#VideoVGA et al
2 messages in this thread
I have a friend who wants to display some realtime SVGA graphics to video,
preferably S-VIDEO.
He wants to be able to use 320x200x256, 640x480x16, 640x480x256, and, hopefully
640x480x32K or 64K colors.
My guess is that the Truevision VideoVGA16 is what he wants.
Does it have s-video out?
Also, does it have a good VESA driver? Does it use a known svga chipset?
Also, does it have rock-solid vga compatibility? This is for his only
computer, so he can't use a vga card that won't work with some software because
of incomaptibilities (I think he means games <G>).
What other boards are like the VideoVGA and are any of them better?
Thanks.
Bailey
Bailey,
We use a VideoVGA in our training room for the instructor's workstation, and it
supports all the resolutions you asked about.
Yes, it has S-VHS in and out.
It is a Tseng ET-4000 board which means that almost all software would support
it, as the ET 4000 is probably the "most popular chipset of all time". Solid?
Well we run AutoCAD R12, AutoCAD Release 12 for Windows and 3DS3 on it for
training with only one MINOR hitch. The VVGA uses a TSR program to allow you
to adjust the screen centering, etc. and that TSR will occasionally bomb
AutoCAD R12 (DOS).
A more expensive, and possibly better, solution would be the Truevision Bravado
16/Bravado Encoder combination. The Bravado allows realtime display of
Video-in-a-window on your VGA screen, and the Bravado encoder allows recording
of 800 x 600 resolutions (the VVGA is limited to 640 x 480).
Other boards? There are boards from Visonetics (a VVGA clone), Willow,
Cardinal, Magni, and a slew of others. In addition, there are about as many
external conversion boxes that work with ANY SVGA card. These external boxes
range from low-end to very high end in price.
Now, for the bad news, I would recommend that anyone go out somewhere and
physically look at ANY recordable VGA "system" before purchasing. Recordable
VGA boards are not a "broadcast quality" solution by any means, and there are
inherant overscan/underscan problems that await the user. For instance, our
VideoVGA overscans vertically quite a bit. In AutoCAD (DOS), we lose one or
two of the AutoCAD command lines off the bottom of the monitor.
I'm sure there are other solutions out there, so I'll be interested to hear
what the others have to say.
Chuck