The end of VGA is nigh, apparently.
Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)
Posts: 23,514
http://hackaday.com/2016/01/29/vga-in-memoriam/
From the article:
The article pertains only to computers and motherboards. But when VGA on those goes away, the TVs and monitors that support it won't be far behind.
-Phil
From the article:
"This year is, however, the year that VGA finally dies. After 30 years, after being depreciated [sic] by several technologies, and after it became easy to put a VGA output on everything from an eight-pin microcontroller to a Raspberry Pi, VGA has died. It’s not supported by the latest Intel chips, and it’s hard to find a motherboard with the very familiar VGA connector."
The article pertains only to computers and motherboards. But when VGA on those goes away, the TVs and monitors that support it won't be far behind.
-Phil
Comments
As some of the HaD comments note the article does seem a bit premature and overwrought, since VGA remains available on some of the other connectors via passive adapters and is still ubiquitous in some industries. Despite its "death" you can still get PS/2 everything, though you might have to go to eBay or Amazon to get it, and all manufacturers I know of of hardened industrial keypads offer PS/2 versions because there is so much legacy equipment that can't handle USB.
It's true it would make no sense to put a VGA connector on a 4K monitor but if you don't put one on a 1080p monitor you're just shooting yourself in the customer base. Someone will be putting those connectors on for awhile I think.
Sad but true.
We have been saying that supporting video output on the Prop is pointless for ages.
That's great. But there has not been a TV in the house for many years now.
These "TV" things are disappearing rapidly.
There are also reliability issues with USB - in another thread the poster says he gets only a few months of up-time on Linux USB.
No issue on Consumer, but in industrial system may expect better.
However, TVs still offer VGA and the chipsets have that for free, so it becomes a 'can we fit' question.
I've seen small 7" and 8" displays on eBay for Vehicles, that have both VGA and HDMI connectors, and I would expect that approach to be standard for some time yet.
If someone offered a more compact VGA standard connector, there may be more life left.
I've read that most VGA monitors XOR H.V sync, so composite sync is present by design, which saves 1 pin, and that means a compact USB 5 pin connector could be used. The main hurdle here is one of labeling.
VGA may even outlast HDMI, as I see video over USB-C is now being offered, so the USB-C may become the defacto compact standard, with others deprecated.
USB-C adapters to HDMI and VGA may be the next standard.
VGA will be around and useful for a very long time yet. The author of that piece based it almost entirely on a move Intel made.
But, whilst we are at it. USB is a total disaster.
It's nearly 20 years since Bill Gate demonstrated that USB does not work
Now look at all the questions that have come up here since about how to get a simple UART interface working with the Propeller.
It's really annoying.
Yes, and I found the Up-Time comments about USB and Linux illuminating too, in another thread ...
Given Keyboards were able to support PS/2 and USB operation, is it a shame they overlooked making USB support PS/2 and even TTL RS232 on the same connector.
You can be sure USB-C chipsets will all have wrinkles too...
@Heater, NTSC is on more than TV's. It's still fairly widely used in security cameras and automobile backup monitors, and they're all pretty cheap.
A big thing we do is small monitors, which in the current market means headrest monitors made for vehicle display systems and kiosks. Those are all NTSC and VGA and aren't likely to change for a few years, since vehicle systems don't tend to obsolete at the rate desktop computers do. A couple of years ago the cheapest 9-inch VGA monitor I could find was over $250 but now you can get them for $60 via Amazon.
And then cannibalize on the fast serializer video subsystem to make it more general in what it can do, for usb/Ethernet/smart pins etc.
Is it not? That was the plan some two years ago wasn't it? Did that change when Chip restarted the design?
Analog video got generalized into the streamer, which works as a capture and output to the DACS. Video is one thing it can do now. We did get the color management and mixing circuits in this one, which are more video specific, but can still be used for other purposes.
Driving digital displays, such as an LCD, became part of the plan when the video system got generalized for this design iteration. That's a general purpose multi-pin, in and out stream basically.
The problem with inbuilt HDMI is the clocked serializer is outside the process capability. That's a pretty big brick wall.
* Checking into ADI, I see in their ADV752x series, a ADV7528 at $2.20/1k
16b Streamer in, 150MHz, and compact 49WLSCP
This streamer parallel interface, is quite similar to the (USB) FT600, which P2 should also support via streamer, for Super speed USB
eg FT600-16bit/FT601-32bit FIFO interface.
Sync FIFO, CLK from FT60x is 66Mhz or 100Mhz, FIFO Clock enable signals.
ie inside (just?) P2 bus speeds, but the timing may be a challenge.
https://ez.analog.com/message/225129#225129
The comments by the AD support tech are interesting.
Seems HDMI transmit is not a license issue.
This also raises the eyebrows...
Ouch - VGA is a lot more predictable than that, and many Industrial apps cannot pre-select displays, as they expect a long design lifetime.
See my post above - in the ADV75xx series, the ADV7528 lists at $2.20.
Some of the older (but more available) ADV75xx parts are larger packages and more $$, and they seem to cycle thru part codes too...
Another pathway to HDMI, would be to use the Pi Zero as a HDMI terminal, and focus on a fast serial link, and terminal SW.
Courtesy of my sales guy, these are the ones we just installed at a new job:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I2K45X8?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00
He also tracked down these, which are a little more expensive:
http://www.amazon.com/Tontec®-Resolution-Raspberry-Rearview-Headrest/dp/B00OOJPAGW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1453213289&sr=8-1&keywords=7+inch+monitor+vga
Thanks - the first one is cables-only, but the second one is the HDMI and VGA approach I mentioned, and it seems to also have Composite via cable option & PSU and more pixels, for the extra price.
CA$15.97
http://www.banggood.com/Universal-LCD-Controller-Board-TV-Motherboard-VGA-or-HDMI-or-AV-or-TV-or-USB-images-p936100-q37376.html