Pac Man Video Output

Jdel

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I've never really messed around with monitors so I apologize if this is a stupid question.

Does anyone know If I can wire up the RGB output on a pac board directly to a VGA plug so that I can test the board on a PC monitor?

Thanks for your help.
 
Short answer...no. Not without a CGA->VGA converter

Long answer... Nnnnnoooooooo. :D

The reason it won't work is because the sync frequency of an arcade game is the same as NTSC - 15.75khz. IBM PC VGA is 31.5 khz. You need some kind of scan doubler/line buffer converter in order to make it sync up at all, even though the video signal levels are otherwise very similar.

Now, older computers used compatible monitors. Any of the Commodore Amiga RGB monitors will work, as will the several other monitors for computers of that era. For testing, I use an Apple IIgs monitor.

So, there do exist a lot of small monitors that will work well with arcade machines. But the common modern PC VGA monitors will not sync down that low. Some earlier VGA monitors will, in fact, work - the original NEC Multisync, the Multisync 2a and the Multisync 3d will all sync and work at 15.75khz. Also, there were numerous Sony studio monitors with RGB inputs.

-Ian
 
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