Eboshidori escribió:I saw a link to Starcab.net, even if it's not about a Hantarex monitor, so I guess your monitor is really an arcade one, and not a stand-alone broadcast monitor or something else. And man, in arcades, almost everything is analog video since decades. Your tri-sync monitor, like many arcade monitors, is designed for analog video, for several frequencies, and it has only one connector, so every signals will go inside (and you can be sure it's analog only, because when you have digital+analog monitors, you always have separate connectors).
I'm afraid those're two different discussions, so to clarify: Pegote's monitor (see his first post) is apparently a Hantarex videowall-type monitor, with only a 9-pin input. As far as I know, those weren't actually different to the ones they made for arcade cabs, though they got a shell and different connectors, depending on the model. For this one, he's not sure if it's tri-sync, hence the inquiry.
The Starcab link Calamity posted was intended as an example for CGA/EGA/VGA monitors, as opposed to analog multi-sync monitors as you explain, since I asked him about reprogramming his ATI driver for multi-sync users (as they're now, you only can use them for 15 kHz). He was trying to tell us that he wouldn't know how to properly modify the driver unless he gets one of these monitors, given that he doesn't want to release an untested soft.
You need to know the pin-out of the connector (pins for composite sync at 15 and 24/25 kHz, and separate sync at 31 kHz), and you need to know if the frequency selection is automatic or if you need to move a jumper on the chassis (on the big PCB under the picture tube).
That's a very good reminder.
Beware that arcade monitors standard is 2.5 to 5 Volts for video signal (15-24 kHz), 1 volt for 31 Khz.
If you want to plug any home console or you PC driven at 15 kHz (1 volt), you need a video amplifier, otherwise you will get a very dark picture.
That too. Some elaboration on this for posterity's sake, please?
Some monitors can accept non standard frequencies (outside the basic 15-16, 24-25 and 31-33 kHz), but most of them are locked around those.
That answers the question Calamity and I had. Pretty much confirms our guess.
Anyway, there are very few resolutions used at 24-25 and 31 Khz, because there are very few games that run at those frequencies. When you talk about 24 kHz, most time it's Sega hardware (and few Konami ones), with two or three given resolutions, and 31 Khz is mostly used for 640x480 (I don't know if there are games at 853x480, for example).
While 24 kHz is indeed obscure (though it may be worth just for Gain Ground), 640 x 480 is used by many, many games. And not only PC ones, you know.
Some Japanese computer may use different resolutions at those frequencies (like 768x512) , but the most diverse frequencies are around 15 kHz (and most of the best video games ever run at 15 kHz
768 x 512 is actually used only by Sharp's X-68000, it seems. Would be nice to get it (or 512 x 512) on your 31-kHz monitor, but better yet, 512 x 512 interlaced on your Trinitron TV in order to de-interlace the games via the TV's feature and get them displayed at their design resolution. It's indeed a tricky subject and I still need to discuss it with Calamity. And deserves a whole article, I guess.
