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What kind of video are you using — Parallax Forums

What kind of video are you using

LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
edited 2011-10-04 05:07 in Propeller 1
Hello,
I am curious what everyone is using.
1. VGA
2. NTSC/PAL
3. LCD
4. Other

This would be your first choice, not all you are using.

Comments

  • potatoheadpotatohead Posts: 10,261
    edited 2011-10-01 11:20
    First choice is composite, second is S-video, third VGA.
  • mindrobotsmindrobots Posts: 6,506
    edited 2011-10-01 11:36
    I've done very little with video. I've tried the VGA and Composite demos and hooked up a serial LCD. Most everything I do is across the serial port either to PST (debugging) or Tera Term/PuTTY for PropForth.

    I need to do more with video!
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2011-10-01 13:21
    None. Serial only around here. Hope to be using a PocketTerm VT100 serial terminal soon though.
  • frank freedmanfrank freedman Posts: 1,983
    edited 2011-10-01 13:35
    Using serial and Tek 2247A for development in curve tracer modules. Later will use plasma display (two laying around looking for a use) for the curve tracer and LCD for a medical device prototype.

    Frank
  • jazzedjazzed Posts: 11,803
    edited 2011-10-01 13:41
    frank freedman wrote: »
    Using serial and Tek 2247A for development ....
    Put the Tek on X-Y and write a video driver for it !
  • ElectricAyeElectricAye Posts: 4,561
    edited 2011-10-01 13:46
    VGA
    It provides big bright letters that are easy to read through the smoke clouds billowing out of my prototypes.
  • zoopydogsitzoopydogsit Posts: 174
    edited 2011-10-01 15:14
    A bit unfair only able to have 1 choice.
    I use composite monitors and Raymonds LCD screens equally, and I also use serial console.
    For quick development I use composite, 3 pins, just works. I use the serial console for debugging as well as video.
    But I love the Raymond LCDs for their bright colors in the final development stages. I've shared a bunch with friends - they are amazed. Though as with myself, most are time challenged.

    Another poll should be "Which tools do you use to debug your code" and ask folks to elaborate, we could probably learn a lot!
  • frank freedmanfrank freedman Posts: 1,983
    edited 2011-10-01 16:08
    jazzed wrote: »
    Put the Tek on X-Y and write a video driver for it !

    Actually, years ago when I first went to work for Siemens Medical Systems, we had a trick of putting a vertical freq sawtooth into one of the scope channels, and the composite video from a videomed N/H/C into another to get a sort of quick and dirty display. Gray matter just does not seem to be able to recreate it for now.......

    Frank
  • HannoHanno Posts: 1,130
    edited 2011-10-01 16:39
    I like a simple and functional setup- so I stream video to ViewPort. That means I don't need any external hardware apart from the USB cable- and requires no pins. It also makes it easy to share images or video with other people- just hit the "print screen" button and paste into email/word. ViewPort also has an OpenCV integration so video frame-captured or generated by the Prop can be used for computer vision projects.
    Hanno
  • Duane DegnDuane Degn Posts: 10,588
    edited 2011-10-01 16:47
    I voted NTSC since I think I probably use it the most (of the three choices). But, like zoopydogsit, I also use Rayman's LCDs. I also have a 19" VGA monitor I use with my lab.

    For general debugging, I use PST. Once the code is up and running I usually use a NTSC display. As I stop to count displays around me, I find Rayman's LCDs (I recently purchased a few more of his breakout boards) are a close second to NTSC monitors.

    With my VGA project and projects using Rayman's touchscreens, I use a second Prop as a graphics coprocessor.

    Duane
  • Cluso99Cluso99 Posts: 18,069
    edited 2011-10-01 18:48
    I voted NTFS/PAL (yes I voted for a file system! guess you could not correct that error).

    Anyway, in fact I use serial and PST the most. I did prefer VGA but these days I have a nice 4" composite LCD so I prefer NTSC/PAL one I go past Serial/PST. I only use text if that helps.
  • VIRANDVIRAND Posts: 656
    edited 2011-10-01 21:55
    I voted VGA because (I'm sad to say) my supply of VGA monitors has exceeded NTSC ones associated with the Propeller.
    The good news is that as I often use the GRAPHICS driver object, it is compatible with the TV object AND the VGA object,
    and therefore I can code and construct projects with connectors for both types of display, so whichever is handy is usable.

    Joke of the day: When pigs fly, where do they land? At an airport, just like we do.
  • Toby SeckshundToby Seckshund Posts: 2,027
    edited 2011-10-02 02:56
    I only have one PAL/NTSC monitor, for projects, and as that one is a LCD it can do 800 x 600 VGA too. All the others are LCD VGAs. Even so, I usually used VGA just because of getting more than 40 characters on a row.

    My cherished PAL/NTSC CRT 9" monitor's focus went a while ago, and so it had to go and meet it's recycler.
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2011-10-02 07:26
    I have to admit that I have been stuck for years between NTSC and VGA, but finally got a VGA for dedicated use and created a PocketTerm set up just for filling the dumb terminal role at a bench where I hope to use it with several different projects. I did have to modify BrielComputers' code for my VGA as it has always been a rather temperamental one. But the modification was rather painless.

    Frankly, I thing the OBEX should have sub-directories for these different video dependencies. A lot more would get done if users didn't have to read through a mixed list. As it is, searching VGA as a keyword brings up quite a bit more than just the 'foundation objects'.

    Maybe, one day there might be an object that toggles between the VGA and NTSC during compilation. That might be handiest.
  • localrogerlocalroger Posts: 3,452
    edited 2011-10-02 11:53
    I started out doing all NTSC because small NTSC monitors are a lot cheaper than small VGA monitors and the lower scan frequency gives you more characters on the screen with the ROM font and a lot more options for expanded text. (For the stuff I do, having at least two colors per line is mandatory, so the hirez VGA drivers are out. And they're a bit too high density.)

    However, I finally sat down one day and wrote a few VGA drivers for myself, and I now have the 18 line by 43 char ROM font driver which does 2 colors plus background per line, plus inverted text, and as many extended bitmap characters as I want, and the output is much clearer than NTSC and the color selection is much cleaner. I've also been told by my sales associates that the extra $200 for a VGA capable monitor really isn't an issue for most of what I do, so from now on I'll probably be using mostly VGA.
  • John AbshierJohn Abshier Posts: 1,116
    edited 2011-10-02 14:17
    I mostly use serial to a PC.

    John Abshier
  • RavenkallenRavenkallen Posts: 1,057
    edited 2011-10-02 14:46
    I use NTSC a LOT now, but i used to be pretty fond of OLED modules(4-D Systems). I have a VGA display, but i rarely use it.
  • Dr_AculaDr_Acula Posts: 5,484
    edited 2011-10-02 16:47
    I'm using a range of car reversing displays - very cheap on ebay and lower power consumption and they come in a range of sizes from 3.5" to 7", and 4:3 or widescreen. They autoselect PAL/NTSC. For color they can go to 256x224 and for white on black, even an 80x25 text display is quite legible. I started with VGA but I like the more portable battery powered solutions these displays make possible.
  • blittledblittled Posts: 681
    edited 2011-10-03 09:23
    I usually use NTSC then I fiddle around with LCD displays since I have a 4X20 smart serial LCD. Then I use a LCD graphic display using Ray's Propeller System Module. I have a LCD touchscreen collecting dust and a VGA monitor that is completely ignored
  • sylvie369sylvie369 Posts: 1,622
    edited 2011-10-03 09:32
    So far LCD only, though I did set up a VGA output on a Protoboard for a temporary project last year. I've ordered my first composite monitor - an automobile reverse camera display ala Dr Acula - for Prop purposes, and expect to play around with that over the fall. A big issue for me is portability and ability to read in direct sunlight (that is, out on the rocket range), so LCD has the edge so far.

    I'd do what Hanno is doing if I were smart enough.

    Go Brewers!
    =================
    Edit: my first of those car reverse cameras arrived yesterday, and it works great. What a bargain!
  • TorTor Posts: 2,010
    edited 2011-10-04 03:02
    Maybe it was mentioned already - but the poll says 'NTFS/PAL'. That should be NTSC for sure..

    -Tor
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2011-10-04 05:07
    Thanks,
    I will try to correct the typos. It seems in the past few years that my fingers have begun to have independent streaks. In Others, it should also say reply not replay. But I couldn't seem to find a way to edit out the typos after submission.

    This all is making me look like a rather poor English teacher.
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