my 800 looks like crap on my ViewSonic....

[toptenmaterial]

So, my 800 looks poor on my 22 inch ViewSonic. However, my 2600 looks great on it, and with the same switchbox. I have had good luck using the 800 on an old CRT once I play with the settings. Now, I only have one games, Asteroids. On my ViewSonic, the blue asteroids. are blurry and the green player and score display are practically invisible. Oddly the alien enemy ship that zooms by occasionally looks really sharp. Now, the green player and high score were initially indistinct on my small CTR, too, but I managed to fix that. So far though, no luck playing with my ViewSonic settings. Any advice?

[BillC]

So, my 800 looks poor on my 22 inch ViewSonic. However, my 2600 looks great on it, and with the same switchbox. I have had good luck using the 800 on an old CRT once I play with the settings. Now, I only have one games, Asteroids. On my ViewSonic, the blue asteroids. are blurry and the green player and score display are practically invisible. Oddly the alien enemy ship that zooms by occasionally looks really sharp. Now, the green player and high score were initially indistinct on my small CTR, too, but I managed to fix that. So far though, no luck playing with my ViewSonic settings. Any advice?

I take it that you're using the RF cable, the 800 has both composite and chroma/luma signals on the DIN-5 port on the right side. If your Viewsonic has either composite/svideo inputs you will most likely get a much better picture with an appropriate cable.

 

http://www.8bitclassics.com/Atari-800-XL-XE-5-Pin-DIN-S-Video-Cable.html

[russg]

I take it that you're using the RF cable, the 800 has both composite and chroma/luma signals on the DIN-5 port on the right side. If your Viewsonic has either composite/svideo inputs you will most likely get a much better picture with an appropriate cable.

 

http://www.8bitclass...ideo-Cable.html

I have a 22 inch Viewsonic. It only has D VGA and DVI inputs. I wonder what he has. It would be a strange cable to go Atari composite to DVI.

[toptenmaterial]

Just checked, it has RCA, HDMI, VGA, Coax and some colored ones I can't idenitify

[russg]

Just checked, it has RCA, HDMI, VGA, Coax and some colored ones I can't idenitify

Oh, your Viewsonic is a TV, not just a monitor. Or, maybe it has no tuner, but your cable box may change channels. What port are you trying, RCA would be best

for the composite 800.

[WizWor]

Just checked, it has RCA, HDMI, VGA, Coax and some colored ones I can't idenitify

I have my XEGS plugged into the composite port of a crappy lcd tv with that cable and it looks great.

[toptenmaterial]

^^ Which cable?

[+Roydea6]

^^ Which cable?

http://www.8bitclassics.com/Atari-800-XL-XE-5-Pin-DIN-S-Video-Cable.html

[+Faicuai]

Well, my Atari 800 ("JM", affectionately), looks gorgeous on the [ VP930B LCD monitor + DVDO iSCAN-HD+ digital processor] combo (sVIDEO-in to DVI-out).

 

Here are some CRT-vs-LCD samples:

 

 

=> Viewsonic VP930B (DVI, output from DVDO iSCAN-HD+):

 

 

 

=> Sony WEGA CRT:

 

 

 

As far as I can see, there is a sensible JUMP in image quality when going moving from CRT-to-LCD, for the most part, except for some specific (and rare) de-interlacing artifacts, during horizontal text-scrolling (can be eliminated by changing frame-processing mode on the iScan). Much of the quality will depend, of course, on the processing-engine chosen to handle the Atari's half-cooked progressive signal.

 

My 0.02c.

[chevymad]

I just finished adding composite back to my 800xl. The tv I want to use it on doesnt have svideo. I've put in the complete supervideo 2.1 and removed the RF unit. Tried it out on 2 tv's.. I have a 30" phillips 1080i CRT tv with svid and composite in. On this TV the composite is amazing. The Svid is slightly worse and the switch doesnt seem to change that. Now the tv I want to use the atari with is a mid 90s mitsubishi. It only has rf and composite inputs. The composite is much better now then before the video upgrade.. but this tv stinks. There's lines and noise.. and the pixels on this thing.. Wow. I think the atari actually has a higher def image then what this shows. Almost looks like its trying to display on a roadside warning sign. Tv image wasn't great on this either and the tuner doesn't work correctly. Had to feed it through a vcr to use RF. Thinking it may be time to recycle this thing.