CompuServe Messages

NTSC (composite) video signal is usually fed into the monitor with a 75-ohm cable and a plug that looks much like a stereo cable plug (RCA phono). The color information is contained in this signal with a subcarrier (19 MHz ?) with the chrominance encoded by phase modulation of the subcarrier. The luminance signal is on the main carrier. Sound is too. The bandwidth of this mode is not nearly as high as either of the RGBs. The NTSC plug on the back of the Amiga is this signal. RGB stands for red, green, blue, not surprisingly. Analog RGB (Yea!) is a series of three signals which address the intensities of each of the electron guns in the color CRT to generate the full color gamut of the CRT. These signals can be varied in intensity continuously, thus generating as many distinct colors as the driving computer can spit out (Amiga = 4096). There are other signals required on this cable to effect the vertical and horizontal synchronization. Digital RGB (sometimes called RGBI for RGB and Intensity) is a series of three signals for the three CRT guns as above, but each line (R, G, or B) can only have two states (TTL logic high and low). If one recalls one's combinatorial analysis, that comes to eight different colors. The "I" signal also has two states and can give each "hue" two levels of intensity yielding what the IBM folks gratuitously refer to as SIXTEEN COLORS! There are really only eight distinct hues. This is the color one gets on the relatively standard PEE CEEs of various species. It's also the color on the C128 in the 128 mode. The alphanumerics are quite sharp with RGBI and the colors rendered, albeit limited in number, are distinct. I guess that's more than you wanted to know, but I get carried away on my Amiga keyboard. I have the KV-1311CR and it is superb. There is some pincushion distortion on the screen periphery, but it is slight. I would have preferred the CPD-1201, but it wasn't available locally and I wanted something NOW! I got one of the first Amigas in Portland (OR) and they weren't shipping monitors then. When I use an Amiga now with the 1080 monitor, I notice the difference in dot pitch and in CRT color gamut. The 1080 monitor is an excellent buy, but, for additional money (here) the Sony does an excellent job.