustments make a huge difference and that was all you really need. It won't fix burn in, but a good picture will make it much less noticeable when you are actually playing the game. You may also find, in trying to adjust the picture, that things don't behave well -- maybe the drive or cutoff settings have zero impact on a color, or setting jump all over the place with very small adjustments, or no matter what you do, things can't be adjusted to proper black and color balance. This points to other problems with the display, that may take much more in depth repair. If the white cross-hatch lines that aren't straight (within reason), or aren't white (you can see individual colors), then that also points to deeper problems.

Your general path to rehabing a monitor (start at the top and proceed until it is "good enough"):
Adjust basic settings (above)
Cap kit and (possibly) replace some or all of the adjustment potentiometers, and sometimes some other parts that should be replaced as part of the cap kit.
Replace anything that dies after the cap kit
Possibly adjust convergence
replace tube
Definitely adjust convergence

Mainly -- don't be afraid to experiment and adjust a little. Yes, you can make it worse -- but if you make it worse and can't get it back to where it was (you took pictures, right?) then there were probably parts that were already failing and it was just a matter of time anyway.
I have about 100 hobbies, and I don't think that's an exaggeration. I love to learn new things, but at this point I have so many projects that I have to let some things go. That's the case for this monitor…all of my other monitors are LCD and I don't have a lot of games. I think it just makes sense to pay someone else for this because I may never work on another one. But I will take your advice on making sure the monitor is adjusted as well as it can be…but even if I improve it, I still have the significant burn. The Pole Position game is very sentimental to me and it's worth keeping it in good shape.
 
I have about 100 hobbies, and I don't think that's an exaggeration. I love to learn new things, but at this point I have so many projects that I have to let some things go. That's the case for this monitor…all of my other monitors are LCD and I don't have a lot of games. I think it just makes sense to pay someone else for this because I may never work on another one. But I will take your advice on making sure the monitor is adjusted as well as it can be…but even if I improve it, I still have the significant burn. The Pole Position game is very sentimental to me and it's worth keeping it in good shape.
every Pole Position that was operated on location with their original monitors has that GAME OVER burn.

nobody's going to think you're uncool because of it. just play your games.
 
I have about 100 hobbies, and I don't think that's an exaggeration. I love to learn new things, but at this point I have so many projects that I have to let some things go. That's the case for this monitor…all of my other monitors are LCD and I don't have a lot of games. I think it just makes sense to pay someone else for this because I may never work on another one. But I will take your advice on making sure the monitor is adjusted as well as it can be…but even if I improve it, I still have the significant burn. The Pole Position game is very sentimental to me and it's worth keeping it in good shape.
Just keep an eye out. It's a long game... Just the other day I picked up two free "Not working" monitors off craigslist. Not only did they work just fine, one is near perfect! Play what ya have until something comes along. As long as you continue to look, something will eventually show up.

You can also buy a rebuilt chassis from folks on here (@tron guy does great work), and swapping it out on a g07 is super easy. Wont fix the burn, but it'll likely look better than an old tired one.
 
I have about 100 hobbies, and I don't think that's an exaggeration. I love to learn new things, but at this point I have so many projects that I have to let some things go. That's the case for this monitor…all of my other monitors are LCD and I don't have a lot of games. I think it just makes sense to pay someone else for this because I may never work on another one. But I will take your advice on making sure the monitor is adjusted as well as it can be…but even if I improve it, I still have the significant burn. The Pole Position game is very sentimental to me and it's worth keeping it in good shape.

I probably shouldn't count my hobbies - I've got way too many as well, though many tend to intersect. Goes back to time vs money and it sounds like you've thought that through. No one should fault you for your decision... though this being the internet, I'm sure someone somewhere will studiously explain why you are completely and totally wrong and an idiot for thinking the way you do... :rolleyes::LOL:

Be patient and keep and eye out. At some point a nice monitor will pop up for sale.
 
It's all subjective based on the amount of screen burn you can live with.

A good burn free one that has been recapped will go for $500+

Expect to pay up unless you learn to recap and rejuvenate the tube yourself.
They are that expensive now? Wow!
 
With the arcade market softening a bit I'm sure the 350-500 range is where it's at right now.
 
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