Specific Res for XP on 15Hz Arc Mon using PowerStrip

[Guardian]

I hope the subject was clear enough  
I have searched around on these boards, and it seems that everyone loves the ArcadeVGA card, but I can't find anyone giving up the info on using XP external software that is powerful like PowerStrip. My system is powerful including Vid Card, and I want to use it for other things, so I would like to just be able to use software in XP to control the settings. When I don't want to run low res, just flip the monitor switch off, and the PC monitor pops on.  I have read other places that this can be done with PowerStrip, but I am not sure of the exact settings to get XP to display correctly. Currently when I use the newest powerstrip, and go into:
Display Profiles - Configure
Advanced Timing Options - Custom Resolutions
Then select 640x480i(Arcade) Seems pretty straight forward so far.
I can get a picture on the arcade monitor, however it is split in half on the screen. It is a clear picture, just a bar down the center with about 1 inch of black bar on each side of the thin bar. On the right is the left side, and the right side is the right side.
I think there must be one setting I am still missing that would make it pop right into place, just need some help if someone could post here what settings that they use for active pixels, H and V refresh rate, Front Porch, Sync Width, Back Porch, Polarity, Pixel Clock, etc.. Would help me out a BUNCH. Attaching pic of the page I need help with
Thanks much,
Guardian.

[Dak-ak]

Modeline "640x480@62i" 11.72 640 672 712 744 480 491 494 505 interlace -hsync -vsync

is what I under linux, and contains all the information you require, albet in a slightly different format...
horizontal              vertical
640    active pixels 480
15.75 refresh rate 62
32      front porch   11
40      sync width    3
32      back porch   11
pixel clock 11.72

Not sure if i would call a mobility radeon "powerful" ( )

anyways, here are some links:

http://xtiming.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/xtiming.pl
How I calculated modelines... linked at the bottom of that is http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/XFree86-Video-Timings-HOWTO.html

and my site, where i have a lot of arcade friendly modelines: http://asuaf.org/~dboyer/avga_w_linux/
not all perfect, but getting there...

[Guardian]

Haha, I should have edited that last night. I noticed the ATI Mobility Radeon after I posted, that is from my laptop, and yes, you are very correct, it isn't even close to powerful. .
Thanks a lot for the post, hopefully that will be enough info I can put into PowerStrip and get it looking centered instead of split down the middle.
G.

[Guardian]

Wanted to update a few things that maybe someone can help?
The settings that were posted above, helps none, actually makes the split screen all garbled.
When I am in ADVMAME, the picture is incredible when I use these lines:
device_video_modeline "640x480@70" 28.75 640 672 776 808 480 489 495 505
device_video_pclock 8-90
device_video_hclock 15.75
device_video_vclock 50-70
Can someone help me with what the "28.75 640 672 776 808 480 489 495 505" means? Or how I can input them into PowerStrip above? to get my XP to look good Would love to mess around with Mame32 and AdvMenu in XP.
Thanks All,
G.

[Dak-ak]

28.75 640 672 776 808 480 489 495 505

28.75 = dot clock

640 = width
672-640 = front porch (32)
776-672 = sync width (104)
776-808 = back porch (32)
480 = height
489-480 = front porch  (9)
495-489 = sync width (6)
505-495 = back porch (10)

buut... is that interlaced? because if it is not, that modeline is at 35.5Khz/70.5Hz and draws more lines to the screen than an arcade monitor can.  Are you sure you have a arcade monitor?  I'm starting to suspect that you do not... that would explain the wacky picture you were getting before...

[wpcmame]

776-672 = sync width (104)
495-489 = sync width (6)

Are you sure? I think HRE-HRS is the monitor retrace time and VRE-VRS is the blanking time.

[Dak-ak]

i wasn't 100% sure myself so i checked it here: http://www.hut.fi/Misc/Electronics/faq/vga2rgb/calc.html

doesn't guarentee anything, but it certainly looks right according to that page...

[Serpent]

You seem to control Powerstrip very well, so let me ask a question. I have a geforce ddr with a multisync lg flatron 795FT monitor. I'd like to set exact 60,000hz for 1600x1200. Could you please tell me the exact values I need to write or paste in order to achive that? Thanx.

[Dak-ak]

# 1600x1200 @ 60Hz, 75.00 kHz hsync
Modeline "1600x1200"  162   1600 1664 1856 2160  1200 1201 1204 1250
# 1600x1200 @ 70 Hz, 87.50 kHz hsync
Modeline "1600x1200"  189    1600 1664 1856 2160  1200 1201 1204 1250
# 1600x1200 @ 75 Hz, 93.75 kHz hsync
Modeline "1600x1200"  202.5  1600 1664 1856 2160  1200 1201 1204 1250
# 1600x1200 @ 85 Hz, 105.77 kHz hsync
Modeline "1600x1200"  220    1600 1616 1808 2080  1200 1204 1207 1244
(all of these are from xf86config files ive found online)

to get the information you require for powerstrip, just follow my earlier example... tis only subtraction!

(by the way, I'm not sure why you need powerstrip... this seems like a standard resolution/refresh rate... if windows won't produce this, it may be out of the range of your videocard/monitor, and I don't want any culpability for telling you to do it)

[Serpent]

I need Powerstrip because I was experiencing hiccups in scrolls now and then and I found out that 60hz in my computer was not equal to 60,000hz, but 60,100 or something alike (I cannot remember exactly). Using Pstrip I've been able to reduce that to 60,001, but never exactly to 60,000hz. In other computer I have, and with no need to use pstrip, I found out that it actually runs at 60,000 (using an Ati radeon + mitsubish monitor). That line you have gently pasted... I cannot copy paste to pstrip, I guess. I would need all the values. These are the values I have right now set for 1600x1200, which result in 60,001hz. If you were so kind to give me correct values so that I can paste them to Powerstrip and be sure to have 60,000, I would really appreciate it. Or do I need to modify windows registry values for my monitor?

PowerStrip timing parameters:
1600x1200=1600,88,136,352,1200,1,5,46,163463,2048

Generic timing details for 1600x1200:
HFP=88 HSW=136 HBP=352 kHz=75 VFP=1 VSW=5 VBP=46 Hz=60

Linux modeline parameters:
"1600x1200"  162  1600 1664 1856 2160  1200 1201 1204 1250

[Dak-ak]

# 1600x1200 @ 60Hz, 75.00 kHz hsync
Modeline "1600x1200"  162  1600 1664 1856 2160  1200 1201 1204 1250

1600         1200
75              60
64              1
192            3
304            46

I believe those are the numbers that will produe 60hz refresh rate

[Serpent]

That may be, but I cannot enter exact values in the powerstrip window. I mean, when I try, for instance, to write a exact value in any of the fields, the program doesn't allow me to do it, and choses an aprox value. For instance, I write 162 in the pixelclock field, pstrip selects 161,972. So, how can I enter those values you've given me? I would need to edit the following block of text in order to copy-paste it to pstrip. I can't figure out how the numbers you've given fit in there. Sorry for my ignorance about these issues, and thanx for your patience.

PowerStrip timing parameters:
1600x1200=1600,88,136,352,1200,1,5,46,163463,2048

Generic timing details for 1600x1200:
HFP=88 HSW=136 HBP=352 kHz=75 VFP=1 VSW=5 VBP=46 Hz=60

Linux modeline parameters:
"1600x1200" 163,463 1600 1688 1824 2176 1200 1201 1206 1252 +hsync +vsync

[Dak-ak]

??

To tell the truth, I've never used powerstrip before... I've been operating off of Guardian's screenshot...

Although in all honesty, 18 thousenths isn't a whole lot...

[Guardian]

Alright!! Dak-ak your the man! I got XP showing on my Arcade Monitor.
Your last post:
28.75 640 672 776 808 480 489 495 505

28.75 = dot clock

640 = width
672-640 = front porch (32)
776-672 = sync width (104)
776-808 = back porch (32)
480 = height
489-480 = front porch  (9)
495-489 = sync width (6)
505-495 = back porch (10)
buut... is that interlaced? because if it is not, that modeline is at 35.5Khz/70.5Hz and draws more lines to the screen than an arcade monitor can.  Are you sure you have a arcade monitor?  I'm starting to suspect that you do not... that would explain the wacky picture you were getting before...

The answer to your question was Yes. I had to select the Interlaced box as well as some "ultra fine granularity" for some reason at first, but it doesn't have to be there now it seems. I am adding a screenshot of the (Add New Resolution) button from the picture above. this may be where Serpent is having a problem. Once you click on add new, you can custom set exactly what resolutions you want.

Hopefully last question for you Dak. I went to that page you gave, I am just not quite getting the mathematics for what number you MUST put in, to what you can wait to find out what it will give you. I imagine Arcade Monitors highest resolution is 800x600? would you mind helping me to acheive this resolution? Once I can get that, I can start messing with other stuff like trying out some games! Oh, as well, what is the highest amount of colors that an arcade monitor can go? This is working on 256, but if I set anything higher, its scrambled, I imagine that is because of the numbers selected? Thanks SO much for your help this far.

[Dak-ak]

Alright... Ill see if I can take a shot at this:

In your screeny you just posted it looks like you dropped your dotclock by about half and interlaced, which is probably why you are getting so much more luck...

To use the XFree86 Modeline Generator, I first enter some ballparks for the monitor at the top... These are just outside limits you want to keep the view inbetween... I put in 15.6 to 15.9Khz and 43 to 63Hz... I leave the dot clock frequency blank... I don't know what the max bandwidth of an arcade monitor is, but I don't think its very important for this.

After that, I need to fill in visible region, refresh rate, and check interlace if its required.

Lets enter 640x480.  i aim for 63Hz.  it gives me a dotclock of 25.5 and tells me that my horizontal refresh rate is way to high.  I check "interlace", and press okay again.

little closer, 16.02... if i try to get a little closer by lowering the refresh to 62... bingo, I get a horizontal refresh of 15.75, and a modeline of...:

Modeline "640x480@62i" 11.72 640 672 712 744 480 491 494 505 interlace

Not in the proper format, but it should suffice...  However, I found a better way to produce modelines that worked for my methods... here is the spreadsheet that i use: http://www.asuaf.org/~dboyer/avga_w_linux/modelinecalc.xls

Bold numbers are for changing, italics are for modelines (output) you enter your visable range, and then play with the dotclock to get a desirable range... on the left is advancemame recommended values, on the right is the better value for me... Doesn't do interlaced, however... I'm about to go back for my trip back to Uni in a couple minutes, so I'll have to get back to you in a couple days if you need more assistance... (however, no more mame machine :-()

BTW, a 800x600 might look something like:
Modeline "800x600@50i" 14.50 800 832 880 912 600 614 617 631 interlace

[wpcmame]

I leave the dot clock frequency blank... I don't know what the max bandwidth of an arcade monitor is, but I don't think its very important for this.

I think you have misunderstood what the pixelclock does. It is one of the most important factors for a modeline since it controls the width of the display.

If we take your example where you use a pixelclock of 11.72 and 640 pixels. If you adjust your monitor so that the display covers the entire width of the monitor you can calculate what pixel clock you should have for other resolutions. If you want a mode with 400 horizontal pixels that still fills the entire width of the monitor (without using monitor controls) you need a pixelclock of 11.72*400/640=7.325.

Another way to see it is that pixel clock affects the pixel aspect ratio. If you run a game with less lines than the monitor is adjusted for you will get black borders at top/bottom. To display the game at the correct aspect ratio you need to add same size black borders at left/right as well. e.g. If 320x240 fills the entire monitor a game with 224 lines will have 224/240=7% black borders at top/bottom. To have the same left/right border you need to increase the pixel clock with 7% (faster clock = thinner pixels)

So here is another way to create a modeline:
1. You need 2 paramters pixel clock (pclock) e.g. 7.375MHz and refreshrate e.g. 60Hz
2. Calculate total number of pixels per line ht = pclock/15.75=465. This must be a multiple of 8 so we adjust it to 464 pixels.
3. Calculate the total number of lines ht = pclock/ht/refreshrate = 7.325e6/464/60 = 263
4. Now we know that the modeline should have ht = 464 and vt = 263. Your monitor then limits how many pixels that are visible.
Assume that the monitor got a retrace time of 8us which here means 7.325e6*8e-6=58 pixels. So the horizontal display end (hde) must be at least 58 pixels before the ht (i.e < 406)
Assume that the monitor blanking time is 1ms which means  that the vertical diplay end (vde) must be at least pclock/ht/blanking = 7.325e6/464/1e-3 = 16 lines before vt (i.e < 247)

Here is an excel sheet which can help you
http://w1.846.telia.com/~u84606172/modeline.xls

[Dak-ak]

well, sort of.  Although your messege was informative, i believe it was triggered by confusion instead of ignorance...

The quote you used was in reference to the calculators request for information about the maximum/minimum capablities of your monitor... if you leave it blank, that just means that it won't check for that feature... because i didn't know what the correct value is, i assumed it is 100% perfectly safe to leave it blank, because the modelines I was creating should be about what the monitor was designed to handle.  

Dot Clock Frequency
Also known as the Pixel Clock, this is the speed at which pixels are drawn on the screen.

it wants this information in "MHz maximum"... as long as you don't overrun the maximum value, you should be okay.

regardless of that though, your information is very nice.. I'm still chewing on it several days later.