Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!yale!mintaka!wookumz.ai.mit.edu!rjc From: rjc@wookumz.ai.mit.edu (Ray Cromwell) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Screen Flicker (was RE: Comments about the Classic) Message-ID: <1990Oct26.181426.27951@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu> Date: 26 Oct 90 18:14:26 GMT References: <34686@nigel.ee.udel.edu> Sender: daemon@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu (Lucifer Maleficius) Organization: None Lines: 66 In article <34686@nigel.ee.udel.edu> WHE46@ccvax.iastate.edu (Marc Barrett) writes: > >In Message <1990Oct26.044011.18815@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> Marcus Dolengo > writes: > >>All this talk about the Amiga's flicker, when yesterday I went to a computer >>room at columbia <@ IAP btw> where there were alot of macs being used >s i think, B&W display though> and I noticed quite a few were flickering show- >>ing normal ordinary text.... although I was 15 feet away, I thought it was very >>bad and strange coonsideing MB's ranting about how "clear the mac display is" >>as is compared to the A500.... btw when you wanna compare the A500 to the mac + >>wouldnt it be fair to use a B&W monitor for the Amiga? :-) > > This is a sort of optical illusion, resulting from how far away you >were standing from the monitor. If you had been closer to the monitor >of the MAC, you would not have noticed any flicker. > > I work most of the time in a computer lab which in a very large room, >with computers and terminals throughout the room. I noticed a long time >ago that, if I look at a monitor screen that is on the other side of the >room, the screen appears to flicker greatly, even though the same monitor >appears to have a totally rock-solid non-interlaced display when I am >close to it. I have asked other people about this, and they said that >they noticed the same thing, so I know it is not anything that is wrong >with me. > > If you want proof, try this: put your Amiga into a non-interlaced >resolution mode, preferably NTSC if possible (non-interlaced NTSC gives >you the most rock-solid display possible on the Amiga). Now, stand >about 15-20 feet away from your monitor and look at it. You will >notice some flicker; your will notice more flicker the further way >you stand from your monitor. > > I have a theory that the human eye is more suseptable to flicker >from light sources that are a distance away, though I may be wrong. > > >>------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> o o | This Space For Rent Only Amiga!! // >><< md41@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu >> | Amerikkka's Most Wanted \\ // >>/> <\ | \X/ >>------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >>"I think out actions _show_ what's in our hearts." Hobbes >>Who's the Mack... > > > -MB- Sorry MB, I just tried this experiment, in fact I almost walked out of my house doing it. On my 640x200 screen I noticed no flicker. Perhaps the reason its caused on the Mac is because the Mac's screen is interlaced. (90hz or so I'm told.) An American in England will probably notice a flicker on PAL 50hz interlaced TV. The higher the scan rate, the less the flicker. Another reason could be 9" monitors. I doubt you could see a flicker on a handheld television. -- "NeXTs are useless... Mac's are irrelevent.. IBM's are futile. Amiga's,however, are quite nice!" -Capt Jeal-Luc Amiga | Flames to /dev/null Ray Cromwell rjc@wookumz.ai.mit.edu | // AMIGA! \\ "Your software will adapt to service ours!"| \X/ AMIGA! \X/