MiSTer FPGA Forum

Posted: **Tue May 26, 2020 12:34 pm**

I start from 2048x1536@60 mode in case someone (like me) uses iPad3/4 screen for MiSTer:

video_mode=2048,48,32,80,1536,2,4,38,209250

Posted: **Tue May 26, 2020 1:30 pm**

Note that this setting, 209.250MHz, is in the realm of ruthless over-clocking.

The FPGA scaler was pipelined in order to reach 150MHz, for 1080p Full-HD.
The Analog Devices HDMI encoder datasheet indicates 165MHz as max frequency (for 1920x1200)

Anything beyond ≈180MHz isn't guaranteed to work, or may only work with some cores, or not all FPGAs, or when the FPGA is well cooled.

To reduce frequency, it is sometimes possible to reduce synchro/blanking times (here the 48, 32, 80, 2, 4 ,38 numbers), but each screen model can need different settings.

Posted: **Tue May 26, 2020 1:40 pm**

I have found a page with all VESA Standards

http://tinyvga.com/vga-timing

I have tested this one for my 4x3 monitor: DELL 2001FP

video_mode=1400,88,152,240,1050,1,3,33,122610 (1400x1050@60Hz)
video_mode=1600,64,192,304,1200,1,3,46,162000 (1600x1200@60Hz)
video_mode=1400,88,152,240,1050,1,3,33,102175 (1400x1050@50Hz)

Posted: **Tue May 26, 2020 3:09 pm**

Milongero wrote: ↑Tue May 26, 2020 1:40 pm I have found a page with all VESA Standards

http://tinyvga.com/vga-timing

I have tested this one for my 4x3 monitor: DELL 2001FP

video_mode=1400,88,152,240,1050,1,3,33,122610 (1400x1050@60Hz)
video_mode=1600,64,192,304,1200,1,3,46,162000 (1600x1200@60Hz)
video_mode=1400,88,152,240,1050,1,3,33,102175 (1400x1050@50Hz)

What option, if any, do you use to scale the image to full screen display?

I also have a 4:3 monitor (LG Flatron F900P), and I tried different options on the mister.ini, like full integer, the 0.5 scale or the fill screen height. I think I settled on the fill screen height, since it was the only one that displayed full screen. I am using the default 1024x768@60Hz, but I will try one of those from the link you found.

Posted: **Tue May 26, 2020 3:26 pm**

Grabulosaure wrote: ↑Tue May 26, 2020 1:30 pm Note that this setting, 209.250MHz, is in the realm of ruthless over-clocking.

The FPGA scaler was pipelined in order to reach 150MHz, for 1080p Full-HD.
The Analog Devices HDMI encoder datasheet indicates 165MHz as max frequency (for 1920x1200)

Anything beyond ≈180MHz isn't guaranteed to work, or may only work with some cores, or not all FPGAs, or when the FPGA is well cooled.

To reduce frequency, it is sometimes possible to reduce synchro/blanking times (here the 48, 32, 80, 2, 4 ,38 numbers), but each screen model can need different settings.

Sure, it's way beyond official max. But it works

Originally i was trying to reduce blanking (and use dvi mode) but controller board gives artefacts in first line. And since 209MHz works, i just left official parameters.
In this mode there is one column of right-most pixels are rolled to the left-most column. Currently i use border to hide this issue.
Overall works fine.

Posted: **Tue May 26, 2020 4:14 pm**

My monitor is a hermaphrodite with an additional s-video input. So it can also operate at 15kHz. Unfortunately the firmware has a bug, so I have to run it in VGA scaler mode.
The native resolution is 1600x1200 at 60Hz.
at 50Hz the image is not centered. So I chose another resolution (1400x1050) for 50Hz which works fine.
In my .ini is now

video_mode_ntsc=1600,64,192,304,1200,1,3,46,162000
video_mode_pal=1400,88,152,240,1050,1,3,33,102175

my vga_scaler=1

and for some cores I had to make some adjustments

[mpatrol]
vga_scaler=0
forced_scandoubler=0

[TGFX16]
vscale_mode=2

[GAMBOY]
vscale_mode=0

[minimig]
vscale_mode=2

Posted: **Tue May 26, 2020 5:26 pm**

This video mode is the best I've found so far for displaying the menu with a VGA scaler. Very useful for anyone wanting to run scripts without HDMI, or who just want a wallpaper on CRT.

Code: Select all

[Menu]
video_mode=512,42,62,64,224,11,21,6,10689
vga_scaler=1

The 512x224 resolution gets the menu aspect ratio very close to where it is without VGA scaler on, and should get your H/V center and overscan just about perfect if you calibrated your TV using 240p test suite on SNES.

: 7ip11wp.jpg (151.66 KiB) Viewed 22124 times

Posted: **Tue May 26, 2020 6:14 pm**

btw, roll-over in 2048 mode i've just fixed. It was simple overflow in ascal.

Posted: **Tue May 26, 2020 6:32 pm**

Sorgelig wrote: ↑Tue May 26, 2020 12:34 pm I start from 2048x1536@60 mode in case someone (like me) uses iPad3/4 screen for MiSTer

There’s a way to do this? I thought the iPad could only do HDMI out, not HDMI in?

Posted: **Tue May 26, 2020 6:42 pm**

limi wrote: ↑Tue May 26, 2020 6:32 pm
Sorgelig wrote: ↑Tue May 26, 2020 12:34 pm I start from 2048x1536@60 mode in case someone (like me) uses iPad3/4 screen for MiSTer
There’s a way to do this? I thought the iPad could only do HDMI out, not HDMI in?

You can purchase the display used in the iPad 3/4 with an HDMI input.

https://www.adafruit.com/product/1652

Posted: **Tue May 26, 2020 6:51 pm**

there are cheaper options of just panel + board on ebay.

Posted: **Tue May 26, 2020 7:37 pm**

Sorgelig wrote: ↑Tue May 26, 2020 6:14 pm btw, roll-over in 2048 mode i've just fixed. It was simple overflow in ascal.

I though it was fixed already. There were many folding pixels?

Code: Select all

IF o_dcptv(1)>o_hsize THEN
    o_copyv(2)<='0';
END IF;

Maybe it should have been :

Code: Select all

IF o_dcptv(1)>=o_hsize THEN

(and '>=' should even be a little bit smaller than '>')

I'd like to add some features to the scaler soon...

Posted: **Tue May 26, 2020 8:19 pm**

Sorgelig,

Would you be able to share the resolution (or even better the full video_mode line) that the IO board outputs the menu in when not using vga_scaler? I'm working with some people on defining custom [Menu] profiles, and it would be nice to have that default resolution as a starting point. Thanks!

Posted: **Tue May 26, 2020 8:26 pm**

Grabulosaure wrote: ↑Tue May 26, 2020 7:37 pm
Sorgelig wrote: ↑Tue May 26, 2020 6:14 pm btw, roll-over in 2048 mode i've just fixed. It was simple overflow in ascal.
I though it was fixed already. There were many folding pixels?

Only one.
here is my fix: https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Templat ... 0fb5223cb1

Posted: **Tue May 26, 2020 8:57 pm**

Sigismond0 wrote: ↑Tue May 26, 2020 8:19 pm Sorgelig,

Would you be able to share the resolution (or even better the full video_mode line) that the IO board outputs the menu in when not using vga_scaler? I'm working with some people on defining custom [Menu] profiles, and it would be nice to have that default resolution as a starting point. Thanks!

i didn't count the pixels. Code is here: https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Menu_Mi ... nu.sv#L362

Posted: **Tue May 26, 2020 9:14 pm**

Grabulosaure wrote: ↑Tue May 26, 2020 7:37 pm (and '>=' should even be a little bit smaller than '>')

This also works. So i've changed to this fix. Thanks!

Posted: **Tue May 26, 2020 9:23 pm**

Btw, for everyone who will test custom modes, the maximum horizontal resolution is limited to 2048 pixels. This is already way to much (209MHz) than official max (148MHz) by pixel clock. So there is no point to increase the maximum beyond this resolution as it's clearly will be failed due to extreme pixel clock.

So don't even try 2560 or 3180 pixels

for 1440p screens: MiSTer supports 4:3 version of 1440p. It's 1920x1440 and it's just added to standard resolutions (will be in the next Main release). If your monitor supports 1920x1440 and able to output centered without scaling, then you can enjoy 1440p. All cores are 4:3, so you won't loose anything using 1920x1440.

Posted: **Tue May 26, 2020 9:37 pm**

Sorgelig wrote: ↑Tue May 26, 2020 9:23 pmAll cores are 4:3, so you won't loose anything using 1920x1440.

Only exception I can think of off the top of my head is GBA. For 1920x1440 display, you have to drop down to 8x scale which would be a fully windowboxed 1920x1280. But if 2160x1440 is possible, that would work as a perfect 9x scale and fill the vertical resolution.

Posted: **Tue May 26, 2020 9:43 pm**

True. Arduino is also wide, i've forgot it.
For GBA may be 1280x720 would be better resolution.

Posted: **Tue May 26, 2020 9:47 pm**

Unfortunately, you still wouldn't fill the full vertical resolution with an integer scale 4x scale would get you 960x640. It's a real oddball resolution because of the 3:2 aspect ratio. In any case, that's the only core that wouldn't be perfect with 1920x1440. An acceptable casualty.

Posted: **Sat May 30, 2020 6:58 pm**

Sigismond0 wrote: ↑Tue May 26, 2020 5:26 pm This video mode is the best I've found so far for displaying the menu with a VGA scaler. Very useful for anyone wanting to run scripts without HDMI, or who just want a wallpaper on CRT.
Code: Select all
[Menu]
video_mode=512,42,62,64,224,11,21,6,10689
vga_scaler=1
The 512x224 resolution gets the menu aspect ratio very close to where it is without VGA scaler on, and should get your H/V center and overscan just about perfect if you calibrated your TV using 240p test suite on SNES.

Would love to know where to get this background

Posted: **Sat May 30, 2020 8:40 pm**

I'm kind of daft. I have a Sony BVM, and I don't think the standard HDMI 720p mode works. The BVM will do 720p, but I don't know what that modeline would look like for mister. Would love to use 720p to rotate some arcade cores and increase the menu resolution. If anyone knows what that looks like I would greatly appreciate it.

This doesn't seem to have any effect.

[Menu]
;video_mode=512,42,62,64,224,11,21,6,10689
video_mode=1280,110,40,220,720,5,5,20,74250
vga_scaler=1

Posted: **Sat May 30, 2020 10:18 pm**

Emubastard wrote: ↑Sat May 30, 2020 6:58 pm Would love to know where to get this background

: J2cfGyc.png (709.07 KiB) Viewed 22127 times

Posted: **Sun May 31, 2020 11:47 am**

Sigismond0 wrote: ↑Tue May 26, 2020 5:26 pm This video mode is the best I've found so far for displaying the menu with a VGA scaler. Very useful for anyone wanting to run scripts without HDMI, or who just want a wallpaper on CRT.
Code: Select all
[Menu]
video_mode=512,42,62,64,224,11,21,6,10689
vga_scaler=1
The 512x224 resolution gets the menu aspect ratio very close to where it is without VGA scaler on, and should get your H/V center and overscan just about perfect if you calibrated your TV using 240p test suite on SNES.

Thanks for this. I tried in on my BVM 20F but no luck. The image shows but there is some strange colour artifact effect. I'll try on my PVM which is the same model as yours.

Posted: **Sun May 31, 2020 11:57 am**

512px mode for old CRT is too much. It's ok that you see color artefacts.

Posted: **Mon Jun 01, 2020 4:30 am**

Would it be possible to use 'video_mode' to create a 1200p in a 1080p window like the ossc and analogue products do? Sacrificing some of the top and bottom of the picture to get fullscreen integer scaling.

Posted: **Mon Jun 01, 2020 8:18 am**

I would like to add to the scaler outputs the detected input image size. It would then be possible to select any number of lines to crop from top/bottom of images
(and from sides, but it's likely far less useful.)

Posted: **Mon Jun 01, 2020 1:22 pm**

zoopster wrote: ↑Sun May 31, 2020 11:47 am Thanks for this. I tried in on my BVM 20F but no luck. The image shows but there is some strange colour artifact effect. I'll try on my PVM which is the same model as yours.

Interference color patterns on that test pattern wallpaper specifically, or color artifacts in general? I wouldn't be surprised to see them on that specific wallpaper, as the various lines may not match the mask/grill on the CRT in a way that works perfectly. But if it's giving you color artifacts on other wallpapers or the menu itself, I'd be interested in seeing a picture.

Posted: **Thu Jun 11, 2020 7:33 am**

Grabulosaure wrote: ↑Mon Jun 01, 2020 8:18 am I would like to add to the scaler outputs the detected input image size. It would then be possible to select any number of lines to crop from top/bottom of images
(and from sides, but it's likely far less useful.)

Looking forward to this feature, as I believe this will solve lots of scaling issues on some TVs.

Posted: **Fri Jun 12, 2020 4:30 am**

Jayde Six wrote: ↑Mon Jun 01, 2020 4:30 am Would it be possible to use 'video_mode' to create a 1200p in a 1080p window like the ossc and analogue products do? Sacrificing some of the top and bottom of the picture to get fullscreen integer scaling.

I would love to have such a feature. I mentioned this in my ["ranty"

] thread about vertical scrollers.

I went back through several of the older arcade cores and noticed quite a number of varying resolutions.

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