Video frustration

[Kagehik]

I finally got a chance to put the X16 into a case and set it all up. Works great, if not for one tiny problem - getting the video to work with a newer Amazon Insignia TV. The first thing I turned it on the image was only showing the "Y." of the "ready." message from basic and the bottom and top edges where no place to be seen. I finally did get to the menu settings for the display, but it seems that the cheap VGA to HDMI adapter I got just utterly despises the output from the X16, because the only way I can get it to show up correctly was by squishing the display so badly that the text is almost unreadable, requiring both a resize of the display, and changes to the start and stop points for the image (i.e. the converted image is both in the wrong place, off the edges, and stretched to absurd lengths). This is, obviously, both absurd and unusable.

So.. anyone out there know a better, inexpensive preferably, solution to actually getting this thing working with an hdmi input, as in something that won't just break if I take it to someone else's place and run into the same madness? Or, crazier yet, in case I buy a small display I can screw to the side of the case it's in, to take it on the go, which was a maybe until it just didn't work.

[TomXP411]

Video issues with the VGA output are a common complaint. The VGA is not quite compliant with the IBM VGA standard: the frequency is a bit off, and the back porch is a little too short.

I use an HP - 27" IPS LED FHD FreeSync Monitor, which has a VGA input. Other panels with VGA and auto-adjust tend to work, as well. What doesn't work are cheap VGA converters.

One thing to check on your TV is whether Overscan is enabled. (It almost certainly is by default.) Usually, the "Zoom" button on the remote will turn it off, but certain TVs also have an Overscan setting in the menu. That will still not help if the first character column is cut off, but it does help when the left 4-8 columns are cut off.

[ahenry3068]

I finally got a chance to put the X16 into a case and set it all up. Works great, if not for one tiny problem - getting the video to work with a newer Amazon Insignia TV. The first thing I turned it on the image was only showing the "Y." of the "ready." message from basic and the bottom and top edges where no place to be seen. I finally did get to the menu settings for the display, but it seems that the cheap VGA to HDMI adapter I got just utterly despises the output from the X16, because the only way I can get it to show up correctly was by squishing the display so badly that the text is almost unreadable, requiring both a resize of the display, and changes to the start and stop points for the image (i.e. the converted image is both in the wrong place, off the edges, and stretched to absurd lengths). This is, obviously, both absurd and unusable.

So.. anyone out there know a better, inexpensive preferably, solution to actually getting this thing working with an hdmi input, as in something that won't just break if I take it to someone else's place and run into the same madness? Or, crazier yet, in case I buy a small display I can screw to the side of the case it's in, to take it on the go, which was a maybe until it just didn't work.

The cheap VGA to HDMI convertors are of very spotty reliability. More expensive ones can work but are no guarantee. I would suggest maybe a trip to the local thrift store (Salvation Army, Goodwill, perhaps others) to search for a monitor or TV with a VGA Input.

If you don't have such a store available There are several 4:3 flat panels available on Ebay for around $100.00. I have had good luck with DELL branded monitors.

[TomXP411]

If you don't have such a store available There are several 4:3 flat panels available on Ebay for around $100.00. I have had good luck with DELL branded monitors.

If you can find one, the Dell 2001FP is kind of the holy grail of retro computing monitors. It supports VGA, Composite, and S-Video, and it handles both PAL and NTSC without problems.

[ahenry3068]

If you don't have such a store available There are several 4:3 flat panels available on Ebay for around $100.00. I have had good luck with DELL branded monitors.

If you can find one, the Dell 2001FP is kind of the holy grail of retro computing monitors. It supports VGA, Composite, and S-Video, and it handles both PAL and NTSC without problems.

I like the 19" DELL CRT VGA I picked up... Very awesome picture... No composite input but just the VGA is fine with me.

[Kagehik]

Got a 7" display with VGA in, when it ever gets here will see what that can manage, otherwise, yeah.. hunting down one of the options mentioned may be the needed solution, unless a composit converter would have better luck...

[Xiphod]

You did try typing

MENU

On the X16? Then go to CONTROL PANEL, SCREEN GEOMETRY, then use the WASD keys to adjust things?
Then you save the settings, go back (ESCAPE) to SAVE SETTINGS and NVRAM-0, so they "stick" the next time you power up.

It's helped me with a few screens that didn't AUTO quite right.

[Kagehik]

Uh, yeah voidstar. I state such in the first post. The only way to get it fully displayed was to mash the image down to a point where it distorted the text to almost unreadable, and it then, the moment a game changes resolutions, was just messed up all over again. (Seems the settings only correct one screen mode, not all of them, and once in a game, not sure you can get to the menu..) In any case I got a real cheat 7" display with actually VGA support. For now that will work, but later, when I have yhe spare cash, I suppose getting an old 4:3 LCD, which supports VGA would be the better option. That or spend even more on something that does proper conversion.

Kind of frustrating that the people that make converters assume anything you plan to plug into one is going to behave like an PC. Kind of stupid, given that nearly zero people are likely using old PCs with VGA, and almost nothing older is remotely compatible with "expected behavior". Snort! No love for retro.

[Xiphod]

Ah, apologies, thought you were referring to the TV-device built in settings not the X16 ones.

I think the video/NVRAM setting is "per video mode", I recall experiencing that also when I was messing with those. Which is pretty tedious, who wants to set those for all the different video modes (you can change the mode right in the MENU setting without going back to BASIC and doing SCREEN x, but still it's a lot of modes).

Technically some kind of licensing involved for HDMI (related to enforcing the digital protection protocol stuff, HDCP). I think it is more logo/compliance-cert related, but I wonder if some devices are more stricted about it. There are differences in HDMI cables, at least I've had some that didn't work between some devices, but did work on others. I have an older 2013-era laptop that is picky about which HDMI cable I use (which was right around when HDMI 2.0 was introduced).

[8_bit_memories]

I second the like for Dell 4:3 monitors.

I had been using a 17" Dell (with VGA and DVI input) as the second screen on my Linux desktop, which I've moved into reserve for when my X16 arrives. A few weeks ago I found another Dell monitor (19", with only VGA input) for $7 at a thrift store, and use it with my Agon. (The Agon can do 1024x768, so for now it gets the bigger screen.)