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MONTEST.DOC
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1997-06-25
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MONTEST V1.2
by
Paul Ratcliffe
(c) June 1997
This program is designed for use on PC VGA cards (and compatibles) with
either a monochrome or colour monitor attached. Obviously the usable
facilities will be rather limited on a monochrome monitor.
It is designed to allow the user to accurately set up their monitor for
optimum performance. The signals generated match as closely as possible to
those used by myself in BBC TV studios.
This program should not cause your hardware any problems. Only documented
BIOS calls are made and nothing else.
If, however, you have a problem, the problem rests entirely with the user
and no responsibility is accepted by the author.
USE OF THIS PROGRAM IS ENTIRELY AT YOUR OWN RISK.
OPERATION
The program is menu driven and is, hopefully, fairly self explanatory. The
two most important keys are the ESCape key and the Spacebar. Spacebar
allows you to cycle through the various options when you have selected an
item from the main menu. ESCape is used to return from the selected item to
the main menu and can also be used to exit the program.
MENU ITEMS
There are 11 of these at present. The purpose and facilities available on
each of these will now be described.
PLUGE
PLUGE - Picture Line Up Generating Equipment.
This is THE reference signal to which your monitor should be adjusted. The
controls which are adjusted here are brightness and contrast.
Brightness should be adjusted so that the thin vertical bar on the left
hand side of the screen is just visible when you are viewing under normal
lighting conditions. N.B. This is slightly different to BBC PLUGE due to
the inability to generate signals below 0v on a VGA card.
If you set it up in daylight it will not be the same as with artificial
lights on or with no lights on (if you have a habit of working in the
dark!), so unless you want to be endlessly tweaking, set it up for the
lighting conditions you normally use and it won't be too far out for the
others.
Contrast should be set so that the white bar at the top on the right hand
side of the screen is as bright as you want high intensity white displayed.
There is a bit of personal preference involved here.
There are defined settings, but again it is dependent on the incident light
on the screen and unless you have a spotmeter, it is very academic.
Brightness and Contrast are interactive so you should adjust each at least
twice.
No user keys are available as this is the reference signal.
Grille (Low Resolution)
This is used to check the convergence of your monitor. That is, it makes
sure the red, green and blue signals from the three guns form three images
on the face of the tube which overlay each other exactly.
Colours available are: Cyan - Blue/Green convergence
Magenta - Blue/Red convergence
Yellow - Red/Green convergence
White - Red/Green/Blue convergence
Twittered versions of Cyan, Magenta and Yellow are also available which
alternately switches each of the pair of primary colours on/off at a
determined rate. This sometimes make alignment easier by adjusting for
minimum movement between the two colours.
Convergence is usually adjustable internally.
Picture geometry can also be adjusted using Grille. The controls for this
may be either internal or external.
Grille (High Resolution)
This is the same as Grille (Low Resolution) except that the lines drawn on
the screen are much 'thinner'. It is more difficult to converge accurately
and indeed some monitors may not be capable especially in the corners of
the tube.
Stepwedge
This generates a 16 level grey scale from black to full amplitude white.
This is used to adjust colour balance such that the colours at the black
end are black/dark grey and the colours at the white end are
light grey/white. It is very common to see poorly grey scaled monitors
which are say magenta in the blacks and blue in the whites. There should be
no colour whatsoever and it shouldn't change with varying brightness or
contrast either. Not many monitors perform perfectly in this area.
Colour balance controls are usually internal, however some may be external.
Do not adjust unless the monitor is thoroughly warmed up. This also applies
to all other adjustments.
Colour Bars 100%
This generates full amplitude, fully saturated colour bars. Not terribly
useful for monitor line up but included for completeness.
Colour Bars 75% (EBU bars)
This generates 75% amplitude, fully saturated colour bars, except for the
white bar which is 100% amplitude. Not terribly useful for monitor line up
but included for completeness.
Purity
This checks that the electron beam from the gun falls in the correct place
on the screen and generates the correct colour. Red is the most sensitive
to check by eye but green and blue should be checked as well. The screen
should be a uniform colour and not have patches of any other colour.
Purity is adjusted internally.
EHT regulation
This checks how well the monitor handles large changes in signal level. The
size of the raster should stay constant for perfect regulation. On most
monitors it will change, often by a considerable amount. Unfortunately, you
can't do anything about it except redesign the power supplies! Check before
buying the monitor!
Monochrome
This reduces the saturation (colour) control to zero effectively turning
everything to monochrome. This is a software setting which only exists
until the next mode change and does not affect the hardware.
Colour
This increases the saturation control to maximum (normal) restoring the
screen to normal colour. It is not possible to over-saturate on a VGA card
unlike a TV. This is a software setting which only exists until the next
mode change and does not affect the hardware.
Quit
Exits the program.
KEYS
Up/Down
These adjust the contrast of the displayed picture. This is a software
setting which only exists until the next mode change and does not affect
the hardware.
Right/Left
These adjust the saturation of the displayed picture. This is a software
setting which only exists until the next mode change and does not affect
the hardware.
Plus/Minus
These affect the twitter frequency used on the Grill option.
Spacebar
This allows you to cycle through the various displays of an item selected
from the main menu.
ESCape
This is used to return from a selected item to the main menu and can also
be used to exit the program.
HISTORY
Version 1.2 June 1997
Added 75% (EBU) bars.
Version 1.1 May 1997
Correct the levels of the PLUGE bars.
Fix minor problems with the keyboard handling (function keys etc.)
Version 1.0 Apr. 1993
Initial release.
OTHER
It is recommended that you do NOT remove the case from your monitor unless
you are sure YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING, why you are doing it and that
somebody else is around in case you run into trouble. There are very high
voltages inside monitors - please beware!
If you use this program could you please let me know. Also if you have any
comments, criticisms, bug reports or anything that could be improved.
I will reply to all messages received.
Paul Ratcliffe: Internet: paul.ratcliffe@bbc.co.uk
Internet: paul.ratcliffe@virgin.net
Netmail to 050/074 GT Power Network