ADI ProVista 17" SVGA monitor
Those of you wanting better picture quality than that of a TV, will know that monitors for the Amiga can be quite costly. You can go for a very expensive Multisync monitor which supports nearly all of the Amigas screenmodes, or you can opt for a cheaper PC-style SVGA model.
The one in question here is an SVGA model and is very good value for it's size. Weighing in at only £159 for a 17" one is very good indeed.
Although it's isn't capable of displaying the TV frequencies (in fact... it throws a wobbly with them) It can handle all SVGA frequencies (great for people with graphics cards) and even DBLPal/DBLNtsc (only just).
PAL woes....
As I've already mentioned, this monitorthows a wobbly when you try to veiw PAL/NTSC modes at it. This monitor is controled by a micro-processor. And as such, when it recieves a frequency that is out of range, the monitor goes into "Protect mode".
This diplays a warning on screen.. saying "Frequency out of range". the problem is that once the monitor goes into this mode.... there isn't a way to get it back out... even by feeding it with a proper PC style mode (Multiscan-Productivity). The only way I know is to switch it off and then back on again.
This is very annoying, but for this price, I'll live with it.
My monitors CPU
I've already said that this monitor is controled by a micro-processor (I repeat myself a lot don't I? Don't I?), this gives the user a very nice on-screen menu to choose all your settings.
And the great thing is, that these settingsa can be different for every mode that you use! For instance, your DBLPal screen size can be different to your Multiscan one!
Ahhh... thats another thing... when switching modes.. the monitor tells you what display mode it is in. for instance, multiscan says:
Preset Mode
640x480
Hsync: 31.5Khz
Vsync: 60Hz
and my DBLPal says:
User mode
hsync: 29.9Khz
vsync: 50Hz
One small problem with switching modes is that the monitor goes blank then fades in the new screen. This is quite annoying when switching between DBLPal and Multiscan screens. But then again, you could always set you software to use just one screenmode.
A word on Frequencies
The normal DBLPal and DBLNtsc monitor drivers do NOT work with this monitor. I have used MonEd3A to modify these drivers to use Frequencies closer to what the monitor expects.
With any luck... these new prefs will be included with this issue.
Start up troubles
When the amiga starts up, it displays a PAL or NTSC screen which makes the monitor throw a wobbly. this means that every time you start/reboot your Amiga, you'll have to switch the monitor off. Very annoying.
Another problem is that the monitor diplays the screen too narrow when it if first switched on after being off for a while. I take it that this is the monitor warming up. It takes about 10 mins for the monitor to fully stretch the screen to what it is supposed to be.
A scandoubler and/or graphics card would get round all of the monitors trouble except the warming up one. So if your serious about using this monitor, then you'll have to get one of those.
those points aside... this is a very good monitor with only one flaw. If the makers were to fix that "Protected mode" problem then It wouyld be even better suited to Amiga owners.
Final verdict
A very good, if slightly flawed, monitor. get a graphics card or at least a scandoubler for best use.
94%Frank Mathieson: frank@massin.freeserve.co.uk