Budget S-Video/Composite-to-VGA box

[fannypad]

I'm looking for a cheap, preferably sub-£30 composite/S-video to VGA box for running my A1200 through a TFT.

I'm sure this has been asked umpteen times before, but my searches only dug up references to more expensive (£60+) models, and if I'm going to spend that kind of money I might as well chip in a bit more and wait for a second hand scan doubler to show up.

Any pointers?

[Dr_Righteous]

Not exactly a direct solution, but you could use a cheap TV card (like a Hauppauge WinTV) in your PC, and run S-Video to it. Then just fullscreen the TV software. Works really well as it gives you a little more control over the S-Video input.

I do this from my A4000D (towerized), through a SuperGen SX, into a Pinnacle AV/DV video capture board on my PC. Then a 2-Port KVM switch from my RTG card (Diamond VooDoo Banshee, Mediator 4000).

You should be able to find a WinTV card pretty cheaply on eBay.

[fannypad]

I had been thinking about doing that but had read about most cheap TV cards offering very poor quality when using the inputs.

Are there any screenshots floating about of the resultant output of an Amiga > TV card setup?

Although ideally I'd rather have a standalone box, leaving my PC free for running VSTs sequenced by the Amiga.

There must be something out there in the £30 price range...

[Chain]

try Aver TV BOX-7 or 9, they are around 30-40 quids, but picture quality is questionable, thru s-video its probably berrer than cheap videocards

[fannypad]

I've just had a look and can't find any Aver TV Boxes for under around £70...

If you could post a link to where you've seen one for £30-40 that'd be excellent

[neuroflip]

fannypad wrote:

Are there any screenshots floating about of the resultant output of an Amiga > TV card setup?

here, i'm using one of thouse tvbox avermedia 7

[Dr_Righteous]

Hey, I never said it'd be the best quality... You'll get what you pay for. It looks great on my setup, but I'm not exactly using a cheap TV card either. :-D

[fannypad]

Cheers, some direct screenshots of an actual TV card app showing the output from an Amiga would be very welcome too.

What about deinterlacing? I'm going to be using primarily Octamed which involves rapid vertical scrolling text; will I end up with a jumbled mess of lines?

Still not managed to find an Aver TV Box for under £60...

[koaftder]

Dr_Righteous wrote:
Hey, I never said it'd be the best quality... You'll get what you pay for. It looks great on my setup, but I'm not exactly using a cheap TV card either. :-D

What card are you using? I have a few BrookTree fusion based cards, but none of them deliver all that good quality. Get lots of fade out on brights, etc.

[DamageX]

When I had a working RGB->S-video converter I connected my Amiga to my old BT848-based TV card. The picture quality was not as good as with an internal SD/FF and VGA monitor but was still preferable to a 15KHz monitor. When using composite instead of s-video the quality sucked.

Also, with this TV card 50hz is not supported in NTSC mode and if I switch it to PAL then of course it also expects a PAL color signal.

[fannypad]

The RGB to S-Video converter sounds interesting, was this an off the shelf product or a DIY project?

If it's the latter, I'd love to see a guide or schematic

[skurk]

I bought a standalone TV Tuner box for my C64DTV.  It accepts composite, vga, RF etc. and has one VGA output.  Works like a charm.

There's loads of them on ebay, for example:
http://cgi.ebay.com/CT100-External-TV-Tuner-Box-For-LCD-TFT-CRT-800x600_W0QQitemZ140061384439QQihZ004QQcategoryZ3761QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/TV-Tuner-Box-w-Remote-LCD-TV-BOX-MPEG4-Video-Capture_W0QQitemZ220056158239QQihZ012QQcategoryZ3761QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/TV-Tuner-Box-for-Computer-Monitor-CRT-and-15-pin-DB-LCD_W0QQitemZ170057300162QQihZ007QQcategoryZ3761QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Prices range from $10-$60.  I got mine for $10, and use it daily when challenging my co-workers in Summer Games.

[fannypad]

Thanks, that's exactly what I was looking for

Any idea if there's a large variation in quality between cheapo TV boxes? Are there any that deinterlace?

[skurk]

I can only speak from my own experience here (and that's with one unit called "Gadmei TV3488E").

My unit doesn't work on CRT's, but the ones I linked to above seem to support both CRT and LCD screens.

As for the quality, I have only tested it on the C64DTV and regular TV signals, and the quality is quite OK.  A little noise here and there, like what you would expect on a regular TV.  I guess you get what you pay for, in my case $10.

Worth a try, IMO.

[hardlink]

skurk wrote:
I bought a standalone TV Tuner box for my C64DTV.  It accepts composite, vga, RF etc. and has one VGA output.  

Do you know of any models that accept 15KHz RGB (not vga) input? That would be as good as the external Amiga scandoublers/deinterlacesrs, which isn't bad.