Converting TV signal from Amiga to HDMI?

[mrknight]

Sillyness. (as above from danbeaver) All you need is an Amiga 23pin Video to Scart Cable from Amigakit and a scart(RGB) to HDMI converter. http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/SCART-HDMI-to-HDMI-1080P-HD-Video-Adapter-Converter-NEW-/400538432467?pt=AU_CablesConnectors&hash=item5d41f373d3
Plus a HDMI cable.  Not cheap but crystal clear video on a modern tv/HDMI enabled Monitor.

That one looks nice! Do you have that particular one? Does it work nicely? I'm using my 1070 monitor so I'm not that desperate for a converter but just in case I bring my Amiga somewhere else. We do have retro game evenings sometimes...

RGB/scart to ypbpr appears to give a good picture, the best I've seen actually... but not all tvs will accept this signal, so its a bit hit and miss if you go that route...

I bought one of those RGB SCART to Component converter and my TV didn't like it. I'm not too happy about that. That means I have one for sale if anyone is interested

[som99]

I used a Scart/Composite/S-VIDEO to HDMI converter a few years back on a A600, worked great but I bought 3 before I found a good one and also used it for other gaming systems like Super Nintendi, playstation 1 etc.

But the price of the converter I used was near the price of an Indivision AGA and later I just used it for old consoles and bought Indivisions for my Amigas.

If you find a good converter the picture can be good enough but you can get a few crap converters before you find one good enough.

Do you have the option to use VGA on your TV? Since I have had quite good luck with a few VGA converters and they are cheeper.

[andersbm]

I used a Scart/Composite/S-VIDEO to HDMI converter a few years back on a A600, worked great but I bought 3 before I found a good one and also used it for other gaming systems like Super Nintendi, playstation 1 etc.

But the price of the converter I used was near the price of an Indivision AGA and later I just used it for old consoles and bought Indivisions for my Amigas.

If you find a good converter the picture can be good enough but you can get a few crap converters before you find one good enough.

Do you have the option to use VGA on your TV? Since I have had quite good luck with a few VGA converters and they are cheeper.

No unfortunately there's no VGA :-(

[danbeaver]

Be thankful!  Many (all?) of those VGA devices are no better than composite.  Try the SCART-to-HDMI, I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

[som99]

Be thankful!  Many (all?) of those VGA devices are no better than composite.  Try the SCART-to-HDMI, I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

I have had a few VGA converters which have given me a pleasant experience (also a few that where rubbish) but as said most of the good ones are quite expensive 130-150$+

I have had better luck with VGA converters then HDMI ones, but that can be just luck that ive stumbled across the right VGA converters.

[danbeaver]

I thought I would post some pictures as I've been using it to get HiRES screen that don't flicker while I work without a scan doubler.  They appear less sharp due to my camera.







From a WHDLoad game:


The beast hidden in back:

[djos]

I hate to be a party pooper but the SCART(RGB)-HDMI Converters arent that great, the bad news is the picture looks nice until things start moving then the picture goes very soft, it's quite distracting (even the pointer in WorkBench).

Basically the "de-interlace picture" part of the converter isnt all that good and results in moving items looking really really soft - like they were shot with a slightly out of focus camera, then as soon as the motion stops the picture sharpens up, it's quite distracting especially on side-scrolling games.

Another issue is it won't work with dvi-d only monitors as it needs the hdcp drm and it force stretches the 4:3 picture to 16:9 - the issue is some TV's (eg my Bravia 32" LCD) wont allow you to adjust the aspect ratio of HDMI sourced HD video.

Here is the SCART(RGB)-Component Converter I have and recommend:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-SCART-RGB-to-YUV-Component-Video-Converter-Scaler-/221156873851?pt=US_Audio_Cables_Adapters&hash=item337dfa167b&_uhb=1

There are other RGB-Component converters around that I haven't tested, however this one works perfectly as long as your TV can handle the slightly non-standard amiga sync via component.

One of the best things about this unit is the fact that it's not trying to up-scale or frig with the video in any way and doesnt introduce any noticeable lag at all. It also means that those HDTV's that wont let you change HD video, (supplied via HDMI), aspect ratio to 4:3 wont have an issue letting you set your AR to 4:3 on SD content so you dont get unwanted strech'o vision playing your amiga games!

[danbeaver]

Well that may be true with analog component output, but even upscaled to 1920 x 1080 the games I've played are pretty sharp.  I havent noticed any softening then sharpening.  It can't compete with the DVI output of  a Radeon 9200, but it beats the crap out of a Compserv/Arxon and DCE Scanmagic.  In addition none of the monitors I've bought in the past few years have anything other than DVI or HDMI.

[freqmax]

How will a de-interlaced Amiga video which is then feed into SCART-HDMI converter box work out?

[djos]

Well that may be true with analog component output, but even upscaled to 1920 x 1080 the games I've played are pretty sharp.  I havent noticed any softening then sharpening.

Have a read of this AmiBay Topic:

http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?20468-Solution-for-external-Flicker-fixer/page65&p=451678#post451678

I was the was one of first people to buy one for testing so I've had a lot of experience with it. Initially I was thrilled but then I started noticing its limitations (Horizontal scrolling is the main issue).

Here are some pics I took of it a while back (Amiga 1200 @ 50hz to crappy Samsung SyncMaster 225MS (set to 4:3 for correct image display) via SCART/RGB-HDMI Converter @ 720p50hz):

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/71121999/Amiga/Amiga%20SCART-HDMI%20Converter/P1020081.png

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/71121999/Amiga/Amiga%20SCART-HDMI%20Converter/P1020085.png

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/71121999/Amiga/Amiga%20SCART-HDMI%20Converter/P1020091.png

But try playing something like R-Type or Shadow of the Beast were there are dark backgrounds and the soft de-interlacing issue really jumps out at you!

In addition none of the monitors I've bought in the past few years have anything other than DVI or HDMI.

It doesnt work with DVI-D only Monitors as 99% of them dont support HDCP - they only work with HDMI equipped monitors.

HDMI is simply DVI-D(igital) + HDCP (DRM system) - TV's may differ from Monitors in that they have additional processing that PC Monitors typically dont have (more advanced scaling, support for TV resolutions etc).

The main difference between HDMI and DVI-D in a PC/TV context is that HDMI defaults to RGB-Video (Reduced colour range) and PC's use RGB-Full Range. This sometimes makes PC output look weird via HDMI as there is a colour range mismatch.

[freqmax]

So what is the Amiga solution to DVI/HDMI ?

[djos]

So what is the Amiga solution to DVI/HDMI ?

Delends on how much money you have to spend, personally for $50 or less the HDMI converter we are discussing cant be beat but if you have component inputs the scart(rgb)-YUV converter does a better job with less processing lag.

[danbeaver]

Perhaps those are hardware specific issues and not related to all converters and all HDMI monitors and TV's in all the gin joints in all the world; when she walks into mine, I have 2 monitors (older Dell ST2310L & new AOC) and 2 TV's (Westinghouse) all 1080 x 1920 and 3 SCART to HDMI converters, and these do not have your problems.  I also don't seem to "game" as much as you do, spending more time on productivity programs.

[psxphill]

How will a de-interlaced Amiga video which is then feed into SCART-HDMI converter box work out?

Depends on the converter. They are designed to work with a 15khz input, so it's likely it won't work at all.

[danbeaver]

Huh?

[djos]

Perhaps those are hardware specific issues and not related to all converters and all HDMI monitors and TV's in all the gin joints in all the world; when she walks into mine, I have 2 monitors (older Dell ST2310L & new AOC) and 2 TV's (Westinghouse) all 1080 x 1920 and 3 SCART to HDMI converters, and these do not have your problems.  I also don't seem to "game" as much as you do, spending more time on productivity programs.

There is a possibility they've improved their de-interlacing algorithm since I bought mine - if I get a chance I might capture some video so you can see it.