Best Atari 800 video upgrade

[+videofx]

I have an Atari 800 with icognito installed. On CRT everything is fine. However on all my LCD's with Video I get every other vertical scan line seems to be missing. Same LCD composite no issues. So is there a video upgrade for the 800 that will fix this problem?

 

Thanks

[xrbrevin]

its worth trying another screen if you can

[+DrVenkman]

2 hours ago, videofx said:

However on all my LCD's with Video I get every other vertical scan line seems to be missing. Same LCD composite no issues. So is there a video upgrade for the 800 that will fix this problem?

 

How are you connected? If you have a composite signal being fed into the chroma half of a chroma/luma input, you'll get that kind of thing.

[+videofx]

I am using Lotharek cable

 

Highest possible quality cable (1,6 m long)  fully shielded,  made for :

• ATARI 8BIT

https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=198

 

Plugs into DIN on side of 800 to my LCD Video

[+videofx]

3 hours ago, xrbrevin said:

its worth trying another screen if you can

 

I have 3 LCD's with S-Video and 2 CRT's, All 3 LCD's display the same issue. I tried a different cable and same problem. CRT no issue

Edited March 3, 2020 by videofx

[R.Cade]

Can you take a photo? What you are describing sounds like normal scan lines. It's hard to know how an LCD handles "240p" (which is not really a standard)- some scale it, some don't.

 

 

Edited March 3, 2020 by R.Cade

[adam242]

Best video upgrade for an 800 is a CRT monitor connected via separate luma/ chroma inputs. And the simple, effective R189 mod.

[Faicuai]

7 hours ago, videofx said:

I have an Atari 800 with icognito installed. On CRT everything is fine. However on all my LCD's with Video I get every other vertical scan line seems to be missing. Same LCD composite no issues. So is there a video upgrade for the 800 that will fix this problem?

 

Thanks

 

There is no real problem with the sock 800's video output, other than the signal's amplitude level (which is very easy to correct).

 

If staying digital, a good monitor, and a good analog-to-digital video path should do well on their own. Here (click on thumbnail for better detail  )

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 3, 2020 by Faicuai

[+videofx]

14 hours ago, R.Cade said:

Can you take a photo? What you are describing sounds like normal scan lines. It's hard to know how an LCD handles "240p" (which is not really a standard)- some scale it, some don't.

 

 

Sure, here are some photos.

 

The first 4 are S-Video and the last photo is composite on the same LCD. Notice how the colors are different in Flight Simulator in S-Video vs Composite

 

 

[+DrVenkman]

10 minutes ago, videofx said:

Notice how the colors are different in Flight Simulator in S-Video vs Composite

That's because Flight Simulator is designed to use composite color artifacting, which is not possible through S-video. Your images are perfectly normal.

[R.Cade]

3 minutes ago, DrVenkman said:

That's because Flight Simulator is designed to use composite color artifacting, which is not possible through S-video. Your images are perfectly normal.

I was going to say the same- it looks great to me.

 

[+DrVenkman]

Yeah here is FS II through S-video and composite on two of my CRT monitors. 

S-video is my 1088XLD connected to a C1702 monitor running the ATX file off an SDrive-MAX; composite is my Incognito 800 connects to a C1802 monitor, booting up a vintage FS II disk from a 1050 drive. 
 

 

[+videofx]

Here you can see the alternating light blue dark blue vertical lines

 

[+DrVenkman]

That's your TV or converter device.

[Faicuai]

28 minutes ago, videofx said:

Here you can see the alternating light blue dark blue vertical lines

 

 

Yes, these are generated by your host machine (the 800) in combination with your video-decoding unit. 

 

For instance, I can see them through the DVDO iScan HD+ processor, if and only if, I push its sharpening function all the way to the end of the scale. Within normal operating range, these are completely gone.

 

For this reason, and after looking up-close to some of your images, I would recommend working with the SHARPENING function on your TV-sets where these vertical bars appear (e.g. try to set sharpening to ZERO, and then slowly bring it up. Check if the effect is reduced or worsened...) If not, you are then stuck to how the TV is pre-processing the signal coming from your host Atari.

 

BTW, your Flight Simulator colors are correct, as artifacting on Composite-input MUST be rendered Blue / Orangish, in order to recreate FS2 original intended rendering (and how it truly is, in a real cockpit, too).

 

Edited March 3, 2020 by Faicuai

[+videofx]

I set sharpen to 0 with no effect.

 

Will the UVE video upgrade fix this? or any other video upgrade?

 

Thanks

[+Stephen]

8 minutes ago, videofx said:

I set sharpen to 0 with no effect.

 

Will the UVE video upgrade fix this? or any other video upgrade?

 

Thanks

Unfortunately when using LCD screens, there is no guarantee.  On a CRT, those lines should be much less visible, or even gone completely.  A VBXE will definitely fix the issue, but then you are required to have a device capable of RGB input.

[Faicuai]

11 minutes ago, videofx said:

I set sharpen to 0 with no effect.

 

Will the UVE video upgrade fix this? or any other video upgrade?

 

Thanks

 

Your answer:

 

1. If you refer to the UAV upgrade (which you better get then with the SuperColor CPU card for the 400/800), they, YES, or at least most of it.
2. If you want them COMPLETELY eliminated without touching your HW, then you need a high-quality video processor, with ob-board time-based correction and re-clocking functions.
3. Another option is an on-board analog-to-digital conversion (like Sophia), but there are compromises there, in other areas.

 

Your choice.

Edited March 3, 2020 by Faicuai

[+videofx]

59 minutes ago, Faicuai said:

 

Your answer:

 

1. If you refer to the UAV upgrade (which you better get then with the SuperColor CPU card for the 400/800), they, YES, or at least most of it.

2. If you want them COMPLETELY eliminated without touching your HW, then you need a high-quality video processor.

3. Another option is an on-board analog-to-digital conversion (like Sophia), but there are compromises there, in other areas.

 

Your choice.

I will try the UAV.

 

Its the 800 as I connect my Pioneer Laserdisc via S-Video and No lines

[R.Cade]

Correct, it's an effect from the Chroma signal. Disconnect that and you will get black and white only, but lines should be gone. If so, you can try to reduce the Chroma signal level with an in-line resistor (or potentiometer if you want to adjust it to see what that does). 

 

The Atari video signal is probably at least half the horizontal resolution of your Laserdisc which will have a much higher quality signal. The Atari was made for TV's as they existed in the 1970's. 

 

 

 

Edited March 4, 2020 by R.Cade

[Sugarland]

I'm going to pull a Bill Lumbergh here and disagree. I think it's the Lotharek video cable. I have the same problem with two of the same Lotharek cables here.  They are built very well but give very strong veritcal bars.  I don't know why.

Edited March 4, 2020 by Sugarland

[+videofx]

35 minutes ago, Sugarland said:

I'm going to pull a Bill Lumbergh here and disagree. I think it's the Lotharek video cable. I have the same problem with two of the same Lotharek cables here.  They are built very well but give very strong veritcal bars.  I don't know why.

@Sugarland

 

Do you know of a cable that will work? Its a cheap enough solution to try

[Sugarland]

For composite only I like Best Electronic's cable. For s-video I got this one off ebay five years ago... It was not marketed in any special way there but it introduces no artifacts so it's great.

[Colleton]

This is a very good s-video and composite cable.  I have a couple of them:

 

https://www.8bitclassics.com/product/atari-xlxe-5-pin-din-to-s-video-composite-av-cable/