Software Hut Toastscans coming Soon!

[Jeff]

They are making another 200 or so and they expect to sell out by the end of December. I just pre-ordered mine:-D. Probably better get orders in early if you want one.

http://www.softhut.com

[Jose]

"...external..."

Hmmm, external ones have lower image quality right ?

[leirbag28]

 I dont know...but this sounds like good news to me........

I think I may place an order.

[TjLaZer]

Whats the deal with these?  Are they any good?  I may place an order as I have one, called the ScanDex,and it does not work on the A4000 very well, only on the A500/600/1200.  On the A4000 the image is very bright and washed out.

[tonyvdb]

The Toastscans work very well with the Video Toaster when using an Amiga 4000 as the A4000 only came with a 23 pin video out requiring you to use the 23pin to VGA/SVGA adapter. This unfortunantly did not alow usesrs with the Toaster 4000 to use any of the non genlockable video modes. The Toastscan not only alows a person to use the Toaster on any Standard PC monitor so you dont need to us the 1084 or the 1960 Amiga monitors that have lousy image quality but also use most of the video modes available.

[AmiDude]

TjLaZeR wrote:

Are they any good?

@Jose wrote:

Hmmm, external ones have lower image quality right ?

Right! In fact I tested a few of those external little
boxes and it wasn't looking good really...They can't
output true 24Bit. And they need a warming-up period
from 3-5 minutes.(Depends on how cold it is in the room.)
In this period, it displays a very unstable image on
the screen. And if it's finally warmed-up, you can see
tiny vertical lines on an equal background.

These socalled "toastscans" are the same as these SD/FF's:

www.amiga-hardware.com/showhardware.cgi?HARDID=355

www.amiga-hardware.com/showhardware.cgi?HARDID=364

This is what the Amiga Hardware Database has to say about it:

claimed to be compatible with the Video Toaster and all genlocks, but it's not in many cases - the genlocked video signal is passed through without scandoubling

scandoubled screens are much darker than passthroughed screens

high power consumption - the screen may go darker when the floppy drive is accessed

http://amiga.resource.cx/exp/search.pl?dir=gfx#toastscan

:-)

[bubba]

I think the ToastScan is good enough for an AGA amiga.  I've had two multi-syncs go bad on me this year and having been seeking a solution.  I really like the scart scan doubler for cypress mentioned on a couple of post, but not having 31khz passthrough is a deal breaker for me.  I decided on the toast scan for the following reasons:

+ AGA provides flicker fixed and scan doubled modes.  I will use the dblxxx modes most of the time for Workbench.  This should pass-through the toast scan and I should get full 24-bit glory.  OS 3.1 promotes non dbl modes to dbl modes, so apps like dpaint should be fine.  No loss here.

+ Any OCS/ECS apps and games will hit the toast scan.  These are 12-bit color apps, so 16-bit sampling should be fine.

- Non-OS compliant AGA games will hit the toastscan.  I loose here.  I pray that whdload eventualy supports dblxxx modes, so maybe I'll be fine here.

Overall, I can live with this.  I think it's a better option than using a composite monitor for 15khz modes.

-bubba

[mr_a500]

I bought one of these a few years ago for my A500 and it was my worst Amiga purchase ever! It's way overpriced too.

Quote:

scandoubled screens are much darker than passthroughed screens


Quote:

high power consumption - the screen may go darker when the floppy drive is accessed

Yes, I noticed both of these problems...and more.

Only buy one if you're desperate and can't find a 1084. (..and want your real Amiga to look like a very slow, flickering emulated Amiga :-( )

[leirbag28]

@bubba

Uh..what are you talking about?  as I understand it......these toastscans or any scandoubler for that matter, simply passes anything coming out of the RGB port and converts it to VGA......you dont have to change your screenmode on Workbench.....640 x 400 NTSC is scandoubled or any 15khz mode) on its own through the Toastscan...you dont need to put workbench in DblNTSC...otherwise whats the point?  DblNTSC on its own is scandoubled and flickerfixed on any VGA monitor without the need for a scandoubler.

All games including WHDLoad games should work as well.

if they dont......Why even bother buying a Toastscan?  what is the point?  better to get one of those Video to VGA things for Playstations or XBoxes

or that SCART to VGA that was posted here.


As far as it not being True 24bit......what ECS or AGA Amiga has 24bit output?  NONE!  unless you have a gfx card.....and if you do...then Why on earth would you need a scan doubler?  Gfx cards already do that!



so ECS and AGA should be fine.  If not......then this is one dumb product that was created......and a waste!

[TjLaZer]

I finally got one (ebay) and it seems to work good!  I did have to adjust the screw at the back all the way to one end for the image to stop being blurred (on my A4000).  Originally thought it was bad but RTFM!  It works great now, solid crystal clear pics with no flicker!  Very nice.  BUT I now cannot have my R Audio RCA plugged in as the adaptor is obstructing this RCA.  Any ideas?

On a side note, I also have a ScanDex external scandoubler and this works 100% on my A500/600/2000/1200, but not on the A4000.  It has bleeding and very bright picture, but does work other than this.  But when I tried it on my othe A4000 with VT4000 card it would lock up machine and would not boot, not sure if the MV1200 will work I will try it.

Is the MV1200 the same as the ToastScan?  Looks the same.

[bubba]

leirbag28 wrote:
@bubba
Uh..what are you talking about?  as I understand it......thes toastscans or any scandoubler for that matter, simply pases anything coming out of the RGB port and converts it to VGA......

The toast scan only scan doubles 15khz modes, other modes are passed through.  So if I'm running dblntsc at 31khz, the toastscan should ignore it.

This is from the description of the MV1200 from www.amiga-hardware.com, the toast scan should be similar:

In SuperHiRes mode, only every second pixel is displayed
All modes with a Horizontal frequency above 15Khz will be bypassed, but since some of these modes are also outside the VGA range, your monitor may not display them correctly.
Only 15Khz modes will be flickerfixed, other modes will be bypassed
Please ensure that the VGAOnly tool which is part of the monitor drivers, is executed prior to the monitor driver to ensure that Euro72 and Multiscan modes are fully VGA compatible.

As far as it not being True 24bit......what ECS or AGA AMiga has 24bit output?  none!  unless you have a gfx card.....and if you do...then Why on earth would you need a scan doubler?  Gfx cards already do that!

I meant a 24-bit color space. Any color on an AGA amiga can be defined as a 24-bit value, 12-bits in OCS/ECS.  The flicker fixer samples at 16-bits, so some color loss will occur.

-bubba

[leirbag28]

@TjLaZer

Yes....get an RGB  cable that extends the RGB signal a little....it just need to be a short cable.

By the way....what is the exact model you got? Post a picture or the link.

[Norway]

Im using one of these rigth now(playing battle isle). Its the elbox type, and its not any good. Its flicery and have wertical lines. is there any good scandoublers out there?(external ones)  

[Ronmor]

TjLaZer,
 Did you try a right angle audio connector?
           Ron Morris

[TjLaZer]

I have the MV1200, see Amiga-Hardware.com under scandoublers and flickerfixers.  Looks just like the ToastScan.  Got it for ~$100 or so recently.