New to the Amiga world and looking for help with 1200!

[s_vampire]

Hello,

I am new to the board and just wanted to say hello and ask for some technical advice!  Despite being a hardcore C64 user in my formative years, I never had an Amiga of any kind.  I have recently rectified that with the purchase of a CD32 and would like to go further and obtain a proper 1200.

My questions revolve around the video output.  I don't intend to buy one of the old monitors, and would prefer to track down a cheap UK unit.  I have two options for video display currently, either my standard LCD monitor or my HDTV.  

As I understand it, the units output SCART or RF, could I just buy a SCART->VGA convertor for the LCD monitor?  

Alternatively, I have an external video scaler for my TV which accepts an RGBHV input which I believe is consistent with SCART.  However, would I have a problem with the signal timings since my TV is NTSC?  As I understand it, the CD32 is fully capable of outputting both NTSC and PAL timings (I've had no trouble with the CD32 on my TV), so is the 1200 the same way since it's the basis for the CD32?

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Jason

EDIT:  Sorry, I forgot to mention I'm in the USA, in Texas to be exact.

[s_vampire]

If you're in Texas, and you plan to use the composite output on that 1200, are you sure your HDTV can deal with a PAL signal?

No, in fact I know it is NTSC only.  However, the CD32 seems to do just fine outputting NTSC (I have the European CD32) and since it's just a reshelled A1200, I thought maybe the A1200 would also output either format?  Or was the CD32 unique in this regard?  Forgive me, I'm a total newb here.

SCART->VGA convertor->LCD VGA monitor might work, as long as you can find such a convertor in the USA

I haven't really looking around, but I'm guessing I'd have to order it from Europe since SCART is basically non-existent in the USA.  I was curious if it would even work.  I just can't spare the space for another monitor if at all possible.

[s_vampire]

A PAL A1200 can be set to NTSC in software, and vice versa.

Quite a lot of (older) Amiga software will only work properly in PAL, however, so a solution that allows you to display both NTSC and PAL will give you the most copatibility. Unfortunately, it will probably involve finding an Amiga monitor or an expensive PAL to NTSC signal converter for your television.

Ah, okay, gotcha.  PAL->NTSC analog convertors have always been bad news from my experience, the only ones worth anything do it internally like the DVD players you can buy that convert the signal before outputting.

Anyway, it sounds like the LCD solution is much more feasible.  My remaining question then is if I will have any trouble converting the PAL SCART signal to a VGA monitor?

[s_vampire]

That would be problematic unless you use the standard VGA mode from AmigaOS. Normally the solution for hooking up to a VGA monitor is a scan-doubler unless the LCD screen has one built in. There are some LCD monitors with a built-in scan-doubler.

Ah, okay.  Two questions:

1) What are my options for a scan-doubler for a standard 1200 system (not in a tower)?

2) I realized my LCD monitor (Dell 2001FP) has a composite input.  If I ran the composite from the Amiga into the LCD, would a USA LCD have problems with a PAL signal?

Thanks again everyone for your help, this is most appreciated!

[s_vampire]

However, since your monitor has a composite input that means it probably DOES have a scan-doubler built in. If you can find a "silver-box" RGB to VGA adapter it will probably do the job well enough.

That is promising.  Is there any way to test if my monitor has the scan-doubler short of obtaining and plugging in the 1200?  Also, I'm not familiar with the terminology of "silver-box", are you referring to a specific manufacturer or specification?

I did a quick Google and came up with this:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=37141&doy=27m2&C=SEO&U=strat15

Would that do the trick?  Maybe I can find a cheaper option and maybe not.

[s_vampire]

i'm in the same boat as you, just starting out with Amiga 500 and 1200 myself. just bought one of these adapters on a whim, not even sure if it'll work. well, it doesn't yet, but i'm not sure if there's something i'm not doing. all this is for it's own thread, but i think that's what he might be talking about...

I am very curious to hear how this works out for you.  I am ready to jump into this whole Amiga scene, but I am finding just getting started immensely frustrating.  I don't want to buy a bunch of gear and then have no way to really use it!  I just don't have room for another dedicated monitor just for the Amiga either, not enough space...