A1200 works with Dell SR2320L w/o FF/SD!

[bbond007]

BestBuy have them for sale at $210.

I picked one up locally at the BB after reading this and figured I'd try it out. I have not been using my 1200 much because the best video I have is SVIDEO and my eyes start to strain after a while. I was actually thinking of getting a 1084 or something to get RGB. Anyway, no risk as it can go back to BB just as easy

Anyway, I tried it out and I may follow up later (or not), but here are my initial impressions:

The monitor itself is pretty basic with just a single VGA, HDMI and DVI port respectively. It also has standard 1/8" in/out jacks for audio, however you must use external speakers (or headphones) as there does not appear to be any speakers built in. Anyway, for a technical review of the monitor, all you need to know and more can be read here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/dell-sr2320l-hp-2311x-samsung-px2370,2894-2.html

I have the NTSC, PAL and MULTISYNC monitors in devs/monitors and indeed all of the modes work. Non-interlace modes look excellent. I tried Shadow of the Beast and there is no screen tearing issues when scrolling and colors and contrast are EXCELLENT. I still SUCK at that game as the larger screen size apparently does not increase my reflexes.

Anything that uses INTERLACE mode does flicker like, well, interlace mode I was somehow expecting it to be de-interlaced. The interlace modes are possibly less annoying than on a 1084, but I have not used a 1084 in a long time, so maybe not.

There is a slight banding pattern which may bother the type of people who insist vinyl records, HiFi stereos with tubes and CRT monitors are superior to their modern day modern day counterparts.

You can configure the monitor so that 4:3 modes are not stretched which preserves the original aspect ratio of the Amiga content. I prefer this just like when DVDs came out I preferred widescreen mode on my tube TV.

MULTISYNC (640x480) mode looks good however the screen centers vertically wrong and the top workbench bar is cut off. You can go into the OSD (on screen display) and center the screen, however once you switch to a different mode and back again you'll need recenter as the setting does not seem to stick.

The bargain monitor has a few nice features I think are worth mentioning:

The menu system is really intuitive (compared to most monitors I have owned). An icon indicating the buttons function appears right next to the (PS3 like) touch sensitive buttons.

The monitor can tilt to change the viewing angle.

I have am Indivision AGA in my CD32 and this is not as good of a solution, however has a lot better picture than the AmigaManiac SVIDEO adapter or the Ambery converter.

Is there anything specific anyone wants me to test and post a screenshot of?

-nate

[bbond007]

@hbarcellos
To be honest, this was a shot in the dark to see of this monitor would work with my A1200. To my speechless surprise, it did. I did no research to see if it would work, I merely plugged it in to the computer and turned it on.

I wonder how many more monitors have this undocumented feature. I know I have tried this several times with other monitors and its NEVER worked. None has HDMI though. I wonder if more monitors with HDMI would work?

[bbond007]

My BenQ G2420HD supports all native modes as well (eg PAL, NTSC), check it out in action right -> here

Does it flicker in interlace mode?

[bbond007]

Back when LCD monitors were very new (and very expensive), it was predicted one that could sync to the Amiga would de-interlace in 'hardware' - the pixels in each scan line are latched by the TFT transistors for that pixel until they are updated; sort of a 2-D flicker fixer. I spent years unsuccessfully trying to find an LCD monitor that would sync. Was that ever true?

I think it probably depends on the monitor. When using the AmigaManiac SVIDEO adapter I have seen some LCD monitors that appear deinterlaced and others where it flickers.

Perhaps there exists some ideal monitor out there that will deinterlace as well...

@bbond007 and NC - If the Interlace mode still flickers, I would wonder how badly..
I would think people seriously considering an LCD would prefer non-painful flickering.. ;-)

Not sure there's a good way to show that.  Even a vid might not capture the flicker effect...

Why are all the monitors widescreen nowadays!!!  (OK, that's not true, but still.. ;-)

desiv

Keep in mind that you CAN run workbench in MUTISCAN mode which will eliminate the flicker (unlike when using the SVIDEO adapter). The only drawback is that multiscan mode is a bit slower than interlace. I guess ECS amigas are limited to 2 out of 64 colors in that mode. Sucks to be them.

In overscan prefs I was able to adjust the screen centering in multiscan mode so thar the top workbench status bar is not cut off.

[bbond007]

Hey

My Dell 22" lcd with analogue features as well (svid and comp) Flicker fixes my NTSC laced modes nicely!

I assume you mean that you are running Amiga video into the SVIDEO or COMPOSITE ports and not the VGA or are you saying your DELL flicker-fixes on the 15PIN VGA?

[bbond007]

LCD TV + SCART RGB socket/lead = LCD monitor + VGA socket adaptor as far as quality goes so this must be a yank issue given you can get 20" TV for ~£150. :confused:

Yes, it would be nice if monitors in the US came with SCART. That port is almost unheard of in TVs typically sold here.  I bought a SCART->HDMI converter and did not have any success with that. (probably because it came from DealExtreme).

Composite and SVIDEO just don't have the sharpness (of even an old 1084) and VGA typically only works in a limited range of AGA/ECS  modes. Even with a scandoubler you may still have issue with PAL mode.

I know my old internal scandoubler I had in my first A1200 was pretty flaky and 50% of the time would distort NTSC screens. It looked like it mixed up every scan line. It always worked in PAL mode though. Indivision AGA is not available.

Issues getting a quality display on Amiga? yes...

[bbond007]

I am just back from holiday and got to check my two main monitors with my stock A1200. They BOTH work!!! (oh the excitement!)

How do they look in interlace mode?  PAL, NTSC, MULTISYNC (640x960)

I would still like to find one that deinterlaces as well...

The geometry on the SR2320L is pretty good which is lucky because it does not have many settings. There is some banding, but it really seems most noticeable when the screen has a black background. It still beats anything I have used with my 1200 so far...  

I was playing with DpaintV and Brilliance and True Brilliance, playing a few games, etc. with the new monitor. Pretty nice. Color looks great!

[bbond007]

I uploaded some pics I took last night here:

http://imgur.com/a/lH4Ih

If you need any specific tests done, just ask and I'll try to do them tomorrow.

cool!

Interesting. your U2311H looks like it has the same exact OSD as my SR2320.

The NEC is nice because it looks like 4:3 monitor

[bbond007]

U2311H!?
That's my main monitor!
Works on any mode? Including games?

You just lucked out

I tried mine with 2 Sceptre, and Viewsonic HDTV with VGA. no dice

[bbond007]

FYI
Best Buy Sunday flyer 9/4/2011 page 27
is selling this monitor for 179.99

excellent, on my way to BB for my $29

[bbond007]

excellent, on my way to BB for my $29

Bummer. BB says it's been too long, and this place is madhouse! And I got rained on. BB sux.

[bbond007]

DBLPAL and DBLNTSC are really only there in a half baked effort to support monitors that can't do PAL/NTSC. Other than that, pretty useless.

So I took it back next day, because I found better deal on Amazon for $129.99 refurbished instead $179.99 at Best Buy.

wow. hope it works out for you and you don't get one with dead pixels or worse.

I bought a refurb Sony Vaio notebook once and the back-light did not work when it arrived. Sony made good (it had a 90 day warranty) and I never had a problem with the notebook again. It still mostly works.

[bbond007]

FYI:

http://aminet.net/package/driver/moni/HighGFX40_6

will give you 1024x384 and 1024x768  with the  SR2320L

the included HD720 (1280x720) monitor driver does not work but the HighGFX looks pretty good.

[bbond007]

The 1024x384 looks not bad, had a hard time adjusting the pixel clock to get rid of horizontal banding. The interlace is not usable, no flicker fixer.

The interlace is pretty usable for displaying JPG images. Workbench, not so much

1024x384 might be cool for shapeshifter.

I have never noticed the pixel clock settings to do much to remove the banding. I think the banding is just going to happen because 1024 can't evenly fit into 1920.

I was thinking that maybe we could create a custom monitor mode.

the monitor has 1920x1080 resolution, so perhaps if a custom mode could be made that is evenly divisible by 3 or 2  ie. 960x540, 640x360, 960x360, or 640x540 then it would look better. 1024x384 is not really a standard resolution, but somehow it works....

what do you think?

[bbond007]

This is a great find! My biggest question tho would have to be whats the scrolling like? One of the amigas best features to me is the super smooth pinball games. My 28" scart crt still has lots of life yet but would hate to loose the smooth scrolling if i ever have to switch to a lcd monitor..

I would say the scrolling is really about perfect in my opinion. There is no tearing or anything like that in Pinball Illusions or scrollers like Lionheart or Shadow of the beast.
I think the reason it works so well is the fact the monitor can take 15hz without going through framerate conversion.

I know that as soon as I say that someone who has used a 1084 in the last 15 years will buy it on my recommendation and see some flaw I am overlooking, and my corrected eyesight not perfect.

If I thought I could accurately video the monitor and post it I would, but don't know of a way to do that without introducing the kind of tearing that I'm claiming is minimal or does not exist.

My suggestion is to see if your local store has the monitor so you can return it if you unhappy with it.

The monitor is not perfect for the amiga. Text still sometimes looks a little funny, because the amiga can't push the monitor at it's native resolution, but of all minor bad things, I do think the scrolling is probably a strong point.

Hope that helps.