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From: alanh@hpsmeng1.rose.hp (Alan Haight)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: Re: Need A2320 information PLEASE
Message-ID: <2870003@hpsmeng1.rose.hp>
Date: 11 Dec 90 20:18:42 GMT
References: <2870002@hpsmeng1.rose.hp>
Organization: HP Support Materials Organization
Lines: 78


  Well,  I finally got my A2320 card on 12/8/90.  So I thought I would reply 
to my own request ;-) )

  Basically all you have to do is plug the card into the video slot and then 
plug your Multi-sync monitor into it and you are ready to go.
  The board does come with a disk that has three pictures ( 1 in low-res, 1 in
hi-res, and 1 in Productivity mode for use with 2.0 [1280x400] )  You are 
suppose to load each picture one at a time a check to make sure everything is
stable and clear.  There is a small adjustment pot on the back of the board 
that is accessable from the back of the Amiga.  You may have to adjust this 
pot for your Amiga.  Mine did not require any adjustment at all.  After all
screens are verified to be correct, you are ready to jam.
  There are some other pictures on the disk that are suppose to show the dif-
ferences the board makes, but they are not very good samples.  They are nice
pictures but don't show off the de-interlaced benefits very well.  There should
have been a picture that had a lot of white horizontal lines on a black back-
ground that are one pixel apart to really make it flicker on the normal screen
in hi-res mode. Because now this comes out perfectly rock solid and clear.
Now you don't have to worry which colors you use where, they all work and look
gorgous !!!
  I have a 300Mb Hard Drive full of Pictures and Animations and I tried every-
thing to make sure it would work.  Well, I can report that it worked 100% with
everything I have and tried.  Everything from low-res to hi-res, 16 color to
HAM, even Dynamic HAM and severe overscan stuff.  Animations look great and 
there isn't any motion blurring on the mouse pointer or screen.
  If you are running in low-res (320x200 or 640x200), it even improves this 
because it removes the black scan lines between every visible scan line. And
in hi-res (320x400 or 640x400) it eliminates the flicker too.  The best example
to look at would be to look at an Amiga 3000 screen.  The A2320 uses one of the
A3000's custom chips to give us the same quality display.
  The board will also reconize one of the Productivity modes and automatically
pass it through to the monitor once we get the 2.0 AmigaDOS.  I believe that
mode is the 1280x200 and 1280x400, but I don't have the manual here so I'm not
100% positive on which one it was.
  Also the board has a switch on the back to pass the normal Amiga Video to
the monitor if you so choose.  You can also use the standard RGB connector
on the Amiga at the same time as using the A2320's separate connector.  It's
really impressive to have both my A1080 monitor and NEC 3D monitor hooked up
at the same time.  You can then really see the difference this new board makes
while looking at the old screen and all of its uglyness !!!
  The only slightly negative thing I can say, and it really isn't the boards
fault, is that on a low-res picture that has been dithered; is that the dither
pattern is slightly changed because there is now a second video scan line
where there would have been a black scan line.  This just slightly changes the
way the area looks. It's not bad, it's just different.  In fact it looks like
some Artists have used the black scan lines as part of there picture for both
dithering and mixing/smoothing effects.
  There was some talk on the NET about this board having a problem with the
first scan line having some flicker in it.  Well I can't find this error on
my screen.  Either the problem was fixed, or my board doesn't have it, or my
monitor corrects it, or my eyes are going bad :-)
  One last thing.  With the NEC 3D monitor I can fill the screen from top to 
bottom, but there is a quarter inch black gap on both the left and right sides.
You will notice this same effect if you display a picture that is not in over-
scan mode on a normal Amiga.

  Well, if you haven't guested; I'm a completely satisified customer.

  Thanks Commordore !!!
     Great Job for a GREAT MACHINE.

  Now I just need 16 Million Colors 
   and Amiga UNIX. (I hope they allow dealers to install UNIX on your HD so you
   don't have to buy a Cartridge Tape Drive.) <---  READ CBM !!!


PS:  My Hardware Setup ...
       Amiga 2000
       GVP030-33MHz
         4Mb 32 bit RAM
       4Mb 16 bit RAM - Microbotics
       CLtd Kronos SCSI Controller w 300Mb & 200Mb drives
       1Mb Chip RAM
       KS & WB 1.3.2

  Alan Haight
  alan@hpsmo100.rose.hp.com