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Author Topic: Indivision AGA Flicker Fixer/Scandoubler  (Read 11109 times)

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Offline Damion

Re: Indivision AGA Flicker Fixer/Scandoubler
« on: September 19, 2008, 11:43:14 PM »
Quote

save2600 wrote:

3) there is a scan line missing, but only down the 2/3's spot on the bottom right of my monitor. Have played around with settings to no avail. Not a huge problem given I use my machines mostly for gaming, but what gives? Am I missing something here or is this an undesirable byproduct of using this device?


Out of curiosity, what type of monitor are you using?

 
 

Offline Damion

Re: Indivision AGA Flicker Fixer/Scandoubler
« Reply #1 on: September 26, 2008, 02:08:50 AM »
Yeah, I was thinking along similar lines with the missing scan line. 15" Trinitrons had only one damper wire, 17" and above had 2. (Mitsubishi Diamondtron tubes had them as well.)

Never bothered me in the slightest, but I used to lol at the newegg reviews of people returning their monitors for the "messed up row of pixels" :-)

 

Offline Damion

Re: Indivision AGA Flicker Fixer/Scandoubler
« Reply #2 on: September 30, 2008, 09:20:14 AM »
WOOT! Just got mine today. Red shipped it Friday, and somehow it managed to make it all the way from Florida to Nevada over the weekend. :D

Fortunately, installation was easy in my case. I have an "HP" branded Lisa (Escom, factory-fixed 1D4 board), yet there were no issues securing the Indivision. (Just pressed it on with mild to moderate pressure, and it's fine.) Call me lazy, but I didn't modify the RF shield... I simply used a couple of strategically placed plastic feet (with mild adhesive on one side) to make sure the shield couldn't contact the Indi. I'll have to make a cable to relocate my Prelude card, but no big issues.

Immediately I fired up my favorite Loveboat demo, and was very pleased with the results. Just for kicks, I loaded up a few 256 color single-color gradients (as ripped from something alexh posted a while back), and as expected the unit handles the AGA palette correctly. Workbench looks just fine, but there are a few things to keep in mind -- I don't mean to preach to the choir, just thought I'd share a few thoughts, since I recall reading a complaint or two about text quality:

1. Text on any CRT will be less sharp than an LCD at its native resolution, particularly with an aperture grill CRT (Trinitron/Diamondtron). If you're used to LCD's, the difference will be dramatic, even compared to an expensive CRT.

2. CRT's are sensitive to sync frequencies in relation to text clarity, so you'll need to play around with your screenmode settings, Indivision config, and monitor settings to find what's most acceptable to your eyes. (There should be some tools on aminet to help "dial in" your monitor.)

3. Text on LCD's will be less sharp if the display resolution is not matched to the LCD native resolution (though some LCD's probably have better scaling algorithms than others). Something like 640 x 512 should look okay on an LCD with a native res of 1280 x 1024 (17" and 19" units).

4. Any number of things can cause interference, from cheap cables, to (in my case) your PSU... or a ceiling fan on the other end of the house.

5. Your A1200 is 15 years old, please don't expect absolute perfection. :) IMO Jens has done an amazing job working with this old hardware.

Obviously, scrolling will not be as smooth with the framerate conversion enabled. (This is simply mathematics, no way around it.) Pinball games are effected most, while the handful of demos I watched surprisingly didn't look as bad as I had expected. (Another thing to keep in mind is that not all Amiga games and demos feature perfect scrolling to begin with.) However, turning the scanrate option off is a 2-second task, and it switches on the fly without having to save. So in my case, primarily using a CRT, I can enjoy games games/demos at their native frequency, yet switch up the scanrate and mess around on the desktop for longer periods without the CRT burning holes to my brain. 75 vs 60Hz in NTSC is a nice improvement, with no additional strain on the chipset (slowdown) since the Indi handles all the processing. :)

I connected an older 17" Samsung PVA LCD for test, and despite a little noise in the picture (ropey VGA cable), my overall impression was positive. Text appeared just fine at 640 x 512, and the crisp, beautiful colors of Loveboat's "Beats" demo (and Hostyle Takeover, Kilofix, Grid2, Zif) looked fantastic. I'll try to steer away from making subjective comparisons (having a Cybervision 64/3D scandoubler in my A2K, and years ago a DCE A1200 scandoubler), but so far I'd say the quality of the display is more than adequate... especially when firing up your favorite game or demo.
 
Overall, I'm ecstatic. It was ridiculous to have a bunch of money invested into an AGA amiga for the sole purpose of watching demos, only to have to view them on a 1084. After tons of wasted time and money on LCD TVs, the JROK, etc, it's a dream to plug my A1200 into any number of nice monitors... and enjoy. :)
 

Offline Damion

Re: Indivision AGA Flicker Fixer/Scandoubler
« Reply #3 on: October 02, 2008, 09:39:12 AM »
Something I forgot to add, using the config tool to adjust PAL vsync rate to 1.5x (75Hz) can make scrolling *much* smoother for LCD use. Problem is many LCDs don't display 75Hz properly (maybe dropping a frame, or just plain not working), but worth a shot anyway.