How to center ST video on a LCD monitor?

[+DarkLord]

Just what the topics says, I'm trying to send ST High, via one of those

ST to VGA hi-res monitor cables.

 

The screen is there, no blurriness, lines, columns or anything like that,

but it's not centered on the LCD itself. It has a remote, with horizontal

and vertical manual adjustments, but they start at 50 (middle position

I'm assuming) and will only go a 0 - 100 range. I can drop it all the way

to 0 on both H and V and it's still not enough. It has has an option for

"Auto Adjust" but I can't quite figure out how to actually activate it once

I'm on that option (right and left arrow keys just make the menu go off

at that point).

 

Love to get the ST video stretched to full screen.

 

Here are a couple of pictures:

 

 

 

Thanks!

[tjlazer]

You going to have to use the auto on the LCD. I would open up a large window in GEM so it can grab a good screen to stretch it.

[+wood_jl]

Those who know way more than I say that the ST has a "weird" video signal. I didn't get good results on an LCD computer monitor, and I'm talking about an older model LCD with 4:3 aspect ratio, like the ST. I can only imagine this being a worse scenario, with a widescreen.

 

I get excellent results with a $5 Goodwill CRT VGA monitor. In a world of throw-away CRTs with digital push-button resize/reshape/stretch controls on them, you can get an excellent results.

 

I literally paid $5 for this Trinitron:

 

 

You can't beat the display of SC1224 for color, but you can rather easily spank the lame old SM124 with its huge 1" borders on a monitor that's already too-tiny.

Edited February 13, 2013 by wood_jl

[+DarkLord]

You going to have to use the auto on the LCD. I would open up a large window in GEM so it can grab a good screen to stretch it.

 

I'll try that, but I'm still trying to figure out how to get it to kick into "Auto Adjust". When I pick the option from the onscreen menu,

using the remote, it just sits there.

[+DarkLord]

Those who know way more than I say that the ST has a "weird" video signal. I didn't get good results on an LCD computer monitor, and I'm talking about an older model LCD with 4:3 aspect ratio, like the ST. I can only imagine this being a worse scenario, with a widescreen.

 

I get excellent results with a $5 Goodwill CRT VGA monitor. In a world of throw-away CRTs with digital push-button resize/reshape/stretch controls on them, you can get an excellent results.

 

I literally paid $5 for this Trinitron:

 

You can't beat the display of SC1224 for color, but you can rather easily spank the lame old SM124 with its huge 1" borders on a monitor that's already too-tiny.

 

Point here is, that I'm trying to find an LCD monitor that will replace the factory STacy screen (sorry I didn't mention that in the original post).

 

So this one seems to be about the right size, and it's doing ST High, just not perfectly, as in filling its screen.

 

It has an option to switch between 4:3 and 16:9. It actually fills more of the screen with 16:9.

 

I'll keep playing with it.

 

Thanks for the replies gang!

[+wood_jl]

Point here is, that I'm trying to find an LCD monitor that will replace the factory STacy screen (sorry I didn't mention that in the original post).

 

HA! 2 points:

 

(1) I didn't even look (or notice) that the post was from you, Darklord! I just hit reply. There's nothing I can tell you about the ST that you don't already know! Sorry 'bout that. I thought someone just got an ST.

 

(2) I didn't even notice scale/perspective in that picture! That's a tiny LCD with a HUGE CRT in the background. Actually, a desktop CRT, but it looks huge in that perspective. I thought that was a 32" LCD TV. I'm tired.

 

Where did you find such a small LCD?

[+DarkLord]

HA! 2 points:

 

(1) I didn't even look (or notice) that the post was from you, Darklord! I just hit reply. There's nothing I can tell you about the ST that you don't already know! Sorry 'bout that. I thought someone just got an ST.

 

There's *plenty* I don't know about the ST. So please, just keep talking.

 

(2) I didn't even notice scale/perspective in that picture! That's a tiny LCD with a HUGE CRT in the background. Actually, a desktop CRT, but it looks huge in that perspective. I thought that was a 32" LCD TV. I'm tired.

 

Yeah, sorry about that. I had just propped up the LCD against the desktop CRT for convenience.

 

Where did you find such a small LCD?

 

I found the listing/specs here:

 

http://www.millertech.com/

 

but they don't actually sell retail to end users like us (big quantities only), so I wound up grabbing

it from one of their retailers here:

 

http://www.aeicomp.com/

 

I guess you could say this is another one of those gamble type adventures. Lately I've been trying

all the small LCDs I can, trying to see what will work and won't work.

 

Tried these 2 last month, didn't work out:

 

Pyle PLVW10IW (in 10.x and 9.2" sizes)

 

Tried them at a friends house (he was putting in multiple screens in a large den/gaming room

he was adding on to his house).

[jens]

There are some lcd TV's which provide accurate monochrome and colour pictures. I've seen some, but I don't remember the models as I'm not really interested using CRT monitors.

 

Btw.: 640x400 is 16:10, so 16:9 should be too few if the monitor correctly displays the signal.

[+DarkLord]

BTW, Here is the PDF file (specs) for this LCD monitor:

 

lcd102w-specs.pdf.zip

 

Just for kicks and giggles, I hooked up the Ambery RGB convertor

to it, still running from my STacy. It actually gave a near perfect

ST low screen, and a ST Medium screen that shows the same

problems I've had before with the Ambery in medium res on some

monitors - the fonts/letters/text looks a little off. Almost like gaps

in them, or faded/washed out.

 

I'll attach a picture here so you can see. Anyway you look at it,

it's so close, just a bit off in all 3 modes on this monitor.

 

lcd102w-specs.pdf.zip

 

 

 

[jens]

I think the point would be to find a 1280x800 monitor which doesn't interpolate too much.

[+DarkLord]

Okay, I've been playing around with the Ambery RGB to VGA converter. It

does have a switch where you can choose from VGA, XGA or WXGA. By

switching it off VGA to XGA or WXGA, I can get a better picture (this is in

low or med res), that can be centered, both horizontally and vertically. I

still can't get it to stretch the TOS desktop to utilise the full screen of the

LCD. I also installed NVDI v5.03 and the fonts seem to be a bit more

readable (pretty close to acceptable) than before.

 

Here is a new picture. You can see it's not bad at all. To see the "dropping

out" of text that I've been referring to, grab the picture and blow it up and

you'll see it - look at the "k" on "hard disk" or the "t" on "trash" to see what

I'm talking about. I'm wondering if/when there isn't a font out there that

will further take care of that small problem.

 

All advice/comments/suggestions welcome!

 

[jens]

Read the full thread, Jens, read the full thread!

Point here is, that I'm trying to find an LCD monitor that will replace the factory STacy screen (sorry I didn't mention that in the original post).

Hi DarkLord.

I think you really want to have to talk to beetle (user on Darkforce as well btw.) who had the issue of finding an LCD for his selfmade XL-portable as well. Iirc he talked to the seller who then adjusted the LCDs controller to fit beetle's needs.

[+DarkLord]

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll try it out.

[flashjazzcat]

Interesting thread! I see evidence here of a problem I've encountered, whereby the auto clock/phase adjustment of the monitor simply cannot arrive at settings suitable for the ST signal. Symptoms I get are pronounced vertical banding, distortion and horizontal streching/compression. It's frustrating, since the two monitors in question (LG M1717a and LG M1721a) are otherwise excellent all-rounders: 4:3 AR, SCART for low/med res, s-video, etc. It's just hi-res via VGA which experiences troubles.

[31336haxx0r]

Here's a link to a circuit for moving the screen around: http://playoffline.wordpress.com/cable/rgbshifter/

It's in German, though (translation via Google Translator is not great but acceptable). I KNOW there is an English version of this around, but I couldn't find it. You don't need the sync seperator as the ST already has seperate sync signals.

[+DarkLord]

Here's a link to a circuit for moving the screen around: http://playoffline.w...ble/rgbshifter/

It's in German, though (translation via Google Translator is not great but acceptable). I KNOW there is an English version of this around, but I couldn't find it. You don't need the sync seperator as the ST already has seperate sync signals.

 

Thanks. That looks very interesting although I'm not sure if I could fit it into my STacy.

 

I used Google Translate and it wasn't too bad. Just to make sure though, while it does

shift adjustment, I don't think it will "stretch" an image to match the screen though, right.

 

Thanks again.

[31336haxx0r]

Exactly, it will only shift the screen around, not change its size.

[+DarkLord]

Just for the fun of it, or a proof of concept, as it were, I mounted

this LCD that I've been working with in a spare upper half section

of a STacy.

 

Its fully mounted, bolted in, everything closed up, etc,. I just really

wanted to see how it would look and appear in the STacy's case,

replacing the factory monochrome screen.

 

For sure, its a smaller viewable area than the original screen. The

question is, would we want to use it like this? While its pretty well

centered, I've been unable to come up with a way to make it fill

up the screen so that there are no borders.

 

 

What's everyone think - if you had a STacy and a chance to

make it a color screen, but with a smaller viewable area

would you make the swap? (I'm thinking about trying it for

a while, since I can always return to the original mono screen)

 

Thanks.

[+wood_jl]

I think it's pretty amazing that you were able to get a screen that size at all, and get it in the case. I didn't even think those moves were possible!

[+DarkLord]

The frustrating part is look how close it is to being perfect.

 

I mean, if it would just stretch the screen to fit the monitor... <sigh>

[krupkaj]

You can also try overscan/lacescan. But I am not sure the STacy is based on old chipset or STE chipset. With STE it is not possible

[+DarkLord]

The STacy is based on the older chipset - its definitely not STe.

 

Not sure how to do either of those mods - they are both hardware,

right?

 

Thanks for the suggestion!

[+wood_jl]

The STacy is based on the older chipset - its definitely not STe.

 

For your next mod, I want you to "STe" that sumbitch! You can call it the STacye!

 

[krupkaj]

yes, but the circuit is really simple. You can download description of LaceScan and software from Ulf Ronald Andersson's web. Fortunately it is still on web archive. (it is a pity that original web is not online anymore ...)

 

http://web.archive.o...net.se/~dlanor/

 

small PCB is available on D. Vukovic's site http://solair.eunet....djole/atari.htm

 

here is the hyp online

Edited February 18, 2013 by krupkaj

[+DarkLord]

For your next mod, I want you to "STe" that sumbitch! You can call it the STacye!

 

 

I sure do wish that Atari had went ahead and made the STacy STe compatible.

After all, didn't they both come out about the same time?