Just a quick question about AVGA

[Boz]

I read a review on retro blast and something in the review made me believe that I don't necessarily need an AVGA if I am buying a multi-sync monitor (Billabs BL27CB0P... CGA/EGA/VGA/SVGA/XGA... link).

Is this true?
Is there a strong enough argument to buy an AVGA card anyway?

Thanks

Brian

[Ghoward]

Well you can get away without one.....But in order to get the best out of your monitor you should have one.

It is the best way to have your monitor running at the correct res etc for each game. I have built 2 arcade machine with WG9200 monitors both had arcade vga.

Gary

[wpcmame]

For the picture quality there is no need for an AVGA if your arcade monitor supports VGA.

Have a look at this page http://www.retroblast.com/articles/monitor.html

Retroblast has made a comparison between CGA and VGA on an arcade monitor and can you see any differerence? (except the colours but they can be adjusted).

The AVGA will still be easier to setup since it got built in arcade resolutions.

[Boz]

wpcmame, I've actually read that review and found it to be pretty useful information. So, the way I understand it, I don't actually *need* an AVGA card, but setup will be easier. The monitor I'm buying is one of the top of the line Billabs jobs that'll support 15 - 48Khz.

The one comment in the review that I know nothing about (and the one that bothers me the most) had something to do with setting jumpers for refresh rate.

Does that mean that older arcade monitors required you to set a jumper from game to game?
Do you have to do this with Wells Gardner or other monitors?
If it's a multi-sync, should I have a problem with this? (Seems counter-intuative, doesn't it?)

It's likely that I'll get an AVGA card even though my monitor will support a host of other resolutions natively. I'm all for EASY setup. Would rather spend the time playing games, not coniguring them.

-Brian

[miles2912]

Setup will not be easier.  It will be about the same.  If you want the 15hz output like a true arcade monitor then get the AVGA if you do not need the whole authentic thing (and from experience , 60hz looks better), then just use a regular card. 

D-

[wpcmame]

Setup will not be easier.   It will be about the same. 

What I meant was that AVGA got many odd resolutions built in.

To play gauntlet with authentic look at 31KHz you need to create a resolution of 336x480 or 672x480. It is not difficult to do with e.g powerstrip but AVGA got 336x240 built in so you don't need to do anything.

If you want the 15hz output like a true arcade monitor then get the AVGA if you do not need the whole authentic thing (and from experience , 60hz looks better)

What does 60Hz got to do with it. The AVGA also runs at 60Hz

If you run a 15KHz or 31KHz doesn't matter. The image will look the same.