Amiga RGB 2 HDMI Issue

[Jameson]

Hey all,

I know many people use the RGB2HDMI solution on the Amiga, so I am sure this issue has reared it's head many times before.

Using RGB2HDMI I get a nice solid stable image for Workbench - running in PAL Hi-Res Laced with quite a bit of overscan. All good. However about a third of the software I run causing the screen to dance about, flicker on and off, and just will not sync. At first I thought these programs were opening NTSC screenmodes which the RGB2HDMI didn't like, but they are not - they are opening PAL screenmodes. Also, I have tried using ModePro to force te same PAL Hi-Res Laced screenmode to rule that out - no difference.

Obviously it is some setting, pixel clock, vsync... SOMETHING that I need to adjust, however I have played around for ages adjusting things and it seems to make no difference at all. I have even tried seveal different monitors to rule that out - they all display the same issues with the same programs.

HELP!

 

[Jameson]

....well, maybe RGB2HDMI's are not as widely used as I thought.

Maybe I could attack the problem from a different angle - does anyone have an RGB2HDMI install that works fine with all screenmodes that they could zip their RGB2HDMI installation and send to me to test?

 

[btp]

Did you tried auto calibration?
I would also suggest first to update to the latest available software released a couple of weeks ago:

Release 20240213_e630d36f Release · hoglet67/RGBtoHDMI

Introduction The latest beta with HDMI audio support is available here: https://github.com/IanSB/RGBtoHDMI/releases This is a stable release (from the master branch). (the previous stable release w...

github.com

 

[Jameson]

Did you tried auto calibration?
I would also suggest first to update to the latest available software released a couple of weeks ago:

Release 20240213_e630d36f Release · hoglet67/RGBtoHDMI

Introduction The latest beta with HDMI audio support is available here: https://github.com/IanSB/RGBtoHDMI/releases This is a stable release (from the master branch). (the previous stable release w...

github.com

Hi btp. Thanks for the reply, and thank you for the link - I will download the latest version and see if that makes any difference.

Also, how do you Auto calibrate? I remember something about sampling etc from a few years back when the RGB2HDMI first came out, but I cannot for the life of me remember how to do it now.

 

[btp]

Auto calibration is performed from the built-in menu of RGB2HDMI
Have a look at this video:

 

[Jameson]

Thanks for that! I think we may have found my problem - my install of RGb2HDMI does not have the Auto Sampling option in settings! There is nothing there where it should be..... I am assuming that if the unit has not been calibrated then it might not have a perfect lock/sync with the video signal which would explain the drop outs and failure to sync on certain outputs.

I will install the newer version of the software tonight and see if the Auto Calibrate option appears in the settings menu. Will report back.

Thanks again for your help!

 

[Jameson]

Damn, not having much luck here. I think the latest versions of the RGB2HDMI software is unusably buggy.

I have installed the latest release and it does EXACTLY the same thing - some screens are rock solid, clear and crisp, other screen roll, flash, bounce and are totally unusable.

I tried to Auto Calibrate the sampling.... but the option is STILL missing in the menu! Even the built in help file refers to the menu, but it is not there.

Does anyone have a link to an older (non-beta) WORKING build of the software?

 

[btp]

The link I gave you is the latest official stable release.
Did you format your SD card before copying over the new release files?
If you simply copied the new release over the existing files it might not work correctly.
I recommend that you read carefully the official setup guide:

Quick Start Guide

Bare-metal Raspberry Pi project that provides pixel-perfect sampling of Retro Computer RGB/YUV video and conversion to HDMI - hoglet67/RGBtoHDMI

github.com

Anyway, If you want to try older releases they are all available in github:

Releases · hoglet67/RGBtoHDMI

Bare-metal Raspberry Pi project that provides pixel-perfect sampling of Retro Computer RGB/YUV video and conversion to HDMI - hoglet67/RGBtoHDMI

github.com

 

[Jameson]

Hi there. Yes mate, I formatted the MicroSD card and copied over the latest install - no good. I then downloaded 4 previous releases, formatted the MicroSD card each time and installed each one - no good.

I read somewhere that originally the RGB2HDMI boards did not use a CPLD, but then went to a CPLD to give more flexibility..... my board is tiny - not much bigger than the Denise socket and has several small IC's on it, but there does not appear to be a CPLD, but I could be wrong.

Could it be that this board is an earlier design that uses a few logic IC's in place of the later CPLD and as such is not as programmable and so the newer RGB2HDMI software releases will work on it, but with certain features, such as the Auto Calibration, disabled?

I am clutching at straws here, but I wonder if this could be the issue...