alanh@hpsmeng1.rose.hp (Alan Haight) (11/29/90)
Hello Everybody,
I'm looking for information on the new A2320 Display Enhancer Board from
Commodore that removes Flicker in the A2000/2500. My dealer says they are
suppose to be available and has some on order, but that was two weeks ago
and I'm still waiting for one. Has anybody scene one of these or better yet,
bought one ? How do you like it ? Is it better than a FlickerFixer ? I
have purchased a NEC 3D Monitor already and I'm just waiting for the card !!!
Here's the information I have got from the Spec Sheet released by CBM ...
De-Interlacing and Scan-Doubling Video Display Board.
Provides Non-Interlaced Video for Display on Multiscanning Monitors.
Supports both NTSC and PAL Formats in full Overscan Modes.
Transparent to Amiga Software and fully Supports the Amiga's 4096-color
Palette.
Video Mode Switch allows Pass Through of Standard 15KHz Video to MultiScanning
Monitors.
Can be used with many External Genlocks.
Does not interfere with normal output from the built-in RGB Port.
FUNCTION:
Converts 15KHz interlaced video into 31KHz non-interlaced video for display
on Multi-scanning monitors removing interlace flicker.
Scan-Doubles 15KHz non-interlaced video into 31KHz non-interlaced video for
display on multi-scanning monitors to remove visible scan lines.
No motion artifacts in Scan-Doubling mode.
CARD TYPE:
Standard Amiga Video card (Video Slot)
INPUTS:
Video data is recieved via the Amiga video slot.
OUTPUTS:
31KHz, DB-15, VGA style connector.
SUPPORTS:
NTSC video 320x200 thru 768x489 (severe overscan)
PAL video 320x256 thru 768x576 (severe overscan)
Allows passing of standard 15KHz video and ECS Super-Hires video through
DB-15 connector via mode selector switch mounted on card bracket.
Automatic pass through of ECS productivity modes.
HAM modes (4096-color palette)
CARD SIZE:
8 3/8"(L) x 4 3/4" (H)
POWER REQUIREMENTS:
Supplied by AMIGA Computer
5v +-5%, 3 watts
LIST PRICE:
$299.00
Well if you have any other info to share, either post here or send me e-mail
to alan@hpsmo100.rose.hp.com
I know there was some other talk about this board some time back about it
having some kind of problem displaying the first video line. I guess the
first half line flickered. How bad is this ? Is it really annoying ?
I know there was talk about black tape and adjusting preferences to
eliminate this (Good Greif).
So if anybody is using this card now, let me know what you think!
Thanks,
Alan Haight
alan@hpsmo100.rose.hp.com
My views are my own and not my company's.blgardne@javelin.es.com (Blaine Gardner) (11/30/90)
alanh@hpsmeng1.rose.hp (Alan Haight) writes: > I'm looking for information on the new A2320 Display Enhancer Board from >I know there was some other talk about this board some time back about it > having some kind of problem displaying the first video line. I guess the > first half line flickered. How bad is this ? Is it really annoying ? The first half line does flicker. It is only annoying if you can see it. I have my A3000's monitor (a Sony CPD-1302) adjusted so there is a small black border on all four sides, so I can see the flicker. If you're like of lot of Amiga owners, and prefer no black border, then the flickering half line is behind the bezel, and there is no problem. > I know there was talk about black tape and adjusting preferences to > eliminate this (Good Greif). Black tape is pretty tacky. :-) I just lowered the 2.0 Workbench background color a couple of notches, and the flicker is unnoticable. >So if anybody is using this card now, let me know what you think! Buy it! The flickering first half line is the only disadvantage to the A2320. I've owned a flickerFixer for about three years, and while it's a great piece of hardware, the A2320 is better in every other respect, especially price. -- Blaine Gardner @ Evans & Sutherland 580 Arapeen Drive, SLC, Utah 84108 blgardne@esunix.UUCP BIX: blaine_g {decwrl, utah-cs}!esunix!blgardne PLink: BlaineG DoD #0046 My other motorcycle is a Quadracer.
yarnall@opusc.csd.scarolina.edu (Ken Yarnall) (12/01/90)
In article <1990Nov30.145242.12101@javelin.es.com> blgardne@javelin.es.com (Blaine Gardner) writes: +alanh@hpsmeng1.rose.hp (Alan Haight) writes: + +> I'm looking for information on the new A2320 Display Enhancer Board from + +>I know there was some other talk about this board some time back about it +> having some kind of problem displaying the first video line. I guess the +> first half line flickered. How bad is this ? Is it really annoying ? + +The first half line does flicker. It is only annoying if you can see it. +I have my A3000's monitor (a Sony CPD-1302) adjusted so there is a small +black border on all four sides, so I can see the flicker. If you're like +of lot of Amiga owners, and prefer no black border, then the flickering +half line is behind the bezel, and there is no problem. Just got my A2320, which I am using with a Princeton UltraSync 14''. Absolutely fantastic. I didn't see the top 1/3 line flicker thingie until I read Blaine's article. Then I honked the background color up to this really disgusting bright blue, moved the vertical position down, and sho'nuff, there it was. If you have your background color set to anything reasonable, I can't imagine that you'd ever notice this glitch. Scott Hood hinted that a fix may be in the works, anyway. Wonder if an upgrade would be offered? :-) +>So if anybody is using this card now, let me know what you think! + +Buy it! The flickering first half line is the only disadvantage to the +A2320. I've owned a flickerFixer for about three years, and while it's a +great piece of hardware, the A2320 is better in every other respect, +especially price. Agree totally. My dealer is selling them for $275, which is probably higher than they can be gotten for (think I saw $249 somewhere). At least with the Princeton, the performance is outstanding. If you can't tell, I also recommend the monitor. For a very reasonably priced monitor, it has been a quite pleasant suprise. +Blaine Gardner @ Evans & Sutherland 580 Arapeen Drive, SLC, Utah 84108 ken -- Ken Yarnall /// yarnall@usceast.cs.scarolina.EDU Math Department, USC \\\/// yarnall@ucseast.UUCP Columbia, S.C. 29208 \\\/ (803)777-5218 `You'd better tie me up.' -- from the movie, "Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down"
clemon@lemsys.UUCP (Craig Lemon) (12/01/90)
In a message posted on 1 Dec 90 06:03:11 GMT, yarnall@opusc.csd.scarolina.edu (Ken Yarnall) wrote: KY>In article <1990Nov30.145242.12101@javelin.es.com> blgardne@javelin.es.com (Blaine Gardner) writes: KY>+alanh@hpsmeng1.rose.hp (Alan Haight) writes: KY>+ KY>+> I'm looking for information on the new A2320 Display Enhancer Board from KY>+ KY>+>I know there was some other talk about this board some time back about it KY>+> having some kind of problem displaying the first video line. I guess the KY>+> first half line flickered. How bad is this ? Is it really annoying ? KY>+ KY>+The first half line does flicker. It is only annoying if you can see it. KY>+I have my A3000's monitor (a Sony CPD-1302) adjusted so there is a small KY>+black border on all four sides, so I can see the flicker. If you're like KY>+of lot of Amiga owners, and prefer no black border, then the flickering KY>+half line is behind the bezel, and there is no problem. KY> KY>Just got my A2320, which I am using with a Princeton UltraSync 14''. KY>Absolutely fantastic. KY> KY>I didn't see the top 1/3 line flicker thingie until I read Blaine's article. KY>Then I honked the background color up to this really disgusting bright blue, KY>moved the vertical position down, and sho'nuff, there it was. If you have KY>your background color set to anything reasonable, I can't imagine that you'd KY>ever notice this glitch. Scott Hood hinted that a fix may be in the works, KY>anyway. Wonder if an upgrade would be offered? :-) KY> Ken Yarnall /// yarnall@usceast.cs.scarolina.EDU This is something that I would like to address to Scott Hood. Would there be any sort of simple upgrade if a fix comes out sometime soon? I usually like to buy only perfected products (because I've always had bad luck getting ANYTHING when "it first comes out". Take for example 2000A's and old REV B2000s. There's _always_ fixes to everything and down the road what you bought turns almost unexpandable if not useless. Basically I'm wondering if an easy upgrade (or simple fix, like a ROM change) will be offered if a new, perfect A2230 is released in, say, the next six months. -- Craig Lemon - Kitchener, Ontario. Amiga B2000/10--2400 bps--AmigaUUCP 1.03D clemon@lemsys.UUCP or lemsys!clemon@xenitec.on.ca ....!{uunet}!watmath!xenitec!lemsys!clemon
hood@cbmvax.commodore.com (Scott Hood) (12/04/90)
In article <4087.660153204@lemsys.UUCP> clemon@lemsys.UUCP (Craig Lemon) writes: >In a message posted on 1 Dec 90 06:03:11 GMT, >yarnall@opusc.csd.scarolina.edu (Ken Yarnall) wrote: >KY>In article <1990Nov30.145242.12101@javelin.es.com> blgardne@javelin.es.com (Blaine Gardner) writes: >KY>+alanh@hpsmeng1.rose.hp (Alan Haight) writes: >KY>+ >KY>+> I'm looking for information on the new A2320 Display Enhancer Board from >KY>+ >KY>+>I know there was some other talk about this board some time back about it >KY>+> having some kind of problem displaying the first video line. I guess the >KY>+> first half line flickered. How bad is this ? Is it really annoying ? >KY>+ >KY>+The first half line does flicker. It is only annoying if you can see it. >KY>+I have my A3000's monitor (a Sony CPD-1302) adjusted so there is a small >KY>+black border on all four sides, so I can see the flicker. If you're like >KY>+of lot of Amiga owners, and prefer no black border, then the flickering >KY>+half line is behind the bezel, and there is no problem. >KY> >KY>Just got my A2320, which I am using with a Princeton UltraSync 14''. >KY>Absolutely fantastic. >KY> >KY>I didn't see the top 1/3 line flicker thingie until I read Blaine's article. >KY>Then I honked the background color up to this really disgusting bright blue, >KY>moved the vertical position down, and sho'nuff, there it was. If you have >KY>your background color set to anything reasonable, I can't imagine that you'd >KY>ever notice this glitch. Scott Hood hinted that a fix may be in the works, >KY>anyway. Wonder if an upgrade would be offered? :-) > >KY> Ken Yarnall /// yarnall@usceast.cs.scarolina.EDU > > This is something that I would like to address to Scott Hood. >Would there be any sort of simple upgrade if a fix comes out sometime >soon? I usually like to buy only perfected products (because I've always >had bad luck getting ANYTHING when "it first comes out". Take for example >2000A's and old REV B2000s. There's _always_ fixes to everything and down >the road what you bought turns almost unexpandable if not useless. > > Basically I'm wondering if an easy upgrade (or simple fix, like a >ROM change) will be offered if a new, perfect A2230 is released in, say, >the next six months. > >-- > Craig Lemon - Kitchener, Ontario. Amiga B2000/10--2400 bps--AmigaUUCP 1.03D > clemon@lemsys.UUCP or lemsys!clemon@xenitec.on.ca > ....!{uunet}!watmath!xenitec!lemsys!clemon It makes the most sense if any upgrade we devise is as simple to install as possible, say unplugging a chip and installing a new one. As to the A2320, I cannot comment about possible fixes and the like - I like my job to much! Anyway, it warms my heart to know that many people really like the performance and value of my first project at Commodore! I hope there are many, many more to come! Regards, Scott HOod -- -- Scott Hood, Hardware Design Engineer (A3000 Crew), Commodore-Amiga, Inc. {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!hood hood@cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com "The views expressed here are not necessarily those of my employer!"
alanh@hpsmeng1.rose.hp (Alan Haight) (12/12/90)
Well, I finally got my A2320 card on 12/8/90. So I thought I would reply
to my own request ;-) )
Basically all you have to do is plug the card into the video slot and then
plug your Multi-sync monitor into it and you are ready to go.
The board does come with a disk that has three pictures ( 1 in low-res, 1 in
hi-res, and 1 in Productivity mode for use with 2.0 [1280x400] ) You are
suppose to load each picture one at a time a check to make sure everything is
stable and clear. There is a small adjustment pot on the back of the board
that is accessable from the back of the Amiga. You may have to adjust this
pot for your Amiga. Mine did not require any adjustment at all. After all
screens are verified to be correct, you are ready to jam.
There are some other pictures on the disk that are suppose to show the dif-
ferences the board makes, but they are not very good samples. They are nice
pictures but don't show off the de-interlaced benefits very well. There should
have been a picture that had a lot of white horizontal lines on a black back-
ground that are one pixel apart to really make it flicker on the normal screen
in hi-res mode. Because now this comes out perfectly rock solid and clear.
Now you don't have to worry which colors you use where, they all work and look
gorgous !!!
I have a 300Mb Hard Drive full of Pictures and Animations and I tried every-
thing to make sure it would work. Well, I can report that it worked 100% with
everything I have and tried. Everything from low-res to hi-res, 16 color to
HAM, even Dynamic HAM and severe overscan stuff. Animations look great and
there isn't any motion blurring on the mouse pointer or screen.
If you are running in low-res (320x200 or 640x200), it even improves this
because it removes the black scan lines between every visible scan line. And
in hi-res (320x400 or 640x400) it eliminates the flicker too. The best example
to look at would be to look at an Amiga 3000 screen. The A2320 uses one of the
A3000's custom chips to give us the same quality display.
The board will also reconize one of the Productivity modes and automatically
pass it through to the monitor once we get the 2.0 AmigaDOS. I believe that
mode is the 1280x200 and 1280x400, but I don't have the manual here so I'm not
100% positive on which one it was.
Also the board has a switch on the back to pass the normal Amiga Video to
the monitor if you so choose. You can also use the standard RGB connector
on the Amiga at the same time as using the A2320's separate connector. It's
really impressive to have both my A1080 monitor and NEC 3D monitor hooked up
at the same time. You can then really see the difference this new board makes
while looking at the old screen and all of its uglyness !!!
The only slightly negative thing I can say, and it really isn't the boards
fault, is that on a low-res picture that has been dithered; is that the dither
pattern is slightly changed because there is now a second video scan line
where there would have been a black scan line. This just slightly changes the
way the area looks. It's not bad, it's just different. In fact it looks like
some Artists have used the black scan lines as part of there picture for both
dithering and mixing/smoothing effects.
There was some talk on the NET about this board having a problem with the
first scan line having some flicker in it. Well I can't find this error on
my screen. Either the problem was fixed, or my board doesn't have it, or my
monitor corrects it, or my eyes are going bad :-)
One last thing. With the NEC 3D monitor I can fill the screen from top to
bottom, but there is a quarter inch black gap on both the left and right sides.
You will notice this same effect if you display a picture that is not in over-
scan mode on a normal Amiga.
Well, if you haven't guested; I'm a completely satisified customer.
Thanks Commordore !!!
Great Job for a GREAT MACHINE.
Now I just need 16 Million Colors
and Amiga UNIX. (I hope they allow dealers to install UNIX on your HD so you
don't have to buy a Cartridge Tape Drive.) <--- READ CBM !!!
PS: My Hardware Setup ...
Amiga 2000
GVP030-33MHz
4Mb 32 bit RAM
4Mb 16 bit RAM - Microbotics
CLtd Kronos SCSI Controller w 300Mb & 200Mb drives
1Mb Chip RAM
KS & WB 1.3.2
Alan Haight
alan@hpsmo100.rose.hp.comjblake@hprnd.rose.hp.com (John Blake) (12/13/90)
In comp.sys.amiga.hardware, alanh@hpsmeng1.rose.hp (Alan Haight) writes: > > pot for your Amiga. Mine did not require any adjustment at all. After all > screens are verified to be correct, you are ready to jam. ^^^ Is this some new display mode? (perhaps an improved 'HAM'?) Inquiring minds want to know! ***************************************************************************** John Blake, KC6ORN Email: jblake@hprnd.rose.hp.com *****************************************************************************
blgardne@javelin.es.com (Blaine Gardner) (12/13/90)
alanh@hpsmeng1.rose.hp (Alan Haight) writes: [Many wonderful things about the A2320 deleted.] > There was some talk on the NET about this board having a problem with the >first scan line having some flicker in it. Well I can't find this error on >my screen. Either the problem was fixed, or my board doesn't have it, or my >monitor corrects it, or my eyes are going bad :-) Or you have the first line of video hidden behind the bezel of the display. > One last thing. With the NEC 3D monitor I can fill the screen from top to >bottom, but there is a quarter inch black gap on both the left and right sides. Ok, now adjust the monitor so that there IS a black border on the top and bottom of the picture. Display a light colored background. Now do you see the first 1/2 line of video flickering? As I've said in an earlier posting, this is only a problem if you like to have the display adjusted with black borders around the video, so you can use the entire active video area. If you prefer to have the active video reach from edge to edge and top to bottom, you'll never see the problem. It's a matter of taste, I prefer to use every pixel I can get my greedy little hands on. :-) > and Amiga UNIX. (I hope they allow dealers to install UNIX on your HD so you > don't have to buy a Cartridge Tape Drive.) <--- READ CBM !!! Umm, if you don't buy a tape drive, what are you going to do backups to? Floppies are just too painful for drives over a hundred megabytes! -- Blaine Gardner @ Evans & Sutherland 580 Arapeen Drive, SLC, Utah 84108 blgardne%javelin@dsd.es.com ...dsd.es.com!javelin!blgardne (I hope) {decwrl, utah-cs}!esunix!blgardne DoD #0046 My other motorcycle is a Quadracer. BIX: blaine_g
kengo@rpi.edu (Ken Goldenberg) (12/17/90)
I've just about had it with my 1084. As if the flicker (not just the NORMAL
interlace flicker... we're talkign the "I've been in interlace for hours now
why don't you type 'lace'" flicker) wasn't bad enough, my monitor is now
doing the BLANKING thing, and I've getting a sore hand punching the thing.
I'm just about ready to take the plunge into a new monitor. What EXACTLY
do I need to use the deinterlacer? Everyone says "multisync," but I thought
that was just an NEC trademark product. I know SONY has a mutiscan or somn,
so what do I NEED? If I can just use "any ole" VGA monitor, I'll save a bit
from what I see in the catalogs... Any help?
-Mitch
--
kengo@rpi.edu |"...it surrounds us and penetrates us
ken_goldenberg@rpitsmts.bitnet|and binds the galaxy together" -G.L
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"What a day you had today/It took your smile away" --Heart