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cwx2

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I was hoping to get a price check on a decent condition 20L5 for pickup like 2 hours away. I know its supposed to be one of the best models and has multi sync.

The screen I have now is pretty busted 1943md and the driver boards for the s-video/composite don't work (I guess that doesn't really matter if the RGB is good).

I am going to be driving/moving back to the midwest from Oakland CA next month, I am not going to find one of these in Indiana so I need to pounce now or forever hold my peace.

They are asking $750, I am just trying to decided if the upgrade is really going to be worth it. I do have a NAOMI + capcom i/o that would utilize the multi sync. And I would love to hook my gamecube component cables up to it for some melee. It looks to be a decent price compared to some of my other research but wanted to hear from you all.

cwx2
 
I have an L5 that I purchased from Phat on eBay a while back. The screen is excellent, no nicks or scratches on the screen.. the monitor was serviced (he said he recaps) and calibrated. An offer was made to me for $900 and I did not sell it.. I don't know how much they are going for now..The important thing to look at is the picture quality and the condition of the screen external and internally. It is hard to know if you don't work with those monitors and can not open it up and inspect it, from someone on the streets, I would not pay more than $500 for one.
 
As an owner of a 20L5 and a FW900 and other general VGA monitors, and coming in as a competitive SSBM background, the upgrade to an L5 is not worth it for 480p support when any vga monitor (19in) will look mostly the same, unless you really want to not deal with having a component-to-vga trancorder for your GC in the chain. You can find VGA crt monitors on craigslist from free to <$100 for the same size, and a Garo/Extron cvc 300 transcorder with a wii for melee to vga monitor. I also use Naomi/DC, GC with VGA monitors.

If you're obsessed with scanlines, 20L5 with the 800TVL is great with 240p. I use it for CPS2.

In short, its not worth it unless you are hardcore melee purist or '6th gen 480i/480p best gen' kind of guy, or retro scanline guy who literally wants the best you can get.
 
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That's arcade cab price money. Def not worth it.
 
750 is... Not a good price.. I was offered one for $500 with low hours this week while picking up a KD-34XBR960. I've seen a few just sit on Craigslist for months at 500 and 600. Maybe they sell for that much somewhere, but they sure don't here.

I've owned three of these over the last few years (I have a habit of selling whatever BVM or PVM I have at the time to fund an arcade cab because they're easy to replace), I've yet to pay over $200. Though this past year has done stupid things to PVM/BVM pricing.

The L5 was my least favorite monitor. And I've given it several tries (most often because it was the easiest model to find at the time). I'd take a 2030 over it any day. Fight me, L5 enthusiasts!
 
I bought mine for 800, but I'm on the east coast and they just don't come up for sale. I wouldn't risk shipping one via eBay.

It is nicer than my 20M4U, which I just sold to offset the cost. But not like waayyyy nicer, just a bit better. I'm happy with it especially since I have the flexibility of different sync, but it's not earth shatteringly better than the m4u.

For example, my BVM is better looking for anything at standard res, and was cheaper. It's not even one of those super amazing BVMs either.

@rewrite your poor back on that xbr! I love that picture to death, especially for Xbox, but won't own one. Also I used to sell the 40" version. Heaviest tv I've seen in person.
 
I bought mine for 800, but I'm on the east coast and they just don't come up for sale. I wouldn't risk shipping one via eBay.

It is nicer than my 20M4U, which I just sold to offset the cost. But not like waayyyy nicer, just a bit better. I'm happy with it especially since I have the flexibility of different sync, but it's not earth shatteringly better than the m4u.

For example, my BVM is better looking for anything at standard res, and was cheaper. It's not even one of those super amazing BVMs either.

@rewrite your poor back on that xbr! I love that picture to death, especially for Xbox, but won't own one. Also I used to sell the 40" version. Heaviest tv I've seen in person.
Ah, yeah, East Coast price bump is a thing for sure.

I shipped two BVM's in the past year, both arrived damaged, both still worked though. Buyers ended up with them for free. I didn't pack either of them, I paid for professional packing and yet still somehow they got roughed up.

As for the XBR, Jesus... I owned one maybe eight years ago and I honestly forgot how heavy they are. Manual says 190lbs!! It took three of us just to get it from his garage to the bed of my truck, and right then and there I decided it was going to storage because it's not coming up my stairs. Got the original stand with it too! Less than 300 hours, owned by a ex Sony tech! I bought it almost entirely PS2/Xbox because the OSSC is pretty awful with them and it was cheaper than buying another Framemeister. Now I just need a little PVM/BVM for the desk and I'll be happy.

I've seen the 40"! Thankfully never lifted one though, ha!

But I totally agree about the cheaper models being nicer for standard res than the L5, and the gains the L5 *does* have being minimal at best.
 
As an owner of a 20L5 and a FW900 and other general VGA monitors, and coming in as a competitive SSBM background, the upgrade to an L5 is not worth it for 480p support when any vga monitor (19in) will look mostly the same, unless you really want to not deal with having a component-to-vga trancorder for your GC in the chain. You can find VGA crt monitors on craigslist from free to <$100 for the same size, and a Garo/Extron cvc 300 transcorder with a wii for melee to vga monitor. I also use Naomi/DC, GC with VGA monitors.

If you're obsessed with scanlines, 20L5 with the 800TVL is great with 240p. I use it for CPS2.

In short, its not worth it unless you are hardcore melee purist or '6th gen 480i/480p best gen' kind of guy, or retro scanline guy who literally wants the best you can get.
Ok this on point.

Its not worth it. I am even thinking about letting go this 1943md to save driving across country. I do have a 14m2u back in Indiana. It is great for melee, and would be ok for the NAOMI/CPS2/MVS but I would really prefer at least 19' for the arcade games. I regret just a tiny bit not getting this BVM20F1U a couple years back. Clean, low hour, right out of an old ESPN bus for $600. I offered $500 and he wouldn't budge. I just didnt have the extra 100 at the time, even if I did, SNK is right 500 off the street is where I tap out.

Does the component to vga introduce any latency? Even a frame?
 
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Does the component to vga introduce any latency? Even a frame?
There's always 'processing latency' to do any transcoding between analog->analog or analog-digital, but it's negligible, we're talking microseconds. In short straight-up transcoders don't add lag (ex: OSSC going from 480p analog -> 480p hdmi). The Extron CVC200/300 is recommended by Kadano from the melee community (there's a smashboards board on perfect setups where he has an ossiloscope to measure these things, and extron cvc was like microseconds), and I'm sure the retro community backs up the Garo.
 
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