Sony Professional Video

The Monitor Fleet

A working museum of Sony professional displays — broadcast BVMs, production PVMs, and the LMD generation that followed. Thirteen units across eight models.

Vol. 1

TRINITRON FLEET — the magazine

The full story of the fleet, told properly: an interactive magazine covering every chassis, the calibration work, and why these monitors matter. Future volumes will follow as the fleet evolves.

Read Vol. 1 →

The fleet roster

Sony PVM-2950Q 29-inch Trinitron production monitor lit at night running Super Mario World, its control panel and the SONY badge in frame
PVM · Production

PVM-2950Q

Twenty-nine inches of presence, the biggest tube in the room. On screen: Super Mario World, 1990.

The full profile →  ·  Feature in Vol. 1 →

Sony PVM-20L5 multiformat Trinitron monitor lit and running Super Mario Sunshine, an AMS-100 audio monitor on top and both control strips in frame
PVM · Production

PVM-20L5

The late-generation 20-inch multiformat, AMS-100 riding on top. On screen: Super Mario Sunshine, 2002 — the year this generation of chassis arrived, at 480p over component.

The full profile →  ·  Feature in Vol. 1 →

Sony BVM-20E1U broadcast monitor lit in its rack running Chrono Trigger, with an AMS-100 audio monitor speaker on top
BVM · Broadcast

BVM-20E1U

The primary broadcast chassis, AMS-100 riding on top. On screen: Chrono Trigger, 1995 — the year this chassis went into production.

The full profile →  ·  Feature in Vol. 1 →

Sony BVM-A14F5U broadcast monitor lit and running Beggar Prince on the Sega Genesis, with its full control panel and an AMS-100 speaker above
BVM · Broadcast

BVM-A14F5U

Fully kitted — all three card slots filled, control panel and keypad flanking the tube. On screen: Beggar Prince, 2006 — a brand-new Genesis game a decade after Sega walked away, on the last CRT generation Sony ever built.

The full profile →  ·  Feature in Vol. 1 →

Three Sony LMD professional LCD monitors side by side, all showing the same cartoon frame
LMD · Four models · Nine units

The LMD wall

The flat-panel side of the fleet, and the confidence layer behind the tubes — one shared 8.4-inch chassis family, one manual, one job: keep every signal honest before it reaches glass that matters.

LMD-940W · widescreen 9-inch, HDMI to 3GLMD-9020 · the analog cornerLMD-9030 ×5 · the rack squadronLMD-9050 ×2 · HD-SDI

The full profile →  ·  Feature in Vol. 1 →

How every one of these actually gets a signal — the switchers, the SCART-to-BNC cables, and the distribution amp behind the LMD wall — is written up in The Signal Chain; the vocabulary — TVL, multiscan, BKM, loop-through — is in the glossary. Recently departed: a BVM-14F5U and the nine-inch BVM-D9H5J found new homes — the fleet consolidates so the keepers get the attention they deserve.

The fleet, side by side

Every model in the collection on one sheet — tube or panel, size, resolution, what formats it locks to, which inputs it carries and which need a BKM card. Click a column heading to sort; each model name opens its own profile page; the long-form spec table and its sources live in Trinitron Fleet, Vol. 1.

ModelDisplaySizeResolutionFormatsHDRGB / componentSD-SDIHD-SDI / 3GOption slotsWeightEraUnits
PVM-2950QPVM · CRTSuper Trinitron CRT29" (27" viewable)600 TVLNTSC / PAL / SECAMNoRGB (BNC)——None115 lb1991–19961
PVM-20L5PVM · CRTHR Trinitron CRT20" (19" viewable)800 TVL240p–1080i, 720pYesRGB / component, loop-throughOptional cardOptional card1 (BKM-129X fitted)≈73 lb2002–20071
BVM-20E1UBVM · CRTHR Trinitron CRT (E-grade tube)20" (19" viewable)1000 TVL240p, 480i, 576iNoRGB / component (fixed) + slotsOptional card—4 + fixed input≈85 lb1995–20021
BVM-A14F5UBVM · CRTHR Trinitron CRT14" (13" viewable)800 TVL240p–1080i, 720p, 24PsFYesVia BKM-68XVia BKM-61DVia BKM-62HS3≈48 lb2003–20071
LMD-940WLMD · LCDTFT LCD (super-wide aperture)9" wide800×480 WVGASD + HD to 1080pYes—Standard3G-SDI + HDMINone≈4.4 lb2011–1
LMD-9020LMD · LCDTFT LCD8.4"1024×768 XGASDNoComponent + RGB——None≈6.6 lb2005–20111
LMD-9030LMD · LCDTFT LCD8.4"1024×768 XGASDNoComponent + RGBStandard—None≈6.8 lb2005–20115
LMD-9050LMD · LCDTFT LCD8.4"1024×768 XGASD + HDYesComponent + RGBStandardHD-SDINone≈7.1 lb2005–20112

Specifications are Sony’s published figures, compiled from operating manuals, brochures and the 2002–2003 line-up guide; weights marked ≈ are approximate. TVL is Sony’s center-resolution spec for the CRTs; the LMDs are fixed-pixel panels, so they list native pixels instead.

Beyond video

Sony AMS-100

The audio side of the rack

Four Sony AMS-100 units — three paired with CRT monitors, plus a rare dual-board configuration sourced from Japan. The AMS-100 monograph →

Sony AMS-3

The ancestor

An AMS-3 — the older, far heavier analog forerunner of the AMS-100, and about twice the machine to look at. It landed untested with a scratchy volume pot; that has been cleaned and it plays. For now it is boxed up rather than racked. See the bench log · see it next to an AMS-100 →

Seven Sony AMS-100 audio monitor speakers lined up on a wooden bench
The AMS-100 lineup — mustered for inspection
The rear panels of both units: the AMS-100's SDI and option card slots above the AMS-3's speaker terminals and XLR input bank
Around the back — SDI and plug-in cards above, transformer-era terminals below
A Sony AMS-100 audio monitor speaker stacked on top of the much larger Sony AMS-3, both front panels facing out
Ancestor and descendant — an AMS-100 riding on an AMS-3. Stacked, in detail →
The same two Sony units from the side, the AMS-3's deep black heatsink fins running beneath the AMS-100's flat lid
In profile — the AMS-3's heatsink wall, and where the weight went