Which monitor do you use?

[oldpx]

This should be a poll but I'm not sure what the options can be for sure.

I telephoned my ex-Amiga dealer today and asked if he still had a scandoubler for the amiga I'm planning to buy. He told me he imported only five of them ever and not selling them anymore and added that the ones he sold "were not able to display some screen modes properly" ( In fact I used this term and he said "yes" :rolleyes ) . He's not one of the most trustworthy people I know of but I'm somewhat stuck at this point regardless. I can't find a scandoubler and I don't want to plug a TV.

So people, could you help this guy by telling him which monitor you use with your real amigas? I'm mainly interested in VGA monitors compatible with amiga without a scandoubler.

[jmmijo]

This is something I've not tried yet. However I've seen some modified drivers that supposedly can help get some monitors to sync up on. Not sure if they've been able to hack the monitor drivers or not but this seems to be the case. I think I saw them on Aminet, I've been wanting to try this out as well as I have a really nice monitor connected to the PC next to the Amiga ;)

[Akira]

The only monitor I know of that is not Commodore brand, is the old Nec Multisync 3D.... one GREAT monitor, you will be able to use it with many machines.

Then you have the Commodore multisyncs, like the 1942 (correct me if I'm confusing the names)...

I do not know of others, but Id like to know. I love using Productivity mode on my 17 incher.

[oldpx]

These are the frequency rates of my Sony G400:

Horizontal: 30 to 107 kHz
Vertical: 48 to 120 kHz

In the manual it also says it has 1800 by 1440 dots but I can use resolutions higher than that so maybe the manual doesn't want owners to force the limitations of the monitor. Assuming that I can use this monitor with the Amiga, now what kind of cable do I need and from which port can I connect it to the Amiga?

Thanks in advance

[utri007]

You can use it with amiga (I ques)

Major problem is that amiga's vga out put is less than 30mhz, usually monitors can display it

You connect it in amiga video port, but you need adapter.

1. Put dbpal to workbench:devs/monitors and double click it
2. in pref choose screen mode and change it to dbpal
3. if you are using you amiga vith scart and video monitor, picture should disabear turn monitor off

4. connect your Sony to Amiga and....

SVGA monitor with Amiga is not usable if you cant use a TV as a second monitor

I haven't heard bad word of scandoublers, get one

[utri007]

Amiga friendly monitors can found here

http://www.amiga-hardware.com/

[oldpx]

4. connect your Sony to Amiga and....

and BOOOOOM!! :D
only joking;)

Is this adapter, just a cable or a specific piece of hardware? I'll try to get a scandoubler if I encounter any.

edit: Oh right I should have checked that site earlier! Thanks.

[ptrchiappe]

I use my a1200 with a Microvitec M1438S, which is a multisync stereo monitor that can display all amiga modes (from PAL to DBLPAL) and i'm very happy of it (having paid only 30€ :D ).

[Jherek Carnelia]

I haven't bought one myself, but I am planning to (kids, wife mortgage etc willing!) and if you are happy to import one from the UK, Burseg, take a look here. http://www.eyetech.co.uk/ - they have loads of Amiga stuff...

[oldpx]

Eventually I'll go for it if I have no luck finding it locally. Thanks for the link.

[Overdoc]

If you want to have a monitor which you can use for both the PC and the Amiga without a scandoubler then you have to look out for a multisync monitor ( multisync - not multiscan ! )

As Akira wrote, the NEC Multisync 3D is the easiest to get since it was one of the best monitors of it's time and quite common.
Other multisyncs I know are the COmmodore 1942 and 1960, but I'm sure there exist lots more.
The important thing is that the monitor has to be able to sync down to 15KHz, which normal VGA monitors cannot do. They start at 31KHz, and therefore also your PC monitor will not work with the Amiga.

[oldpx]

there isn't a way to test if it can sync down to 15kHz, is there? A little utility maybe :confused . Mine is a multiscan monitor and I know it's not the same thing, there may be hope though.

[enigma]

Nokia 449Xa Plus
(I have it 5 years and it broke-down once!, before 2 years)

[oldpx]

Really? It's a quality monitor. Did you use it with Amiga? I know it's horizontal scan is 30-70 kHz which is lower than mine. :confused

[Overdoc]

I don't think there is a way to find out the sync specs by software.
But I am also not sure if just trying it is a good way, because I have heard that monitors can be damaged by using them with signals out of their sync area.
But could be possible that this is only dangerous when operating them above their sync area and not below ?

I suggest you search the web for your exact type of monitor. I'm sure you will find some info about it's specs. Try e.g. www.monitorworld.com

[oldpx]

Mine is not listed there but after a little research, I'm convinced it's minimum horizontal scan value is 30kHz. Dangerous it may be, but I will try to connect it. With inappropriate refresh rate/screen mode combinations, it shuts itself down and displays an error message so I believe it will be smart to protect itself.

[jmmijo]

This is what should happen, but sometimes a monitor may try to display an incompatible mode. Let us know what happens, thanks :)

[oldpx]

is this (http://www.hardwarebook.net/cable/av/9to15vga.html) the cable I need? I don't remember how Amiga's monitor port looked like.

edit: was it 23 pin as shown here?:

http://invalid.ed.ntnu.no/~kamben/hwb/ca_AmigaScart.html

[jmmijo]

On the Amiga side of the cable, yes this is the correct one. As for the SCART side, I vaguely remember them. As for most Amiga/CBM monitors they had either a 9-pin DIN round connector or a standard DB9 connector. I believe I have both kinds in my collection.

[Overdoc]

I built an adapter myself to connect the NEC multisync 3D to the Amiga.
You will need a 23-pin female connector on the Amiga side an a 15-pin male connector on the VGA monitor side ( some monitors have a 9-pin connector )
I don't have the pinouts by hand now, bu you will have to connect the following signals:
R, G, B, H-sync, V-sync, ground
I connected all ground signals on the 23-pin Amiga connector together just to be sure.
I'm sure you can find the pinouts on the net. I think I searched for 'Amiga monitor pinout' and 'vga monitor pinout' or something like this.
But be sure you look at it from the right side and don't solder the cables mirrorwise !

[oldpx]

I found an A4000 VGA cable description here (http://www.epanorama.net/documents/vga2rgb/vgamonitor.html) . It's a 4000 one but looks like the one you described. Should I start building it? :D

I remembered that an adapter came with my monitor. It is used to connect a PowerMac. It's a simple adapter with ports shown in figure 1 on each side. Since I have this adapter I think I need a cable with pins shown either on figures 2 or 3. My monitor input is the one shown in figure 2 so I need a cable as shown on figure 2, if I cannot find/make one, the one in figure 3 will work as well right?

[Overdoc]

The schematics given in the link are ok, but I don't know what the H-sync & V-sync buffering is for ??? Maybe some monitors need that ? Also you don't need the 5V then.
At leats my adapter doesn't have those inverters and works good with multisync monitors which can sync down to 15 KHz.

What you will need is a cable with male connector on the monitor's side and female connector on the Amigas side.
So that would be figure 2 :)
It could be quite hard to get the 23-pin female connector, btw...

[oldpx]

:D ok, thanks for all the info!

[Akira]

Your powermac cable conencts a 15 pin high density DB to a 15 pin DB, right? I had teh same thing and it didnt work with my monitor and powermac :(

Were there any Nec 17 inch monitors???

[Overdoc]

I don't think so, but there were lots of multisnyc monitors made for the Amiga. At least I remember that I once read an issue of German 'Amiga' mag and there were many listed with pictures, also 17" ones. Also there exists one 21" multisnc monitor from Commodore !
And I think also some Mitsubishi monitors are multisync.

[oldpx]

Thanks Overdoc, Akira, utri007, jmmijo, Jherek Carnelia, ptrchiappe and enigma :D I'm currently using my 1200 connected to my monitor's second VGA port with an adapter :)

[jmmijo]

Yeah :)

[rlake]

Well, this a slightly alternative solution but I'll try my CD32 with my iiyama LCD to see how the composite video handles. Should be good quality, although obviously it'll have to be antialiased a lot. :( Obviously not all Amigas AFAIK have composite out, and I guess you really want to hook it up to a monitor using a standard VGA connector. I don't know if you've had a look at this page at all, and I have no idea if there'll be any mode problems with the products etc. http://www.eyetech.co.uk/search.php?SearchStr=&SearchCat=ADVG

[oldpx]

I plugged the composite output directly to my video card's video/camcorder input. The result is impressive much better than a tv. I strongly recommend ASUS video card users to try it! :great

[oldpx]

Just noticed the antialiasing thing. It's not bad really, actually I like it. Better than a tv!

[adolescent]

I've had a DCE Scan Magic SD/FF (internal) in my desktop A1200 for about a year now. It's working great with a ViewSonic 17GA and I haven't had trouble with it displaying various NTSC and PAL screenmodes. I do however get artifacts and some flickery pixels when I expand the resolution of a screen too much. (ie. it works fine when I use the default xy but if I add a couple hundred pixels there tend to be problems).

[whiteb]

Originally posted by Burseg
This should be a poll but I'm not sure what the options can be for sure.

I telephoned my ex-Amiga dealer today and asked if he still had a scandoubler for the amiga I'm planning to buy. He told me he imported only five of them ever and not selling them anymore and added that the ones he sold "were not able to display some screen modes properly" ( In fact I used this term and he said "yes" :rolleyes ) . He's not one of the most trustworthy people I know of but I'm somewhat stuck at this point regardless. I can't find a scandoubler and I don't want to plug a TV.

So people, could you help this guy by telling him which monitor you use with your real amigas? I'm mainly interested in VGA monitors compatible with amiga without a scandoubler.

When I got my A1200, it had a PC monitor with it, ok its OLD but it works.

I really wanna get a Scandoubler because I have about 3 spare decent PC monitors lying around.

[whiteb]

Originally posted by Burseg
I plugged the composite output directly to my video card's video/camcorder input. The result is impressive much better than a tv. I strongly recommend ASUS video card users to try it! :great

I got an Asus V7100 Geforce2 400 MX.

VGA out, Composite out and SVideo out.

Now care to explain ?? :)

[jmmijo]

Easy, most newer camcorders and pretty much any VCR have video and audio input jacks. The video input is for standard composite video signals, like those from your video card, if fitted with a composite video output jack. This will be a standard coaxial RCA style connector! There are some video cards that have just the VGA and an S-Video output jacks, this would not allow you to do this unless the video card also came with an S-Video -> RCA adapter. Then of course after connecting the composite video to the input jack of your camcorder or vcr, connect the composite video output jack to your big screen TV or any monitor that has a composite video input jack. Of course why do this unless you plan on video taping something from the output of your video card, which many video editors want to do ;) You can connect directly to a big screen TV via the composite video input jack(s) or even the S-Video input jack as most new TV's have these jacks as well. Even my old 27" RCA tv has both multiple composite and S-Video inputs!

[whiteb]

Originally posted by jmmijo
ADMIN: you don't need to quote *all* the previous message !!

SVIDEO out is on my card and so is Comp out, my Cam has AUDIO/VIDEO jacks but it doesnt say what they are for, only beside them is an RF DC OUT.

[jmmijo]

Originally posted by whiteb
SVIDEO out is on my card and so is Comp out, my Cam has AUDIO/VIDEO jacks but it doesnt say what they are for, only beside them is an RF DC OUT.

Probably the Audio/Video on your Camcorder are outputs, meaning they can be connected to the input jacks on say a big screen tv or vcr. As for the S-Video on your your PC''s card, that is an S-Video output jack, you would use an S-Video cable to connect that jack to a big screen tv or VCR, they would have to have the appropriate S-Video jacks on them as well for this to work!