Sophia rev.C - DVI board

[_The Doctor__]

the ones I mentioned go super low and you use them on the two chips not his board though, you can use the pins and a low profile socket to get the two chips low and the add on board low as well all together...

[+Faicuai]

I didnt like how the pixels Sophi outputs are square. On NTSC the pixels are not square so the images from the DVI output of Sophia dont match what the analog output looks like.

Absolutely correct!

 

NTSC true aspect ratio is 11:12 at the scan lines´s "dot". That´s why you draw a mathematically perfect circle in NTSC Gr.8, it will show as a vertically-oriented oval. It needs compensation for the final output´s aspect ratio.

 

I have been holding off Sophia, precisely for this, as the solution lies on my digital processors... I just don´t want to throw my DVDO VP50pro at it, just to fix the input-to-screen aspect ratio... I need to do it with my iScan HD/+ which are the ones I use for the Ataris, but the available DVI input is a pass-through one, and I am not sure if built-in aspect ratio correction will work...

 

1:1 is WRONG for NTSC. End of the story.

Edited December 9, 2018 by Faicuai

[jowi]

the ones I mentioned go super low and you use them on the two chips not his board though, you can use the pins and a low profile socket to get the two chips low and the add on board low as well all together...

The sophia board on a 600xl is just 1 or 2mm too wide and too tall to clear u24 and u8, so you can’t go lower even if you change to lower sockets... and even if the board was a bit smaller, going lower would make sophia touch the components underneath the sophia board. I think my solution is the best you can get on a 600. Just remove the sockets for u24/u8. Maybe there are revisions of the 600xl board where the chips are arranged differently so sophia might fit as is.

[_The Doctor__]

I was talking specific to used the lowest profile pins on u24 and u8 so long as it work for you is all that matters

[jowi]

I was talking specific to used the lowest profile pins on u24 and u8

Ah ok Still, if you look at my pictures you can see that even with u8 soldered to the board, sophia just clears it... adding a socket, even a extreme low profile one, will be too high in this case.

Edited December 11, 2018 by jowi

[+mytek]

Same problem on 1088XEL, although at least in that case there is ample headroom to add another socket under Sophia, which Simius is kind enough to provide .

[+adamchevy]

I have a new 19” 5:4 NEC display running at 1280x1024. My 800 is modded with the 5:4 resolution Sophia Rev C. I verified that it is running at 1280x1024. Here are a few pictures with different games.

I still get bars on the top and bottom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 11, 2018 by adamchevy

[_The Doctor__]

where is the border around basic and memo pad?? something is amiss

[Simius]

When the Sophia DVI board generate 1280x1024 screen (which correspond to the 320x256 Atari image), you will always have a top and bottom bars, because ANTIC can display only 240 scan lines. The remaining 4*(256-240)=64 lines are drawing during a vertical blanking time. This is where the black bars come from.

[jowi]

That is why i wanted 1280x960

960/4 = 240 and 1280x960 is a 4:3 aspect ratio.

Edited December 12, 2018 by jowi

[_The Doctor__]

His picture show no border on the left and right of the memo pad or basic screens, the borders are used in a number of situations, and of course flashing, status and the like...

[+Stephen]

His picture show no border on the left and right of the memo pad or basic screens, the borders are used in a number of situations, and of course flashing, status and the like...

Right - there's always a visible left/right border even when in 48 byte per line mode.

[+Mr Robot]

I wonder if the monitor is auto zooming the input, that monitor by default has an auto h.size adjust

[jowi]

Is it possible some of the colors are wrong with the board? I always thought pacman was yellow, but he looks orange?

[Simius]

I don't think so. Pacman is yellow in the NTSC system. In the PAL system Pacman is salmon.

[+Faicuai]

I have a new 19” 5:4 NEC display running at 1280x1024. My 800 is modded with the 5:4 resolution Sophia Rev C. I verified that it is running at 1280x1024. Here are a few pictures with different games.

I still get bars on the top and bottom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Frogger II- The Deep! extends WELL BEYOND the standard left-and-right field margins... where are they??? I can't see them there (although I clearly see them here...)

 

PS: Very nice NEC you have there... EXCELLENT choice, indeed!

Edited December 15, 2018 by Faicuai

[jowi]

Pacman is yellow in the NTSC system. In the PAL system Pacman is salmon.

Never knew that, but i guess that is what i’m seeing.

[jowi]

I'm still struggling to get the Sophia signal displayed on a monitor. The best attempt is an old HP L2465 monitor, advised by Simius. I got a 2nd hand one cheap, but it has over 90.000 hours (!) runtime on it, probably ran with 100% contrast and 100% brightness... yikes... so i'm looking for a modern alternative. Must be 24" or higher, 16:9.

 

What are people using as Sophia monitor that accepts the signal?

Can we make a list of monitors that can still be bought, that support Sophia out of the box?

[+adamchevy]

The Dell 30” U3011t has been tested with the 16:9 and 5:4 Sophia. It works well with both.

[jowi]

Looks like the Dell U3011t is out of production as well... but good to know that works!

[+Mr Robot]

The Dell 30” U3011t has been tested with the 16:9 and 5:4 Sophia. It works well with both.

 

For PAL and NTSC?

[jowi]

I have a new 19” 5:4 NEC display running at 1280x1024. My 800 is modded with the 5:4 resolution Sophia Rev C. I verified that it is running at 1280x1024.

This is interesting; these Multisync series are still available, and they've also got a 24" and a 27" version:

https://www.necdisplay.com/documents/ColorBrochures/EA193Mi.223.243WM.273WMi_SpecBrochure.pdf

 

Not cheap, but if they work... might be worth it.

[Simius]

it has over 90.000 hours (!) runtime on it

 

Total hours or backlight hours?

[jowi]

I think it was total, not sure, i found the service menu at some point and that has reset the counters. But it was a lot, and you can tell the image has degraded.

[Simius]

I think the total hours included standby state. Actual working hours is the backlight hours.