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what's the best screen mode to use? I cant seem to get a mode I like. Either it flickers like mad in the resolutions I want to use, or I get big black or grey boarders around the screen with no way of adjusting it to fit the screen.
If you have one what do you use?
I had such a monitor, but unfortunately it died after being used every day for many years. :( Anyway, I remember using DBLPAL as the main resolution for Workbench. You'll get, as you mentioned, some black borders around the screen, but not much. You can remove some of this by using Overscan in prefs.
Overscan doesn't remove the black borders.
It just extends it to fill the grey space made by the Amiga.
Do you get the same black borders that can be seen in this photograph? They do actually look bigger than they are in the photo. The mode used is MultiScan productivity. I used the vertical knob to sctrech the picture to go right from the top to the bottom, and therefore elimintae any black bars at the top and bottom. There is no horizontal knob to stretch it the other way though (unless there is one inside)
I remember that this was a bit annoying. On the 1942 from Commodore, you had this possibility as far as I can recall. Too bad they didn't implement this one on the 1438. :(Quote:
There is no horizontal knob to stretch it the other way though (unless there is one inside)
Anyway, I came to think of a program I used to better the display concerning such borders. You can find it here on Aminet.net:
http://aminet.net/driver/moni/MonSync101.lha
There is also an older program:
http://aminet.net/package/driver/moni/MonEd3a
Be careful using it though, as it can cause problems after what I've heard. If you are not sure of what you are doing, then drop it. ;)
Thats the one! I did dl some drivers from aminet to use. but dont seem to have helped much.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stephen Coates
Maybe its still best to get a flicker fixer so I can use the hi res modes flicker free.
Could it be something to do with the actual resolution of the screen? Like, the resolution outputted by the amiga is thinner than the actual size of the display?
That image you took Steve is identical to how my A4000/A1200's run in higher resolution modes on my 1438 monitor too, and it is due to the screenmode and the pixels being square. It never really bothered me when I used the Amiga all the time as the resolution was flicker free and much higher than any other modes, allowing for more screen real-estate.
I do however remember getting a VGA display driver from a coverdisk that allowed you to adjust much more and allow for the whole screen to be used. I forget which magazine it was one, but at a guess I would say one of the AUi disks. It should be on Aminet too.
It is obviously not a limitation of the 1438, as I just got an RGB-VGA adaptor which I used to connect the A1200 to my Trinitron monitor. The image looked the same as on the 1438, with the black bars.
The VGA monitor does have the option to stretch the image horizontally. I'm not sure whether it was meant to be stretched though. It didn't look any worse when it was stretched.
The only problem with adjusting the picture to suit the Amiga is that when I switch back to the PC, the BIOS and Windows 2000 boo screens are the wrong size and in the wrong place, so I'm guessing they are the same resolution/scan rate as Multiscan productivity.
Never had that problem with the 1084.
Then again the display was that small, there was no chance of WB not filling the screen.
Stevie boy, tut tut.
Pick the CD/DVD off the floor and put it back in it's case.
Such problems won't occure on the 1084 as it is a PAL monitor and PAL screenmodes fill the screen on both the 1084 and the 1438.
I don't actually know what that DVD on the floor is, but it obviously doesn't have a case, and is unlikely to be important. It is not there any longer though so I probably found a case for it.
I hadn't noticed that DVD when I looked at the photo originally, but now you mentioned it I spotted it. You need to take better care of your things mate!!! ;)
The black bars are definitely a limitation of the Amiga, not of the monitor being used. It is just how the Amiga outputs certain screenmodes. They are not the same dimension as a standard 4:3 monitor and so won't fill the whole screen, much like watching a 4:3 TV program on a 16:9 TV. If you want to watch it correctly you have the black bars, otherwise you are one of the idiots who has to have the whole screen filled up with stretched or compressed people running around. Definitely gives new meaning to the TV adding 10 pounds though!
I think the computer screen looks OK when it is stretched, but somethings won't be very good, like photos.
I don't like watching a 4:3 picture that has been stretched to 16:9. It just doesn't look right.
My Dad does it too mainly because he doesn't quite understand about such things (he's quite old!). He was complaining when I was talking to him last week that the picture on his TV wasn't filling the whole of the screen. I told him that was because it was in widescreen, but he still thought he was missing some of the image due to the black bars. Mad logic some people have!
I find it odd why people find it hard to understand things like the aspect ration of a television. But I suppose we all have things which we find confusing.
I think if you have trouble understanding aspect ratios, then you should stick with a 4:3 TV. and have 16:9 pictures displayed in letterbox mode. I have mine set up like this and like it for the convenience, but I don't have any trouble setting widescreen TVs up correctly. And I don't ave any room for a widescren TV so don't really have any choice anyway. That is another problem with widescreen TVs. They are much wider. If I had a widescreen TV on this desk it would most likely be hanging off the edge.
Unless you got an LCD of course, then you could wall mount it. The smaller LCDs are coming down in price now too. Even 32" screens can be bought for under £300, and I noticed some very small 15 and 17" ones are nearly down to £100.
Wall mounting in it's current position would be awkwardas it would then be too close to the wall for me to see it. And there are some sockets and a shelf directly behind it.
It just depends on where you want it. In my case, it needs to be on the desk. And I like it on the desk. It means I can move it.
I've got a 1438 and unlike pc monitors it does suffer badly from black borders but if i remember rightly there are some improved basic drivers on Aminet (just type in 1438 in the search) or if you have a Graphics card use CGX as you canadjust most details of you display including position and stretching the image.
I didn't know there were actual drivers on there for the 1438. I will have to try that out with mine.
They're not brilliant but they certainly were an improvement on the old Workbench 3.0 Monitor drivers.
I saw the drivers on AmiNet. I'll download them later and see how good they are.
Ive tested all of the drivers on Aminet, and still not 100% happy.
Will play around with moned at some point!
I'm totally with you on this StuKeith. I bought the 1438 from new when they came out and was really annoyed at the black borders.
The only reason I can think of why they didn't provide a horizontal stretch is that when you switch back down to 15Khz/PAL the picture would be too wide so they just locked it with 15Khz support for the horizontal.
It's a really crap design attitude and I have suffered with the black boarders with no solution being satisfactory. In the end, I just decided to live with it.
The monitor really required a memory for the size settings at 30 and 15Khz, but that would have probably pushed up manufacture costs.
The one plus side to this monitor is it's been super reliable and the picture is still perfect.
I remember being disappointed with the black borders when I first bought a 1438 too, but like you I just grew to accept it and lived with it.
Mine did develop a slightly annoying "feature" a few years ago. Sometimes the images goes a slight shade of yellow and I have to lightly tap the right hand side of the case to make it right again. It normally does this a few time when cold, but once it has been on for a while it stops. Annoying, but other than that it still works OK.
My 1438 works fine now it has a new RGB connector. The connecotr is a bit messy though, but at least it works and I get all the solour, rather than just green.