Component -> VGA boxes

[Beowulf]

Yeah will do and Visa Versa

[icbrkr]

I ordered mine today from here:

http://www.cliffracer.com/store/product_info.php/products_id/111

That's the cheapest I've seen the Magic VGA box, and shipping was about $6.

Now I'm hoping I don't get screwed

[Drummerboy]

Hello!..

i think is great!.. and its not expensive..
You know i was looking for Scandoubler, but, this is a great way por can use my A1200 with VGA monitor in all screen modes..

I going to obtain this adapter..

regards people!

bye!

[adolescent]

Just a word of caution, the composite from the A600/A1200 is horrible quality.  Running this through an additional conversion and upscan causes the quality to become even worse.  

[icbrkr]

Since I'd only use this mode for games, I don't believe I'll lose too much quality.  I've had it hooked up to a 1702 monitor for years for game modes, so if I can suffer with that, I can suffer with anything

[Tahoe]

Thanx fot his great idea!! Why didn't I think of this??! I still have a VGA TV Tuner laying around (for using a monitor as TV without the need for a PC) It has Composite in, VGA in (Voodoo passthrough!!) and a normal VGA out. It doubles all modes and lets me decide what mode the monitor works in when it recieves the signal (1024x768 in my case).
I've opened a thread in the hardware corner to check if this can be done through component in (seperated RGB/HV)

[scu98rkr]

Hi hobbyist i linked my amiga up to one of these boxes, a magic vga one like ur. I like in UK if this makes any difference. Ive also liked the box up to my freeview box and XBOX. (The s-video input is nt very good i dont know why this is it could be because i got it off ebay)

the xbox and freeview box were ok. But the amiga display ok but was jumpy ie the screen moved up and down by a couple of pixels every second or so.

Did it do this for u ? if not what modes did u use i think i had standard res 800*600 and 60hz. And used composite in.

[SamuraiCrow]

The composite out on the Amiga 1200 accepts a lot of interference from the rest of the Amiga circuitry.  Also 800x600 60Hz is not possible on the Amiga graphics chipset AFAIK, try NTSC 640x200 non-interlaced and see if that works right on the scandoubler.  If you're using PAL 640x256 that might be why the monitor is having trouble maintaining a sync.  Some systems don't like a 50 Hz display resolution.

[zx6r6]

Hello. I hate to say it but personally I've found these boxes to be a complete waste of money. The picture quality (if you manage to get one!) is dreadfull!
For your info I've tried :-
V-Stream xpert tv box hi-res (about£50) - dreafull all round!
Vision VTB100 (£120) - jumpy picture
Cypress tech scart rgb to xga convertor (£100) - very fuzzy but useable for games(just)
Daewoo DSA-9310E - best of all but not even tv modulator quality!

Theyve all been tried through both composite and RGB scart. The vtb100 and v-stream by going into a Keene electronics rgb scart to svideo convertor.

I've since bitten the bullet and paid a fortune for an internal scan doubler and flicker fixer on ebay. Just wish I'd done that in the first place!

There must be something about the way that the amiga makes the video signals as most boxes above are excellent when used with any modern equipment i.e gamecube/xbox etc

[leirbag28]

Usually these boxes are indeed bad

But
Here is my Rating or Signals:

RF.......  4
Composite  5
S-Video    8
Component  9
RGB       10

S-Video looks extremely close to RGB............dont know what the heck anyody else is using but my CD32 has S-Video OUT, RGB OUT and VGA OUT........plus S-Video OUT through the SuperGenSX.....S-Video is Superb!

try it through a genlock if you cant get a good S-Video signal.the Supergen SX is the best way to go or the Vidteck Scanlock...........if your using an SX-1 and the SuperGen SX..the S-Video gets even better! (better than the SX32)

[icbrkr]

I'm hoping for some good luck here on mine, I'll post the results when it finally comes in.  Buying a flicker fixer is too pricey to me, and plus I have multiple Amigas.  I don't really want to purchase a flicker fixer for each of em  Finding an external one on the other hand would be nice.

[Damion]

Viewsonic makes one, a bit pricey (around US $180) but it looks da shizznit. With one of those 23-15 pin adaptors, you could plug your amiga right through it to your LCD...no crappy composite video...and then use the remote to adjust to your LCD's "native" resolution, and the viewsonic will scale/fit the picture as required. Picture quality is supposed to be great.

The cool thing about using this with an LCD, is that you'd get  a nicely scaled, hi-res picture with NO 60Hz eyestrain like with a scandoubler/crt.

Here you can see pics of the ports and cables it's sold with (link to newegg.com).

--edit--duh, looks like the RGB ports are for passthrough...so you'd have to make an RGB-SVIDEO adapter.

[icbrkr]

Okay, I got mine in.  Here's a quick rundown:

PAL and NTSC modes work fine.  As was mentioned earlier by someone else, it *does* flicker a bit.  It is nowhere near as sharp as an RGB connection, but it does look just like the composite cable being hooked up to the TV.



I don't consider that unplayable at all for games

[icbrkr]

Here's a review I put together with some more screenshots:

http://www.particles.org/reviews/vgabox.php

[patrik]

@icbrkr:

Great work and thanks for sharing your experience!


/Patrik