Test pattern generator?

Angry_Radish

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I'm getting tired of plugging in my test jamma board just to get a decent test pattern to use while repairing monitors.
All the pattern generators I'm seeing on eBay are for NTSC, is there something else I should be looking for? Can the NTSC generators be modified to serve std and med res?

What are you monitor nerds using? :)
 
Of course you can always look on ebay for a used Wico 72-4461 CRT Pattern Generator. It also works with the old black & white video game monitors as well as color.
 
I got my hopes up for a little bit last night, was digging through some of my old test equipment and ran across a B&K model 1246 generator but alas, NTSC. grrrr
 
I need to get a test pattern for my G08.
Any suggestions?

I think your only option right now is a gameboard with a test pattern. There is a project that someone wrote online for trying to do this with a PIC. However, it was more theoretical since he didn't build any hardware. The dedicated repair stations from the various companies might do them as well, but those are expensive and hard to come by.
 
I need to get a test pattern for my G08.
Any suggestions?

I found a Hickock Arcade Analyzer on ebay a few months ago. It can generate test patterns for raster and X-Y monitors, and has 4 harnesses for common ones and instructions to build any other harness you need. It also has something called Vari-Traker that I haven't had a chance to look into yet.

Makes it really easy to test monitors. I have an iso transformer on a plug, so I can power and supply the signal to a monitor anywhere I can find an AC outlet.

I have no idea how common they are, I had never seen or heard of one before I saw it on ebay.
 
Decided to bite the bullet and just get one of these - after all the friggin monitors I fixed in my lifetime this thing would be worn down to nothing by now.

Anyhow I figured I'd post this - its on sale for $113 here and with 7.95 shipping it was just about $121 to my door...

http://www.tequipment.net/GMETechnologyMT830A.asp

I got half way through my order with them and did some searching on the net for coupon codes, but instead found a bunch of people complaining about their service and drop shipping issues. So I decided to pay the little bit extra to go with the vendor I used before, plus they did have some other parts I needed.

Let me know how tequipment.net works out. There are other things I have wanted there in the past.

-VJ
 
We'll see how it goes. I paid with credit card so any problems and we'll yank that payment. If they come through quickly I might order a Hakko 808 desoldering tool next, then call it a day for tools.
 
We'll see how it goes. I paid with credit card so any problems and we'll yank that payment. If they come through quickly I might order a Hakko 808 desoldering tool next, then call it a day for tools.

I did find comments from people that liked them to and got great service and shipping. It seemed more like a problem that they drop ship allot of stuff and didn't handle notification well for delays in drop shipments. One thing that was a bummer where I ordered mine from is that you don't get shipping options. I can't remember how they did it last time. Hoping it was USPS priority or something so it will be here soon. :)
 
We'll see how it goes. I paid with credit card so any problems and we'll yank that payment. If they come through quickly I might order a Hakko 808 desoldering tool next, then call it a day for tools.

Have you gotten yours yet? I got everything I ordered from the other place except the pattern generator. :( The packing slip said it was on back-order.

-VJ
 
Lol actually yeah it just came yesterday. Never got a shipping email or a tracking number it just showed up.

That's cool... I am going to call monday and see how long the backorder is. If it is anything more than a few days, I will probably just cancel it and order from the other site. Oh well.
 
Haven't used it yet but I hope to soon. It did not come with an arcade monitor cable, in fact it came with no cables at all or a battery. It looks like it did drop-ship from CME technology though.

Its actually bigger than it looks - I thought it would be a little bigger than a pack of cigarettes, but in reality its maybe about the size of a box of checks. Sort of a good thing I suppose - harder to lose it :)

There's two plugs - one vga and one 9-pin cga. I was kinda hoping to use an arcadevga cord connected to the 15 pin plug but I'm not sure if that'll work or not in cga mode, but I guess I'll find out sooner or later. I have tons and tons of computer cables so worst case scenerio I'll just dig up a 9 pin cord and lop the opposite end off for a monitor plug.
 
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