Oulainen Multimedia Group

is proud to present

CRT Terminator Digital VGA Feature Card ISA DV1000

A digital video expansion for your IBM PC/XT and PC/AT and compatibles.

Say goodbye to CRTs and analog video, and enjoy a pixel perfect digital output from your existing VGA adapter!

Introduction

CRT Terminator is an 8-bit ISA add-on card that outputs a native DVI-D video signal sourced from the digital VGA Feature Connector bus available on many VGA adapters. A 26-pin ribbon cable is used to internally bridge the VGA adapter and CRT Terminator to produce a clean artifact free digital video signal from your existing video card.

CRT Terminator then upgrades this video signal to be compatible with modern digital flat panel displays.

Features

CRT Terminator provides:

Supported Resolutions

Input:

CGA Mode 00h, 01h360x400 @ 2/16 colors
CGA Mode 02h, 03h720x400 @ 2/16 colors
CGA Mode 04h, 05h320x200 @ 4 colors
CGA Mode 06h 640x200 @ 2 colors
MDA Mode 07h 720x400 @ 2 colors
EGA Mode 0Dh 320x200 @ 16 colors
EGA Mode 0Eh 640x200 @ 16 colors
EGA Mode 0Fh, 10h640x350 @ 2/16 colors
VGA Mode 11h, 12h640x480 @ 2/16 colors
VGA Mode 13h320x200 @ 256 colors
VGA Mode X320x240 @ 256 colors
SVGA Mode 5Fh640x480 @ 256 colors
SVGA Mode 58h, 5Ch, 6Ah800x600 @ 16/256 colors
Nonstandard CRTC≤ 800x600 @ ≤ 256 colors

Output:

Passthrough
1280x720 (16:9) up to 75 hz
1024x768 (4:3) up to 75 hz
1280x1024 (5:4) up to 75 hz
1440x1080 (4:3) up to 70.7 hz*
1920x1080 (16:9) up to 53.6 hz*
1600x1200 (4:3) up to 57.4 hz*
MultiMode
* overclockable

Screenshots

The following 1600x1200 resolution images were captured using OBS with a StarTech.com USB3HDCAP DVI-D video capture box from software running on the 486 PC shown above.

For those interested in peeping pixels close up, here are two shots of the pixel grid taken from an ASUS ProArt PA248QV display.

For video modes that do not have the possibility of pixel perfect upscaling, CRT Terminator's MultiMode feature carefully tunes a balance between aspect ratio and pixel correct upscaling.

Availability and Pricing

CRT Terminator is currently under development. If everything goes well, we should have some availability during this year 2023. Price is estimated to be around ~200€ + shipping (from Finland).

Update Aug 2024: We are getting closer to shipping. While we sort out the last hurdles, check out the new written CRT Terminator user manual!

Update Feb 2024: As you now might have guessed, we did slip from the initial end of 2023 target. The PCB design is finished, but we are still waiting for FPGAs, which hopefully should arrive not too long from now.

While we have been somewhat quiet late 2023, discussion has been lively over at the Vogons forums. Hop on to the CRT Terminator announcement thread at Vogons, or email us at oummgr@gmail.com for any comments.