AGA? HUH ! ???

[SNAAAKE]

 
What exactly is AGA monitor?
I see one here..
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3019516709&category=21517
he clearly says its 15 to 38 khz so I assume it works as a vga monitor too...anyone?
Tom61?  
I REALLY wanna buy this but sounds fishy.

[kspiff]

Damn it Snaaake, go click the More Info link and find out yourself.

Lazy bastitch

[RoadhawK]

AGA was an Amiga chipset on the Amiga 1200 computer was it not. Should works as a VGA monitor but with limited refresh rates.

[Grasshopper]

AGA was an Amiga chipset on the Amiga 1200 computer was it not. Should works as a VGA monitor but with limited refresh rates.

I can confirm that. Good AGA monitors were very difficult to get hold of (and usually quite expensive) even in the Amiga's heyday. It took me a while to find a reasonable one for my old Amiga 1200 and in fact I still use it with my PC.

The earliest Amigas were designed to be used with a ordinary TV and TVs have a refresh rate of approx 15khz. On later Amigas the chipset was tweaked a bit so that it would work with low end vga/svga monitors. The trouble is that most monitors are designed to display at either a TV refresh rate (15khz) or vga/svga (31khz and upwards). So if you wanted to use all of your Amiga's graphics modes you had to buy an expensive specialist monitor.

Personally I'd never buy a monitor on Ebay, far too risky. But if I saw a monitor like that in good working condition being sold locally I'd be very tempted because they are so versatile. You can even with the right lead connect some AGA monitors up to a video recorder and use it as an ordinary TV.

[RandyT]

I REALLY wanna buy this but sounds fishy.

What sounds fishy about it?

It'll do basic VGA (640x480 - 31.5khz) and Video (15.75khz) ands whatever is in-between.  It might handle 800x600 as well, with an adjustment or two.

The low price probably just reflects the small market for such a monitor, the weight (about $100 for shipping depending on how far you are from the seller), and that it's most likely 10 to 15 (20?) years old.  

He says it has a "good" picture.  On Ebay, "good" can mean anything so it will cost you around $150 to find out.  You a gambling man?  

RandyT

[MrBond]

Again with the monitor deals snaaake?  What are you on ebay 24-7?!

[OSCAR]

This appears to be very similiar to my 26" NEC presentation monitor.  These monitors are widely used in trade shows, thus they really take a beating.  When I picked mine up from the guy selling them, he had a room full of these things and the cases on all them looked well-traveled.  I imagine thats what the "cometic scratches" in the description is referring to.  You can see the integrated case handles in the photos.

On the plus side, they have tons of inputs.  Mine accepts s-video, composite (via BNC), RGB, and 8-pin VTR.  It sync's on anything between 15-31kHz, so are vga compatible to a max of 640x480.  However, mine requires a 34-pin IDC connector for the RGB input.  Luckily my monitor came with the IDC-RGBS cable, so I only needed to connect that to a VGA-RGBHsVs cable.  Unless that monitor takes a straight 15-pin DSUB, you might need this extra cable and they can be pricey.

Mine has brilliant color and MAME looks superb on it via the RGB.  I currently have it set up on my work station and play PS2 (via composite) and watch ripped DVD's via the s-video.  The PS2 in particular is breathtaking.  My friends come over and play PS2 on it, and wonder why their's at home look crappy compared to mine.  

I can't speak for the one on eBay, but I am very happy with mine.  I wouldn't give it up for anything.  Oh, and I only traded two spinners in exchange for the monitor...

[SNAAAKE]

thanks everyone for the answers...
kspiff:I did click on "MORE INFO" but it doesn't say much.  
And the picture looks like it DOES have a vga input.

Bond:No I am not on ebay 24/7 but I seen these 2 monitors last week with $10 starting with no reserve but I wasn't quite sure.

I might gamble the money for this one.I will post back if I decide to get it.  
Then again its like 10 years old...
Oscar:is that cable custom made or somethin?

[OSCAR]

Oscar:is that cable custom made or somethin?

Sort of.  The gray one came with the monitor.  It has the 34-pin IDC connector on one end and BNC RGBS connectors on the other.  I had a VGA to RGBVsHs cable already, so I used a BNC T-connector to connect the vertical & horizontal syncs together for composite sync.  I imagine the correct way to do this is with XOR gates or something, but I took a gamble and connected them directly together.  It works fine.

The cable that may be difficult to find is the 34-pin IDC to RGBS.  I never looked for them, but the guy I got my monitor from said that the cables were pricey and hard to come by.  Then again, that would only be concern if that monitor required that kind of cable.  It's hard to see for sure in the photos, but I couldn't pick out an IDC port.  It does look like it has VGA ports, but you should get confirmation from the seller if you are considering picking it up.

[RandyT]

I don't think the IDC connector will be an issue on that one.  Looks to me like there are two sets of RGBHsVs BNC connectors.  Also looks like a ton of others, but they could be TTL (blechh!)

I'm sure you can find an HD15 -> RGBHsVs BNC cable on Ebay somewhere for a reasonable price.

I use this method for both my 36" and 37" Mitsubishi's (which I bought for $100 each  )  with no problems.
 
RandyT

[SNAAAKE]

I don't think the IDC connector will be an issue on that one.  Looks to me like there are two sets of RGBHsVs BNC connectors.  Also looks like a ton of others, but they could be TTL (blechh!)

I'm sure you can find an HD15 -> RGBHsVs BNC cable on Ebay somewhere for a reasonable price.

I use this method for both my 36" and 37" Mitsubishi's (which I bought for $100 each  )  with no problems.
 
RandyT

Something like this ?
http://www.pccables.com/images/00608.jpg
Just wanted to make sure...
Thanks for the replies.

[RandyT]

That's the one!

RandyT

[kspiff]

Well, the first link didn't provide much info but then that page had another link that was somewhat informative.  As to whether the thing would work with a PC or not I would've been guessing anyways (your question seemed to be a '2-parter').

And, hey, there's nothing wrong with surfing eBay.. I work in tech support so I'm on eBay a LOT.. just nothing else to do, esp. overnight..

[MrBond]

Hey OSCAR, could you post a pic of the back of your monitor, I think I may have something similar to deal with...which input is best to use for computer input?  It does have hd15 pin, labes RGB 1 IN.  I also detailed the inputs it has on this thread:
http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=4;action=display;threadid=6748

Thanks for any help.  Oh, my crack about SNAAAKE finding deals was because he found this monitor for me!  Ebay is great, no doubt about it.