Possible Cheap Scandoubler/FlickerFixer!

[da9000]

@mfletcher:

To Alexh's and my defense, you have to understand that this topic of SD/FF (scandoubler/flickerfixer, but also of 16bit vs 24bit SD/FFs, yes, go read about it, else another 'caustic analysis' might come your way) has been a very hot one, and we're sometimes assuming people have been following/reading/searching (searching? HA!) at least one of the 10,000 threads on it. For example, as -D- said, Roy's project has been the talk of the week lately.

But of course as Nasty says, if you're happy with it, no need to be ticked about said responses... They're only extra knowledge for your memory banks.

Anyhow, in your case Roy's box is probably your best bet at the moment.

Cheers and GAME ON! :-)

PS. The fellow's name is Jens, as in Jens Schönfeld of Individual Computers.

[mongo]

Personally, I'd love to see some kind of S-Video solution... at least it would be better than composite. But not having any electrical engineering skills, Im going to just have to wait and see.

Mark

I'm working on both S-Video and Component out adapters for the Amiga. I'm currently waiting for parts. I probably won't have anything ready for sale for a few months, maybe longer.

Details will be available when it's finished.

[mfletcher]

da9000 wrote:
@mfletcher:

To Alexh's and my defense, you have to understand that this topic of SD/FF (scandoubler/flickerfixer, but also of 16bit vs 24bit SD/FFs, yes, go read about it, else another 'caustic analysis' might come your way) has been a very hot one, and we're sometimes assuming people have been following/reading/searching (searching? HA!) at least one of the 10,000 threads on it.

da9000. Understood, and I can understand the frustration if the question has been asked a bajillion times.

Actually the best solution would be to create a sticky thread that has the problem, and the work arounds so far (ie KWorld box, Roys box, etc etc. Is there a mod or someone that could do this? Or I could start a new thread summarising this info?

[alexh]

Unfortunately you are in the USA but for us PAL users there is a simple and quick mod you can do to an A520 modulator to make it output SVIDEO.

http://members.iinet.net.au/~davem2/overclock/a520.html

Take a look through this photo gallery by someone who did the mod:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/84441860@N00/2147322623/in/photostream/

[Agafaster]

@thread,

has anyone tried one of those Avermedia VGA Gamer TV thingies ? I had a look - Maplin in the uk carry 'em particularly -
it takes component/SVideo/VGA/TV-RF, and chucks out enough for a 1440x900 widescreen LCD XVGA if required. havent found any detail as to whether its 565 16 bit, or 888 24 bit, but it will take YPrPb inputs too.

It retails for about 70 quid over here...

[alexh]

This is the same product as the Orange box thingy just a different name.

The "out of the box" Amiga compatible inputs are composite video or (worse) RF. Both of which will give suboptimal results.

IMHO you should keep your money and wait for something better.

Agafaster wrote:
havent found any detail as to whether its 565 16 bit, or 888 24 bit

That is because it has no RGB input ;-)

[mfletcher]

alexh wrote:
Unfortunately you are in the USA but for us PAL users there is a simple and quick mod you can do to an A520 modulator to make it output SVIDEO.

http://members.iinet.net.au/~davem2/overclock/a520.html

Thanks I'll give it a look. I intentionally bought a PAL A1200 with UK PSU (and a US PSU to drive it here), in case I return to the UK (Im an expat).

I can still use it to hook it up to my monitor here though.

[alexh]

If you have an A1200 then you probably don't have an A520.

[mfletcher]

alexh wrote:
If you have an A1200 then you probably don't have an A520.

Well, um... of course! Thanks for stating the obvious... :roll:  :-D I'll have to buy one at some point.

[mfletcher]

alexh wrote:
This is the same product as the Orange box thingy just a different name.

The "out of the box" Amiga compatible inputs are composite video or (worse) RF. Both of which will give suboptimal results.

Would it be possible to use the RGB -> VGA adapter and then a VGA -> Component Cable? The box does accept component through an adapter.

[hardlink]

Agafaster wrote:

has anyone tried one of those Avermedia VGA Gamer TV thingies ?

Those AVermedia boxes have been around almost forever, or at least as long as Amiga SD/FF -haven't- been available  :-)

I got one at least 6 years ago that accepts S-video & comp video and spits out VGA, which I thought would be my holy grail of 15 KHz horizontal scan elimination. So I connected my best genlocks to the Amiga RGB port to generate the S-video, and the results were poor at best for text display. And the quality of genlock does matter; I have most types ever built, and the S-video output from the cheesey RocGen etc. is almost  unreadable.

Then the bad news. The output almost fried my best multisync monitor at the time. I suspect the VGA output was non-spec, and it permanantly screwed the horizontal linearity of the monitor after a short time.

Maybe the currents AVermedia won't cook your monitor, but I don't think they will make even S-video look any better. The only good thing was I only lost about $45, not counting the monitor.

[alexh]

http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=35527

Jens Schoenfeld has ended speculation on what the best scandoubler for the A1200 is

Schoenfeld wrote:
Well.. time to release some info on my forthcoming unit:

- A1200 internal, plugs over Lisa, no other chip-connections (other internal flickerfixers used an additional Alice-adapter)
- might fit in A4000T, but will not fit in A4000D or CD32.
- full 24 bit colour depth for all screenmodes and output frequencies
- all OCS/ECS/AGA screenmodes displayed and scan-converted, output is always over 60Hz and flicker-free
- fallback to legacy flickerfixer-type 49,9Hz modes at the user's choice
- optional scanline emulation for retro-feeling
- re-configurable design, new screenmodes can be added with a software upgrade
- Genlock compatible (Toaster/Flyer)
- no fiddling with adjustments, just plug in and use
- low power consumption, no heat problems (3.3V design, 2.5V core voltage)

http://think42.com/A1200_Flifi_proto.jpg
http://think42.com/A1200_Flifi_eingebaut.jpg
http://think42.com/PAL_SHires_lace_49Hz.jpg
http://think42.com/PAL_SHires_lace_62Hz.jpg
http://think42.com/High_GFX1.jpg
http://think42.com/High_GFX2.jpg

Production start by the end of this month, availability in summer, target price 129,- EUR each. Versions for A4000D and OCS/ECS Amigas coming up when the A1200 version started selling and some money is made back.

This flickerfixer breaks three rules in one product:
- 16 bit is not the limit in colour depth
- 50Hz is not a "must" when flickerfixing PAL screens
- SHires can be perfectly displayed and flickerfixed

The design uses only up-to-date parts and is moving more than 300 Megabytes of data per second.

Individual Computers: Good hardware or good computers.

Jens

[DrDekker]

The K-World TV Gamer Box (1440) sold by Maplin @ £40 in December works pretty well.

So far I've used it on my A600 and A1200 via the composite to my AG Neovo 19" TFT.  The results are much better than connecting the composite to the TV card in my PC (plus of course you don't have to be firing up the PC - saves on the environment and eleccy bill a tad).

However, I have also used it on my CD32 via the SVHS which gives a quality of output very close to RGB.

It's so good that I'm considering doing the SVHS hack on my old A600 to see what that's like.  If it's any good I'll then hack my A1200.

The TV Gamer Box also accepts component RGB.  The most ideal solution would probably be to connect the Amiga to an RGB>Component converter, then connect that to the TV Box.

Having said that, I'd still prefer an all-in-one RGB>VGA solution.  Hopefully Roy or Jens will be solving that for us.

[mfletcher]

The TV Gamer Box also accepts component RGB.  The most ideal solution would probably be to connect the Amiga to an RGB>Component converter, then connect that to the TV Box.

Having said that, I'd still prefer an all-in-one RGB>VGA solution.  Hopefully Roy or Jens will be solving that for us.

I was going to try a combination of the RGB -> VGA adapter thats available from AmigaKit, then VGA -> Component cable plugged into the TV Box. Probably wont work but worth a try.

[mfletcher]

- A1200 internal, plugs over Lisa, no other chip-connections (other internal flickerfixers used an additional Alice-adapter)

So, a complete numpty like me could install this mod without soldering?

[DrDekker]

mfletcher wrote:

I was going to try a combination of the RGB -> VGA adapter thats available from AmigaKit, then VGA -> Component cable plugged into the TV Box. Probably wont work but worth a try.

There is an RGB-to-Component RGB design on the net which looks pretty simple to build Linky Link - getting the parts may be different matter though!

I might just attempt to build it when I've taken a course of brave pills (or a few pints of Courage).  :-D