acook@athena.mit.edu (Andrew R Cook) (01/03/91)
Considering the large volume of video selection questions posted, and the scant list of posted responses, I though it would be useful to poll the netexpertise on the subject, then post a summary of the responses. Since I am about to buy all new video for my computer, but have not decided yet what to get, it seemed that this was a good idea. Please reply to my email address, that will spare clutter on the net. OK. I don't want to spend more than $1000 for both board and monitor. VGA seems the way to go. Any suggestions on what the best video board(s) are? Important qualifications are speed, register-level backwards compatibility with older standards (EGA, CGA, Herc), VESA compliance, flexibility (# of colors, etc..), and driver support. It looks like ATI's new VGA Wonder + is a winner, it claims more speed than VRAM, has some windows drivers, and is compatible with VESA and older standards. Any comments/other suggestions ? That reminds me, it might be useful to know what drivers different boards have, and how useable the drivers are. Monitors. Interlaced, or non-interlaced. I understand that non-interlaced has less flicker at 1024x768, but any experiences with specific video combinations that are interlaced? Specifically, which board/monitor did you use that looked bad or good? The motivation, of course, for getting an interlaced monitor like the NEC 3D is cost, and variable scanning frequencies (which allows compatibility with other video standards). Are there any low cost multisync non-interlaced monitors (ones that support also EGA, CGA, Herc) ? I konw of the NEC 4D, but that would push me out of the $1000 limit. Does anyone know about or own the Seiko CM1450 or the SONY 1304 ? I know these are non-interlaced, but can they also switch to the scan frequencies required by EGA, CGA, Herc ? How good is the picture produced by the Trinitron tube in both of these - I understand that the vertical slots in the mask tend to produce thicker vertical lines than horizontal lines. Is this a noticable or annoying effect? Please send responses to : acook@athena.mit.edu Thanks in advance. I will post a summary in 1-2 weeks. Andy Cook.
acook@athena.mit.edu (Andrew R Cook) (01/09/91)
Hi - I am still trying to collect people's opinions on the best VGA video combinations for under $1000. I have gotten some responses, but need more information before I will post a summary (which I hope to do in a week or so). Here are a few specific questions that I have: 1) Non-interlaced moonitors like the Sony 1304, Seiko 1450, NEC 4D have horizonatal scanning frequencies that cover the range of 30-50 khz. A concern of mine, is that some software does not support (gasp) VGA, they use EGA or even Hercules (shudder). The required horizontal frequencies for these standards are in the neighborhood of 15-20 khz; clearly out of the range of the above mentioned monitors. My question is, what will sVGA video boards do, if the program requests EGA ? Can/will they take the EGA requests, and display them at a frequency the the monitor can handle (ie VGA) ? Or is the bottom line that I can no longer use EGA software if I get one of the above monitors? Does anyone have any experience with this? 2) Drivers. Specifically, what drivers are included with different boards, and how useable are they? My understanding is that 16 color drivers at 640x480, 800x600, and 1024x768 are available for most applications, but that 256 color drivers, if available, don't work very well. The most important application is probably Windows, since I really don't need 256 colors for word processing or programming. 3) Has anyone tried to write code (C or ASM) for the higher resolution modes? What code is available (commercial or public domain) for writing root-level graphics applications in 800x600 and 1024x768 ? Thanks for your responses. (send all responses to acook@athena.mit.edu; a summary will be posted in a week or so). Andy Cook acook@athena.mit.edu