Perfect all-in-one monitor for Ataris and PCs

[+wood_jl]

That's a great solution!

 

Unfortunately, any Yankee model isn't going to have SCART. And without that, there will be no way to connect ST/Amiga to it then, right?

 

An expensive proposition to import, but I wonder if the Euro model would work in the U.S.? Would need power adapter, and then - will it display NTSC? Does yours display NTSC? (assuming you have an NTSC Atari or something in your collection)

 

It sucks SCART never made it to us yanks.

[+remowilliams]

And without that, there will be no way to connect ST/Amiga to it then, right?

Correct unfortunately.

 

flashjazzcat, stop torturing us in the States with your awesomely flexible video solutions!

[Thorsten Günther]

That's a great solution!

 

Unfortunately, any Yankee model isn't going to have SCART. And without that, there will be no way to connect ST/Amiga to it then, right?

 

An expensive proposition to import, but I wonder if the Euro model would work in the U.S.? Would need power adapter, and then - will it display NTSC? Does yours display NTSC? (assuming you have an NTSC Atari or something in your collection)

 

I don't know whether flashjazzcat has NTSC hardware, but I have, and both my TV sets accept NTSC, yet only through their video inputs (no RF tuner for NTSC, obviously) - this seems to have become pretty usual among European TV sets. Checking the M227WD manual on the LG web site, "NTSC-M" is also mentioned as an AV signal (though the manual is pretty badly structured in that respect - usually the possible AV input video standards are listed among the hardware specs) - and many dealers also claim it does accept NTSC.

 

The only problem will be the shipping costs and possibly import taxes.

 

 

Thorsten

[Mathy]

Hello guys

 

Remember:

US: 120 V 60 Hz

Europe: 240 V 50 Hz

 

greetings

 

Mathy

[Mclaneinc]

Flash, that looks awesome so far...Bah, wish I had the money to nip down to Richer sounds....

 

Do you have a spare

[flashjazzcat]

Believe me, I wish I had a spare one of these beauties. I must have been having a 2,000 per cent awesome day when I picked this one.

 

As for NTSC equipment: alas, I have none. If anyone wants to donate a mint 1200XL, I'll be only too happy to do extensive testing, however!

[mimo]

Believe me, I wish I had a spare one of these beauties. I must have been having a 2,000 per cent awesome day when I picked this one.

 

As for NTSC equipment: alas, I have none. If anyone wants to donate a mint 1200XL, I'll be only too happy to do extensive testing, however!

 

done the NTSC testing for you with my mint 1200xl, Sears Heavy sixer and Atari 7800. Great if you like Black and white images, crap if you want any colour:( (s-video and composite tested as all the above have been video moded)

[flashjazzcat]

Done the NTSC testing for you with my mint 1200xl, Sears Heavy sixer and Atari 7800. Great if you like Black and white images, crap if you want any colour:( (s-video and composite tested as all the above have been video moded)

Bah, shame. I'll still provide a second opinion if anyone wants to give me a 1200XL.

[flashjazzcat]

Just noticed something with this TV which caused me to waste an hour today trying to figure out why my ST low-res cable didn't work. SCART socket 2 is different to SCART 1 in as much as it won't recognize the RGB switch in VBXE or ST output. SCART 2 displays no picture at all with VBXE, and a (poor) composite video picture from the ST. This must be why I always assumed my ST cable didn't work until I dug it out again last week and happened to stick it in SCART 1.

 

Not a big problem: just set up a switching box on SCART 1. I'm left wondering why they're different, though: unless SCART 2 is an output from the freeview tuner for a PVR.

 

TIME TO READ THE MANUAL.

[Mathy]

Hello Jon

 

Usually if there is more then one SCART socket, only one has all pins connected.

 

greetings

 

Mathy

[+save2600]

You UK users have all the luck and it makes me sick! lol Modern LCD's that sync down to 15khz. I'd love one of these for my Amiga, but here in the States - we get fed nothing but 31.5khz crap if we're "lucky"

[flashjazzcat]

Usually if there is more then one SCART socket, only one has all pins connected.

Having read the manual, it does indeed state that RGB sources have to go in SCART 1. I wonder why this is?

 

You UK users have all the luck and it makes me sick! lol Modern LCD's that sync down to 15khz. I'd love one of these for my Amiga, but here in the States - we get fed nothing but 31.5khz crap if we're "lucky"

It's tempting to take SCART connectivity for granted over here, and it's quite an established standard. But nothing stays the same for long, and if I had the money I'd buy a spare M227WD just because it's also got the elusive s-video in, which is gradually starting to disappear from sets in this country. I was explaining to a friend at the weekend all the trouble NTSC users have trying to connect monitors to vintage computer equipment. If I ever get hold of a 1200XL, I'm sure it will present a whole new set of challenges. In the meantime, I count my lucky stars that I can plug all seven of my Ataris plus the PC into the same display (not all at once, obviously!). A friend of mine has just bought an Acorn Archimedes and I've offered to make a SCART cable up since I'm sure it too will work with this TV.

 

So are you folks in the states basically tied to CRT luma/chroma monitors for 8-bits and Atari monitors for STs and stuff?

Edited January 18, 2010 by flashjazzcat

[+save2600]

So are you folks in the states basically tied to CRT luma/chroma monitors for 8-bits and Atari monitors for STs and stuff?

 

Most or ALL LCD TV's here have composite input - so that's great for the 8-bit stuff. There are S-video mods too, but think that's getting a little 'anal' when it comes to some of these machines. The RF output out of my Colecovision is damn near perfect, but yeah... have to keep older TV sets and monitors around for this stuff. Not sure about the ST line, but we Amiga users have the Indivision product that acts as a scan-doubler and flicker-fixer for use on modern LCD monitors. Only some very minor issues using that product as it works extremely well for the most part.

Edited January 18, 2010 by save2600

[Mathy]

Hello Jon

 

Today I received my Funai LCD-A1506. It's basically an LCD (TFT?) TV. 15", 4:3. It comes with a SCART connector, S-video connector and the composite video (RCA, white, red and yellow) plugs. Haven't tried it out yet, but near the SCART connector it says RGB.

 

I've bought it because BigBen, Stefan Dorndorf (XDOS, etc) and HARdwareDoc have one. I've seen their Funai's at the Fujiama. They are perfect for the Atari, not sure about the PC (My iMac has it's screen built in....). The Funai is PAL only.

 

greetings

 

Mathy

[flashjazzcat]

Most or ALL LCD TV's here have composite input - so that's great for the 8-bit stuff. There are S-video mods too, but think that's getting a little 'anal' when it comes to some of these machines. The RF output out of my Colecovision is damn near perfect, but yeah... have to keep older TV sets and monitors around for this stuff. Not sure about the ST line, but we Amiga users have the Indivision product that acts as a scan-doubler and flicker-fixer for use on modern LCD monitors. Only some very minor issues using that product as it works extremely well for the most part.

I totally forgot about composite, and I suppose that will suffice in the absence of s-video. As for being "anal", I certainly think I've been totally spoiled by the quality of output available here with PAL equipment! When I think of the quality of RF display I lived with for ten years from 1989 onwards... and now I'm modding everything in sight to eradicate every last trace of artifacting and vertical banding.

 

Today I received my Funai LCD-A1506. It's basically an LCD (TFT?) TV. 15", 4:3. It comes with a SCART connector, S-video connector and the composite video (RCA, white, red and yellow) plugs. Haven't tried it out yet, but near the SCART connector it says RGB.

 

I've bought it because BigBen, Stefan Dorndorf (XDOS, etc) and HARdwareDoc have one. I've seen their Funai's at the Fujiama. They are perfect for the Atari, not sure about the PC (My iMac has it's screen built in....). The Funai is PAL only.

Looks like a nice display from a bit of Googling, and very much reminds me of the LG RZ-15LA70 LCD TV I inherited from a relative about a year ago:

 

 

 

This is a nice size and style for the 8-bits and all inputs are present and correct. Oddly, the TV wouldn't sync via s-video with my 65XE when I first started messing around with it last year, but it syncs with every other 8-bit I've tried. I know how to modify the sync signal now anyway if the problem occured again. The only problem with this little set is a rather "fuzzy" display, but as a second display for testing it's ideal.

Edited January 18, 2010 by flashjazzcat

[Mathy]

Hello Jon

 

The connectors on the Funai are on the left (rear), the headphones connector is to the right of the antenna plug and there is no VGA connector.

 

greetings

 

Mathy

[Thorsten Günther]

Usually if there is more then one SCART socket, only one has all pins connected.

Having read the manual, it does indeed state that RGB sources have to go in SCART 1. I wonder why this is?

 

I presume SCART 2 is wired for S-video and/or YUV, and S-video/YUV and RGB can not be both on the same SCART connector, as they partly use the same pins (S-video C is on RGB red pin 15). This is due to the fact that S-video and YUV were later add-ons to SCART, it originally only transferred composite, RGB and audio.

 

Thorsten

[flashjazzcat]

I presume SCART 2 is wired for S-video and/or YUV, and S-video/YUV and RGB can not be both on the same SCART connector, as they partly use the same pins (S-video C is on RGB red pin 15). This is due to the fact that S-video and YUV were later add-ons to SCART, it originally only transferred composite, RGB and audio.

Sounds right: I was reading about it on Wikipedia last night and this seemed to be the suggestion.

[abbotkinneydude]

Hello everyone,

 

Did anyone try a PAL ATARI on one of those LG LCDs ?

 

(I'm thinking of the LG M237WD-PM which is available on Amazon).

 

Based on my experience so far, only Westinghouse LCDs bought in the United States are PAL / SECAM / NTSC.

 

Just wondering if we should add LG to the list.

 

Thanks,

 

PA.

[flashjazzcat]

Can UK members recommend any (smallish) LCD solutions which will work with 8-bits, RGB, and ST VGA? The old 4:3 LG had pretty poor picture quality when it came to the crunch, so I'm looking for something else. 4:3 would be nice, although Richer Sounds have the LG M197WD (the 19" version of the M227WD) at a very tempting price (assuming I can sell something to raise the money). This is a widescreen display, but it has all the inputs and can display in 4:3. It's also guaranteed to work with all the Ataris (since it's effectively the same internals as my M227).

 

The alternative course of action is to trawl the second-hand shops with an 8-bit and an ST in a plastic bag, trying out every 4:3 LCD I can find!

 

Anything else that should be in the running?

Edited March 15, 2010 by flashjazzcat

[+Philsan]

To this LCD TV I connect Atari 130XE (s-video), Atari Falcon (VGA), Amiga 1200 (RGB) and C64 (composite video).

Unfortunately it is three years old but perhaps Samsung nowadays makes something similar.

[flashjazzcat]

To this LCD TV I connect Atari 130XE (s-video), Atari Falcon (VGA), Amiga 1200 (RGB) and C64 (composite video).

Unfortunately it is three years old but perhaps Samsung nowadays makes something similar.

That looks great. Really suits the XE styling. What's the model number?

[+Philsan]

To this LCD TV I connect Atari 130XE (s-video), Atari Falcon (VGA), Amiga 1200 (RGB) and C64 (composite video).

Unfortunately it is three years old but perhaps Samsung nowadays makes something similar.

That looks great. Really suits the XE styling. What's the model number?

 

Samsung LCD TV Syncmaster 711MP.

[flashjazzcat]

Thanks! No examples on ebay at the moment. I assume picture quality is good across the board?

 

Perhaps I've been too hard on the LG RZ-15LA70. I took it apart today (if for no other reason than to see the insides), blew the dust out of it, and tried it again with the mains wires out of the way of the shielded signal cables (which I think may have been causing the juddering picture I was used to). The annoying thing about the display (even when using VBXE RGB) is its softness. Still, this is the output from my s-video/VBXE equipped 130XE:

 

Via RGB (VBXE):

 

 

 

 

 

Via s-video:

 

 

ST Low res:

 

 

ST High res:

 

 

The only problem is noise on patternation on the ST's hi-res display (the patterned desktop looks as if it's moving). Haven't traced the cause of that yet, but with some tweaking, this could be an acceptable display.

[+Philsan]

Yes, I think quality is good with all 4 systems connected but I haven't done the tests you made!