Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!bellcore!decvax!ucbvax!husc6!ut-sally!mothra!bryan
From: bryan@mothra.cs.utexas.edu (Bryan Bayerdorffer)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Monitors
Message-ID: <10356@ut-sally.UUCP>
Date: 12 Feb 88 22:58:32 GMT
References: <4009@husc6.harvard.edu>
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In article <4009@husc6.harvard.edu> may@husc7.UUCP (may) writes:
=-
=-I need a new monitor for my Amiga.  I've heard a couple of comments
=-recently, concerning the Sony (SPD-1302?) and a couple of the other 
=-monitors that were mentioned in the Byte article.  One thing I'd
=-like to have in a monitor is that it could double as a color TV.
=-Does the Sony or any of the others do this?
=-Also, could someone please explain the meaning of MultiSync and
=-MultiScan?  I use interlace mode almost exclusively, so I can't
=-use a monitor that won't display reasonably well interlaced (I
=-can handle some flicker; the Flicker Fixer will have to wait until
=-it's a little cheaper).
=-Recommendations, warnings, etc. would all be welcome.
=-
	Any monitor that has a composite video input can be used as a TV, as
long as you have a composite video source.  Most VCRs provide a composite
output.  Note that this is not the same as a normal RF (regular TV antenna or
cable TV) signal.  Maybe there are such things as RF->composite converters(?)
	The Sony does not have a composite input.  The only two monitors of this
type that do (as far as I know) are the Mitsubishi DiamondScan and the Thompson
Ultrascan.  The Mitsubishi also has some sort of video overlay (composite on 
RGB?) capability.  From what I've heard, the Mitsubishi picture quality is also
better than the Thompson.  
	MultiSynch, MultiScan, DiamondScan, Ultrasynch, UltraScan, Multivision,
Multimode, etc., etc., all mean the same thing--namely that the monitor 
automatically adjusts both its horizontal and vertical scanning frequencies to
the input signal.  The demand for these grew out of the hodgepodge of 
different graphics cards (sorry, but the term 'adapter' makes me laugh) for
the IBM PC and clones.  The reason for all these funny names, I think, is that
no one has yet invented a generic term for this device.  People go into stores
and say, "do you sell any, uh, you know--those things like the NEC Multisynch,
only not the NEC...?"  Since I just finished shopping for one, and I was
determined not to sound like an idiot, I have coined the term 'multifrequency.'
	If I were Mr. Sony, I would be very upset that BYTE used 'Multiscan'
as a generic term on their cover this month.  I'm surprised that NEC and Sony
didn't come up with a generic term long ago to protect their trademarks--you
know, like Kleenex is 'Kleenex -->*B R A N D*<-- facial tissue' in all their
commercials. :-)
	Anyway...uh, what was the question?  Have I gotten off the subject?  Oh
yeah--interlace.  Well, the only problems I've heard about with multifreqency
monitors and interlace have been with the old NEC MultiSynch.  My Sony has not
arrived yet, so I can't give any first hand reports.  I bought a MF (get your
mind out of the gutter! :-)) monitor specifically to use with a flickerFixer.
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