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- (c) Copyright 1989 Commodore-Amiga, Inc. All rights reserved.
- The information contained herein is subject to change without notice, and
- is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either express or implied.
- The entire risk as to the use of this information is assumed by the user.
-
-
-
- PAL and NTSC Genlock Interface Guidelines
-
- by Scott Hood - CBM Engineering
-
- This article describes the reset mechanism of the Video Beam Counters on the
- current version of the Agnus chip when an external device (i.e. genlock)
- applies sync pulses on the HSY* and VSY* pins . The Commodore-recommended
- method of interfacing genlock devices to the Amiga for current and future
- compatiblity is described here.
-
-
- Hardware Interpretation of HSY* and VSY* Reset Pulses
- ------------------------------------------------------
-
- Horizontal Counter
-
- After Agnus is configured to accept external syncs, by setting the ERSY bit
- in the BPLCON0 register, the horizontal counter will respond as follows:
-
- In NTSC Mode
-
- If the external HSY* reset is not applied at the end of a
- "short line", the next line will be a "long line", as normal.
- If no HSY* is applied at the end of a "long line", the horizontal
- counter will roll-over and is held reset at count 00. The counter
- will resume counting once the external HSY* pulse is applied.
-
- If the external HSY* reset is applied at the end of a "short line",
- the following line is forced to be another "short line".
-
- If the counter reaches the end of a "long line" when the external
- HSY* is asserted, the next line is a "short line" and will start at
- count 01 (as opposed to count 00). Otherwise, if no reset occurs
- the counter will roll-over to count 00 and stop.
-
-
- In PAL Mode
-
- In PAL mode the counter will operate with "short lines" at all times
- ("longlines" are disabled) and will respond as follows:
-
- If the external HSY* is not applied at the end of a line, the
- horizontal counter will roll-over to the beginning of the next line
- and is held at count 00, until the next HSY* pulse occurs.
-
- If the external HSY* is applied when the counter reaches the end of
- a line, the next line will start at count 01, skipping count 00.
-
-
-
- Vertical Counter
-
- The vertical counter operates in the same manner for both NTSC and PAL modes.
- After Agnus is configured to accept external syncs (ERSY bit in BPLCON0), the
- vertical counter will respond as described below.
-
- In Interlace Mode
-
- In interlaced NTSC mode, if an external VSY* pulse is applied, the
- vertical counter will be reset to count 000 (first line) and the
- long-field condition is set at the beginning of the next horizontal
- line (at horizontal count 02) . In interlaced PAL mode, if an
- external VSY* pulse is applied the long-field condition is also set.
- Note that for both NTSC and PAL systems, if the external VSY* pulse
- is not asserted during the end of a short (or long) field, the
- vertical counter will roll-over and start a long (or short) field
- sequence.
-
- In Non-Interlace Mode
-
- In non-interlace mode the vertical counter is set to operate with
- either long or short fields, depending on the last value that the
- software wrote to the FRAME bit. In this mode, whenever an external
- VSY* pulse is applied, the counter is reset to line count 000 (first
- line) at the beginning of the next horizontal line.
-
-
- Pulse Duration
-
- The width of the active-low vertical (VSY*) pulse should be less than or
- equal to one line duration (63.556 uS NTSC, 63.999 uS PAL) but greater than
- one-half line duration (31.77 uS NTSC, 31.999 uS PAL) and should be asserted
- during the beginning of a horizontal line, at which time the vertical logic
- is triggered and the first line is started. The width of the active-low
- horizontal (HSY*) pulse should be greater than or equal to eight hi-res
- pixels (0.558 uS for NTSC or 0.563 uS for PAL) for proper operation.
-
-
-
-
- NTSC and PAL Genlock Interface Guidelines
- -----------------------------------------
-
- In order to synchronize the Amiga to an external source, the genlock device
- must provide reset pulses to the Amiga's sync lines which have the effects
- described in the section above. This section describes the proper method
- of applying these reset pulses .
-
- For NTSC Amiga models, the genlock device must provide the Amiga with
- horizontal and vertical reset pulses with the following rates:
-
- HSY* line: Active-low pulse of proper duration every
- two lines (i.e. 127.11 uS or 7.8671 KHz).
-
- VSY* line: Active-low pulse of proper duration every
- two fields (i.e. 33.36 mS or 29.97 Hz).
-
- Note after the VSY* reset pulse the next field will be an even field (long
- field).
-
- For PAL Amiga models, the genlock device must provide the Amiga with
- horizontal and vertical reset pulses with the following rates:
-
- HSY* line: Active-low pulse of proper duration every
- line (i.e. 63.99 uS or 15.625 KHz).
-
- VSY* line: Active-low pulse of proper duration every
- two fields (i.e. 39.99 mS or 25.0 Hz).
-
- Note that after the VSY* reset pulse the next field will be an even field
- (long field).
-
- Both reset pulses must be generated regardless of whether or not source video
- is being input to the genlock device!
-
- In addition to providing the Amiga with the proper horizontal and vertical
- reset pulses, the genlock device must also provide the Amiga with a system
- clock that is synchronized with the external video. One method of doing this
- would be to multiply the video source line duration up to the Amiga's system
- clock frequency, thus making a line-locked clock that will also be
- free-running at the correct frequency when no video is present. For correct
- operation of the Amiga as a multitasking system, the proper system clock
- frequency appearing on the XCLK pin must be the following for NTSC and PAL
- Amiga systems:
-
- NTSC XCLK:28.63636 Mhz
- PAL XCLK: 28.375156 Mhz
-
- Note that some PAL genlock designers provide the Amiga's XCLK input with a
- 28.250Mhz clock frequency. This is not recommended for proper Amiga
- operation!
-
-