Ignition to my Fignition

[Rob Fielding]

Brilliant Sunday afternoon project.  Thanks!

Everything fitted together and booted up first go. All tests checkout and firmware flash to 0.9.7. 

Magic!

I have a D revision board.

One small issue seems to be video timing, if anyone has any advice:

- HP 2475W multi-input monitor, composite in

- 2007 era Samsung HD LCD TV, composite in

- firmware 0.9.7 PAL version auto senses 575i

- firmware 0.9.7 NTSC version auto senses 480i (IIRC)

On the HP

- picture experience with the PAL version has a what I can only describe as a bouncy "heart beat" and bends top left, then soon after bends right. - Bright band at the top of the screen (all the hallmarks of timing issue)

- NTSC is much more still, with a slight shimmer in the graphics. 

On the TV

- PAL picture is straight, but continuously bounces (about half the high of the copyright message)

- picture NTSC is rock stable and currently the preferred option

Im based in UK and this is all equipment is UK sourced, btw.

My intention was to not plug fignition directly into the monitor but into a composite capture card so I can run fignition in a window. However the computer is more picky and all my attempts to get a good sync just crash the capture making this option a complete no go. I'm getting a picture with identifiable stuff, but it's not right and the errors I'm getting suggest it cannot pick up a good sync from the source which eventually kills it.

Am I expecting too much or am I describing a real problem?

Would s-video mod be useful ? Can I probably learn something by multi-metering some things, if you could be kind enough to point me at some correct voltages I can test for. I do have a digital meter.

Best!

Rob

[David]

Well that is interesting about the video problems, my experience was that version D into a PAL monitor was not useable as the display bounces about all over the place as the monitor looses sync and often goes to its 'no signal' screen*, into an NTSC monitor was rock steady but missing lines makes it very hard to read#, into the capture card in the PC excellent, however reseting the Fignition by unplugging tends to crash the capture program as Windows wonders what happened to the unrecognised USB connection (perhaps I should just cut the USB tracks). 

I bought the monitor to make the Fignition portable, using it with the PC it certainly isn't.

* as a comparison the Propeller is rock steady into everything.

# is a NTSC version any better?

David

[Cristian Arezzini]

I had the same problem with my Fignition. On a cheap, micro TV monitor (3.5") the PAL firmware was unusable, vertically bouncing all the time. The NTSC version is perfect.

Cristian

[carl]

I use NTSC on my LCD 7" monitor , the PAL only seems relevant to me if I were to use it on a CRT that I use to watch BBC etc on. 

[Julian Skidmore]

Hi Rob,

Really glad you had fun building your RevD FIGnition and that it worked :-)

I find that on CRTs, the PAL video is steady, but LCDs are variable in response and it's almost certainly a marginal timing issue - though I guess it could be a voltage sync issue. Somewhere in the priorities is the goal of correcting this, via a firmware update.

-cheers from julz

--
                             
                  The DIY 8-bit computer from nichemachines™

[Rob Fielding]

Applied the recent PAL firmware fix and all is rock steady on the TV and HP screen!

I'm not looking for any help, but I'll just put it out there: my capture still doesn't like it, rolling the picture diagonally from bottom right to top left.  That's a rod for my own back for buying antique "pro-sumer" equipment before discovering consumer equipment often has greater tolerance.   Retro computing inside retro computing with Fignition and an SGI O2 (http://forums.nekochan.net/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=5319) but it seems to *want* a Time Based Correction input of the sort you get in prosumer VHS decks.   I am going to wire up a 75ohm s-video mod which isn't exactly it, but an arduino TBC maybe a jump too far just this second but if anyone knows where to find the stripes, I'm game.

On Sunday, 2 December 2012 23:12:56 UTC, Rob Fielding wrote: