brostenen wrote:

I see some differences on the picture's in the tread. Yet in real life, the voodoo-cards are much more diverse. For instance. I […]
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elianda wrote:

I did an image quality comparison of the voodoos here on vogons in 2013: 3dfx Voodoo image quality

I see some differences on the picture's in the tread. Yet in real life, the voodoo-cards are much more diverse.
For instance. I see bigger differences between V3 and V1 in real life, than in the photo's you have provided.
Naaa.... Just me... Or am I on to something?

I agree, could be still images vs. moving images. And he did direct catpure, not using a pass-through cable, which is a big part of the issue.

800x600 V1 is cool, but most don't have one. So going from 640x480 on a V1 to 1024x768 on a V3 is quite a difference.

meljor wrote:

Found this in a discussion about pass-through cables and decoders, were some one mentiones a fix for the voodoo1: […]
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Found this in a discussion about pass-through cables and decoders, were some one mentiones a fix for the voodoo1:

Well, there *IS* a way to fix the degradation that a pass-through cable causes. But it involves a soldering iron.
What you have to do is remove the (shitty, overpowered, and mandated by the FCC) RF filters on the DVD decoder card that filter the incoming RGB signal from the VGA card, and solder new jumper wires in place of them. I did this with my old Canopus Pure3D (Voodoo 1), and it worked like a charm. ALL the pass-through fuzziness went away. Was scary as hell though.

I don't have the skills, but maybe somebody else has.

other toughts:

would it make a difference if the computer is connected to a power outlet with a ground connection (mine isn't, the cable has ground but the outlet hasn't)
Would it make a difference if the pass-through cable gets some kind of (extra) shielding?
Could the cards interfere themselves, so could it help to use a bit longer cable and put the voodoo's in the lowest pci slot (further away from the 2d card, and maybe some form of shield between them)

Where is this fix mentioned? Are there any pics of it?

Having ground/shielding in computers/cables can only be a good thing and can save you from lots of troubles! Especially with mains I wouldn't use any kind of computer without a proper ground line...

philscomputerlab wrote:

brostenen wrote:

I see some differences on the picture's in the tread. Yet in real life, the voodoo-cards are much more diverse. For instance. I […]
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elianda wrote:

I did an image quality comparison of the voodoos here on vogons in 2013: 3dfx Voodoo image quality

I see some differences on the picture's in the tread. Yet in real life, the voodoo-cards are much more diverse.
For instance. I see bigger differences between V3 and V1 in real life, than in the photo's you have provided.
Naaa.... Just me... Or am I on to something?

I agree, could be still images vs. moving images. And he did direct catpure, not using a pass-through cable, which is a big part of the issue.

800x600 V1 is cool, but most don't have one. So going from 640x480 on a V1 to 1024x768 on a V3 is quite a difference.

He stated: The images are captured from VGA Out of the card.

So that is after the pass-through (vga IN is the pass-through right?)

keropi wrote:

meljor wrote:

Found this in a discussion about pass-through cables and decoders, were some one mentiones a fix for the voodoo1: […]
Show full quote

Found this in a discussion about pass-through cables and decoders, were some one mentiones a fix for the voodoo1:

Well, there *IS* a way to fix the degradation that a pass-through cable causes. But it involves a soldering iron.
What you have to do is remove the (shitty, overpowered, and mandated by the FCC) RF filters on the DVD decoder card that filter the incoming RGB signal from the VGA card, and solder new jumper wires in place of them. I did this with my old Canopus Pure3D (Voodoo 1), and it worked like a charm. ALL the pass-through fuzziness went away. Was scary as hell though.

I don't have the skills, but maybe somebody else has.

other toughts:

would it make a difference if the computer is connected to a power outlet with a ground connection (mine isn't, the cable has ground but the outlet hasn't)
Would it make a difference if the pass-through cable gets some kind of (extra) shielding?
Could the cards interfere themselves, so could it help to use a bit longer cable and put the voodoo's in the lowest pci slot (further away from the 2d card, and maybe some form of shield between them)

Where is this fix mentioned? Are there any pics of it?

Having ground/shielding in computers/cables can only be a good thing and can save you from lots of troubles! Especially with mains I wouldn't use any kind of computer without a proper ground line...

This fix was mentioned on a video capture forum i found on google where they were discussing pass-through cables and capture cards.This was the only thing that was said about it, no pics or even more text. Sorry....

meljor wrote:

philscomputerlab wrote:

I agree, could be still images vs. moving images. And he did direct catpure, not using a pass-through cable, which is a big part of the issue.

800x600 V1 is cool, but most don't have one. So going from 640x480 on a V1 to 1024x768 on a V3 is quite a difference.

He stated: The images are captured from VGA Out of the card.

So that is after the pass-through (vga IN is the pass-through right?)

The intention was not to compare the analog output quality stages of the cards but the 3d rendering quality. So the capture was done on the VGA output of the 3dfx card. For looped setups as V1 and V2 plus any 2D card this resembles the case when the 3dfx card is active, which is in such setups the last card in the chain. Considering this the capture is closest to what you get in normal operation.

Regarding analog signal quality output I had another thread where I measured a few cards. However to get measurements from the add-on voodoo cards I would require an image viewer that shows the test-image on the voodoo card.

carlostex wrote:

...and i'm not impressed by it.
Well, let's put it this way. My experience during the Voodoo days was exclusively via a Voodoo Banshee, manufactered by Creative. The bugger ran hot, so me and my brother modded it with a fan to cool it. It did bring the heat down, and we could further overclock it by increasing its speed via Windows tools.

My Diamond Voodoo 2 doesn't have a picture degredation at all with its super short passthrough (I'm using it on a CRT).

I have a theory that Creative Voodoo 2s and certain other ones have an inferior picture to the Diamond Monster varieties (since different components are indeed used), but it's just a hunch. It would be cool for someone to compare all of the voodoo 2 variants with varying passthrough cables as well. When I use a VGA extender cable on my Diamond V2, it suffers from a slightly damaged picture with certain colours. So it certainly matters on your passthrough cable and what variant of Voodoo 2 you have.

I have a Diamond Monster3D II and it does have picture degradation at high resolutions, such as ghosting at 1080p, but I use a VGA extender cable (cannot find a short passtrhough locally), and 720p is fine. I'll have to mention that I find my LCD monitor pretty forgiving when it comes to signal quality.

Quality of voodoo 1 and 2 output depends also on the quality of the 2d card.
Cheap 2d card usually have lower quality signal,so after passing trou de passtrough cable,the voodoo 2 and the monitor cable,the final image is clearly degraded.
Good quality 2d card like the ones from matrox,have stronger signal quality,so image degradation,altough it exist,it's not that noticeable.