Most desirable Amiga monitor

[dandelion]

Hi all,

I'm on the look out for an Amiga monitor for my impending return to Amigaland. I think i'd prefer to get an Amiga-specific monitor rather than a scandoulber (reasons of AGA, simplicity, cost, no-spare VGAs). My question is, which is the best to get? It must be able to display 15khz and 30khz display modes so I can play games and watch demos when not programming in Multiscan productivity or whatever. I suppose it would be nice to own a Commodore one, i've previously owned an Acorn branded Microvitec which worked very well, but what would you say is the best of the bunch?

[rdolores]

Here is one in EBay, but its for the US and is NTSC:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150017024392&ssPageName=MERC_VIC_ReBay_Pr4_PcY_BID_IT

It's on for about another 8 hrs.

[dandelion]

Also, which monitors are best for alleviating the black strips either side of the display when in 31khz mode? This was previously a bit of a nuisance.

[Colin_Camper]

Here is my 1084 on Ebay!  :-D

Very good nick - 1084S on U.K. Ebay

[Budza]

Hiya, I have a Commodore 1942 monitor. Only used it for about 2 years and it now resides in it's original box..
Dunno if it's still useful to anyone???

[techie]

@dandelion

Hi dandelion,
From what I've learned about Commodore Monitors on the Big Book of Amiga Hardware Site a Commodore 1942 monitor would probably be your best bet. It handles a range of frequencies and I believe can handle AGA "double" screenmodes (I'm sure someone here can correct me if I'm wrong  :-) ). More common monitors like the 1080 and 1084 don't seem to be quite as capable when it comes to AGA.

Hope that helps  :-)

[meega]

I had a 1084S many years back. It did 15.6KHz and 15.72KHz, RGB or composite, stereo sound, and it was excellent. The power button was on the front, as were several other useful controls. Nice.

I also had a more modern 1084. It did Euro36 too, but it was not at all such a good monitor. It didn't have sound and the power button was on the back. Not nice.

I have heard (rumour mill) that the 1080 is a cheaper 1084.

I have also heard (I don't think it's a rumour) that the 1942 is very good.

[dandelion]

Thanks for the advice. The 1942 sounds like a good bet then. The 1084 type monitors don't offer the higher VGA-type screenmodes needed for decent Workbench usage so i'll try and track down a 1942.

[meega]

Look back up in this thread.

[Tahoe]

If you want to go for a C= one I would suggest a 1942 or a 1960. Don't get temped by the 1084 or 1940, the first is 15Khz only while the second has a bigger dotpitch.

If you allow yourself to look at other brands, the NEC Multisync 3D is nice, or a Microvitec 1538. 17" you could look for a Microvitec 1738 or the excellent Nokia 417TV.

[Hyperspeed]

No, no, no...

Get a Microvitec 'AMIGA' 1764 or the unbranded 1701 which are both 15Khz video capable 17" monitors from the late 90's.

There were 3 'Amiga' branded monitors - the 1438 14", 1538 15" with integrated speakers optional and the mighty 1764 17".

These were the best 'Amiga' monitors for use with 15Khz video signals. Beware the 1701 has a VGA connector but I still believe it is the same spec as the 1764 (Good if you have a Picasso-IV).

[KThunder]

i had a nec 3d with my 1200, that worked really well.

[Hyperspeed]

I've never had a 15Khz monitor as I wanted to use interlaced modes without flicker.

I currently use a 15" NEC Multisync 3V (30Khz) and 21" NEC Multisync XE²¹ (30Khz). Both are very good, image quality is let down slightly by the external scandoubler going from RGB to composite and back to flicker-fix the image.

Next monitor for me will be a large LCD panel - flat screen (less reflections), continuous refresh rate (for zero flicker), high contrast (no need for a screen filter), low energy (saves bills), low heat (good if you want to control room temp.) and space saving. Oh, and they don't create a large magnetic field or deflect static-charged particles at your face.

:-D

[amigadave]

Dandelion,  I have not seen anyone recommend my favorite yet, so thought I would chime in.  It is a Toshiba TIMM 20" multimedia monitor that has a TV tuner, RGB input and Video input.  It will only display a maximum resolution of 800 x 600, but since you said you wanted a 15kHz display for AGA that resolution should be okay.  I am pretty sure it will display 30 or 31 kHz VGA signals too.  They are hard to find, but I am lucky to have two of them.  Great for Video Toaster setups.  It is a beast size wise, but I think well worth it.

[Hyperspeed]

A thing that I've forgotten lately in the hunt for an Amiga compatible LCD monitor is the old dot pitch dilemna.

Some monitors had .36 dot pitch, some had .28 and there were a few with .26 dot pitch.

This meant the red, green and blue dots on your screen would be 0.26mm wide which is small enough not to be noticed when sitting up close. A television a few metres away though could get away with a much higher dot pitch (and this is why the TV capable display devices tend to be cheaper).

Unfortunately most of the 200 GBP LCD televisions (which can do 15Khz) have really blocky dot pitch, possibly .36.

I suppose the ideal Amiga LCD would be a TV capable monitor with a high resolution of 1024x768 or greater... yet a screen size of 20" for maximum impact when playing games/demos.

Another criteria would be a 4:3 aspect ratio since standard Amiga modes don't come in 16:9 widescreen ratios.

I'm still looking!