S-Video/composite board for Atari STs -- great for STFs

[vattari]

(I recall a few years back when I first got back into Atari's, I came up with this and was shot down on the Atari Forums. I'll post it for other's reference because, well, it actually worked!)

For countries where SCART is less common, obtaining a better video signal than RF/composite on modern displays required Multisync monitors or genuine Atari monitors. The reason I got this originally is because I picked a very cheap 1040 STF and had no way at the time to use it (my monitor/video handling situations is well and truly sorted now though ;) ).

I came across a RBG to S-Video convertor that I feel got very good results, cheaply. It's the Wei-ya CV-04 RGB CGA to TV composite video converter, available here:

https://www.sintron.co.uk/products/sint ... erter-mame

As you can see, you can switch between PAL and NTSC output.

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Overall, I was very happy with the S-Video output. The medium resolution photo above of the desktop probably doesn't do it justice, but you can see that most lettering (especially "i's" and "w's") are present and not skewed.

[Smonson]

That looks good - when you move the cursor around, do you get de-interlacing artifacts like on the Gonbes upscalers?

[vattari]

I did purchase a GBS8200 around the same time and noticed the mouse pointer “anomaly”.
I have to admit, I don’t have this anymore but I do recall that that wasn’t present.

[slotti]

Stupid question, but what kind of cable to you use from the converter to your LCD. My LCD only has VGA, hdmi, and dvi.
Also, is the cable from the atari to the converter custom.

[vattari]

Stupid question, but what kind of cable to you use from the converter to your LCD. My LCD only has VGA, hdmi, and dvi.
Also, is the cable from the atari to the converter custom.

It’s just a standard 4 pin S-Video cable. I can’t speak for other regions but in Australia they have been included on TVs as standard from around the mid 90s onwards. They’re less common now (with most LCDs typically have component inputs and composite now at the low end)