Author Topic: Arcade Monitor Video Card coming soon (Read 15021 times)

AndyWarne · « **on:** September 30, 2002, 06:57:39 pm »

Hi all,

Just a preview of our next product from Ultimarc. It's about 75% through development at the moment, but basically working on my test bench. A customized video card which works with an arcade monitor right from boot through command-prompt right through to Windows (Including XP) with all screens displayed perfectly on an arcade monitor.
The card is based on an ATI Radeon VE chipset. All 640X400 text modes (DOS and boot) are displayed in non-interlaced mode so no flicker, trick is a compressed font which displays in 300 lines. Graphics screens display interlaced where necessary (ie over 300 line modes).
So no more scan converters, special drivers, incompatibility problems etc.
Aim to launch before the end of the year, may be well before that.
Andy

OSCAR · « **Reply #1 on:** September 30, 2002, 07:06:35 pm »

Umm, can I say "WOW!".

Excellent, Andy. I can't wait to see it. I have a Class of '81 cocktail project I was going to start on over the winter. The timing should be perfect.

rampy · « **Reply #2 on:** September 30, 2002, 08:08:09 pm »

That's an awesome product... Can't wait!

Thanks for consistently coming out with innovative products that fit the specific needs of mame cabinet builders ( that goes for you to oscar! )

rampy

JLR2000 · « **Reply #3 on:** September 30, 2002, 11:42:05 pm »

Sounds great Andy....I'll hold off buying a video card until your product comes out. Got my joysticks/ipac/jpac in the mail the other day, great service all around. Keep us up to date on the video card progress!

SNAAAKE · « **Reply #4 on:** October 01, 2002, 01:18:47 am »

OH GOD THE HUMANITY

Can't wait....any chance things might come out quicker.also,since you will be using the ati chipset,would that card have any composite or s-video input then we can use ps2 or x-box.Just a suggestion because you would sell a lot more then.

Zipper · « **Reply #5 on:** October 01, 2002, 11:26:59 am »

This is brilliant.
Although I've finished my cab using a PC monitor, this is exactly the news I needed to hear to get myself another project underway!!
Can't wait!

Lilwolf · « **Reply #6 on:** October 01, 2002, 12:43:47 pm »

And I thought you made this hobby too easy with the JPac!

btw, I'm assuming you will not need a jpac to get it to work safely. Will you be creating a scaled down jpac thats it can directly hook up to (since both will probably do the same).

WAY WAY COOL!

second btw, is ATI helping you out at all? Will you be able to add the 9700 chipset in the future? (don't know how plug/play it will be if your only changing the bios). If you could do this, I could see a LOT of arcade companies very very interested if they could add doom3 type graphics to an arcade machine only purchasing one video card.

Great Job!

Analog-X · « **Reply #7 on:** October 01, 2002, 01:09:52 pm »

Cool stuff.........I already have my J-Pac and Trident T64 Card, looks like I'm going to have to save up for the new card and maybe an I-Pac.

tom61 · « **Reply #8 on:** October 01, 2002, 01:11:04 pm »

Cool. If it came out with VGA out too, that'd be great, since I don't want to dedicate a computer to Mame.

dhansen · « **Reply #9 on:** October 01, 2002, 04:32:36 pm »

Holy krap! Put me down for three!!!

loren · « **Reply #10 on:** October 01, 2002, 06:34:18 pm »

Saweeet! I was just about to place an order for a JPAC. I think i still will, so i can get up and running in the mean time.

I KNOW this is probably a stupid question you can't answer, but i might as well ask. Do you have a price range set yet? Are talking sub-$100 or over? I'll pay whatever, i'm just curious. =]

-loren

BombProofPlane · « **Reply #11 on:** October 02, 2002, 12:46:48 am »

Quote from: SNAAAKE on October 01, 2002, 01:18:47 am

OH GOD THE HUMANITY

Can't wait....any chance things might come out quicker.also,since you will be using the ati chipset,would that card have any composite or s-video input then we can use ps2 or x-box.Just a suggestion because you would sell a lot more then.

dont do that snaaake just hack the rgb directly from the the console pinout then devise some kind of spliter so that you can change video input easily

1 guy used rj45 jacks perfect for this as the 8 pins will let you have

1 red
2 green
3 blue
4 horizontal sync
5 vertical sync
6 left channel sound
7 right channel sound
8 uh whatever you want

SNAAAKE · « **Reply #12 on:** October 02, 2002, 02:28:30 am »

I dont care much..i use svga arcade monitor and use ps2 via rage fury video input and use dreamcast vga box...i dont have any arcade monitor for the time being but as soon as the windows/arcade monitor video card comes out then I be getting a brand new actual arcade monitor...ahhh..

Tom61,
You dont really need vga out(if its too much trouble adding) because you can just get a cheap vga switch box and not use a whole computer for your cabinet..just a tip.

mattv · « **Reply #13 on:** October 02, 2002, 03:03:37 am »

Just a couple of quick questions

1) AGP? PCI? Both? ISA :-)

and

2) how much will it cost (approx)?

Zipper · « **Reply #14 on:** October 02, 2002, 10:39:32 am »

And one more q.

Will you be taking pre-orders soon?

jerryjanis · « **Reply #15 on:** October 02, 2002, 12:36:45 pm »

Sounds absultely incredible!

One question - did I understand correctly that with video drivers, Windows can run in resolutions beyond 640x480? Like 800x600 and whatnot?

I can't WAIT.

Thank you!

hyiu · « **Reply #16 on:** October 02, 2002, 01:40:24 pm »

that is a VERY GOOD product !!!!....

Same as Snaaake suggested... if it can take s-video input, or some kind of rca input.... (so that we can plug in consoles...) and it can output to arcade mon / normal computer mon....

then Dammm...... I'll buy one !!!!

This is good..... you guys are GENIUS !!!!

you know...... before we know it... 1UP might be selling rotating control panel kits for our cabs !!!!.... haaa haaa haa.... I will order one too !!!.....

hey... I'm still waiting for too guns....
(I don't want one.... I want 2... holding 1 in each hand... just like the heros in movies.... shooting away.....) haaa haaa haaa haaa.....

(ok.... sorry... maybe I got carried away..... should stop now...)

Nice product idea on the video card !!!!.....

tom61 · « **Reply #17 on:** October 02, 2002, 02:09:05 pm »

Snaaake:
It outputs 15Khz from the moment you turn it on, and VGA monitors don't like 15Khz, hence the request for a VGA output in addition to the arcade monitor output.

SNAAAKE · « **Reply #18 on:** October 03, 2002, 01:00:52 am »

MA BAD...

You are right..That is a good idea(must) but is it possible?..I wonder where is Andy?

Probley busy workin on the card for all of us

AndyWarne · « **Reply #19 on:** October 03, 2002, 06:25:42 am »

OK some info:

Price: no idea at all yet but someone asked "under $100" and the answer is definitely yes. Developing this is the interesting part, selling it is dull! (maybe I need a sales manager!) I will not be taking pre-orders as there will be no point in doing this, there will be plenty for all when ready.

The card will be AGP initially but porting to PCI would not be a problem if there is a demand.

No video input, not technically possible.

Does the card use the TV-Out functionality of the chip? All the development I have done does not use this because I consider it neater to send the video RAM directly to the monitor and sync the monitor with the card just as in a game board, rather than go through all the extra processing and conversion of the TV function which is essentially a scan converter. BUT the TV functionality might give a better picture in Windows because it has circuitry to reduce the "single-line flicker" that is unavoidable with interlacing, where single-pixel horizontals end up being displayed at 30Hz. So if I can invoke TV for 640X480 only, I will. But the priority is for games not Windows desktop.
Will it work in modes above 800X600 in Windows? No way, this is physically impossible. Think about it: an arcade monitor running at 15Khz Horizontal and 60Hz vertical has enough time in one frame to scan about 300 lines if you calculate the timing. So this means the absolute maximum it can display is 800X600 interlaced (ie 2 X 300 line frames). In practice this is pushing it a bit because there is no leeway for any overscan etc so really 640X480 is best. In MAME this resolution is irrelevant anyway as the games will be using their real arcade monitor resolutions of 320 X 240 etc.
I did play around with a mode in Windows which scans every alternate line only. This gives a stable no-flicker picture but with bits of characters clipped. I might offer this as a selectable mode.
Are ATI helping? Not really, I am a registered ATI developer and have signed NDA to access their restricted info but this kind of project is way ouside their normal level of developer support, they are OK if you want to write a game to make use of their card but if you ask them, for example, where the VESA mode table is located in the BIOS they tend not to answer emails!
At least they do have some info available, this kind of project would be completely impossible on an Nvidia card as they don't reveal anything to anyone.

Sasquatch! · « **Reply #20 on:** October 03, 2002, 08:08:47 am »

Good GOD this sounds cool. Ultimarc strikes again!

Frostillicus · « **Reply #21 on:** October 03, 2002, 05:45:52 pm »

I would like to add my voice in the collective applause for andy - way to go! this will be an awesome, no-hassle solution for us.
My question: You said it should work with XP, though the minimum resolution in XP is 800x600(I think). Is that a problem?
Just curious....

BombProofPlane · « **Reply #22 on:** October 03, 2002, 08:28:58 pm »

its not

go into display properties
click settings
click advanced
click adapters tab
click list all modes

viola 640 480 modes are now visable

btw rgb direct to arcade monitor will be far superior to being encoded by the video card not as good as component but thats more of a limitation of the arcade monitor

also you wouldn't lose lightgun support by using rgb

a svideo input would be useless imho because the quality going direct via rgb is so superior maybe a rgb pasthrew built in would be nice but svideo is ugly via the input of the videocard

SNAAAKE · « **Reply #23 on:** October 04, 2002, 02:47:24 am »

Just a question for anyone knows about it?
What monitor do I have to get?CGA/15KHz or EGA/24KHz

.

Also,would pc games run interlaced?Since the resolution is high the I assume pc games would run interlaced.

Andy,
When you get a chance,try to reply.Thanks

...I am just too happy to know that there is a clean solution.

Also,you didn't mention about dual head.1 vga and 1 outputs 15KHz

?

tom61 · « **Reply #24 on:** October 04, 2002, 04:35:25 pm »

Feature requests:
PCI, that way I don't have to give up my current vid-card for regular PC stuff. (As long as VE supports being the second or third display under Windows [it should]) This would nullify my request for VGA output. Also would be good for those people with systems in thier cabs w/out an AGP slot.

Two connectors for video out: HD15 female w/ H and V sync (VGA pinout, switchable to C sync if possible) for those of us with VGA hacks/J-Pacs/arcade monitors that support H & V sync already. And a D9 female w/ C sync, since that'd be easier to hack (figuring out 9 wires instead of 15, or easier soldering to the male connector).

3D support! Gauntlet: Legends, racing games, 3D emulators or arcade-like games would be great to play in a cab. I know it probably won't work if the card is a secondary display, but I'm willing to reboot and play around in the BIOS each time I want to play these. Considering the 640x480 limit, 16MB of ram should be enough, but I'd feel better with more (32 or 64).

Other thoughts:
I don't think Act-Labs guns will work, since they're designed to use 30kHz, instead of 15kHz this card would output.

Would be cool though.

As far as video input for consoles, if the card is the primary display of the computer, about any TV capture card should work. I'm not sure if many cards would work with a second display.

SNAAAKE · « **Reply #25 on:** October 04, 2002, 05:31:19 pm »

My ideas...

Agp is cool instead of pci.
Should go with atleast 32mb on the card itself.
Sell hacked vga cables.

You can get vga cables for like $10 but if andy sells em for $15(hacked onces) that has 5 wires coming out of it then its the complete package to run windows on arcade monitors.
He should try to include the vga cable with red/green/blue/sync/ground wires coming out the hacked cable.
Not that I can't hack some puny vga cable but there are people who wants things hassle free.

Just thoughts.

Bugfinder · « **Reply #26 on:** October 05, 2002, 12:00:22 am »

Suggestion: a jumper to have it outputting either at 15 KHz or at 25 KHz.

Great job, Andy. Soon Micro$oft will contact you for a partnership ;-)

Donor · « **Reply #27 on:** October 07, 2002, 08:57:39 am »

Andy, any chance of a pic or two of this new card. Thanx

SirPoonga · « **Reply #28 on:** October 08, 2002, 03:19:47 am »

I can see a pci demand, especially for those cocktail people who use dos and win98 with older machines.

Man, I hope this comes out. I'd really like to add my ddragon1 and 2 pcbs to my cabinet. Right now I use a PC monitor, but I'd switch to an arcade monitor if I could combine everything in one cabinet.

Curious, if it doesn't have dual head, would it be possible to use a second video card with it?

OT: Man, someone really needs to hack mame so dual monitor games show on two monitors!!!

hyiu · « **Reply #29 on:** October 08, 2002, 02:32:30 pm »

Sorry to step in like that and my msg will be OT...

but yeah... I cannot wait to play head to head Cyberball with 4 ppl using 2 monitors !!!!!!!!!!

brandon · « **Reply #30 on:** October 08, 2002, 11:39:56 pm »

So Im guessing this means games like Narc wont be supported since they are Med. Res... Right??

MrTomcat · « **Reply #31 on:** October 09, 2002, 05:20:43 pm »

Quote from: brandon on October 08, 2002, 11:39:56 pm

So Im guessing this means games like Narc wont be supported since they are Med. Res... Right??

They'll be supported. But they will run in an interlaced screen mode.

tetsu96 · « **Reply #32 on:** October 15, 2002, 06:03:56 pm »

Does it support custom programmable resolution modes (such as 384x224, 304x224, etc), or are we going to be using HW stretch for a lot of games??? That's the only other feature I could see as making this card the holy grail of MAME and emulation on Arcade Cabs as well...

Very cool so far though...

mc-escher · « **Reply #33 on:** October 16, 2002, 11:39:41 pm »

hehe. somebody had to ask =)

Are you using any kind of special hacked drivers for XP?

I assume it would run console mode in linux as that it is able to run all the same default VESA modes, but what about X?
Assuming that there is a special driver for this card to run in XP, what is the likely hood it could be ported
to the work that's been going on for the ATI drivers for X Windows??

escher
MCP01 - Linux Cab : http://cryptnet1.net/mame

VideoCard · « **Reply #34 on:** November 15, 2002, 06:20:19 pm »

Why has this thread died?! I want more info about this card and when it's comming out.. and this is the only place i've heard anything about it! COME ON!

SNAAAKE · « **Reply #35 on:** November 16, 2002, 01:00:45 am »

who knows dude..but he says it should be released before the end of the year.I dont believe that because it seem lot of work and we might have to pre order.But Andy should atleast post the progress.Ya know...so people would know the status.

mattv · « **Reply #36 on:** November 17, 2002, 07:35:20 am »

Some news from the ultimarc message board (link at the top of this and every other BYOAC message board page).

looks like a jpac will still be a good buy (need one for the voltage amp)
____________________________________
Posted by Andy Warne (194.117.133.196) on November 01, 2002 at 14:22:15:

In Reply to: Andy, can we get a status update on the new Video Card? posted by JLR2000 on November 01, 2002 at 10:51:55:

It is still on track for end of the year. This is what it will do:

DOS: All VESA 3 modes supported on a 15Khz monitor with no drivers. All IBM VGA modes supported including boot screen, DOS prompt etc.

WINDOWS: Will boot into 640X480 interlaced at 16 colours on 15Khz monitor with no drivers. With driver loaded will support the following modes at all colour depths: 640X480 interlaced, 800X600 interlaced, 640X280 non-interlaced with auto-pan.

CUSTOM MODES: The card will support custom modes (eg Advanced MAME) as a normal card does, but the pixel clock can go down lower on this card so very low horizontal resolutions should be possible.

It all works, I just need to tweak all modes to get the same screen size on every mode. One issue: Windows XP (why does XP get us every time??) craps out at a vertical resolution of less than about 320. Investigating...

What it will NOT do: I am pretty sure it will still be a 0.7 volt output so will still need the amplification of the J-PAC for some monitors. This is because to provide an on-board amp would mean a special PCB which would be massively expensive. We will be using a standard PCB and our assemblers just fit different parts than a normal card.

: Andy - like a lot of others here, just anxious to hear about how your video card project is coming along. Is there someplace online I can check for updates? If not is there any new news you can share with us?

: Thanks!

: John
: JLR2000

_____________________________________________

Tetsu · « **Reply #37 on:** December 15, 2002, 05:11:11 am »

Wow, this card sounds like the answer to all my headaches. I am definitely in the market for one. Just one request: PLEASE make at least a few dozen of them PCI, for the poor souls like myself that aren't lucky enough to have AGP slots in my PC. Also, is there a mailing list we can sign so that we can get updates on the progress of the card?


Main	Restorations	Software	Audio/Jukebox/MP3	Everything Else	Buy/Sell/Trade
Project Announcements	Monitor/Video	GroovyMAME	Merit/JVL Touchscreen	Meet Up	Retail Vendors
Driving & Racing	Woodworking	Software Support Forums	Consoles	Project Arcade	Reviews
Automated Projects	Artwork	Frontend Support Forums	Pinball	Forum Discussion	Old Boards
Raspberry Pi & Dev Board	controls.dat	Linux	Miscellaneous Arcade	Wiki Discussion	Old Archives
Lightguns	Arcade1Up	Try the site in https mode		Site News


Unread posts \| New Replies \| Recent posts \| Rules \| Chatroom \| Wiki \| File Repository \| RSS \| Submit news