Getting the best picture out of an FM Towns Marty

[parodius]

Ok, so the best an FM Towns Marty can do is output 480i S-Video.
Some games (arcade game ports initially designed for 240p or similar) allow you to choose the "output resolution", something like "video" giving the most faithful pixel aspect ratio, still in 480i though.
Going through an XRGB2 gives me slightly washed out colors, as well as some flickering and scanlines don't really work with interlaced signals.
The XRGB Mini has a much better colors but has still some flickering.

I know it's never going to be as good as the pure RGB an FM Towns computer would give, but at least I'm looking for good color & to get rid of the flickering by converting it back to 240p RGB.
I have an Extron 203 Rxi RGB interface which should help. But what should I use to convert Y/C to RGB first ?

Any other idea ?
No "buy an FM Towns computer instead" advice please

Cheers

[Fudoh]

without taking into account the actual s-video quality, but low-res 480i in general will probably look best on a XRGB-3 in B1 with an EXTERNAL scanline device. Disable scanlines on the XRGB-3 instead. XRGB-2 will be the same.

[parodius]

I see. Will try that, thanks Fudoh !

[ApolloBoy]

It might be possible to mod it for RGB, if it outputs S-video and composite there's a good chance it has a video encoder chip that you can grab RGB from.

[parodius]

We'll some people have looked into it.
But according to the specs of the MB40968V video DAC used by the Marty, it does not output RGB.

[Lawfer]

So is RGB possible on the FM Towns Marty II?

I checked and all there is are composite and S-Video.

If RGB is not possible, could I hook S-Video on my receiver and from my receiver output Component?

[Opethian]

Wasn't the point of the marty to make is more of a console than a PC? If you want RGB get the PC setups right?

[bobrocks95]

Wasn't the point of the marty to make is more of a console than a PC? If you want RGB get the PC setups right?

No "buy an FM Towns computer instead" advice please

Also lots of consoles output RGB. It's not like it's relegated to just computers.

[CkRtech]

We'll some people have looked into it.
But according to the specs of the MB40968V video DAC used by the Marty, it does not output RGB.

That DAC won't, but what is the pinout of the chip that feeds that DAC?

I doubt they would go to the trouble to have the multiple, digital R, G, and B output lines on that chip in addition to the digital Y and C outputs that go to the MB40968V. But who knows? If they do, however, I suppose it is possible that you could wire up a circuit similar to the one out there for the 3DO (which uses "digital RGB").

[Lawfer]

Any way to get S-Video converted/transcoded to RGB? And if so, would there be any gain in quality?

[CkRtech]

Any way to get S-Video converted to RGB? And if so, would there be any gain in quality?

You'd be converting an inferior signal (S-Video) up to RGB. The only real advantage this would give you is getting the signal display ready prior to the device you want to display it on - an advantage if your display doesn't directly support Y/C (S-Video).

[Lawfer]

Any way to get S-Video converted to RGB? And if so, would there be any gain in quality?

You'd be converting an inferior signal (S-Video) up to RGB. The only real advantage this would give you is getting the signal display ready prior to the device you want to display it on - an advantage if your display doesn't directly support Y/C (S-Video).

The only other way I was thinking of, was plugging the S-Video on my receiver and having it output it through the component outputs, wont there be any gain in quality, even the slightest?

[bobrocks95]

Only advantage would be if your television doesn't support S-Video or has very poor support for it (like Fudoh mentioning the Sony W series handling the SCART input very poorly)

[Lawfer]

Only advantage would be if your television doesn't support S-Video or has very poor support for it (like Fudoh mentioning the Sony W series handling the SCART input very poorly)

I am using a broadcast monitor, so no S-Video inputs of course, just RGBS, RGsB, Component or Composite.

[CkRtech]

The only other way I was thinking of, was plugging the S-Video on my receiver and having it output it through the component outputs, wont there be any gain in quality, even the slightest?

The short, simple answer is "no." However, the phrase "gain in quality" is relative.

You are taking two signals - brightness and colors, having your receiver split the already mixed color signal up, and output it as YPbPr.

So as far as the actual signal is concerned, you are taking something inferior, converting it, and then outputting the results of that conversion. The conversion will only be as good as the source ever was.

It is possible that your receiver can do a better job processing that S-Video signal than your display, and the color output to the display will be better than if your display processed the S-Video's chroma signal natively. In that case, it would appear to look better since your receiver processed it...but has nothing to do with the fact you have changed the signal.

EDIT:

I am using a broadcast monitor, so no S-Video inputs of course, just RGBS, RGsB, Component or Composite.

Ahh.

[Lawfer]

The only other way I was thinking of, was plugging the S-Video on my receiver and having it output it through the component outputs, wont there be any gain in quality, even the slightest?

The short, simple answer is "no." However, the phrase "gain in quality" is relative.

You are taking two signals - brightness and colors, having your receiver split the already mixed color signal up, and output it as YPbPr.

So as far as the actual signal is concerned, you are taking something inferior, converting it, and then outputting the results of that conversion. The conversion will only be as good as the source ever was.

It is possible that your receiver can do a better job processing that S-Video signal than your display, and the color output to the display will be better than if your display processed the S-Video's chroma signal natively. In that case, it would appear to look better since your receiver processed it...but has nothing to do with the fact you have changed the signal.

EDIT:

I am using a broadcast monitor, so no S-Video inputs of course, just RGBS, RGsB, Component or Composite.

Ahh.

Sounds good enough, thanks.