Update: These are now for sale on eBay! The original listing and lots more info below:
Purchase Here: https://ebay.to/2ESH3e4
Used D9H Monitors: https://ebay.us/WF54P6
Please assume all eBay links are paid affiliate links.
At this year’s Retro World Expo, I’ll be bringing pre-production samples of Roarke’s replacement 4:3 D9H bezel to sell. These are all pressure-molded bezels, NOT 3D-printed and are as close as you can get to injection molding. The show-only price will be $50 each and it’s first-come, first-serve: You can choose which you’d prefer, as some are very blemished and others are near-perfect. After the expo is over, I’ll sell whatever’s left via eBay, however I’m not sure if any more will be made – It was challenging to get these as close to the original as they are and there might not be enough demand to ramp up production for more. At the very least, people with “naked” D9H’s can have a durable option that looks far better than no bezel at all.
Some history: The Sony BVM-D9H, is a 9″ “HD CRT” that can handle from 240p all the way up to 1080i, all with zero latency. Since it was manufactured in the “HD-era”, it only came with a 16:9 bezel and very few 4:3 bezels were made. If you’re lucky enough to find an original, they usually sell for hundreds and are not always in the best condition (click all pics for full-sized views):
Creators in the retro community have created 3D printed versions of the bezel that are very good. If you take the time to sand and paint your own after printing, you can have something that looks near-stock…but that takes a lot of time and effort. I’ve personally used PCB Way’s printing and paint service, which results in a really high quality item, however you get what you pay for: Making this bezel through them would be much more expensive than one of these pressure-molded ones: https://consolemods.org/wiki/File:BVM-D9H5U_4_3_bezel.zip
Of course, nothing would exactly compare to injection-molding, but for a low-quantity item like this, the cost per bezel would be extremely high to compensate for the mold costs. A perfect example is the Retro Game Restore shells: Martin makes those in quantities of 500, which is why the cost needs to be so high. I don’t think there’s 500 D9H’s owned by retro enthusiasts, so there’s no way anyone could realistically recoup and injection-molding costs. Which leaves us with pressure-molding…
Here’s how one of the best from the sample batch matches compares to the original. A perfect color match is near impossible, but it’s pretty close:
Not all of the pre-production samples are that good though – Some are a bit blemished and don’t match as well. Here’s an exampled of a blemished one on the left and an excellent one on the right:
So at best, you’ll end up with something that looks like the original from a distance. And at worst, it’s still far better than no bezel at all. Totally up to you if you’d like one, but I’m making them available just in case.
Also, if you’d like to hear more from Roarke and his (terrifying) and incredible story, check out the podcasts we did. Just search any podcast app for “RetroRGB Roarke”, or check out the videos here:
