Alternate Amiga monitors

[Olecranon]

This goes a long with Christian's thread, but my questions is a little different. I posted this question on amiga.org, but I know you guys are pretty technically savy here.

I'd like to get a new monitor for my Amiga, but would like something with a little better quality than the used commodore monitors that pop up on ebay.

Would it be possible to connect the RGB port from the amiga to this particular monitor?

http://cgi.ebay.com/SONY-PVM-1943MD-...QQcmdZViewItem

This monitor has RED GREEN BLUE and EXT SYNC BNC connectors. I'm wondering if I can take an Amiga 1080/1084 monitor cable and hack off the monitor connector, then solder BNC connectors to the RED/BLUE/GREEN/SYNC pins?

Any thoughts?

[Zetr0]

@Olecranon
many thoughts indeed my friend.

Okay from the connections on the back you can save yourself a headache and just buy a amiga RGB to 9pin vga connector and then all you need is the 9pin vga cable to the monitor and all should be YUMMY

its a tad expensive though and I wonder if its not cheaper (and more usefull) to get a composite tuner / RGB doubler to a 17" tft hmmm well its a thought.

[killergorilla]

What are you using the Amiga for?

[Olecranon]

Originally Posted by Zetr0

@Olecranon
many thoughts indeed my friend.

Okay from the connections on the back you can save yourself a headache and just buy a amiga RGB to 9pin vga connector and then all you need is the 9pin vga cable to the monitor and all should be YUMMY

its a tad expensive though and I wonder if its not cheaper (and more usefull) to get a composite tuner / RGB doubler to a 17" tft hmmm well its a thought.

This monitor doesn't do VGA. It's strictly a 15kHz video monitor.

Yeah this monitor got a little expensive. I've seen these go for $35-$40 though.

[Olecranon]

Originally Posted by killergorilla

What are you using the Amiga for?

Mainly for gaming and a little Workbench stuff.

[Sune Salminen]

Originally Posted by Zetr0

Okay from the connections on the back you can save yourself a headache and just buy a amiga RGB to 9pin vga connector and then all you need is the 9pin vga cable to the monitor and all should be YUMMY

No, that won't work. The 9-pin connector on that monitor is a digital CGA RGB input.

The Amiga's RGB signal is analog.

The BNC inputs should be just fine though. You'll need to tie the H+V sync lines coming from the Amiga together. Get ready for a delicious high quality RGB picture.

I used to own a cousin of your monitor by the way:
http://salminen.homepage.dk/ (click on the pics to magnify).

[Zetr0]

@Sune Salminen

Close call, i thought it was a 9pin RGB input!

sorry about that!

[Olecranon]

Originally Posted by Sune Salminen

The BNC inputs should be just fine though. You'll need to tie the H+V sync lines coming from the Amiga together. Get ready for a delicious high quality RGB picture.

I used to own a cousin of your monitor by the way:
http://salminen.homepage.dk/ (click on the pics to magnify).

Thanks for the reply Sune.

So my pinout should look like this?

Amiga RGB pin 3 (RED) to BNC Connector RED
Amiga RGB pin 4 (GREEN) to BNC Connector GREEN
Amiga RGB pin 5 (BLUE) to BNC Connector BLUE

AMIGA RGB pin 11 (HSYNC) + pin 12 (VSYNC) to BNC Connector EXT SYNC

Pin 10 on the Amiga RGB port is listed as composite sync. Is this composite video? just curious why this isn't used.

Thanks

[Jope]

No, it's composite sync. A composite of hsync and vsync. I'd say use that if the monitor only has one sync input.

If I only had separate sync and needed csync, I'd use this:
http://www.tkk.fi/Misc/Electronics/c...s/vga2rgbs.gif

However in this case the Amiga already outputs csync, so no need to make the circuit.

[killergorilla]

Originally Posted by Olecranon

Mainly for gaming and a little Workbench stuff.

Well I'd personally buy a new TV then New CRT televisions give great picture quality, better than the old Miggy monitors in my opinion. (And they are BIG!)

[Retro-Nerd]

Originally Posted by killergorilla

Well I'd personally buy a new TV then New CRT televisions give great picture quality, better than the old Miggy monitors in my opinion. (And they are BIG!)

That's for sure. My 55 cm Sony Flat CRT is much better than the old 1084S monitor.

[Olecranon]

Originally Posted by killergorilla

Well I'd personally buy a new TV then New CRT televisions give great picture quality, better than the old Miggy monitors in my opinion. (And they are BIG!)

How do you have the Amiga connected to a TV? Remember, nothing in the US comes with a SCART connector. We are usually stuck with the good ole A520 to connect the Amiga to a TV via composite video.

[killergorilla]

That's a very good point.

I forget you guys mainly use s-video.

Sorry!

[Sune Salminen]

Originally Posted by Olecranon

Thanks for the reply Sune.

You're welcome.

I didn't know the Amiga had composite sync on its RGB output. This is the pin you need to connect to the sync input on your monitor. Don't forget to hook up the ground pins for each as well - R,G,B + sync.

If it doesn't work for some reason you can try what I said before, tie H+V together.

By the way, you can use that monitor with arcade PCBs as well if you're into that sort of thing. Just use the same cable that you'll be using with your Amiga.

I'd love to see some photos once you get it going. Good luck with the project!

[dambuster]

Would your local Walmart source a PAL LCD TV for you from the UK as ASDA is part of the Walmart Family. Most companies will ship to the US.
The picture on even a 15" LCD TV is great plus if you have a video card you can use the VGA in on the TV for Productivity, and the scart rgb for std w/bench and games. Best of both worlds and the remote works as a video switcher.

[Olecranon]

Originally Posted by Sune Salminen

You're welcome.

I didn't know the Amiga had composite sync on its RGB output. This is the pin you need to connect to the sync input on your monitor. Don't forget to hook up the ground pins for each as well - R,G,B + sync.

If it doesn't work for some reason you can try what I said before, tie H+V together.

By the way, you can use that monitor with arcade PCBs as well if you're into that sort of thing. Just use the same cable that you'll be using with your Amiga.

I'd love to see some photos once you get it going. Good luck with the project!

I feel so stupid.. I was wondering where I would connect the ground lines. Then I remembered that BNC is like RCA where you have one line connected to the middle prong and another to the outer part of the plug.

Actually it might be easier to buy some BNC to RCA adapters and use standard RCA connectors on the cable.

I dont have a monitor yet. This talk has been all hypothetical. I've been trying to figure out if this project is possible to do before I pony up the money and buy a monitor. I'd prefer to get a 19" or 21" monitor but these things are heavy and cost a bunch to ship.

[Sune Salminen]

If you can find a monitor with RGB inputs like the Sony anywhere near you, I'd go for it. Though it's probably not easy to find a montor that has analog RGB inputs in the US, unless you go shopping for an arcade monitor that is.

You could try the yellow pages? Call video production studios near where you live, maybe they have something stowed away in a corner...I got a Philips CM8833 that way.

About the grounds..

Good hunting!