MiSTer FPGA Forum

I have just got a mister and I am using an Asus VB199 5:4 monitor. The manual lists a bunch of resolutions and refresh rates.

So I have been playing with the mister.ini file and setting different preset video modes and some custom modes for different cores too. I love the fact that I can set alt.ini files and settings for individual cores. It is great. The monitor seems to accept whatever I throw at it which is very surprising. I thought I’d be stuck with the settings listed in the manual. At least I believe the monitor is actually accepting what I throw at it given what is shown in the top left of the screen! It appears to be happy with all 3 vsync settings as well.

Is it correct that the resolution and refresh rate posted on the screen (bottom line of information in the top left) by the mister is what the monitor is displaying? Sorry if this seems like a silly question but I wondered!

Is the top line of information they resolution and refresh rate the core is outputting?

The last question is about monitor resolution in general. I set a custom video mode to 1024x968 at 60hz for the NES core (I think) and I got a full screen image. The NES is 256x240 so am I right that the image was simply a x4 scaling? But, am I also right that as this does not correspond to a native resolution of the monitor this is less than ideal? I’d expect the monitor to have figure out what the pixels are to be displayed or the mister to do that to make up the image and that this would introduce imperfection in the image and lag due to the additional workload.

I was thinking that mode 4 which is 1280x1024 at 60hz would give integer scaling for the NES and this would be better as a single pixel becomes a 4x4 copy and there is no additional calculation taking resources and messing up the image to some extent even though this would not give me a full screen image. I suppose all that matters is what I prefer the look of but I am interested in what the generally accepted view in this is!

I hope that makes sense and I apologise if some of my thinking is plain wrong or misguided. I am trying bit by bit to learn the basics and then maybe even more.

It's best to set MiSTer to the screen resolution, so all the upscaling is handled by it.

The problem is not so much workload but the fact you end up with pixels that can't be displayed in non integer upscaling, which can cause clearly uneven lines or shimmering when scrolling.

That being said, MiSTer has very good interpolation filters that can make it work. For me as long as scanlines look even, its good enough.

The monitor's scaler is not going to look very good if that's the question, and most likely does not understand integer scaling (it uses the same algorithm for any scale). I believe the MiSTer itself does understand integer scaling up to the screen resolution and it looks good at least for the basic output, haven't tried shadow masks or such. So use the screen's resolution if possible, which 1280x1024 is. I just bought a 5:4 monitor for retro use but haven't had a chance to try it out yet so my experience has been on 1440p and 4k monitors so far.

In general you should use the panel's native resolution (1280x1024) and let mister scale. You will have a bunch of options how to do so. Generally 4x vertical scale will be achievable.

The one catch I've had with older monitors is some that can display 70-75 hz but not at the native resolution. This is probably a result of them being compatible with 70hz DOS modes. So for the AO486 core you might need to lower the vertical resolution, maybe something like 1280x960 for a safe 4:3.

FoxbatStargazer wrote: ↑Sat Nov 05, 2022 10:47 am In general you should use the panel's native resolution (1280x1024) and let mister scale. You will have a bunch of options how to do so. Generally 4x vertical scale will be achievable.

The one catch I've had with older monitors is some that can display 70-75 hz but not at the native resolution. This is probably a result of them being compatible with 70hz DOS modes. So for the AO486 core you might need to lower the vertical resolution, maybe something like 1280x960 for a safe 4:3.

Thanks you all for your help and especially Foxbatstargazer - you also helped when I posted a question in the newcomers area.

Staying with displays I'd like to explore a CRT display in the next few weeks. I think, being in the UK, most TVs here had a Scart connector on the back rather than component, SVideo or separate RGB inputs. So, is a UK CRT TV with Scart RGB essentially offering the same as the separate RGB inputs found on other TVs? Is the scart on a UK standard TC even always RGB scart? And therefore, should I be looking for a CRT TV with RGB scart input as the best way to connect my mister?

Again apologies if I misunderstand all this!

You can get scart cables that plug right into the Mister's VGA analog out. Just set composite_sync=1 and it should work. Just mind that the cable has attenuated the voltage properly. (Generally any Mister site selling the cables should be fine.)

Would that then give an RGB picture? Sorry, I'm just not sure if the scart input is RGB on UK TVs. I have tried to research this but I find that there is often conflicting information across different websites and the information does not always relate to the kind of CRT TV I would be able to get here in the UK I think!

The situation is easier with Svideo and component I think. I remember TVs having those connectors and they were reasonably obvious. I don't rmember TVs with RGB inputs but after a while almost all UK TVs had scart.

Scart cables can actually carry composite as well as RGB. Hopefully your TV will accept the RGB side if it has a scart connector... the simple cables you get for Mister are generally going to be RGB with composite sync, getting a full composite signal out of Mister is more difficult.

Great OK. So I just need to make sure the TV accepts RGB over scart.