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The Dream Vintage Computer Monitor

G

Great Hierophant

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Mar 22, 2006
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Location
Massachusetts, USA
I would dearly love a monitor that could support all of the following:

TTL signal input for MDA/CGA*/EGA with support for 15, 18 & 21kHz (200/350 lines)
Analog RGB input for Amiga, Atari ST, VGA from 320x200 to 1024x768 @ 50-70Hz.
NTSC/PAL field rate support (interlacing @ 25i and 29.97i)
NTSC/PAL color ccomposite & S-Video decoding
True Monochrome Analog (elimination of color burst)
Seperate Sync & Composite Sync

* - Color 6 should be brown, not dark yellow

Such a monitor could support the output of virtually every home vintage computer that has existed. Apple IIs use composite connections, as do most Atari 8-bits and Commodore 64s but some support separate Luma/Chroma (a.k.a. S-Video). Atari STs and Amigas support analog RGB monitors, as does the Apple IIgs. The IBM PC does as well through VGA, but the horizontal scan frequencies are higher than a more classic analog RGB display can handle.
The monitor should be a CRT, and should be of the larger variety (21"). Most vintage monitors seemed to hover around the 13" mark, but that is kind of small in today's world.
 
The Mitsubishi AUM-1381 came pretty close, but was 14".

Other than that, I don't know of one that meets your needs. Given that used AUM-1381s go for $500-800 used, how much do you suppose that you'll have to charge for your dream unit?

Why not design something?
 
Chuck(G) said:
The Mitsubishi AUM-1381 came pretty close, but was 14".

Other than that, I don't know of one that meets your needs. Given that used AUM-1381s go for $500-800 used, how much do you suppose that you'll have to charge for your dream unit?
Click to expand...

I have one of those. I got it at a computer show years ago for less than one tenth that amount. The composite video input produces a fuzzy, color-streaked image, but all other modes and inputs work fine. It is rated at "800x560" resolution but will display 800x600 perfectly. In TTL monochrome mode it gives you a simulated amber phosphor.

Mitsubishi had a 20-inch version of the Diamond Scan, but I don't know if it had all the inputs and could synch down to 15 kHz. It may have been strictly a VGA/Super VGA monitor.

If you don't need EGA or VGA capability, the Commodore 1084S (sometimes also branded as an Amiga) is a popular choice. It does composite, luma/chroma (a.k.a. S-Video), analog RGB, and digital RGB -- and it has built-in amplified stereo speakers (the "S" in 1084S stands for Stereo; the regular 1084 has one built-in mono speaker). All of the Commodore/Amiga monitors were great, but the 1084S was the cream of the crop.
 
An all purpose monitor like that would be nice, but it better have a built in handle because you will be moving it around from machine to machine a lot.

Anybody bother to design a good KVM for older Amiga/ST/CGA/etc systems?
 
vwestlife said:
I have one of those. I got it at a computer show years ago for less than one tenth that amount. The composite video input produces a fuzzy, color-streaked image, but all other modes and inputs work fine. It is rated at "800x560" resolution but will display 800x600 perfectly. In TTL monochrome mode it gives you a simulated amber phosphor.
Click to expand...

A few months ago, I saw one at the local computer recycler and told them to hang onto it, but I don't know if they did. They suffer from a "Don't tell us what it's worth; it's all junk" attitude.

I have the 1381 also (got it new many years ago). The 20" model doesn't have composite input. It's the display I drag out when I don't know what kind of video signal to expect from a piece of gear.
 
I'd say don't look for a monitor that can handle all of that instead you need a device that will translate all of those signals coming it to an output that will work with most any modern monitor, a scan converter should do the trick. There are some out there that can do what you are describing, though I don't think I have come across one that does all the resolutions you are talking about.

It would be great project to make a universal scan convertor, one that can take all the inputs you mention and automatically scale them upto a 1024x768 RGBHV signal. Going this route means you can get a cheep 15" LCD monitor to work with any vintage system you want.

EDIT: This one is pretty close, not bad for $50 since it will handle CGA and EGA inputs.
 
Chuck(G) said:
Same one's on eBay for ~$30. But will it correctly translate CGA color 6 to brown and not light yellow?
Click to expand...

I have no idea about that since I don't own one. What I would be curious about is now much of the translation is done via software and now much is done via the hardware. If it is all software then I am sure that someone on this forum could probably write a new firmware for it to include more than just CGA and EGA as input source and correct the colour 6 issue on the CGA signal.
 
I have had no luck getting the cga,ega to vga convertor board to work with pc cga or ega. I haven't tried it with other computer video signals yet. I will try it with an old ghostbusters arcade machine I have, just to verify that it will translate something.

Kipp
 
Does the Commodore 1084S's digital RGB port actually support EGA? (I've read that EGA has 31kHz at some places, 15.something kHz on others).
 
Thanks, but, so.... would it work then? Or will you again be limited to the 200-lines modes?
 
I have a Sony GVM-1311Q that comes close. It will handle TTL and analog RGB, composite, and S-video. It can sync down to 15kHz, and up to SVGA. It can handle PAL scanning rates, but it doesn't have a PAL decoder (although there's space on the board for a multi system decoder, so maybe a better model had it). It has a nice anti-glare fine pitch CRT, and it doesn't blank the picture if it goes out of sync (can be handy for troubleshooting odd video problems). I'm not sure if it correctly displays TTL brown. It was made for medical use, and I know there was a 20" version.
 
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