Amiga and LCD monitor - what are the alternatives to Indivision?

[mingle]

Hi,

I'm currently looking into the options for connecting my A1200 up to an LCD monitor/TV and since an Indivision is too costly, I'm looking for an alternative.

I'll mainly be using my Amiga for 'serious' applications so I really need to be able to display a nice, clear PAL Hires Laced WB.

I've hear mention of converter boxes which take analog video and convert it into a VGA-type signal, which can be used on any standard LCD monitor. Would this give me a good enough picture?

The other thing I was thinking was using an S-Video adaptor (inside the A1200) to connect to an LCD monitor/TV, but , again, would this provide a good enough picture to use Workbench (without getting eye-strain!) and would it be non-interlaced?

LCD TVs with proper RGB SCART connections are almost impossible to find here in Oz, so that's really not an option.

I'd really appreciate any comments or other people experience with any of the options mentioned above...

Cheers,

Mike.

[NovaCoder]

mingle wrote:
Hi,

I'm currently looking into the options for connecting my A1200 up to an LCD monitor/TV and since an Indivision is too costly, I'm looking for an alternative.

I'll mainly be using my Amiga for 'serious' applications so I really need to be able to display a nice, clear PAL Hires Laced WB.

I've hear mention of converter boxes which take analog video and convert it into a VGA-type signal, which can be used on any standard LCD monitor. Would this give me a good enough picture?

The other thing I was thinking was using an S-Video adaptor (inside the A1200) to connect to an LCD monitor/TV, but , again, would this provide a good enough picture to use Workbench (without getting eye-strain!) and would it be non-interlaced?

LCD TVs with proper RGB SCART connections are almost impossible to find here in Oz, so that's really not an option.

I'd really appreciate any comments or other people experience with any of the options mentioned above...

Cheers,

Mike.

If you're not interested in games then you might get away with a simple RGB-to-VGA adapter, it depends on how low your monitor will sync to.  This will prob only work when used with the following display drivers 'multisync' + 'vga only'.

I used to have a cheap 'VGA TV box' which can take either a composite or S-Video signal and should allow you to use any monitor.  Composite will always look a bit washed-out compared to S-Video/RGB/VGA but only you can decide if that's 'good enough' or not :-P

[mingle]

@novacoder,

Ha, true... But you're spoilt - you have an Indivison! :-)

I'm keen to find out if s-video->LCD (I know of a few 1280x1024 screens that have s-video inputs) would be useable and whether it 'deinterlaces' interlaced modes...

Cheers,

Mike.

[mingle]

What about this:

Video-VGA Converter

[Damion]

Most sold now will deinterlace (though some earlier models like Samsung 170/171MP did not), anything sold as EDTV, HDTV, "upconverts", etc. Amiga laced screens may or may not be correctly displayed, though. I've also found a few region free LCD TVs that couldn't handle Amiga PAL output for some reason. There's also the issue of most smaller LCD panels being 16-bit, not correctly displaying the AGA palette.

Best option would be to try before you buy, as it is a complete crapshot. IMHO I'd hold out for an Indivision if at all possible, it could save a ton of headache. (I spent a small fortune on TVs, signal converters, etc the last few years before the Indivision was released.)

*edit*

Problem with the scaler you linked to is the 50 -> 60Hz framerate conversion, which will bork the scrolling in all your games. Might not be much of an issue for "serious" apps, aside from the possible screen glitch in 50Hz modes. (Framerate conversion might still affect static screens with annoying artifacts.)
 

[stefcep2]

What sort of serious stuff do you want to do? On an A1200 i found the doublescan and interlaced screens too slow in more than 64 colors.  If you have image scanning/processing/painting in 24 bit in mind you really need a big box amiga with graphics card.  AGA is good for stuff like dpaint, brilliance.  

[mingle]

@-D-,

I think you're right about the indivision, but the crappy Aussie dollar exchange rate is a killer at the moment - if only I'd been after one a few months ago I could've got one for almost $AU100 less!

You never know, if my A570 sells for a good price I might treat myself! :-)

@stefcep2,

Just general workbench apps, PPaint, some gaming (I've just found an old hard disk packed to the gills with WHDLoad games) some image scanning, nothing to excessive - I have my XP box for that!

I must say that the indivision seems to be an amazing piece of hardware. If I do get one, I also intend to get a nice big 17" or 19" LCD monitor (1280x1024 should display PAL Hires-Laced quite nicely) - can get one for around $AU120...

Cheers,

Mike.

[Lorraine]

/

[NovaCoder]

mingle wrote:
@-D-,

I think you're right about the indivision, but the crappy Aussie dollar exchange rate is a killer at the moment - if only I'd been after one a few months ago I could've got one for almost $AU100 less!

Mike.

The exchange rate is a little better at the moment, maybe now is a good time to get that Indivision  :-D

[hbarcellos]

And what about this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-15Khz-RGB-to-VGA-Converter-Scaler_W0QQitemZ250316829887QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item250316829887&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50


Looks like a real scandoubler. If it's not, someone can plz tell me the difference?

[orange]

@hbarcellos

that has been discussed about here, it has some flaws.
links

[HopperJF]

I use a simple converter with no problems however the screen will not fill the monitor you will have a black border

I am hoping to go the SAM route when funds allow since it is too costly to go into PPC and Mediators.

[mingle]

@Novacoder

Hmm...

I'm looking at the price of an Indivision from AmigaKit - about $AU 240 at the current exchange rate.

That price is inclusive of VAT, so I guess it would be a bit cheaper than that... How much did you pay for shipping from the UK?

Cheers,

Mike.

[gertsy]

C'ing ur in Aus Mingle have a look at this place. They sell the RGB to VGA convertor shown a few posts before.
RGB to XGA
They're not cheap but give good service.
The unit works fine on non-AGA machines(A500, A2000) but has troubles with 24bit colour.

The best option is of course the indvision..  And it is almost Xmas...!

[alexh]

The next best option is to buy an old internal scandoubler "Flicker Magic" from someone who has upgraded to an indivision?

Ok so it's only 16-bits (but so are 99% of all external scandoublers) and it would have to be 50% cheaper than an indivision to be value for money but you might get lucky.

Ask over on http://amibay.com

If you bought an LCD which had SVideo input then you could add one of DJBase's low cost amplifiers inside your A1200 and bring out Svideo on pins. The problem is not all LCD monitors support 50Hz via the SVideo input so you might be stuck in NTSC. (Not that it really matters)

mingle wrote:
What about this:
Video-VGA Converter

Probably sh!te but a very good price and under £30 delivered. Might be worth a go? Just for fun?