A1200 & Sony SDM S74

[Readie]

Does anyone know / have experience of; if I can connect an A1200 to a Sony SDM-S74 TFT display? Using either a RGB to VGA adapter or a Scandoubler? I beleive the monitor needs to be able to sync to the A1200's output signal of 31.5Khz

Any help or pointers in the right direction would be greatly appreciated  :-)

I have just found some spec on the S74 that states;

Synchronization Range - Vertical  48 - 75 Hz  
Synchronization Range - Horizontal  28 - 80 kHz

[meega]

Welcome to A.org.

I believe that the DblPAL (DoublePAL) monitor driver, normally found in Storage/Monitors, might do what you want. It outputs at around 28KHz, direct from the A1200's RGB port, and gives 640x512 non-interlaced 48Hz as standard. DblNTSC gives 640x400 up to 640x480 at 58Hz, and might be better if the DblPAL isn't quite "fast" enough.

("Normal" Amiga modes are 15.6KHz 50Hz PAL, and 15.72KHz 60Hz NTSC.)

Edit: others can advise on the best way to use a TFT monitor, my experience is with analog RGB CRT.

Further edit: This makes me think that an Amiga RGB to VGA cable will allow you to simply plug in and go, using one of the above monitor drivers, however the native 1280x1024 resolution of the panel could mean less than optimal viewing due to the image having to be rescaled.

[Damion]

Using the correct monitor driver, it should be fine for OS friendly things. (Naturally, you'd need a scandoubler for 15 KHz (games) modes.) Some LCDs seem to work better than others. (F.e, the image quality on mine is only marginal with Amiga output.)

meega is right about LCD scaling; it will look a *little* funny. I know Samsung displays are genreally considered to have great scaling circuitry, and my 740T looks pretty good when viewing non-optimum resolutions. (In fact, it's difficult to tell the difference with FPS games.) I'm sure your Sony will also look great.

If you're one of those who can't handle CRT flicker for very long (me included) the less-than-optimal scaling may be a worthy trade-off.
 
 

[meega]

Having said that, the 1280x1024 is exactly double the standard DoublePAL 640x512, so whilst it might look "blocky" it could still be very sharp.

[Damion]

meega wrote:
Having said that, the 1280x1024 is exactly double the standard DoublePAL 640x512, so whilst it might look "blocky" it could still be very sharp.

Ah, interesting point. I'll have to pull the A1200 out tonight and give it a shot.

 

[meega]

 :-)