Scan Doubler with TFT screen? Will it work?

[m1screant]

Hi all,

I have a scandoubler (internal) on my A1200 setup and am using it on a Sony monitor that has 2 vga inputs so that i can plug in my voodoo also and switch between screens.

If i buy a TFT (LCD) screen and a monitor switch box, will i still be able to play my old games through the scandoubler? What will a doubled 15khz screen look like on a TFT?

If anyone has experiance of this i would be grateful of their views.

Many thanks.

I have an LCD TV that has the VGA input from my voodoo and the Video out from the A1200 both connected.

It basically has a scandoubler inside the TV.

I can tell you that scandoubled games look fine on a TFT.

[m1screant]

Is there no problem with TFT PC monitors and the fact that they prefer certain resolutions? That is really my main concern.

Cheers

[patrik]

@m1screant:

Some TFTs need atleast 56Hz to display something and thus does not display scandoubled PAL (50Hz).

Check the specs or try it before you buy it or get a deal where you can return it if it doesnt work.

The preferred resolution on TFTs comes from the fact that they have distinct pixels - one element for each pixel and because of that they only have one resolution that can be sharp, other resolutions are scaled to that resolution in realtime by circuitry in the TFT and wont be sharp.

For games that is not a real issue, but for desktop use you will want to use the preferred resolution.


/Patrik

m1screant wrote:
Is there no problem with TFT PC monitors and the fact that they prefer certain resolutions? That is really my main concern.

Cheers

I dunno.  Mines a LCD TV, so it stretches the picture to fit the screen correctly.

[nex4060]

As patrik said alot of TFTs won't display PAL 50Hz. Like my Dell 2005FPW, the lowest it will go is 56Hz which means scan doubled NTSC 60Hz works but not PAL 50Hz. However it does have a S-VGA and a Composit input.

[Matt_H]

I'd suggest that you try out the monitor before buying it. Or make sure the retailer has a friendly return policy.

I tested a TFT screen with my scandoubled 4000T, and the image looked terrible. Very badly scaled, and there were vertical distortion lines running all over the screen. It looked fine with RTG modes, though.

[Jiffy]

I tested a 17" TFT (Samsung 710n) on my A1200 with an internal scandoubler. It could display the 50Hz signal, but the picture was terrible. I'm going to stay with the 15" CRT I already have when it comes to my A1200.

[Legerdemain]

Another thing to take into consideration is the, hmm... sorry, but I lost the word here, but it is related to how well the TFT handles motion.

Considering the fact that most people buy scandoublers to be able to play games on their monitor, having a TFT which handles motion bad will, in combination with a TFT that isn't smoothing the screen when strecthing it out to be full screen, it will not at all be a pleasant experience if the TFT isn't suited for this.

Why? Because if it is not suited for this, not only will the TFT in that case strecth the screen making the pixels having an ugly ratio (if the pixels should be 1, 1, 2, 1, 1 it could render it like 2,2,1,1,2 in the process, looking really bad) and also it will become blurrish and even uglier looking when the graphics are scrolling.

So, like some have said, if possible, try out the screen before making your final decision.

[keropi]

crt rulez...

[Framiga]

@Legerdemain

Responce Time = 16ms or less is good for motion.

[buzz]

what about a nice big multisync monitor ?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Sony-PVM-2730QM-26-Video-Monitor-No-Reserve_W0QQitemZ7564103231QQcategoryZ3319QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

(Im pretty sure this one does 15khz ).. guess it takes up a bit of space though..

[AntonioX]

what I would like to know is how good do games look on a LCD TV monitor screen, do they look as crap as games when scan doubled on a pc crt or do thay look as good as on a normal tv with no scan doubled as I hate the look of games when they go through a scan doubler

[nyteschayde]

I am using an LCD monitor on my Amiga 4000D. Its a Dell 2000FP 20" LCD. It's great and I don't even need a scan doubler (it has composite and s-video in meaning it can scan double stuff on it's own; although I was surprised it worked with the VGA port as well).

The only problem you will find with LCDs is that anything other than their native resolution (1600x1200 in my case) is a bit fuzzy. If you can find a resolution that scales perfectly (as in a direct multiple of the monitors native resolution) then you can still get a mostly crisp picture

This doesn't matter so much for games but does make a difference in a Workbench type environment. I would recommend the monitor to almost anybody and you can often get a good deal on one via eBay if you look.

Gabriel

[Tomas]

m1screant wrote:
Is there no problem with TFT PC monitors and the fact that they prefer certain resolutions? That is really my main concern.

Cheers

The will be less crisp when run in a non native resolution. This is however not very noticable on games with most monitors, but i think it would be quite noticeable when using it for normal applications like txt editing, browsing and so on...