The Ultimate Sacrifice, or the Greatest Gift Known to Man?

[flashjazzcat]

Now that the "Atari Desk" is in place, I finally had occasion today to try the A8s and the STE through the (admittedly extremely cute) silver LG TV I inherited from my uncle (and whose acquisition effectively started this whole life-altering Atari renaissance of mine just over a year ago). In the cold light of day, the picture was appalling, especially when compared to the all-things-to-all-men LG M227WD which I might as well be sponsored by, since I think it's so great. Yes, LCD technology has moved on some in the last ten years, and it shows. Freed from the confines of the computer desk, the little Ataris also found themselves blurred and indistinct, and juddering headache-inducingly. And the STE, accustomed to razor-sharp RGB colour when periodically heaved next to the PC, as well as a smart, rock-solid mono picture via VGA, fared little better. Oh yes - the little grey TV looks the part alright, but it's second-rate display is a bitter pill to swallow.

 

The entire reason for buying a hulking 22" full HD LCD TV was one of lack of space. The display had to cater for the PC, the ST, and the A8s. Now that's no longer the case. If I'd had the Atari desk last summer, I would have gone out and bought the smaller, cheaper 19" LG. But I didn't.

 

So this evening, I reached into the cupboard and retreived the mothballed Samsung 20" monitor that the big LG had superceded. Sure, it's 1680x1050 (not 1920x1080), but it's more responsive than the LG and its DVI picture is a smidgen more vibrant. Tentatively, I unplugged the LG from the PC and put the Samsung in its place. Ah - my eyes! The narrower desktop takes a strong cup of coffee to get used to. But it was like this for a long time before the enormous Flatron came along.

 

Step two: set up the 22" LCD HD TV on the hallowed "Atari Desk". It's what a VBXE picture should look like:

 

 

Call me crazy - using a 20" monitor with a fairly poweful PC and a 22" HD panel with a 25 year old 8-bit computer. On some levels it seems so wrong, but it feels so right...

Edited March 9, 2010 by flashjazzcat

[flashjazzcat]

Hmmm.... that went down well.

[Wrathchild]

I'm impressed by the potential 'XEGS myIDE fund jar' in the background... my kids pinch all my spare change

 

Nice display though! A recent Maplin catalogue through the door had this small screen, which I thought might suit the A8? At the AtariAda event I went to (some years back now ) some guys had the PlayStation One portable screens hooked up, those worked well too but don't come up as cheap as I'd like on ebay.

[flashjazzcat]

I'm impressed by the potential 'XEGS myIDE fund jar' in the background... my kids pinch all my spare change

 

Nice display though! A recent Maplin catalogue through the door had this small screen, which I thought might suit the A8? At the AtariAda event I went to (some years back now ) some guys had the PlayStation One portable screens hooked up, those worked well too but don't come up as cheap as I'd like on ebay.

LOL. We're actually custodians of the weekly Pub Quiz winnings, which we spend on Christmas lunch for the team at the end of the year. One tin contains the (currently meagre) winnings. Better not do an Arthur Fowler on that. The other tin's the one my wife keeps putting spare 20p pieces in, and you have absolutely planted the seed of a bad idea in my head...

 

Since I actually find I prefer sitting at the "Atari Desk", I've had another idea which involves my wireless mouse and keyboard and a long DVI cable. The Samsung 20" monitor, tower and printer stay on the old computer desk, and the LG gets hooked up as a second display next to the Ataris. This way, I get the benefit of using the PC at the new desk without the attendant clutter of the tower and printer, while the Ataris get to use it too.

 

Those are some nice display solutions you've linked to there. I have a small 10" netbook which I've failed to fix for someone, but its hi-res screen demonstrates just how superb modern TFT displays are. I'll take a picture of the old silver LG's grotty output sometime. It's considerably worse than I remember my 14" portable CRT being when that was my display for the A8 (through the RF lead).

 

There's something to be said for using a large display with the A8, though, especially when using pseudo 80 column text. Once upscaling, blurring and shadows are taken into account (even with VBXE output), it looks pretty comfortable on a 22" screen.

[AB Positive]

I'm currently suffering from what you used to have - trying to work an A8, ST and PC all in one cramped area. I can only one day hope to have such a fine setup for my atari systems...

 

...and get one of those spiff LCD TVs to run 'em on. You British folk get all the cool stuff

[Tezz]

I prefer smaller sized monitors for the Atari displaying it's lower resolutions, the large monitors are a necessity for me with the PC for my work. I guess it's just preference with regard to the Atari. Maybe when your money jar is full enough you can sell the older LG and put the difference towards getting the new 19" LG. It kinda ruins the experience having a poor display, as much as you try to ignore it and make do it's always there bugging you.

[mimo]

wish I had that much space for my 1200XL,400,STe,Jaguar,Saturn,Xbox,PC engine and 7800 that I currently have strewn all over the conservatory.

The wires make a great obstacle course for a 4 year old;)

[+orpheuswaking]

 

Better not do an Arthur Fowler on that.

 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!! and none of the Americans know what the hell you just said!!!