Indivision ECS V2 ghosting

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Don't Panic. Please wash hands.
  • Hi all,


    I am getting a blur/smear to the right of windows and drawers in Workbench 3.2.2.1 with an ECS v3 Indivision, and hoping to get some help, please.


    I am using a PAL Kickstart 47.111 and Workbench 47.4, (OS3.2.2.2.1). The Phoenix board gives me a 1Mb ECS Agnus (8372A). Workbench screen is PAL:HighRes.


    I have tried every VGA mode that will work with my screen, using both 50Hz or 60Hz and tried CVT settings using the calculator below (my screen’s native mode is 1920x1080@60Hz, but it does work with some 50hz modes).


    https://tomverbeure.github.io/video_timings_calculator


    800x600x50Hz seems to be the least problematic, but the smear remains (I can minimise noticing any blur/smear with Darken set to 1, but I almost think a smear might be preferable to scan lines (still deciding).


    I have also added aluminium shielding to my VGA data cable, and covered that in heat shrink to minimise interference and smearing but it does not appear to have made much of a difference.


    While a totally different technology, RGB2HDMI does not have this problem, but I can’t use that as it will not pass thru to my RTG card, which I intend to install once a TerribleFire arrives hopefully next week. So, doing everything I can to make the Indivision work for me perfectly.


    Maybe that’s as good as it gets, and I’m OK with that if confirmed in this forum.


    Thank you for any advice!

  • Please register in this forum, so you can take a picture of what you desribe as "smear" - the V3 version has a vastly updated DA converter that is a lot sharper than the V2 version discussed in this thread, so it's either a typo, or a defect that you may be talking about here.


    Jens


  • Thanks Jens,


    Attached is picture of the blur/smear I am referring too. It may be that this is normal for VGA (its been a long time). If it is normal I will ignore it and happily get on with Amiga life :)


    Thanks!

    Dwight.

  • The VGA cable is the same one supplied with the Indivision ECS V3, however after reading through this topic, I wrapped the supplied cable in aluminium tape from my local electronics store to shield the cable, and then covered in heat-shrink tubing so that it would not short anywhere inside the Amiga. The issue was happening before any of this treatment, and the shielding/wrapping did not make any difference from what I can see.


    I am using a Belkin VGA cable externally, I have added ferrite cores at both ends, but that also made no difference (not surprising).


    I have another VGA cable I can use, it must be better quality as I get less artefacts, but still a tiny bit of double-vision and again only on the right-hand-side of drawers. I would take a picture, however I have turned the machine off for now.


    I do have regular Amiga 1000, with a Parceiro. I will try the Indivision on that, and then swap out the Power Supply to keep working on the Phoenix board while I get the faulty Power Supply fixed.


    Thank you again, I am very grateful a fault in my machine has been found now, hopefully before serious damage occurred.

  • unlike the ECS v2, V3 should have no ghosting. So most likely the vga cable is the culprit. Even thick ones with ferrite cores can have issues. I have best experience with the rater thin black ones with blue vga connectors and ferrites. The types you get when you buy monitors

  • Hi Jens,


    My issue is not with he Indivision V3, it is my monitor.


    I have now replaced the power supply with another that I had professionally recapped and checked/certified. This power supply has also been dual electro-plated with Nickel and then Chrome to really kill EMF radiation!


    The VCC pin on my 68000 CPU now shows 5.06v - much safer and better. Thank you so much for deriving that issue and potentially saving my Amiga 1000!


    I have replaced the internal VGA ribbon cable with one I have made - shorter, with a 10-way IDC connector on both ends to connect directly to the pass-thru connector on my GBAPII++ board, shielded and heat-shrink wrapped to also minimise interference. I have also added shielding and wrapped my power supply connector, added ferrite cores to the internal power supply cables and ferrite cores to my VGA cable.


    I get a very slight ghosting now, so I tried hooking the VGA Output to an OSSC and then HDMI to my monitor - crystal clear. The monitor is a brand new Phillips 272S1. I really like it, but it is disappointing the VGA input may be sub-standard.


    Thank you again for the help and for saving my Amiga!!

  • For me an upscaler (Medusa) removes the ghosting on the V2 too. Main advantage for me is that i can leave the cables, i have also other retro systems connected on the scart input.


    In the mean time i have also found a good working 15" CRT monitor, its yellowed, but works perfect with the TC64v2 and indivision in my A4000(Yes the very first one) and the Indi ECS V2. With this setup the image quality is realy perfect and the scrolling as as smooth as on a 1084 for the Indi ECS v2 and TC64v2.


    I also have some retro PC's, what i noticed on modern LCD with VGA is that newer cards tend to give a better image, while older cards like TRIO64 based also gives less good image.Now im not to technical, but my best gues is that the main focus is on HDMI input and the VGA is implemented as cheap as possible.