Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!rutgers!lll-lcc!lll-crg!hoptoad!farren
From: farren@hoptoad.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re:  NTSCS standard
Message-ID: <1814@hoptoad.uucp>
Date: Sun, 15-Feb-87 14:54:21 EST
Article-I.D.: hoptoad.1814
Posted: Sun Feb 15 14:54:21 1987
Date-Received: Mon, 16-Feb-87 01:56:01 EST
References: <1235@husc6.UUCP>
Reply-To: farren@hoptoad.UUCP (Mike Farren)
Organization: Nebula Consultants in San Francisco
Lines: 35

In article <1235@husc6.UUCP> grunau_b@husc4.UUCP (Justin J. M. Grunau) writes:
>[. . .]  but I thought the Amiga was famous for having not only NTSC
>output, but also digital and analog RGB, which are, unless I am confused,
>NOT NTSC-compatible.  Could somebody enlighten me on the distinction?
>
You are, of course, correct - the RGB signals are not NTSC compatible (at
least, not with the NTSC standard describing the standard television composite
signal - they are compatible with standard video signal levels as described
elsewhere).  However, it is important to realize that no matter which graphics
mode you select, the signal out of the composite video connector IS NTSC stan-
dard, and can be taped. 320 X 200 X 32, 640 X 400 X 16, doesn't matter.  If the
Amiga offered (say) 1024 X 1024 X 4096, then there would be no way to make that
composite output compatible, thus no way of taping or transmitting the signal
'straight'.

>Also -- one last piece of confusion:  I don't understand why the Amiga lacks
>normal TTL output for a high-resolution monochrome monitor;  I assume you can
>hook a mono monitor up to an Amiga if you choose;  what happens when you try
>to get high-resolution?
>
There isn't any such thing as a "normal TTL output", unless you are talking
about the phrase usually used in connection with an IBM PC monochrome 
monitor.  This is only "normal" in the PC world - it has a distinctly non-
standard scan rate.  You can use a mono monitor hooked up to the composite
video output; these have existed for Apples and Atari 8-bitters for years.
If you find one which allows interlace, and has a fairly high persistance
phospher, it will work just fine in high-res mode.  I've tried it with an
old Motorola monitor I've got, and it worked real well - flicker just went
away (but, then, so did color).

-- 
----------------
                 "... if the church put in half the time on covetousness
Mike Farren      that it does on lust, this would be a better world ..."
hoptoad!farren       Garrison Keillor, "Lake Wobegon Days"