component/dvi/hdmi on your A1200/CD-32? [Archive]

PaperMario21

31 July 2007, 06:42

do you think it would be possible to get mentioned outputs from your Amiga Computer?
that sure would be nice, displaying high resolution on your tv in higher definition than far inferior composite which looks blurry and unimpressive.
Neo Geo for example can be modified(these came out in 1990's) and look what people can get out of them with proper modification.
they are very powerful(considered by many to be the most powerful 2d systems ever created), but they are displaying its graphics in relatively low resolution, think how Amiga would look like on your HDTV!

Jope

31 July 2007, 08:22

1) do the RGB mod for the CD32 or use the RGB port of the A1200 with a silver adapter (or a workalike you soldered or bought).
2) use an RGB (http://www.cypress.com.tw/product.php?PId=48594&CId=008&CName=HDMI/DVI%20Signal%20Format%20Converters&SR=0) / Component (http://www.cypress.com.tw/product.php?PId=9854&CId=008&CName=HDMI/DVI%20Signal%20Format%20Converters&SR=0) upscaler from Cypress (http://www.cypress.com.tw/)
3) Sharp upscaled picture

Be sure to do some research that the unit you will buy is actually compatible with 60Hz/15kHz RGB.. Perhaps email Cypress or something. There are more units there, you might want to dig around in their catalogue in case you find one that is more suitable for your application.

Zetr0

31 July 2007, 11:19

hmmm dont forget there is a simple mod to allow you to have SVideo as well :)... thats not all that complicated, (if you can read polish lol)

narmi

02 August 2007, 04:30

There is one possible DIY method, using this RGB to Component transcoder (http://www.keohi.com/keohihdtv/interfaces/diytranscoder.html) designed by Jon Rhees. I think I have most of the parts in my parts bin, so I'm going to try and build it. The chips used are DIP type, so I can test it on a breadboard before I solder anything. I just need to get suitable opamps, I might be able to snag some free samples from somewhere.

Zetr0

02 August 2007, 13:20

alexh

02 August 2007, 13:46

God you've got to feel sorry for the Americans. We RGB using Europeans have had quality pictures from our Amiga's (and consoles) for the last 20 years, and they have been wondering if they need to go to the Opticians!

do you think it would be possible to get mentioned outputs from your Amiga Computer?
No. Not without extra hardware.

that sure would be nice, displaying high resolution on your tv in higher definition than far inferior composite which looks blurry and unimpressive.
Amiga cannot output high resolution, just plain old 480i in RGB.

Neo Geo for example can be modified(these came out in 1990's) and look what people can get out of them with proper modification.
The NeoGeo has identical outputs to the Amiga. Just regular 480i in RGB. It's NOT high-resolution ;)

Any external adapter (like this one (http://www.neobitz.com/Pages/Mods/Neobitz-S_DIY.aspx)) for the NeoGeo would be valid for an Amiga.

think how Amiga would look like on your HDTV!
Heh, I dont need to think, I live in Europe. All HDTV's in Europe have RGB input.

It looks "ok" (at least as good as the aforementioned NeoGeo). Personally I think they look better on an RGB CRT television.

The SD to HD converter chips in most HDTV's are RUBBISH. They ruin the colours, the smooth scrolling and to some extent the picture.

narmi

02 August 2007, 18:28

@narmi

it could be the fact my eyes are sore from a recent 'night out' but that schematic doesn`t look like it upscans from 15khz, from what my blury eyes make out, its expecting a 31khz vga signal.

i could be wrong.... my eyes are blurry...

It is designed for a VGA signal, but all it does is create the YPrPb signals from the RGB signals, and add the H and V clocks to the Y component. I believe that if the TV you are using supports a 15kHz signal, then this circuit will work. It will only be 480i, but this adapter is cheaper to build than my s-video adapter, and it should work on my laptop (PC) too.

My cousin as a very nice 32" Sony CRT with component inputs. It's not an HDTV, so it is 4:3, just what I need for my Amiga. His wife wants a fancy LCD, so I may be able to get the Sony cheap, or even free :).

Zetr0

02 August 2007, 18:49

@narmi

NIIICEEE :) 32" dedicated monitor for an amiga... clearly worthy :)

PaperMario21

02 August 2007, 19:37

well, I do have two 21' RGB Toshiba Multiscan Monitors(15khz and all frequencies) for use with my Amiga's as well as Commodore Amiga 1960 Multiscan Monitor.
I was strictly referring to tv's and their awful composite modes.
I do also have HDTV (40' XBR Sony CRT, the biggest HDTV CRT ever produced) with DVI, Component inputs, and I would love to get VGA to DVI converter or something like that.
Amiga can produce higher resolutions so I could indeed benefit from it on HDTV, even if it's only out of curiosity.
but yeah - lack of RGB in states in tv's sucks big time!

Zetr0

02 August 2007, 19:49

man oh man that CRT must suck some juice!

awesome!!

I have decided that when i move over to the states my 42" plasy is comming with me (it has RGB Scart too :) )

PaperMario21

02 August 2007, 21:00

man oh man that CRT must suck some juice!

awesome!!

I have decided that when i move over to the states my 42" plasy is comming with me (it has RGB Scart too :) )

that's awesome zetr0 !
maybe I'll import one :agree

alexh

02 August 2007, 22:15

Amiga can produce higher resolutions so I could indeed benefit from it on HDTV
No it cannot. I already posted that it cannot above!

PaperMario21

02 August 2007, 22:55

No it cannot. I already posted that it cannot above!

what are you talking about?, you can set your workbench to be displayed in 1280 resolution for example, and same goes for some games(gloom deluxe), so don't tell me it's impossible ^_~

alexh

02 August 2007, 23:15

you can set your workbench to be displayed in 1280 resolution for example
You think you know the Amiga hardware better than me eh? :nuts

How many pixels of those 1280 are actually displayed?

SuperHires is just a hack. It is, for want of a better phrase, "horizontal interlace". Only every second pixel per horizontal line is displayed which FAKES a higher resolution.

Internally the resolution may be 1280, but the horizontal pixel clock (the output resolution) remains the same. THERE IS NO EXTRA INFORMATION OUTPUTTED!

The maximum Amiga OUTPUT resolution (which is what your HDTV sees) is lower than the maximum resolution of PAL SDTV (720x576i).

PaperMario21

03 August 2007, 00:55

You think you know the Amiga hardware better than me eh? :nuts

lol, yes I sure do :p

whether fakes it or not, it sure will look better in super sharp 1280 mode for example via component on a big hdtv crt than awful, blurry composite( I hope, heh).
and that was the main purpose behind this thread(to find external device that would display Amiga in its best form on hdtv in states, since we don't have RGB scarts here).
although modded Neo Geo (with component output) won't display higher resolution, it sure makes picture quality much better(sharper, vibrant and vivid - and that's even without "faking" higher resolutions!).

Toni Wilen

03 August 2007, 08:24

SuperHires is just a hack. It is, for want of a better phrase, "horizontal interlace". Only every second pixel per horizontal line is displayed which FAKES a higher resolution.

Internally the resolution may be 1280, but the horizontal pixel clock (the output resolution) remains the same. THERE IS NO EXTRA INFORMATION OUTPUTTED!

Huh? Pixel clock is 2xhires (35ns) in superhires.

alexh

03 August 2007, 09:46

OddbOd

03 August 2007, 10:19

...although modded Neo Geo (with component output) won't display higher resolution, it sure makes picture quality much better(sharper, vibrant and vivid - and that's even without "faking" higher resolutions!).
While I agree with your points that RGB/Component produces a sharper picture than composite and it does suck that Americans keep getting a poor deal, the Neo Geo was not the best example because SNK kept changing the output circutry. If you're interested in the details (and haven't read about this already) NFGGames has a pair of articles covering the visual differences (part 1) (http://nfggames.com/games/neorgb/) and the electrical differences (part 2 (http://nfggames.com/games/neorgb2/)).

Toni Wilen

03 August 2007, 10:31

I wont argue with the master. That was a confusing term to use.

I was trying to show that the effective horizontal pixel rate of 2xhires is only 640 pixels per line because it drops every other horizontal pixel (alternately on each vertical line).

The internal resolution of a 2xhires screen could not be taken advantage of using a HDTV

But I am still going to continue arguing, sorry :)

There is no halved resolution or dropped pixels in Amiga's output. (emulation halves it because you would need 1280x resolution and on the fly resolution switching is not a good idea when emulation Amiga..). Output device may halve it or make it blurry crap etc but that was not my point :D

(yes, I know it is a hack and analog sdtv video signal really can't show more than 500-700 pixels/horizontal line depending on hardware quality etc.. but it "works" and was cheap solution without need for higher bandwidth monitors)

Huezo

09 August 2007, 20:18

Does a video projector (got BenQ W100) flicker with A1200 AGA
640x256, 640x512 modes ?

Projector has DVI, component, SVHS.

I used to use Amiga until 1998 with 29" Sony CRT television,
and if I remember the flickering was evil but i used it anyway =)

Is there any clever way to use VGA (some 5 yrs old 19" Samsung trinitron)
with a pile of SVHS/SCART computers and consoles?
I got a Joytech 4 to 1 devices display switch,
and A1000,A1200,CD32,SegaMegadrive,C64 etc to connect,
and got that extra VGA.

-Huezo

spiff

09 August 2007, 20:27

Well, you could spend a lot of money on some sort of scaler and composit box..
but really, you should just emulate the systems if you want to run them all on a projector.

*It solves all the problems of interlace flicker by being VGA
*You can set your graphics card to the native resolution of the projector and get better picture then you ever would from a device box.
*All of them will output separate RGB signals (through VGA) or digital (through DVI), even if the original console only had s-vid at best.

Huezo

10 August 2007, 16:15

Well.. I actually do have some emus on XBox.
But the feeling of the original.... =)

Maybe wisest thing is to leave the vga out of video signals,
and use it for old PC and carmageddon etc.
And use a telly for these SVHS machines.

-Heikki

Pyromania

14 September 2008, 23:46

So does anyone have a RGB to HDMI cable to sell me so I can show my Amiga's at their best on my Plasma TV's?

Jope

15 September 2008, 11:53

There is no such cable.. Or do you mean a converter box?

Example: http://www.cypress.com.tw/product.php?PId=78012&CId=005&CName=Video%20Scalers&SR=1

I typed HDMI into the search box at the cypress site. There are other manufacturers too, google will probably find them. :-)

Pyromania

02 January 2009, 03:51

I don't think that one will work Jope but I hope and pray this one would. It supports 480i so I might be in luck.

http://www.cypress.com.tw/product.php?PId=15066&CId=005&CName=Video%20Scalers&SR=0

Jope

02 January 2009, 08:50

The box you found takes in VGA frequency input, the one I pasted takes in TV frequencies.

Whichever you need.

Hungry Horace

02 January 2009, 21:53

that's one pricey unit!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/CS720PHD1-SCART-HDMI-CONVERTOR-720p/dp/B0018D50UI

rkauer

02 January 2009, 22:20

Those upscaler are expensive. At least the good ones.

JackTheKnife

03 January 2009, 05:07

simple mod to allow you to have SVideo as well :)... thats not all that complicated, (if you can read polish lol)

Where can I find it? :great

Shoonay

03 January 2009, 05:11

hmmm dont forget there is a simple mod to allow you to have SVideo as well ... thats not all that complicated, (if you can read polish lol)Talk about the hardest difficulty level, aye? ;)

Where I can find this? I think that's the one (http://www.ppa.pl/artykul-wyjscie.s.video.z.amigi.1200-1_4_987.html) Zetr0 means :cool