Anyway... Lots of information, a list with compatible monitors (I bought 2 of them and they don't work) ... so what should I do?
https://www.msx.org/forum/msx-talk/trading-and-collecting/wt...
This cable for Zemmix from Retrocables should work.
This seems fair advice.
VGA monitors which can accept 15 kHz signal are almost impossible to find at least in Europe. It’s not a standard signal for VGA, it uses 31 kHz or higher normally. I believe in Brazil they are (or were) a little bit more common.
However the V9990 outputs 15 kHz RGB so you can use a SCART cable. Clear information on how to make a cable is unfortunately a bit scarce. Also note that there are pinout differences between Powergraph versions.
Not common, most CRT 15KHz monitors used in Brazil were imported either from Europe or US... LCD Monitors, well, there are few that support, none being manufactured in the last 5 years at least... The choice for 15KHz has more to do with how V9990 has been used in the beginning with the original expansion cartridges than with the monitor availability.
But, the choice for a VGA connector is probably due to space and also due to the fact that SCART connectors are not standard in Brazil, so, in a sense, you are right in guessing that probably one of the reasons to use VGA connection instead of SCART is due to the fact that a SCART connector won't work for us in Brazil unless using adapters / conversion cables.
The V9990 has got a standard VGA output
Just to be clear with the wording here, the V9990 does not have standard VGA output, at least not in the modes supported on MSX cartridges. The V9990’s VGA output modes requires an extra clock crystal to be installed that no MSX V9990 cartridges have. So although the connector used is the same as VGA, it does not actually output standard VGA (31 kHz) but regular TV-style RGB (15.7 kHz) like found on SCART.
Yeah, I think dracul most likely wanted to say standard VGA connector, it is compatible with VGA monitors that use the standard VGA connector with a standard VGA cable as long as the monitor supports 15KHz mode, which is not part of VGA specifications at all like you said. I use mine connected to a Samsung 17 inches LCD that was sold in Brazil that supports 15KHz, using the standard VGA cable that came with the monitor.
Why not just buy any MSX compatible RGB monitor and make/buy the proper cable?
Yeah a CRT with RGB and NTSC/PAL (composite and/or S-video) is better for old systems like the MSX if you have the space for one. They rarely support 24 or 31 kHz though (except for VGA monitors of course), and tend to be very expensive if they support two or all three H-sync rates.
You can try to find one of the following monitor in the second hand market
I agree that is a bit a hassle for some of the devices to get the proper monitor and cable. I think the mean reason for this is that in Brazil they just don't know the standard SCART like we have in Europe. I saw the same issues with CPC version of the G9K from Brazil. To be honest. I have a Sony broadcast monitor. Those monitors can display almost every type of input. And my opinion is that a CRT is still the best picture (at least i love it)
I have a modern led display from BenQ (BL702A) monitor that works as well with 15 khz analog signal.
Only downside of that monitor is that you have to go the the setup menu of the monitor to activate it (every time you power on the monitor) You need to select the option in the setup to display the proper colors.
Yeah I also use a professional Sony CRT monitor (PVM in my case) that supports about everything 15 kHz including S-video and component that European CRT TV-sets never seems to have, sync-on-green which not all Sony monitors supports (despite Sony supposedly being the ones who came up with it) and compatible with the normal types of TV standards NTSC, PAL, SECAM and NTSC 4.43.
Neither wide-screen, nor 24 or 31 kHz are supported however which are used by some systems (mainly NEC and Sharp PCs, VGA systems, 128-bit video game systems and certain arcade systems). It's also very heavy despite only being 14". Larger than that would be very bulky and smaller would probably be too small.
Professional monitors often uses BNC connectors on all video inputs (except S-video which tends to use a normal 4-pin DIN) meaning they need adapters for SCART and RCA/phono cables but those shouldn't be too hard to find.
Yeah a CRT with RGB and NTSC/PAL (composite and/or S-video) is better for old systems like the MSX if you have the space for one. They rarely support 24 or 31 kHz though (except for VGA monitors of course), and tend to be very expensive if they support two or all three H-sync rates.
The MSX V9990 cartridges only output 15 kHz though.
The multi-sync 24 / 31 kHz support is probably mostly relevant for systems like the X68000.