I've gone RGB.

[StriderKyo]

What's the deal with them? Like, why are they there?

[Kentaochstoffe]

Whats the difference between this and a normal tv(pal) hooked up with rgb cables?

[Cheebs]

Originally posted by StriderKyo
What's the deal with them? Like, why are they there?

They are, quite simply, lines created from (the electron beam) scanning. When the resolution is that low (300 or so lines vertically), there is some space in between the scans of the gun. The black lines are just the increadibly tiny portion of the screen that never get lit up by the scanning gun. In high res progressive scan, there are no gaps and thus the whole monitor is "lit up". Trust me, it's a good thing they're there. Pixels are not ment to look like sharp squares. They should have softer edges, and that is exactly what scan lines give them.

Originally posted by BenT
Right. XRGB-2 has an option to generate fake scanlines. At first I didn't like them, as they seemed to make the image look darker than it would with real scanlines. However, I later found them to be very preferable to the overly pixelated line-doubled look that low-res games have without them.

Hey BenT, for kicks you should get yourself a $20 Commodore analogue RGB monitor and hook a Saturn or something simmilarly RGB friendly (no need to strip sync from composite video like a Playstation or SNES) and see what that looks like. It's even better when you are not upscanning.

Originally posted by Kentaochstoffe
Whats the difference between this and a normal tv(pal) hooked up with rgb cables?

The difference between the XRGB and Scart TV's is the upscanning done in the XRGB needed to display a signal on a VGA monitor. You are actually better of with a Scart TV since the upscanning can be avoided. We just can't get Scart TV's in the US.

[StriderKyo]

Originally posted by Chibi Nappa
They are, quite simply, lines created from (the electron beam) scanning. When the resolution is that low (300 or so lines vertically), there is some space in between the scans of the gun. The black lines are just the increadibly tiny portion of the screen that never get lit up by the scanning gun. In high res progressive scan, there are no gaps and thus the whole monitor is "lit up". Trust me, it's a good thing they're there. Pixels are not ment to look like sharp squares. They should have softer edges, and that is exactly what scan lines give them.

I totally agree, that's why I like them. People often unfairly jump on PC Engine games for looking like they belong on the NES because they're just playing them through emulation. Those lines make a massive difference.

[Ryan]

Originally posted by Chibi Nappa
Check Wells Gardner. I don't know if that's what he has, but I got a 27 inch multi-sync that sounds quite similar to that from WG.

I actually found a Mitsubishi MegaView 29 (AM-2725A). Matt gave me this list of multi-scan monitors and it is very usefull for finding monitors that can do 15 hz

http://lsturaro.sites.uol.com.br/mon15khz.html

I found the perfect thing to represent RGB yesterday. I was playing Yoshi's Island for SNES. One of the mini-games is to collect more coins than your opponent.

Well at the top of the screen during this game are three square boxes colored Red, Green, and Blue. In RGB they are so damn perfect it is unbeleivable.

[undamned]

I'll hopefully be trying out my new Apple IIGS RGB monitor, this weekend. Cute little 13incher and looks just as symetrical vertically as it does horizontally

I've got a few cabs, but I kinda wanted something that could float around the house. I also want to try applying one of those cheap magnification kits you see on ebay and see how it looks projected on one of my walls
-ud

[skelly]

Originally posted by Valgar
I actually found a Mitsubishi MegaView 29 (AM-2725A).

Hmm, sounds cool. Does that thing have overscan like a TV, or none like a proper VGA monitor?

[Melf]

I was considering getting an inexpensive monitor for some DC tate playing but they're so expensive. Where'd you guys get those cheap Commodore monitors?

[VNZ]

Whats the difference between this and a normal tv(pal) hooked up with rgb cables?

None! Except if you're actually playing in PAL mode the scanlines are slighty less visible.

Also, many of the new (stupid) widescreen / 100Hz / etc tv-sets can't properly display a non-interlaced image.. Never ever use a stupid modern TV for gaming, it's practically like playing in an emulator with those ridiculous SuperSAI/Eagle/etc filters - they often even get the not-100%-smooth-scrolling (as often seen when running emus) right.

Perhaps one should stock up on good old 4:3 29" TV's without any type of "image enhancement" while they're still available..

[Videodrone]

Originally posted by Melf
I was considering getting an inexpensive monitor for some DC tate playing but they're so expensive. Where'd you guys get those cheap Commodore monitors?

Goodwill, used electronic stores...places like that...if there is a place that sells old office equipment in you area stop by, chance are that have had some old RGB monitor sitting around forever...