[Coco] VCC Color question on RGB and Composite emulation

[Bill Pierce]

Mr Gault,
I know how and where to set the colors. What I am asking is simply how accurate are the composite color in Vcc is when compared to the real composite colors on a Coco? I think it's close, but I've never compared. My current Coco has a CM-8 and it's been since the 90s when I used a color TV. I should be able to test this myself in a week or 2 when I get the system going again as there's a Color TV (CRT) sitting right here beside my desk. But until I get the Coco running again (bad keyboard), I have to rely on VCC.

Bill Pierce
My Music from the Tandy/Radio Shack Color Computer 2 & 3
https://sites.google.com/site/dabarnstudio/
Co-Webmaster of The TRS-80 Color Computer Archive
http://www.colorcomputerarchive.com/
Co-Contributor, Co-Editor for CocoPedia
http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
E-Mail: ooogalapasooo at aol.com




-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Gault <robert.gault at att.net>
To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts <coco at maltedmedia.com>
Sent: Sat, Apr 6, 2013 11:01 pm
Subject: Re: [Coco] VCC Color question on RGB and Composite emulation


Bill Pierce wrote:
>
> Hi Guys,
> I usually run the VCC emulator in RGB mode as my Coco 3 is hooked to a CM-8 
RGB monitor and I can test software on both Vcc and the Coco.
> While in NitrOS-9 on VCC, if I switch to Composite emulation, the colors are 
much different than RGB mode. How close are these colors to a real composite 
output on a Coco 3 with a composite monitor or TV?
> In developing my software, DW4Man & Sound Chaser, I want to set a color 
palette to get the same color in composite mode as I get in RGB mode, so I need 
to know if what I'm seeing is accurate so I can adjust the palettes. The RBG 
emulation is almost dead on.
> I have 3 or 4 color charts and palette number sets that are supposed to match 
the two modes, but I just need to know about VCC's composite accuracy
>
> Thanks,
> Bill P.
>

Bill,

You would expect the colors to change when you tell VCC to switch between CMP 
and RGB. What you need to check is what happens after switching VCC and you then 

tell either Basic or OS-9 to also switch color sets.

The command in OS-9 is
montype c
or
montype r
to switch the color set.

I find that the colors in MESS for either mode are quite accurate. So you can 
run VCC and MESS to compare them against each other. You can also take screen 
captures of VCC in each mode after issuing the montype command to compare those 
results.

For a more precise comparison of screen mode colors, you will need to state 
explicitly which colors you want compared giving us the 6-bit palette values. 
Then these can be set on a real Coco3 and displayed on both RGB and CMP 
monitors. Pictures could be taken of the screens and compared.
That still leaves the issue of incorrectly set monitors, monitor differences, or 

digital camera color issues.

Robert


--
Coco mailing list
Coco at maltedmedia.com
http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco