Commodore 1084S-D2 monitor

When I was dealing with video output using the add-on on-board Sophia card in my ATARI 65XE, I had no idea where my interest in image display and monitors in general would eventually lead. I discovered that a modern LCD can never reproduce the original gaming experience that only a CRT screen can provide. Everyone naturally prefers something different and CRT supporters are probably in the minority, but since I had also turned the whole thing into a collecting hobby, I decided to look for a suitable period monitor that would also complement my collection of retro computers.

The basic problem is that old computers generally require a 15 kHz signal and a 4:3 aspect ratio for displaying the picture, something offered by only a tiny percentage of modern LCD displays today. Here is a list of compatible LCD displays. The most frequently recommended and readily available LCD display here is the BenQ BL702A, which can be bought for around CZK 3,000.

But back to my monitor. I first tried the oldcomp.cz discussion forum, but nobody responded to my wanted post there. Naturally, eBay came next, where these monitors in various conditions are sold for prices around five to six thousand Czech crowns without much difficulty. In exceptional cases, even more.

I watched ongoing auctions for a few days and found that it is better to wait for a seller to start at EUR 1 and let the market determine the price than to bid on a listing where the seller sets a very high minimum price from the start. Such a moment came when a Commodore 1084S-D2 stereo monitor appeared at auction. The auction was to run for one week. I deliberately did not even add it to my watch list (the number of watchers is public) and only checked it from time to time until the day the auction ended. The price had already climbed to around EUR 60, if I remember correctly, and about eight people were watching it. Nobody was bidding very much. I was counting a little on collectors being cheapskates too — why would they bid high? — and figured that quite a few people might set their limit somewhere around EUR 100, which compared with the auctions I had been following would still be a bargain. Obviously I knew I had to beat the EUR 100 mark, and I considered EUR 111. In the end I placed my bid five seconds before the auction closed and decided on EUR 121. In an instant the automatic bidders started fighting each other. I have no idea what my pulse was (just very high). For a moment I thought I had lost, but then an email pinged to congratulate me on having the highest bid and therefore winning the auction. I got the monitor for EUR 112. Looking back today and comparing it with other auctions, that was a fantastic price.

Then I had to work out how to get the monitor to the Czech Republic. Sending an item like this by post is quite expensive and fairly risky. The seller was in Regensburg, which is not particularly far away, but it still means losing an entire day. I asked a friend who works in Nuremberg, and he immediately arranged things with a friend of his who works in Regensburg. That friend had no problem bringing the monitor closer to the Czech border. I was delighted.

On Friday evening after work (why postpone it until Saturday?) I loaded the family into the car and we went to collect this marvel. Once home I could hardly wait and immediately set about connecting my Amiga 600, which had been lying at home for several months, poor thing, looking forward to being switched on for the first time in my house. After unpacking, the monitor looked extremely well preserved. The plastics are perhaps 10% yellowed, nothing is broken, the front-panel door is stiff and after closing it needs a little help with a screwdriver, but otherwise it is in TOP condition. I connected everything, spent a moment looking for the power button on the Amiga, called Zdeněk Kotrba to ask where on earth the engineers had hidden the button… ah, on the power supply… a moment of suspense… click… I switch on the monitor… hear the characteristic high-pitched television whine and see the Amiga start-up screen. Ahhh, beautiful… everything works. The kids come running… we try a floppy disk more than 20 years old labelled LOTUS. Scrr, scrr… I probably do not need to describe the excitement that followed. It is a beautiful piece of computer history, it works, smells of old electronics and once again brings joy. The video below says it all :-)))