Video converter board

[mojoehand <mojoehand@gmail.com>]

I just received a video converter that I ordered from ebay. Rather
than post a link, which will expire, here is the description and
seller info:

RGBS/CGA/EGA/YUV TO VGA converter 1 output arcade game
chowhe_taiwan
$32.00 + 5.95 S+H

No documentation comes with the board. You get some cables for the
power header and the 8-pin header that you can wire how you want. The
pinouts of these headers are silkscreened on the board.

The reason I took a chance on this board is twofold. It is 1/3 the
price of the next cheapest scan doubler I could find, and some folks
on the Amiga forums have used this board with analog RGB outputs.

I didn't have to wire up a cable, as I had a cable with a DB-15 on one
end and a VGA plug on the other. I think it was made for use with a
Mac and a VGA monitor. I connected this cable to the VGA-style input
of the board (not for VGA input, although the connector is the same)
and a VGA LCD on the output connector. The board is powered from 5-12
VDC. I used a 12 V, 1 A switching adapter that I had on hand.

The first thing you have to do is use the menu buttons to get the
onscreen display out of Chinese and into English. You can choose from
four output resolutions: 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768 and 1360x768.
Instead of the last one (widescreen), I wish it had gone to the next
standard resolution of 1280x1024, which is the native resolution of
the LCD I am using.

Other than menu options for size, position, brightness, etc., you can
select from three different types of input: RGBHV, YPBPR and RGBS. The
last one with composite sync worked with my IIgs.

OK, you're all dying for a picture. Here it is.
http://i47.tinypic.com/2u42b88.jpg

Some observations. The picture looks marginally sharper than the real
thing. The background pattern is a little odd. Since we're scaling
from 640x200 to 1024x768 with the board, and the native resolution of
the LCD is 1280x1024, the text shows some aliasing and fuzziness. When
you move the mouse cursor, a slight shimmering follows it and is
noticeable when you pass over borders and text.

I tried three of the four upscaled resolutions. None looked better
than the others to me. I settled on 1024x768. I had to re-size and re-
position the display in each resolution to get things centered on
screen. The defaults had the display offscreen on the bottom.

I could wish for a perfect display, but for what I paid for this
board, I can live with it. I'll dig up some type of cheap enclosure to
put the board in later.

Now I have to try it with the TTL RGB card that is in my IIe.