amiga lcd monitors pricelist
One of the major issues facing returning or new Amiga users is displaying the video output. This instalment of the beginner’s series touches on the technical issue itself then presents some solutions that people in the Amiga Retro Brisbane use.
This article makes reference to modifying the Amiga or other hardware. While the author believes all the information contained here is correct, please conduct your own research prior to beginning any electronics work and please do not undertake an electronics project if you are not confident and not prepared to risk the destruction of whatever you are working on. CRTs contain high voltages and should only be worked on by experienced personnel. The author and all other members of ARB, and any of our affiliates, do not accept any liability arising from this article including personal injury. All electronics is carried out at your own risk. You have been warned!
The Amiga’s standard video output in Australia, the UK, New Zealand, and Europe, is a PAL 4096 (12-bit) colour at various resolutions with a 15 kHz Horizontal Sync* (being an Australian site we will focus on PAL machines in the beginner’s series). This meant that the Amiga’s video output was compatible with the CRT televisions and monitors of the day. This also means that it is NOT compatible with modern televisions or modern monitors, including most VGA monitors from the 1990s and 2000s, which require a 31 kHz input. The video port itself also presents an issue, being pretty much the only device in the world that uses a D-sub 23 port. Thanks Commodore!
*AGA and ECS Amigas can be made to output a VGA compatible 31 kHz signal, but this is really only useful for software that will run under Workbench 2.0 or greater. It will not work for most games, which are hard-coded to run at 15 kHz.
If price is no object or your Amiga came with the original monitor then use it, that"s what it"s for! Commodore and other vendors produced 15 kHz monitors and multisync monitors (monitors that can display 15 kHz and VGA) that are designed for the Amiga. They are the easiest solution since there is no requirement to make a cable, and they are the only solution to people who are interested in historical accuracy.
Many other computer systems of the day, including Apple II and Atari ST machines, as well as arcade machines, use a 15 kHz video output. Monitors from these machines can be made to work with the Amiga provided a suitable cable can be obtained or manufactured.
The Amiga video output is able to be used with the European SCART input, and in fact some versions of some Amiga monitors such as the 1084 came with a compatible SCART cable. Unfortunately SCART is not common in Australia. If a SCART TV or monitor can be found all that is required is a suitable cable. While the construction of such a cable is outside the scope of this article this may be the subject of a future article. In the meantime just ask and we can help, or look up Amiga SCART on your favourite search engine.
While they are not common some modern LCD monitors and TVs will accept a 15 kHz RGB signal. All that is required is the 23 pin to 15 pin buffered adapter (these are reasonably cheap, try AmigaKit or eBay) and a VGA cable. A list of monitors that MAY be compatible with the Amiga’s RGB signal can be found at http://15khz.wikidot.com/. Be careful choosing one as some monitors do not let you adjust the aspect ratio or horizontal width and can force the Amiga"s video to display widescreen.
Back in the 1980s Commodore often bundled the A520 with the A500 and they are fairly common even today. The device connects to the video port of the Amiga and output a composite and RF signal for display on a television. While composite (and its RF derivative) has a poor picture quality by nature (six signals are being compressed onto one analogue line), if the only aim is to play games it is a low-cost solution. The A520 can also be modified to output S-Video for a much clearer output (S-Video being an intermediate step between RGB and Composite), refer http://members.iinet.net.au/~davem2/overclock/A520.html and note that this has not been ground-truthed by the author. Also note that there are PAL and NTSC editions of the A520, in Australia we need PAL.
There are other options that connect to the Amiga’s video port. The Author is aware of at least two S-Video adapters. The first is based on the ADZ724 video encoder, and there are many versions of it on the internet including this one https://www.everythingamiga.com/2017/02/amiga-rgb-to-s-video-adapter.html (note that the schematic is for NTSC but it’s easy enough to change to PAL, also not ground truthed but no reason why it wouldn’t work).
There is an open source RGB to component (YCrCb) adapter called the A520HD by GG Labs https://gglabs.us/node/983. While it does output component video the Amiga’s output is only 240p and is not compatible with all televisions.
The Amiga 3000 has a built in flicker fixer/scan doubler based on the Amber chip. It’s the easiest way to get VGA from an Amiga – it does it from the factory! Commodore and other vendors also made internal scan doublers for the other big box machines (2000 and 4000). These are the most historically accurate scan doublers and are a good solution if budget is not a concern.
The big news of 2021 was the release of an open source HDMI video adapter for OCS and ECS Amigas (i.e. A1000, A500/+, A2000, A3000, A600, CDTV). It"s built around the Raspberry Pi Zero, which takes the digital outputs from Denise and outputs them to its HDMI port.
It is possible to modify most if not all TVs made in the 1990s and 2000s to accept an RGB input. This involves intercepting the signal between the microprocessor and the jungle chip and inserting the Amiga’s video output there instead. This option is definitely the most budget option as it uses about $10 worth of parts (plus a cable to the Amiga). This may be the subject of a future article but in the meantime try Googling “RGB hack”. Do not attempt this if you do not know what you are doing as CRTs have extremely high voltages that may still be present after the set has been unplugged; refer the disclaimer.
Australian company Microbee makes a D23 to D9 cable http://www.microbeetechnology.com.au/store/amiga-video-cable-kit-23pin-male-to-9pin-male.html suitable for some 1084 monitors, the GBS 8220, and the Red Keg SVideo adapter mentioned above. It is preassembled for $22 plus postage and is recommended as an easy solution. Amiga SCART cables can be found on eBay for roughly $30 delivered from Europe.
Not sure if this is in the right sub-forum, but this seemed like the closest match. Feel free to move it if its in the wrong place. In my time browsing Amiga topics on the internet, I notice that most users have their Amigas hooked up to a monitor and I rarely hear anyone use a TV with the Amiga. Has anyone here ever used their Amiga with a TV?
Until recently, I only ever used a TV with my A500. In my opinion, I found the picture quality to be just fine. Then again, I"m also the guy who still hooks up his Sega Genesis via composite as opposed to upgrading to RGB Scart, which seems to be the trend now in the retro console gaming world. Back on topic, what made me hook up my A500 to a monitor was that I bought a game that refused to run in NTSC and none of my TVs supported PAL. While I would have loved to have used a Commodore or another period-correct CRT monitor with my Amiga, the prices for them in 2017 are too high in my opinion, so I bought an Amiga to VGA adapter along with a NEC 1970NX monitor. Together, they were less than $100. The monitor works great with my Amiga and now I can run it in PAL mode for those games that refuse to work in NTSC mode. For audio, I hooked the Amiga up to a little old stereo amplifier from Radioshack with speakers. I use my Amiga for creative writing a lot and I will admit that text does look sharper when outputting RGB as opposed to composite.
In the end, I still think TV is good enough for the Amiga. The only time when I think you absolutely need a monitor is when you are dealing with PAL/NTSC issues or if you want to use higher resolutions in graphics programs maybe. I haven"t played around with too many graphics programs on the Amiga, except for Deluxe Paint. Deluxe Paint works fine in low resolution mode on my TV, but high resolution made everything look small and I found it unusable. I haven"t tried it on my monitor.
The Amiga 1000 was the world"s first multimedia computer. It could run multiple tasks at once, and its superior graphics, sound, and video capabilities made it a favorite amongst graphic designers. The Amiga 1000 launch party also attracted artists and included the likes of Andy Warhol, Debbie Harry, and musical group Blondie.
Like some of its predecessors, including the Commodore 64, the Commodore Amiga is one of the most popular computers in history, selling more than 6 million units. The Amiga was relatively affordable and was also the first commercially available machine capable of animation and graphic design work.
If you’ve been in the market for a new LCD computer monitor to replace the hulking CRT monitor taking up desk space, you’ve noticed the prices falling rapidly.
But analysts and executives say this fall might be a very good time to buy that LCD monitor, because the roller-coaster ride of prices could firm by next year.
“With LCD monitors, a lot of the pricing has to do with the panel manufacturers, who are mostly in China, Korea and Taiwan,” said Adam Swantoko, senior account manager with AOC Displays.
Fremont-based AOC Displays is the American subsidiary of the largest computer monitor maker in the world, TPV Technology Ltd. of Hong Kong. TPV supplies LCD monitors to the major PC makers of the world as well as directly to consumers through the Envision product line, whose U.S. headquarters also is in Fremont.
“The pricing of the panels, at the component level, has come down 20 percent in the last year in the case of 15-inch panels and 30 percent for 17-inch panels. And that relates directly to the price of LCD monitors at retail,” Swantoko said. “Between now and the end of the year we probably won’t see much difference, although panel prices of 15-inch and 17-inch are coming up a little.”
Analyst Sweta Dash of iSuppli, a market research firm, said most monitor manufacturers have too much panel inventory and are taking losses on the lowest advertised LCD monitor prices. “That’s the lowest it can go,” she said.
Philips Electronics, which has an LCD monitor unit based in Seoul, South Korea, had been vying with TPV to be the major supplier of computer monitors to PC manufacturers.
This summer, TPV paid $2 billion to acquire Philips’ operation, which manufactures LCD monitors for computer makers that later add branding to the generic monitors.
The total LCD market, including those used for small consumer items from cell phones to computer and laptop monitors to the larger big-screen TVs, is $19 billion to $20 billion a year, according to analyst Troy Peery of Oppenheimer & Co. in New York.
LCD stands for liquid crystal display. The technology that allows monitors to be sleek, light and 4 inches thin has to do with the molecular nature of liquid crystals.
The once revolutionary technology is now found in hundreds of consumer goods from $2 watches and calculators to cell phone handsets, laptop computers, automobile dashboards and sophisticated graphics computer monitors.
Market researcher DisplaySearch said average prices for 15-inch monitors fell about 20 percent in the second quarter (or early summer) to $228, while 17-inch monitors fell to $285 from above $300. Predictably, LCD monitors also grabbed market share from the standard cathode ray tube monitors, DisplaySearch said, such that 65 percent of all new personal computers sold are sold with LCD monitors.
CRTs can be abundant if you have good places in your local community to look, but they are getting trickier to track down each passing year. And while nothing’s stopping you from using a modern LCD for retro gaming, you may want to track down a square-shaped LCD (mostly 4:3 aspect ratio) so your classic content seems a bit more “at home” — avoiding those black bars.
So whether you’re looking for a cheap 4:3 LCD to use with your MiSTER FPGA setup, have a classic personal computer, or just want something for watching “full screen” video content or a emulation box to run on, I’m hoping this guide is helpful in your shopping.
Granted LCDs, especially older models, aren’t ideal for retro gaming compared to CRTs. LCDs often down’t have as deep of black colors and there is input lag involved among some other issues.
However, LCDs are easier to move around and store and use less electricity. And even though there are many die-hard CRT fans out there, there are also many long-time retro fans that have been using the recommended monitors below for a while and been happy with their performance. I’ve even quoted and handful of enthusiasts to give you a good perspective on these recommendations. And don’t forget, eventually LCDs might be much easier to find and purchase remotely then the CRTs counterparts.
Early LCD monitors may show a lack of technical maturity, however, near some of the later ones that we are focusing on have some decent IPS technology with reasonable color and response times.
In the end, I thought this would be a fun, lighthearted look at some options for those that are interested. If you have any commentary on the matter, please share your thoughts and suggestions in the comments section below. Just be respectful — not looking for CRT vs LCD wars