Best solution to connect A500+ to LCDs

[nivam]

Hello dear Amiga fans,

I’m a proud owner of two Amigas 500, one is a Plus model. They are stored in a closet in a almost pristine condition and 10 years ago were opened to remove the batteries. I assume they still working... I want to get them out of darkness and use them, and show to my son what computing and gaming was to to be some 30 years ago. But I dont have a monitor...

My question is: what is the best option to connect an A500 to a modem lcd.
In a recent discussion in reddit I was told about some options like OSSC or get an Scart LCD and connect with a proper cable or get an RGB2HDMI circuit.

Im thinking that maybe the best option to be the RGB2HDMI.
What do you guys think? How you connect your amigas to LCDs?


Thank you

[khph_re]

I've got three LCD TV's, ranging from a 50 inch to a bargain basement, they all work with the Amiga through SCART. Originally one didn't sync, but when I upgraded to a decent cable, that one was fine too.

[fxgogo]

The RGB 2 HDMI project is an absolute game changer. I have never seen my A500 look so good. And now it outputs HDMI out from the case with no extra boxes which is cool. However, you have two A500's and the plus model's ECS modes are not supported. The OSSC would make sense there.

I would think that if you are just going to play games, the former will do you perfectly.

[lesta_smsc]

Question is what are you trying to achieve?

If you simply want to view the Amiga then most LCDs have VGA in and you can use RGB to VGA using the adaptor. (As per @jotd - needs to be 15kHz compatible)

If you want to use composite or SCART (RGB) input this is easily outputted from the A520 video adaptor or RGB to SCART.

If you want pixel perfect and 240p - get a small CRT (my preferred option and I have tried all of the above) - nothing will beat this. Not even an upscaler. There is something about progressive scan images on a CRT that give it the edge over all other types.

[jotd]

Careful as a lot of LCDs don't support 15Khz.

[fxgogo]

I have one CRT left, which I need to get repaired. It is the truest representation of the Amiga’s display. There is also the retrotink adapters, which I have never used, but some have. Cheaper than the OSSC.

[nivam]

From what I understand one of the best solutions is this V2 version of RGB2HDMI which now supports A500+
https://github.com/c0pperdragon/Amiga-Digital-Video

Or Im reading wrong?

[attle]

Yep, it works great in A500+, but it doesn't support the ECS modes as mentioned. Hardly much of an issue, I can highly recommend it.

[alexh]

Cheapest method - RGB SCART.

Most expensive method - Indivision ECS V2 (arguably best quality)

Inbetween - RGB2HDMI (get a later version)

[MoonDragn]

I went down the OSSC route (through the RGB to VGA adapter) and ran into a lot of issues. Some modern LCDs only support standard HDMI signals and the output from the OSSC is not standard. I think mostly because the 15khz or 34khz sync is not compatible with the monitor input range. The OSSC might have been a great solution back when there were a lot of monitors that were compatible, but now those monitors are also phasing out. If you must go the OSSC route, wait for the OSSC pro version that supposed to come out soon, that one supports more newer monitors and standard formats.

The cheapest way I know of is the cheap composite to hdmi adapters that go for about $10 on Amazon. They work, fairly legible text and graphics and the lag is not that bad. It is an option to look into if you don't want to spend too much $. Alternatively there is a scart to hdmi version that work about the same but better picture.

Whatever you do, don't get a USB-C or Displayport only monitor. I had a tough time getting it to work with any number of adapters required. Of course those were just monitors I already have... G-sync Displayport for my main Gforce 2080ti PC and usb-c touchscreen for my lattepanda alpha. But I did get it eventually to work with the touchscreen with the ossc plus 2 other converters/adapters. Using that $10 hdmi adapter would have been cheaper for me as well as buying a new monitor.

The input the monitor accepts is usually a good indication of what it can support. For example, an hdmi monitor that has VGA inputs usually can support VGA resolutions and frequencies.

[Jope]

The OSSC never had a wide range of compatible displays. Getting an Amiga to work with an off the shelf monitor after Commodore died has been a neverending struggle, especially in the PAL world. :-)