danwinslow Posted February 16, 2007 Share Posted February 16, 2007 I have a 15" magnavox LCD TV. It has an s-video input, and so I have a monitor output to s-video cable on my 130XE plugged into it. The picture is WONDERFUL, by far the best I have seen in a while, but....there's a problem. The T.V. seems to have trouble syncing to the signal; more often that not it will pop up as severely vertically offset, with the large black band on the top and bottom wrapped around into a single black band about 30 or scan lines down, and also there's some horizontal offset, although that seems to be variable. About one in ten tries the picture will sync up, so I assume its got something to do with where the T.V. is at scan-line wise when it tries to sync to the signal..or something like that. Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+remowilliams Posted February 16, 2007 Share Posted February 16, 2007 I've had this happen with a number of displays over time. A lot of the newer equipment does not like the ratty (and often out of spec) signals of older equipment. It can be a challenge sometimes to find displays that will work properly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndusGT Posted February 18, 2007 Share Posted February 18, 2007 (edited) I have an 800xl with the S-video upgrade that I use with s-video to VGA converter. It's connected to a dedicated Hanns -G 19 inch widescreen LCD monitor. Looks incredible. I's upscaled to 1024x768. I had to go this route since I have a Pal chip in my NTSC atari. Looks so much better than a monitor or TV. Well worth the $50 investment. In many games, I get the whole 19 inches of widescreen of the monitor. Twice the monitor real estate of my now old amiga 1084 monitor Edited February 18, 2007 by IndusGT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danwinslow Posted February 18, 2007 Author Share Posted February 18, 2007 Indus, whats the name of the converter you are using? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+remowilliams Posted February 18, 2007 Share Posted February 18, 2007 Indus, whats the name of the converter you are using? Be warned that many of the 'VGA converter' boxes also have sync problems with old video sources, and many also display motion object/field screen tearing on fast moving objects and scenes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndusGT Posted February 18, 2007 Share Posted February 18, 2007 (edited) QUOTE(danwinslow @ Sun Feb 18, 2007 6:34 AM) Indus, whats the name of the converter you are using? It's available in several places, here's one link: http://store.pcpowerzone.com/videoconsole.html It's the Grandtec GVC-1000 Video Console to VGA Converter It looked pretty good in my 17 inch CRT but after I saw the way it looked in my viewsonic 19 inch widescreen I decided to buy a dedicated LCD for the 8 bit. Havent had an iota of trouble with sync or with any tearing at all. Here's a photo of the monitor running Bruce Lee Edited February 19, 2007 by IndusGT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urchlay Posted February 20, 2007 Share Posted February 20, 2007 Here's a photo of the monitor running Bruce Lee The aspect ratio is wrong though... the picture is being stretched horizontally so it takes up the whole 16:9 widescreen area, so everything's wider than it should be. That doesn't drive you insane? (Maybe it's just me, I see TVs set up like this just about everywhere I go, and it makes me want to kick the screens in). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenfused Posted February 20, 2007 Share Posted February 20, 2007 (Maybe it's just me, I see TVs set up like this just about everywhere I go, and it makes me want to kick the screens in). Me too. I would rather have the black or grey bars on the side. Hmmm, maybe someone needs to program a widescreen enhanced game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndusGT Posted February 20, 2007 Share Posted February 20, 2007 Not really, but I guess if that bothers you, you can always go with a 19 inch 4:3. I got this monitor, because at the time it was cheaper than its non widescreen counterparts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+remowilliams Posted February 20, 2007 Share Posted February 20, 2007 Here's a photo of the monitor running Bruce Lee GAH! Stretched out 8-bit does not look cool. I could hook my ton of svideo capable oldies to either my Syncmaster MP or my Dell FPW, but I'd definitely set the Dell for no stretch if I was going to do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danwinslow Posted February 20, 2007 Author Share Posted February 20, 2007 Well, look, the aspect ration is not the issue here. You can get 4:3. The point is that he's using a scan converter, he's using s-video, and it looks great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Larry Posted February 20, 2007 Share Posted February 20, 2007 Well, look, the aspect ration is not the issue here. You can get 4:3. The point is that he's using a scan converter, he's using s-video, and it looks great. A question -- does your LCD TV allow PC monitor (VGA) input (some do)? If not, then the upconverters I've seen won't work. Then back to your original question... have you tried hooking your Atari up *through* a VCR (etc.) to your LCD TV? My setup is to use an ATI All-In-Wonder card in my PC with the Atari (S-video) screen as a scalable window. I typically open APE, a folder of ATR images, and the Atari, and sometimes the emulator, to boot. Very handy, but of course does require the PC and A8 on the same desk. Incidently, I run the Chroma and Lum. outputs of my Atari through a small home-made "video box" that uses variable resistance so I can "tune" the signal strength for best picture. It's variable so that I can change it for different Atari's, although rarely need to change the settings. -Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShosMeister Posted February 20, 2007 Share Posted February 20, 2007 Which card? That's what I'm trying to figure out - how to use my 18" LCD monitor to display the Atari thus having one less monitor on the desk. Is there a card that doesn't have all the TV stuff built in that would work? Don't really need that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted February 20, 2007 Share Posted February 20, 2007 Most analog TV tuner cards have composite and S-video as well. The problem with tuner cards is that they deinterlace and display a combined frame 25/30 times per second. Some have deinterlace control but it doesn't always work right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted February 20, 2007 Share Posted February 20, 2007 I have a 15" magnavox LCD TV. It has an s-video input, and so I have a monitor output to s-video cable on my 130XE plugged into it. The picture is WONDERFUL, by far the best I have seen in a while, but....there's a problem. The T.V. seems to have trouble syncing to the signal; more often that not it will pop up as severely vertically offset, with the large black band on the top and bottom wrapped around into a single black band about 30 or scan lines down, and also there's some horizontal offset, although that seems to be variable. About one in ten tries the picture will sync up, so I assume its got something to do with where the T.V. is at scan-line wise when it tries to sync to the signal..or something like that. Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks. Well... I think I have the same monitor/TV (silver stand and speaker section but black around screen?) and it has trouble syncing to ANY old computer or game from any input source I've tested (SVID, Composite, RF). It works fine with VCR or DVD output but I've tried over a dozen old computers and none sync correctly. It's the monitor. Technically, it will sync to a Coco3 if I reset the Coco repeatedly until it does but that's not very reliable. No amount of resetting gets it to work with other machines. I've tested Atari, every Coco model, C128D, Apple II+/IIe/IIc+/IIgs, Franklin Ace, NEC Trek, Nintendo, Space Invaders... and that's just the ones I can think of at the moment. None sync properly. It's probably the chipset. Sadly, that's part of the reason I bought the monitor. I just didn't test that part until after it was too late to return. An RGB to VGA converter will probably work though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danwinslow Posted February 20, 2007 Author Share Posted February 20, 2007 Hehe, yep its the same one. Well, I have found if I turn the tv off and on a few times while the atari is on, it will eventually catch the sync. Then it just looks awesome...time will tell if I can put up with it. I tried an XRGB-2 upscan converter, and it works, but looks bad..shimmery and smeary. I am going to be testing some other LCD T.V's and will post results here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted February 20, 2007 Share Posted February 20, 2007 Hehe, yep its the same one. Well, I have found if I turn the tv off and on a few times while the atari is on, it will eventually catch the sync. Then it just looks awesome...time will tell if I can put up with it. I tried an XRGB-2 upscan converter, and it works, but looks bad..shimmery and smeary. I am going to be testing some other LCD T.V's and will post results here. Hmmmm.... and I've been trying it the other way around. Guess I'll have to check that out. I wonder what the sync is doing it doesn't like... if only I had a scope to hook them up to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShosMeister Posted February 20, 2007 Share Posted February 20, 2007 Most analog TV tuner cards have composite and S-video as well. The problem with tuner cards is that they deinterlace and display a combined frame 25/30 times per second. Some have deinterlace control but it doesn't always work right. That's part of the reason I wanted to stay away from TV cards and just get a plain video capture card. Any hints? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted February 21, 2007 Share Posted February 21, 2007 Well, I don't know about capture cards but for tuner/capture cards the ATi 550 or 650 chip sets offer the best quality from the reviews I've seen. My brother also happens to use one for video capture and it works pretty well. Just remember to always download the latest drivers if you get anything with ATi chips. Deinterlacing depends on settings in the software. For capture cards check forums like AVS Forums or MediaPortal forums. I know some people use those little USB adapters. USB2 is a must for the best quality though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted February 21, 2007 Share Posted February 21, 2007 Hehe, yep its the same one. Well, I have found if I turn the tv off and on a few times while the atari is on, it will eventually catch the sync. Then it just looks awesome...time will tell if I can put up with it. I tried an XRGB-2 upscan converter, and it works, but looks bad..shimmery and smeary. I am going to be testing some other LCD T.V's and will post results here. Hmmmm.... and I've been trying it the other way around. Guess I'll have to check that out. I wonder what the sync is doing it doesn't like... if only I had a scope to hook them up to. Off and on is too slow but switching sources let mine *kinda* sync to the IIgs so I believe it will work with other sources if I do the same thing. Thanks for the tip! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndusGT Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 Hehe, yep its the same one. Well, I have found if I turn the tv off and on a few times while the atari is on, it will eventually catch the sync. Then it just looks awesome...time will tell if I can put up with it. I tried an XRGB-2 upscan converter, and it works, but looks bad..shimmery and smeary. I am going to be testing some other LCD T.V's and will post results here. Hmmmm.... and I've been trying it the other way around. Guess I'll have to check that out. I wonder what the sync is doing it doesn't like... if only I had a scope to hook them up to. Off and on is too slow but switching sources let mine *kinda* sync to the IIgs so I believe it will work with other sources if I do the same thing. Thanks for the tip! MMM... I always wondered If I could get a better picture with an LCD TV. I guess the monitor may be as good as it gets, and they are cheaper. For a while I had thought about a Sharp Aquos since it could do PAL as well. I have a Pal chip on all my computers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danwinslow Posted March 2, 2007 Author Share Posted March 2, 2007 Well, I upscaled a bit to a HDTV version from Magnavox..its more expensive for sure, but it does a great job...grabs sync perfectly every time and looks absolutely fantastic. Plus, it can do Picture-in-picture from a composite source, which means I can have my 80 column terminal in the top right corner and still see the antic screen, which is just cool. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00...ractiveda237-20 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
classics Posted March 2, 2007 Share Posted March 2, 2007 MMM... I always wondered If I could get a better picture with an LCD TV. I guess the monitor may be as good as it gets, and they are cheaper. For a while I had thought about a Sharp Aquos since it could do PAL as well. I have a Pal chip on all my computers. My Dell LCD TV has the same issue, the output from composite and s-video look really bad compared to a crt monitor. It must be the quality of the internal tv tuner thats the issue, because this can be used as a vga display as well, and in that mode the picture is perfect. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danwinslow Posted March 2, 2007 Author Share Posted March 2, 2007 Even with this new magnavox, the picture through the tv tuner is terrible...but the Svideo looks fantastic, and the XEP80 composite via the av source looks ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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