Indivision or other options?

[koshman]

Hi,
I've recently returned to Amiga and bought A4000D. Now I'm wondering about the classic question - the best way to hook it up to my LCD. Originally I was hoping to use an external upscan converter, but the only one I was able to get for a decent price doesn't work the way I hoped it would.
I planned to spend some money on a PCI expansion and a Voodoo to get WB  in decent res, but now I'm thinking about rather buying an Indivision, because I want to be able to play games. What I'm interested in is how slow/fast is WB when using highgfx 1024x768 with AGA on stock A4000 (A3640)? I don't expect wonders, just want to know if the speed is tolerable. More specifically would there be a big difference between PAL Laced (640x512) in 64 colours that I've been using and 1024x768 in 8-16 colours? The speed of the former has been good enough for me.

Additionally, what other scandoubler and/or external solutions are there that not only double horizontal range to 31KHz, but can also output PAL 50Hz upped to 60Hz? Because of common LCD limitations, eg. my Samsung.
Indivision is great, but not exactly cheap in absolute terms (€130 is a lot for me).

Thanks a lot!

[koshman]

Thank you for your insight.
I suppose the CPU will be a problem, because the stock 040/25MHz without onboard Fast RAM can hardly be compared to 060. I'm planning to buy a Cyberstorm eventually, but I will have to bear with A3640 for the next 3 - 6 months.
More opinions welcome.

Btw. does the A4000 motherboard has the same artifacting problem when using Indy + highgfx modes as A1200?

[koshman]

Thank you. That sounds very encouraging, I suppose the 040/25MHz should be at least comparable to your Blizzard even though it doesn't have its own Fast RAM.

Btw, regarding that RGB->SVIDEO adapter, do you know if I plug it eg. to an external TV tuner and from that by VGA to LCD, does the tuner scandouble both frequencies? For example AvertTV Box 7 claims to be compatible with all displays.

[koshman]

Eh, so many options, none of them exactly cheap.... :-( Should I buy the Indy, a new LCD TV, is a TV Tuner and S-Video out enough? A different scandoubler or an external VGA box/upscan converter.....
I guess I'll just get back to writing my diploma thesis (just 10 more pageees woo hoo ) and stop thinking about Amiga for now or else my head will blow up...
Thanks anyway for your opinions.

[koshman]

Gulliver, I'm forever in your debt. That's exactly what I was looking for Thank you very much. It's not a big expense and I can always buy a scandoubler later if I'm not happy with the picture quality (but judging from the Youtube video by Cammy, SVIDEO looks pretty good). I hope amigamaniac will have a new batch of the converters ready soon.

Btw, is the quality good enough for higher res WB? 800x600 Super72, 1024x768 highgfx etc. Thanks.

Oh, just to make sure before I order it - the SVHS box will get a standard PAL to 31.5+KHz horizontal, 56+Hz vertical? Thanks.

[koshman]

Actually the eBay listing mentions selectable vertical output frequency of 60 or 75Hz so that should be fine. I'm more interested in the horizontal.
This is a really great solution for the price.

[koshman]

I suppose that the converter doubles the horizontal frequency too, otherwise I wouldn't even think about it as an alternative to a scendoubler.

I have the standard 16MB on the mainboard. Is that what you mean or do I need a Fast RAM on an expansion board to use those utilities?

[koshman]

Yes, I also like external solution more and the difference in price is big. I hope my Samsung have flickerfixing built-in. Anyway, I already ordered the SVHS->VGA box, once again thanks for your help, Gulliver.

Btw, I wrote to amigamaniac and he informed me that the new batch of the converters could be ready for shipping in ~1 month.

[koshman]

@ Gulliver: Are you able to display any non-standard modes using the SVIDEO->VGA converter? Like Super72 or HighGFX. They don't work for me and I'd like to know if the problem is my display or the converter box. Otherwise I'm happy with the way it works - I'm using it through A520 now so the IQ sucks big time, but when Amigamaniac finishes next batch of his RGB->SVIDEO converters it will be much better I think.