Syncmaster 940Be...thoughts on wiring up for it?

[kthulhu5000]

Hello everyone! Some background, if you please...

So, maybe you've seen this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7b0ol4CCFsA

It basically shows a comparatively recent LCD monitor displaying the signal from a Sega Nomad. The video's author, Mike J. Moffitt, has a few more details here:

http://mikejmoffitt.com/wp/?p=52

There's also http://www.csh.rit.edu/~gman/PersonalWebpage/genny.html, which shows a VGA-modded Genesis and Streets of Rage III playing on the same model of monitor (scroll about halfway down). So, apparently, this is quite possible. And it doesn't sound that complicated, as far as the wiring goes. Put some resistors on an RGB line (though that's more for color than actually getting a picture), wire up sync (CSYNC) to the HSYNC line on the VGA end, and....magic?

Anyhow, I have one of these monitors. I lent it to a local guy I know and test this whole "15 Khz on a modern LCD" thing out. Being crafty and all that, we got the idea to maybe do a basic SCART-to-VGA cable. SCART goes out from the console and into a female SCART plug basically wired to a VGA cable. No need for direct mods, makes it nice and expandable, and (theoretically at least, from my understanding) it shouldn't be any different in terms of RGB.

End result is that he's getting a "Not Optimum Mode" message. He says he's tried a Genesis, SNES, and PS2, and his modded NES and PC Engine Core Grafx systems, and they're all like this. The monitor displays a regular VGA signal just fine, otherwise.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how this can/should be wired up to work, in light of the evidence above that it is possible? Any information or suggestions would be appreciated, and thanks in advance!

[Ed Oscuro]

Apologies if you know it, but when I had a syncmaster from roughly that time period in tate, colors looked wack even viewed head-on due to the polarizer. It also had slow pixel response times (so does this one), so Sonic 2 will probably look horrible. Actual input lag time wasn't great either.

Good luck, but I'd go hunting down a good CRT before they disappear. This is not a great monitor. There are some other monitors from about that vintage which will do some 15KHz and maybe even 24KHz as well, but unfortunately none seem to be really good.

[22point8]

I've got a syncmaster 940mw. Its a 1440x900 16:10 monitor with DVI-D, VGA, Component, SCART, S-Video, Composite and an analog PAL/SECAM/NTSC tuner, so it can do 15khz.

[Ed Oscuro]

That's a different monitor. Specs of the 940be are like any other low-end PC monitor from the time:
http://www.cnet.com/products/samsung-sy ... ies/specs/
Your monitor:
http://www.cnet.com/products/samsung-sy ... ies/specs/
has a TV tuner specifically advertised. Most of the specs are identical, so the same gen panel technology is in both, but the actual resolution is different, power consumption is way different, as are the number of inputs on the 940be. Would be interested to hear your opinions about the suitability of the 940mw for console games.

I don't know how PC monitors with non-60Hz refresh are going to handle 60Hz; the 940be (as the 940mw) is 75Hz.

For 60Hz displays that can accept a 75Hz signal, the result is pretty well known: [url=http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1555530Frames are skipped.[/url] This is the reverse situation, though.

[kthulhu5000]

Apologies if you know it, but when I had a syncmaster from roughly that time period in tate, colors looked wack even viewed head-on due to the polarizer. It also had slow pixel response times (so does this one), so Sonic 2 will probably look horrible. Actual input lag time wasn't great either.

Good luck, but I'd go hunting down a good CRT before they disappear. This is not a great monitor. There are some other monitors from about that vintage which will do some 15KHz and maybe even 24KHz as well, but unfortunately none seem to be really good.

Thanks for the advice. I already have a Sony PVM-20M2MDU, so I'm all good on the CRT front (more or less). This is more of a curiosity / "Can it really be done?" type of project, as opposed to something that will be used with serious intent.

I've got a syncmaster 940mw. Its a 1440x900 16:10 monitor with DVI-D, VGA, Component, SCART, S-Video, Composite and an analog PAL/SECAM/NTSC tuner, so it can do 15khz.

Good to know, albeit judging by your location, your monitor sounds like a model exclusive to the UK and EU. Here in the US, it wouldn't have SCART, would probably ditch S-Video too, and also be problematic in syncing to low-res component/YPbPr sources.