Tomi Engdahl's PC video hardware page

Index

3D acceleration and display
Computer and TV
Flat Panel Displays
Frame grabbers and computer vision
General info
Monitor connections
Monitor information
Monitor signal timing
Obsolete PC video card technology
Utilities
Videocard hardware specific pages
Video card expansion connectors
Video card programming
Video playback

General

Accelerated Graphics Port Interface Specification
Diamond Multimedia Exotic Memory Whitepaper - description of different memories used in graphics boards
Graphics and Multimedia Related Information
Graphics Controller '97 specification
Hardware vs. Software cursor
PC Video Hardware FAQ
Shayne's Video Accelerator Page - guide to video accelerators
The Basic Top 10 Video Tips - Essential basic information on selecting and using video displays and video adapters
VESA - organization which sets PC video standards
Video Card Reviews at ReviewFinder

Video playback

2D animation on your computer - How to make your images move with consumer level software/hardware from The Computer Paper magazine
How to Play Movies on Your PC - how to make and playback videos using PC
PC MPEG-2 and DVD decoder cards
The Road To Cost Effective, Consumer Quality DVD Playback On Entertainmen PCs
The Video Card Guide - basics of PC video cards

3D acceleration and display

General

3D glasses and other 3D display devices
3D Graphics Accelerators FAQ - out of date, from 1996
Dimension 3D - very large 3D graphics card info source
Graphics Supercomputing on Windows NT 3D graphics chapter - pdf file
The Heatsink Guide: Graphics card cooling
Voodoo Extreme - site devoted to 3D cards and chipsets

3D chipsets

3D card information

Integraph 3D accelerators
Orchid Righteous 3D improvements - stop Righteous from disturbing you VGA card picture quality
TVP4010 3D graphics processor data manual

Benchmarks

Final Reality - NEW 3D graphical benchmark from VNU European Labs

Misc

Tomi Engdahl's Virtual Reality Links

Computer and TV

Computer to TV - introduction the conversion of computer video to TV video signals
Eleven Questions You Should Ask Before Buying A Computer Video Scan Converter
FreeTV - TV card related software
How to get VGA picture to TV screen
How to record VGA signals to VCR
How VGA to TV converters work - three basic conversion techniques explained
Is is possible to view VCR picture at SVGA monitor ? - short description about problems in this
Lead TV - box which enables you to use your VGA monitor as TV
Links to commercial VGA to TV converter products
Ruel's PC-TV Web Page - Watch TV On Your PC, lists of computer TV cards, video capturing cards and radio tuners, also PC to TV converters
Six Common Misconceptions About Converting Computer to Video
Scan Converters Buyer's Guide - educational booklet
Tomi Engdahl's video and TV technology page - very many video technology information links
VESA PC Theatre Committee's White Paper - initiative for common standards in PC and consumer electronics industry, pdf file from VESA
VGA to TV circuit you can build yourself

Monitor information

Choosing a 15- or 17-inch Monitor
How To Choose a Monitor With the Perfect Pitch for Your Needs - article from Computer Shopper magazine
How to open Nokia monitors - a simple picture about monitor case construction
LCD Display Frequently Asked Questions
Monitor repair procedure database - shareware program
Monitors - shareware DOS program for monitor testing
Monitor Interference and Possible Causes
Monitor testing links
MPR monitor magnetic ald electric field limits - in Finnish
Nokia Monitor Test - monitor testing program for Windows
Notes on approaches to using fixed frequency monitors on PCs
PC Magazine review of 17" monitors (10/8/96)
PC Monitor Manufacturers
PC Monitor Specs - important technical information of over 480 monitors
Performance Testing of Computer and Video Monitors
Reducing Eyestrain from Video and Compute Monitors
TouchScreen Technology Brief - from IBM
Typical SVGA Monitor Block Diagram
Typical SVGA Monitor Circuit Diagrams

Monitor connections

Connect VGA card to monitor with BNC connectors
Connect 15 pin VGA card connector to 9 pin monitor connector
DB15HD VGA Connector Pinout - the VGA port in use today
DB9 VGA Port Pinout - VGA port pinout used many years ago
Fixed Frequency Video FAQ
IBM PC VGA/SVGA Video Connector Pinout
Identifying connections on unknown or cut monitor cables
Monitor Control-DDC
Mono signals from VGA card
Notes on Video Conversion - how to convert video signals from different sources to different display devices
PC Graphics standard overview - monitor scanning frequencies in different modes
Understanding Computer Interfacing - Interfacing, Switching, Distributing and Transmitting High Resolution Video Signals
Use your old Workstation Monitors with Linux/XFree86
VGA cable to monitor with 9 pin connector
VGA card information - frequencies, monitor ID, feature connector
VGA to workstation monitor FAQ - how to connect old workstation monitors and other special monitors to your PC
VGA (VESA DDC) connector pinout

Monitor signal timing

Fixed Frequency PC Video FAQ
How multisync monitors detect the screen mode used
IBM 6091-019 FAQ - how to use fixed frequency monitor with different graphics cards
Use your old Workstation Monitors with Linux/XFree86 - circuits and info
VESA and Industry Standards and Guidelines for Computer Display Monitor Timing - table lists the VESA video formats
VGA monitor signal timing information
XFree86 Video Timings HOWTO

Frame grabbers and computer vision

Computer Vision Handbook - important ideas and techniques used in computer vision
Computer Vision Home Page
Connectix QuickCam hacking page - all the information on third-party drivers for the Connectix QuickCam in one place
Digital Still Camera System block diagram
Evaluation of Image Capture Pathways for Multimedia Application
How to use the Matrox Meteor frame grabber card under FreeBSD and Linux
Image Capture and Display - different camera types and analogue video signal described
Kamera-lehden osto-opas 1998 - information on digital cameras on the market, in text Finnish
Ken's LabSpace Project Journal - high speed frame capturing under Linux
Matrox Camera Interface Guide - how to inteface special cameras to frame grabbers from Matrox Imaging

Flat Panel Displays

CM112/110 Flat Panel Support - some information on flatpanel connections
World of LCDs.

Videocard hardware specific pages

IBM DACs - DAC chips used in high-performance graphics cards
Diammond WWW pages - official pages
Matrox WWW pages - official pages
Matrox Users Resource Centre - Driver and BIOS Updates, documents
Matrox Millenium XFree86 Server Home Page
S3 - information about very popular chipset
The Ultimate Video Accelerator Page
TVP3026 Video Interface Palette - video DAC used in Matrox Millenium, download datasheet in pdf format

Video card expansion connectors

Video card programming

DIAMOND and the Key Technologies DirectX and ActiveX - includes introduction to DirectX services
Official VESA VBE 2.0 Specification (Replica Format)
Optimizing Direct3D Applications for Hardware Acceleration
Standard VGA register description
The PC Game Programmer's Encyclopedia 1.0 - DOS games programming information database which includes VGA programming tutorials, to download it as one file for off-line reading go to main downloading archive at X2FTP
VESA Home Page - you can download the official VBE 2.0 standard document here (needs free registration)
VGA card documents - different chipsets etc.
VGADOC 4.0 - SuperVGA card low level programming document collection and test program

Utilities

SciTech Display Doctor - a collection of useful utilities that fix many common problems associated with Super VGA, commercial program

Obsolete PC video card technology

How lightpens and light guns work

Tomi Engdahl <Tomi.Engdahl@iki.fi>

Back to PC hardware index page