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H-Res NTSC?? — Parallax Forums

H-Res NTSC??

cbmeekscbmeeks Posts: 634
edited 2006-09-01 18:34 in Propeller 1
Has anyone here pushed NTSC to the max with their Prop?

Like maybe a true 256x192 res with many colors? Or even a 160x192 with many colors?

I would be interested in seeing what kind of video people have done. smile.gif

thanks

cbmeeks

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Comments

  • BeanBean Posts: 8,129
    edited 2006-08-31 11:57
    cbmeeks,
    I hope you haven't given up on your SX NTSC project ?
    BTW can you post a link to it ? I tried to find it but I couldn't...

    Bean.

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  • cbmeekscbmeeks Posts: 634
    edited 2006-08-31 12:04
    Ah. No, I haven't. Things in my life have been very, er, challenging lately. To make a long story short, I left my job of 5 years (making very little money) to find another job. Got a job making average money and got FIRED after 4 months. They said I couldn't do simple programming?? Turns out, they didn't land these big contracts like they said they would, lost a big client and their ego was bruised.

    So, I got fired on a Friday and by NEXT Friday I landed another job! Making TWICE what I was making at the 5 year job and $17,000 more per year than the one I was fired from. Only bad part is that it's a contract position with possibility to hire. It's great here. Learning new stuff. Had to switch from ASP.NET/VB.NET to C#.NET and I really enjoy it.

    ANYWAY....I've been wanting to get a prop chip going because it appears to be so much easier for video. But in the pit of my stomach, I've felt guilty by not doing it the hard way and the fact that you remembered my project has sparked my interest again. smile.gif

    Thanks Bean!

    cbmeeks

    PS,

    The links are down because I was hosting them at my house. My router's PSU got hot and cracked open! So, I got another router and I can't quite get the dynamic IP service working so that I get a virtual static IP. :-/

    But that's ok. I have a ton of real webspace and since I am going to launch my coders' hangout site over the next couple months, I can host them there. In fact, it would make a great first article!!

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    Post Edited (cbmeeks) : 8/31/2006 12:07:57 PM GMT
  • JT CookJT Cook Posts: 487
    edited 2006-08-31 18:11
    Yes, 256x192 with any color is achivable. Some of the video drivers that were developed for the Hydra do this. The only downside is it can get a little COG hungry depending on what you are doing.
    cbmeeks said...
    Has anyone here pushed NTSC to the max with their Prop?

    Like maybe a true 256x192 res with many colors? Or even a 160x192 with many colors?

    I would be interested in seeing what kind of video people have done. smile.gif

    thanks

    cbmeeks

  • AndreLAndreL Posts: 1,004
    edited 2006-09-01 05:15
    There are only 160 color clocks on a line of normal NTSC during active scan (224 or so for the full line ), so anything over isn't going to display pixel for pixel. But, we the Hydra team have written numerous video drivers from 160-256 a line, each has its purpose.

    Andre'
  • cbmeekscbmeeks Posts: 634
    edited 2006-09-01 11:00
    Andre', I can't wait to get me a Hydra. In fact, I am going to hold off on the other Prop dev boards and just use the Hydra. At least until Parallax releases a $9.95 prop dev board. smile.gif

    cbmeeks

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  • Ym2413aYm2413a Posts: 630
    edited 2006-09-01 17:37
    I'm interested in seeing something that can handle tilemaps and sprites while getting past the 4 color per 16x16 limit. That to me would be worth it's bits in gold!
  • cbmeekscbmeeks Posts: 634
    edited 2006-09-01 17:39
    That makes two of us. My system is going to be tile-based. I *DID* get smooth scrolling once!! It scrolled a color bar and man it was SMOOOOTH.

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  • Ym2413aYm2413a Posts: 630
    edited 2006-09-01 17:58
    cbmeeks said...
    That makes two of us. My system is going to be tile-based. I *DID* get smooth scrolling once!! It scrolled a color bar and man it was SMOOOOTH.

    I wrote a whole GPU in VHDL for a fpga. It was for a console I built from the ground up.
    It support 256 colors and 320x240 rez.
    All layers where really 512x256 with those area's off screen for scroll buffering.

    (48) 16x16 sprites with 16 colors per sprite. 12 per line max.
    256 color BMP layer with a 2 tile layers.
    One tile layer supported 16 colors every 8x8 tile.
    The other supported a fixed 16 color pallete over the whole tileset and was the top layer called the (overlay) used for screen stats and menus.
    All layers supported independent scrolling.
    256K of VRAM.

    Yes it worked, I built a 8bit 22mhz z80 clone computer with the thing. Rabbit 2000 cpu with 512k of RAM and 512k flash.
    Along with a Sound Chip I wrote in another FPGA.
    8 channels of WaveTable synthesis from 128k of WaveTable sample ram.
    It was a "long" but fun project!

    It was my excuse to learn FPGAs for the custom Video and Sound Co-processor.
  • cbmeekscbmeeks Posts: 634
    edited 2006-09-01 18:17
    Ah, but that's cheating! hahahahahaha

    (joking)

    Bean has actually sparked my interest again and I almost went the "easy" route with the prop. Now, I want to do it in pure SX more than ever. Even though the SX wouldn't be as hard as the Apple II's approach, it will still be a GPU from nothing.

    Maybe I should back up here...my goal is to re-create the Commodore or Atari. Not to emulate, but to design a computer that would be state-of-the-art....in 1983.

    cbmeeks

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  • CJCJ Posts: 470
    edited 2006-09-01 18:22
    cbmeeks said...

    Maybe I should back up here...my goal is to re-create the Commodore or Atari. Not to emulate, but to design a computer that would be state-of-the-art....in 1983.


    doesn't the prop *by itself* just about manage that?

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  • cbmeekscbmeeks Posts: 634
    edited 2006-09-01 18:34
    Yeah, I think it does. That's why I almost went that way but think I will wait until the Hydra is ready.

    In the meantime, I will do it the hard way. smile.gif

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