12 replies to this topic

[Tempest]

On an 8-bit game system such as the Atari 400/800/XE, just how noticable is the difference between composite and s-video? The reason I ask is because I've run into numerious problems with the S-video cable I made. It seems that many games used artifacting and we all know that artificating doesn't work through S-video. I was thinking about going back to Composite (which is still leaps and bounds over RF), but I'm afraid that the picture will get all fuzzy looking.

Tempest

[Bryan]

I use S-Video most of the time, but I have a switch installed and I flip back and forth when I need to. I much prefer S-Video, and I don't play a lot of artifacting games.

-Bry

[Tempest]

Quote

I use S-Video most of the time, but I have a switch installed and I flip back and forth when I need to

How did you go about doing that?

Tempest

[Shawn Jefferson]

Have you done the SuperVideo mod? That made a big difference for my 800XL.

Whenever I want to play a Gr.8 (F) game, I unplug the luma and plug in the composite and just switch my Commodore monitor to Comp. Takes about 5 seconds.

I guess you could build a Y-cable-switch thingee to switch between Composite and Seperate video and eliminate the cable switch step. If you have to unplug cables at the back of your monitor to make the switch I can see how this would save you some time and aggravation, however with my setup I have a very short DIN to female RCA cable on the back of the computer; very easy to reach.

If you have a TV that accepts S-video and composite, can't you have both hooked up at the same time and just switch your TV into either mode depending on what you are playing? (never tried that)

[Bryan]

You can simply put a .001uF cap between Chroma & Luma with a switch attached. This will leak enough luma into the chroma signal, although the separate Luma will still reveal the vertical bars to some degree.

-Bry

[Tempest]

Well since I've done the super video mod I'll try composite and see how it looks. As I recall last time I couldn't really tell the difference (although the S-Video was slightly crisper).

Tempest

[Bryan]

Mainly it's noticable on things like b&w text which becomes all mis-colored with composite. Clean composite is quite usable, though.

-Bry

[Tempest]

Well I tried out my composite cables the other night and I can't see much (if any) difference (but I didnt do any text heavy games). One strange thing I noticed is that there appears to be alot of color bleed on Midnight Magic, is this normal (that game is all artifacting).

Also why the heck is Lode Runner all purple? It looks NASTY!

Tempest

[jindroush]

Different ataris do artifact in different colors. There are 3 types of artifacting. I don't remember what colors, you'll find that in FAQ.

I was told that Ultima has some really kinky colors on 130XE

[Tempest]

I'm playing them on a modded 1200XL.

Tempest

[Bryan]

Different A8 models generate different artifact colors because they have different video circuitry.

Remember that the TV syncs its clock to the colorburst (produced on the CHROMA output) while artifact colors are produced by simulating a color signal using a luminance pattern. This means that any phase difference between CHROMA and LUMA result in different colors being produced. Since the video circuits of the 800/1200XL/XL/XE are all different, they each have a slighly different delays between the time CHROMA and LUMA are produced by GTIA and the time they reach the monitor.

-Bry

[jindroush]

In the meantime, Bry takes all of his Ataris from the closet and measures the phase differences for us

[Bryan]

It's not much, but enough to make a difference. Besides, you non-NTSC guys don't have to worry about it.

-Bry