It still works! But can I improve video quality?

[tjewell]

Hi all!

Well, I'll be. My old Dragon 32 still works after all these years - just loaded 'Space Raiders' from tape for burst of nostalgia. I've got it connected via the composite out to a fairly modern TV, and I'm sure the video quality could be better. I've got vertical stripes, about the same width of a single character, all the way across the display. Was it always like this? Have I become fussier in my old age? Is there anything I could tune or tweak to improve the quality?

Many thanks in advance!

[tjewell]

I note from looking at this video on Youtube that he has the very same problem (vertical stripes). Does everyone's Dragon 32 display look like this? Has time erased the memory?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kibjr3z7 ... re=related

[zephyr]

This has always been the case for most of the early Dragon 32 boards. The later issue 5 and issue 6 boards usually generate the clearest picture.

[tjewell]

Ah, many thanks! I suspect I was just more forgiving of this kind of thing in my youth.

Any idea of how I could get hold of a later model? Is there a range of serial numbers to look out for? Would a Dragon 64 be more likely to have a later board?

Thanks!

[zephyr]

The easiest way to track down a later model is to look out for one with a Dragon 64 style case with the guarantee seal still intact. Dragon 32's with this type of case are most likely to be fitted with an issue 5 or issue 6 board.

Dragon 64's usually generate a picture of the same quality as the later issue 5/6 Dragon 32's.

[Alastair]

It may be my memory playing tricks, but I have a feeling that more recent TVs are less forgiving than TVs from the '80s when it comes to displaying Dragon video output (or it could be that older TVs were pretty poor at displaying TV programmes anyway, so switching to the output of a Dragon wasn't such a big jump quality wise).

Nevertheless, as Zephyr states, even when new the Dragon's picture quality was often called into question. The advice back then was to use a 14" TV (or smaller) and adjust the colour, brightness, and contrast levels until you achieved something acceptable. I cannot really give much advice on the best settings as it varies according to what you are viewing - though if you are using a B&W screen or spending a lot of time in text mode, and colours are not important, then you should turn the colour down.

[tjewell]

If I think back, 99% of the time my Dragon was attached to a small, cheap b&w portable where I almost certainly didn't notice. Only once in a blue moon did I get to plug into my parent's colour TV (the computer was considered 'untidy' and wasn't allowed in to clutter the floor of the living room). I guess, on the few times I saw it in colour it was such a novelty, I wasn't going to start picking holes in the quality. I probably didn't even notice.

I think my problem is I've been spoilt by the crystal clear and sharp display of emulators like xroar. Maybe it needs a 'rubbish tv' mode for extra authenticity.

[tjewell]

Hi all - I know this is a seriously old thread of mine, but I'd like to give it a happy ending. I just took delivery of my first Dragon 64 - and the video quality is markedly better than my original issue 1 Dragon 32. So yes, there is definitely an improvement in the video quality of the later machines.

Now off to do fun things with my new Dragon 64 - perhaps get myself an HxC card and run Nitros for real at last!

Tony