Microvitec 1438 controls

[srg86]

Hi

Late in my first amiga days, I finally got a multisync monitor replacing my Phillips CM8833MKII. The monitor I got was the Amiga badged Microvitec 1438S.

My excitement was more then a little marred though when in the double pal modes etc the screes would be tall enough to fill the screen but not wide enough, plus it didn't have a horizontal size controll (What were they thinking, why did Amiga Inc let it go out like this!!??)In the end I had to make the virtical size smaller but ended up with a big black border.

Did the original Microvitec branded 1438s have this horizontal size controll or not?

thanks
srg

[darkcoder]

Hi

 I have both an original Microvitek branded monitor and an Amiga one. I don't have them with me now, and I haven't used them since some time (both need repairs) but as far as I remember they have the same controls (no horizontal size) and more or less, looks the same. The Amiga one has built-in stereo speakers (the other not) and a 23 pin video connector (the microvitek has a VGA connector).

I'll chek during the weekend if I remembered something wrong, and in case I'll post again.

Hope this helps

[Piru]

What were they thinking, why did Amiga Inc let it go out like this!!??

a) Amiga Inc didn't exist when this monitor was designed.
b) This monitor wasn't designed for Amigas in particular. It was later rebadged as "Amiga" brand though, mainly because it was about the only monitor that could display 15KHz modes.

[srg86]

It just seems odd to me that they would put their name on a monitor which isn't really suitable. Shame they wouldn't have gotten microvitec to update it (like a second revision).

srg

[Piru]

Amiga was pretty much dead back then already. Only thing they could do was to rebadge existing stuff.

[srg86]

haha oh dear, and that was their first product after the name and logo change.

BTW I never liked that new logo.

srg

[odin]

I had the Microvitec for a few years. Useless piece o' {bleep}e....

[srg86]

Was that because of the no horizontal size? hehe

Mine never went wrong although I only had it for a couple of years then I sold the lot (to help pay for the PC).

srg

[billchase]

I believe some of the screen adjustments can be from
inside Workbench.  I am not sure if Picasso96 could be used
to edit any of the native modes, but it can certainly tweak
how much screen you use.  Sounds like your best bet is
trying inside of Workbench (Overscan and screenmode prefs).

C Snyder

[Piru]

Actually there was a tool called MonEd that could be used to tune existing monitors (DblPAL etc) in detail... However I never could figure out how to use the tool to get wanted results, except experimenting.

I could get the borders smaller with friend's 15" Microvitec, and also allow more overscan... and even cure disappearing mouse pointer (far right) with DblPAL overscan.

PS. Don't even ask how I did that, it was some 9-10 years ago.

[srg86]

I'm going the scan doubler and VGA monitor route, it'll just be soooo much simpler. I've now decided.

srg

[JaXanim]

@srg86

The Microvitec doesn't have a width control. Only a height control and knobs for horizontal position, contrast and brightness. An impressive monitor in its day, but by current standards, pathetic!

Cheers,

JaX

[srg86]

Cheers for the advice!  :-)

I've now got a Scanmagic/FlickerMagic T Internal on it's way, got it from ebay at 2/3rd's retail price (just 57 quid!).

I just hope it doesn't get too hot hehe

srg