Here’s a quick overview of the Sony Trinitron PVM-1442QM I picked up a while back on eBay, from the UK of all places. It made it across mostly intact, a little bit of frame damage here and there but otherwise functional.

The seller had packed the monitor in what appeared to be an enormous quantity of bubble wrap. Unfortunately, that wasn’t quite enough to protect some of the ageing plastic parts during the journey. Several mounting clips and sections of the frame had snapped, leaving the internal boards rather less secure than I’d have liked.

The PVM-1442QM is a professional video monitor from Sony, with considerably more connections than you’d find on the average household television. There are enough video inputs and outputs around the back to make it quite a useful bit of equipment for old computers and consoles.

With the damaged case opened, I could see how the internal boards were mounted. Some of the plastic supports had failed, allowing a board near the side of the CRT to move around rather more than it should. I secured the loose assembly using cable ties, which wasn’t especially elegant but kept it from flopping about.

There were also plenty of components to inspect. Some of the date markings suggested the late 1980s, which would certainly explain why the plastic wasn’t particularly happy after such a long journey. I’d also found some rather large capacitors in the power circuitry. Not exactly the sort of thing I’d want to be poking around casually. Functional for how long, though? The bulging capacitor on the mainboard doesn’t fill me with much long-term confidence about the longevity of this monitor!

The capacitor was buried in an awkward part of the assembly, and I wasn’t particularly interested in dismantling the entire monitor to reach it at the time. I made a note of the problem rather than attempting another major repair just for the sake of it.

These CRT monitors can retain dangerous voltages even when disconnected from power, so I wouldn’t recommend opening one without the appropriate experience and equipment. I’ve worked on enough old electronics to know that there are some parts of a monitor best left well alone.

At the very least it has a tonne of inputs and outputs! It’s a decent size too, unlike the 9044QM I have sitting around somewhere. It’s a lovely old Sony monitor, even if the journey from the United Kingdom was rather hard on it. Hopefully it’ll have a few more years of useful service ahead, although that capacitor is certainly something I’ll need to keep in mind.