Thierry Godefroy wrote:
> There are devices available that will take a scart RGB signal and
> convert it so that it will work on a modern SVGA or LCD monitor.
>
> Here's one from Maplins.
> http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=217685
Have you actually tried with a QL?
My experience with similar converters:
- Part of the 512x256 screen is cut off
- Screen sometimes "jumps" vertically
Not being able to connect the QL to a modern monitor is a major
problem.
Sometimes I even considered to build a QL video card to overcome
this.
None of the converters I could find on the market can display
properly
a QL screen (both 512x256 and 256x256) on a VGA screen... they
either
completly fail to sync the display, or they interpolate and sample
each line in 640 pixels, which distorts unevenly both the QL pixels
and colors, making any text unreadable.
The definitive solution would be a programmable converter, able to
rebuild the pixel clock from both the VSYNC signal and the actual
number of pixels per line of the QL (counting blanking time pixels
too), and then to sample the video signal from this rebuilt pixel
clock. The samples would then have to be stored in a memory, and
each frame would have to be centered in a 600x350 or 640x480
VGA picture.
This would be doable by a engineer in electronics...
Thierry.
It would be interesting to have someone with knowledge of the hardware
(for example, Peter) compare the cost and complexity of the two
possible approaches:
(1) adapt the existing QL video signal, taking into account the
difficulties noted here, and
(2) a different approach as Peter alluded to, the possibility of a new
QL video system, examples of approaches I can think of include what
Nasta did with Aurora video, and what Miracle proposed to do with the
Masterpiece video update originally.
As I have said before on this list, I have been asked * MANY * times
how to connect an SVGA monitor to a QL! I don't really care whether
it's done via a converter or reasonably simple to install video card,
whoever can come up with a reasonably priced and fairly simple to
install solution is on to a winner given that it's becoming harder and
harder to find a dedicated QL monitor these days.
I will retreat to a safe distance and await (fear?) the responses :-)
Dilwyn Jones
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