marshall@wind55.seri.gov (Marshall L. Buhl) (11/17/90)
I finally installed our US Video Recordable VGA card and gave it a test drive. We paid $487 for it and the list was $700 (I think). We got the 256K version. A 512K version is also available. There is a GenLock option for it too. I think this has something to do with overlaying text on a video image. This is a card that replaces your VGA card and provides NTSC output in addition to the normal VGA. This means you can hook up one or more TVs and/or VCRs to your PC. This way, someone giving a demonstration can work on the PC while looking at the normal VGA monitor. The audience watches the demo on TVs. And you can record this for future playback. It is actually an SVGA card and runs at higher resolutions if you have the correct driver for your software. Some drivers are provided. There was not a Win3 driver, but there were WIN/286 and WIN/386 drivers. They may have written a Win3 driver by now. I haven't called them yet. They have some demo programs and with 256K, you can get 320x200x256, 640x400x256, 640x350x16, 640x480x16 and 800x600x16. I believe the 512K version supports 1024x768x16, 800x600x256 and 640x480x256. When I first got it working I was disappointed. The picture on a TV is not nearly as good as it is on a VGA monitor. Eighty column text is barely readable. This is due to inadequacies in NTSC (TVs), not in the card. When you record, it gets even worse. As most of you know, VCR images are not as good as broadcast images. Forty column text is very readable. My users who wanted the card were thrilled. They have been recording screen images by pointing a camera at the screen. Apparently, this is MUCH better. In the few minutes I've spent with it, I've found some little quirks that bother me. When one switches from normal VGA on the monitor to dual device mode, one must reboot the PC. That doesn't bother me too much, but with our NEC MultiSync (the original), I had to readjust the vertical hold, size and position in addition to the horizontal position. This is a bit of a hassle. You have to do it again when you go back to standard VGA mode. I could not get the 800x600x16 mode to work properly when driving the TV. Only the left half of the screen had any image and the screen rolled very fast. I could not stop the roll. It was like this on both the monitor and TV. When I rebooted into the VGA only mode, I could sync it up. After running the 800x600x16 demo, I had to adjust the vertical hold to stop the roll. This may be a monitor problem. If you plan to record, you may want to stick to 320x200x256. I don't think a VCR can handle more than 200 lines anyway. The images recorded at this resolution were much clearer than at higher resolutions. We used an expensive Super VHS recorder. The only reason I can see for running at higher resolutions would be in pure VGA or SVGA mode. You can then run Windows in high res like you normally would, and switch to lower resolutions when you want to drive NTSC (TV or VCR). I had this in an 8 MHz AT clone that I had lying around. The demos ran fairly slowly. They really slowed down at higher resolutions. I'd hate to run Windows on this PC. Some day (if I get a Win3 driver) I will put the board in a faster machine and check out the difference. Like I said, we used an old NEC MultiSync monitor for the VGA output. This monitor is not a true multisync like the 2a. From what I understand, they only sync horizontally. When connected to a standard VGA card, one has to adjust the vertical height every time the video mode changes. This is very annoying and I may never forgive NEC for this. I bought a bunch of NECs for "compatibility with future video standards" when EGA was king. Well the next standard that came along (VGA) doesn't work well with this monitor. Now I have to buy new monitors to go with our new VGA cards. I should have saved the government's money and bought pure EGA monitors. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20. I'm going to be swapping a real multisync SVGA monitor with a pure VGA monitor next week for other reasons. I'll try the SVGA on this card while it's running around loose. If I notice any improvement over the old NEC, I'll let you know. I'm also going to call US Video about a Win3 driver. The long term user of this board wants 800x600x16 for Win3, so I'll have to keep this in the AT until we get that driver. To sum up, this board is useful if you are giving a demonstration before a large group. You may want to have several TVs (they need video input), so no one sits too far away. Eighty column text is difficult, but possible, to read. It is also useful if you want to record screen images. It works MUCH better than shooting the screen with a camera. Later. -- Marshall L. Buhl, Jr. EMAIL: marshall@seri.gov Senior Computer Missionary VOICE: (303)231-1014 Wind Research Branch 1617 Cole Blvd., Golden, CO 80401-3393 Solar Energy Research Institute Solar - safe energy for a healthy future
marshall@wind55.seri.gov (Marshall L. Buhl) (11/21/90)
I earlier wrote: >I finally installed our US Video Recordable VGA card and gave it... >It is actually an SVGA card and runs at higher resolutions if you >have the correct driver for your software. Some drivers are >provided. There was not a Win3 driver, but there were WIN/286 >and WIN/386 drivers. They may have written a Win3 driver by now. They have and it is on its way. -- Marshall L. Buhl, Jr. EMAIL: marshall@seri.gov Senior Computer Missionary VOICE: (303)231-1014 Wind Research Branch 1617 Cole Blvd., Golden, CO 80401-3393 Solar Energy Research Institute Solar - safe energy for a healthy future