A cheaper alternative to a ScanDoubler/FlickerFixer - RGB to S-Video on LCD

[Cammy]

Hi everyone. I've been using this setup on a few of my Amigas for a while and have been meaning to make a better video demonstration showing the difference between the blurry output from the Amiga A1200's internal Composite and the sharp output from a RGB to S-Video adapter. Using one of these cheap adapters with a LCD TV you'll get a crystal-clear, flicker-free Workbench and vibrant games that don't bleed colour as they do through the native output.

Of course if your LCD TV has Scart input, then you only need an even cheaper RGB-Scart cable to enjoy similar results.

First you will see me demonstrate a few things through Composite, where you'll notice significant colour bleed, dot-crawl, interference and strange discolouration artifacts such as the orange tiger in my wallpaper turning green when I drag the screen down to reveal another screen behind it. Half way through the demonstration my cameraman switches us over to S-Video where I go through the demonstration again so you can notice firstly how much sharper and more stable the image is, and then watch as I drag the screens around without any colour distortion.

Unfortunately the cheap camera we used doesn't fully do it justice, it couldn't really focus on the screen enough to show just how sharp the S-Video output is, or how badly warped the colour and ghosting is through Composite. I have included some high definition photos of the same software running through both outputs on the same LCD screen.

[YOUTUBE]4L2279fq258[/YOUTUBE]

Here are some high resolution photos (I apologize to anyone who waited too long for these to load) showing first the Composite then S-Video (my hero). What do you think of the difference?














And here are some screenshots of those screens:

[Cammy]

Oh, and by the way, the demonstration was performed on an A1200 running the standard 14Mhz 68EC020 CPU with a simple DKB 1202 8MB RAM/FPU card added rather than an accelerator. Doom would run a little smoother if I wasn't running two Operating Systems and several applications in each at the same time.

Also, Doom is running in NTSC mode while Workbench and MacOS are both running in PAL, which explains why the display jumps a bit when I flip between screens.

That's right, no accelerator, just a bit of extra RAM in a stock A1200.

[bbond007]

Cammy

Another alternative (for someone who already has a PC) is to use one of these inexpensive USB video grabbing devices with Virtualdub. The one I have is a kworld and it was given to me in a box of junk. I can't imagine it costing more than $40 or so new...

With Virtualdub you can set up filters and different deinterlacing options to make the screen look better. I have only played with a few of the possibilities...

I started messing it as a way to simply capture the amiga's video for youtube or something, but running full-screen I was pretty impressed with the results, enough so that I could totally see someone using that as a ScanDoubler/FlickerFixer solution.

Also, laptop can make a nice portable amiga display...

Like in your examples, Amigamaniacs SVIDEO adapter totally cleans up the picture, but the the difference between that and the built-in composite is not as dramatic. I think this device virtualdub does a really good job filtering out the noise in the composite.

I could provide some screen shots later this evening if you are interested in seeing how it looks.

_nate

[ognix]

Very nice and outstanding results with little gems...
That's the kind of things I like: good/great achivements with little/scarse resources.

Well done Cammy!  

[BillHarrison]

Cammy

Another alternative (for someone who already has a PC) is to use one of these inexpensive USB video grabbing devices with Virtualdub. The one I have is a kworld and it was given to me in a box of junk. I can't imagine it costing more than $40 or so new...

With Virtualdub you can set up filters and different deinterlacing options to make the screen look better. I have only played with a few of the possibilities...

I started messing it as a way to simply capture the amiga's video for youtube or something, but running full-screen I was pretty impressed with the results, enough so that I could totally see someone using that as a ScanDoubler/FlickerFixer solution.

Also, laptop can make a nice portable amiga display...

Like in your examples, Amigamaniacs SVIDEO adapter totally cleans up the picture, but the the difference between that and the built-in composite is not as dramatic. I think this device virtualdub does a really good job filtering out the noise in the composite.

I could provide some screen shots later this evening if you are interested in seeing how it looks.

_nate

I would love to see this if you don't mind would be a great alternative for me as I could just run it through my htpc in my room which is always on and have one monitor and the Amiga under the desk -  would just need a way to use my of mouse and keyboard then!

[Firedawg]

Cammy, great demo of the video adapter.  I have used similar converters  with some success of quality.  I have since equipped both my A1200s with  Indivision AGA 1200 Scandoubler/Flicker Fixer, but your adapter is a  bit more budget friendly.  

Mike

[fishy_fiz]

Another el cheapo method (and 1 that I used for a while) was to plug a 2nd monitor into my Windows box and then plug my a1200 into the tv tuner card of that machine and output the to the 2nd display.
Could be used in tandem with one of the aforementioned adaptors (or composite), and image quality tuned further through tv tuner software.
Additionally I had the 2nd input of my monitor connected through a rgb to vga adaptor for productivity and similar screenmodes and just pressed the monitor input button to switch between 15khz/composite and 31khz/vga (although if Id had a rbg to s-video adaptor Id probably have just used that full time).
Not really better or worse than Cammy's suggestion, but just another way to make the most of what a person has and/or limit extra expenses.

[bbond007]

I would love to see this if you don't mind would be a great alternative for me as I could just run it through my htpc in my room which is always on and have one monitor and the Amiga under the desk -  would just need a way to use my of mouse and keyboard then!

I'm running PAL 640x512 interlace.

this is the device:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=612720&CatId=1428

this is with the amiga composite

http://www.flickr.com/photos/69485538@N06/6316214443/

this is with Amigamaniacs svideo adapter

http://www.flickr.com/photos/69485538@N06/6316213803/

[captainmoomoo]

Hi Cammy,

This is awesome and just what I've been looking for! Do you know where I could buy an RGB to S-Video adapter? All I've seen are scart adapters, but these are of no use in Canada!

[bbond007]

Hi Cammy,

This is awesome and just what I've been looking for! Do you know where I could buy an RGB to S-Video adapter? All I've seen are scart adapters, but these are of no use in Canada!

http://www.amigamaniac.com/RGB_to_PAL_NTSC_adapter.html

this is where I got mine, but I think he may not be taking orders...

[XDelusion]

Cammy: What model TV are you using? The one I used to have would not display anything through the RGB Adapters I own.

[yssing]

Now I want one of those

[carvedeye]

Would  this work as an alternative?

[XDelusion]

Would  this work as an alternative?

Ha ha ha! Probably. Never seen one of those before!

[bbond007]

Would  this work as an alternative?

What is that thing?