Northstar 1200 Series Display Owner's Guide (P/N GM1200UG, Revision A2) Northstar Technologies 30 Sudbury Road Acton, Massachusetts 01720 (978) 897-6600 P/N GM1200UG Rev. A2 Table of contents Welcome - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1 Features - - - - - - - - - - - - - Optional Features with the Northstar vBox Turning the Display On - - - - Adjusting the Brightness - - - - The DATA and VIDEO Buttons - - Turning the Display Off - - - - Using Picture-In-Picture on the 1202 The POWER Button The Brightness Control The DATA Button - The VIDEO Button - The RED Button - - The HI/LO Button - The MENU Button - 1201 Setup Menu 1202 Setup Menu ----- 1 ----- 2 3 3 3 4 4 6 6 6 6 6 7 7 10 12 18 18 19 19 19 What's in this Manual - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 3 - - Front Panel - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 5 - - - - - - Using the Setup Menu - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 8 --------------------------- Connections - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The Power Connector - The vBox Connector - - The VGA Connector - - The Video (BNC) Connector Configurations - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 20 Without Optional vBox - - - - - - - - - - - - 20 With Optional vBox - - - - - - - - - - - - - 21 About Video and VGA Cables Choosing a Mounting Location Connecting the Power Cable Other Connections - - - - - Installation - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 22 23 25 27 28 Optional vBox - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Choosing a Mounting Location Installing the vBox - - - - VBox Connections - - - - PIP with the vBox - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 29 29 29 30 33 36 Maintenance - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Troubleshooting Symptoms and Possible Causes Restoring Factory Defaults - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 38 - - - - - - - - - 38 - - - - - - - - - 39 40 - - - - - 40 42 Service - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - How To Get Service / Technical Support Limited Warranty Policy - - - - - - - - - - - - - Contacting Northstar Appendix A -- Installation Checklist - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 43 - - - - - - - - 44 46 Appendix B -- Specifications - - - - - - - - - - - - Welcome Overview Congratulations on your purchase of the Northstar 1200 Series Marine Display. Now you can enjoy clear, crisp, bright images from sources such as "black box" marine electronics, onboard computers, entertainment and security systems. Your Northstar display has been designed for easy setup and operation. To help you get the best results, please read through the brief, easy-to-understand instructions in this manual. Features Your new display features an easy-to-use, sunlight-viewable, clear, crisp 12.1" display. As shown in the table below, the 1201 supports VGA and SVGA inputs. The 1202 supports up to UXGA including the popular SXGA used on black box radars and other marine electronics. Compatible Resolutions UXGA SXGA XGA SVGA VGA (1600 x 1200) (1280 x 1024) (1024 x 768) (800 x 600) (640 x 480) Native Resolution SVGA (800 x 600) Product Northstar 1202 12" Display Northstar 1201 12" Display SVGA (800 x 600) VGA (640 x 480) SVGA (800 x 600) The display provides front panel controls to switch between one data input (VGA data such as black box electronics, computers etc.) and one video (NTSC/PAL from sources such as cameras, VCR's, DVD's, etc.) input. 1200 Series Display, Rev. A2 Welcome -- Page 1 There are no PC boards to install, no software drivers to load. Just plug your existing data and video source outputs into the display. You can switch between them by pressing VIDEO DATA and on the front panel. Optional Features with the Northstar vBox With the optional vBox, your input capacity will double to two data inputs and two video inputs. The vBox also adds two useful nighttime viewing features: Red mode and Hi/Lo mode. Red Mode The RED feature tints the VGA display (whatever's plugged into the Data port) to a reddish hue for enhanced nighttime viewing. It's like adding a night palette to all your marine electronics automatically. This is particularly useful if your navigator is connected to your display and you use it at night. Hi / Lo Mode The HI/LO function allows both video and data displayed to be at a lower intensity for better nighttime viewing. How's the Manual? Your feedback is important to us. Please take a minute to drop us an email and let us know what you think of the manual. Send your comments and suggestions to us at: docs@NorthstarNav.com Page 2 -- Welcome 1200 Series Display, Rev. A2 What's in this Manual This manual is in three basic parts. The first part consists of information related to getting started as well as basic information about the display. The second part of the manual, beginning on page 22, addresses the installation process. Typically only the installer will use this section. However, it does provide ideas and pointers for locating your display as well a list of installation tips. Finally, the third section, beginning on page 38, describes how to troubleshoot the display and how to get service should the need arise. Getting Started Turning the Display On To turn the display on, simply press PWR until the display lights up. Within a few seconds, you will see a picture if an active source is plugged into either the Data or Video connector on the back panel. Adjusting the Brightness The brightness control is located on the right hand side of the display. Press the up arrow to make the screen brighter and the down arrow to make the screen dimmer. The DATA and VIDEO Buttons These two buttons control what image is displayed on the screen. Simply press the button corresponding to the image you wish to view. Press DATA to see what you've connected to the VGA Data VIDEO connector on the back of the display. Press to display 1200 Series Display, Rev. A2 What's in this Manual -- Page 3 what's connected to the BNC Video connector. Press both buttons at once to view Picture-In-Picture (see below). With the optional vBox, you can have up to four inputs: your original Data and Video source, plus an Auxiliary Data and Video source. Each time you press The same is true for VIDEO DATA the display will switch between the two Data sources you have connected. . Using Picture-In-Picture on the 1202 The 1202 includes a feature called Picture-In-Picture (PIP) which allows display of a full screen of data with a smaller video image on top of it. This is useful if you want a view of your engine room in the corner of your navigator display. PIP is available only on the 1202. More complete information about PIP settings can be found on page 14. Turning the Display Off To turn the display off, simply press and hold seconds until the display shuts off. PWR for a few Page 4 -- What's in this Manual 1200 Series Display, Rev. A2 Front Panel The Northstar 1201 and 1202 displays have several buttons along the bottom of the display that are used to select data sources as well as Hi/Lo* and Red* modes. There is also a control to adjust the brightness of the display. MENU NORTHSTAR 1202 HI/LO RED DATA VIDEO Brightness Control PWR MENU DATA HI/LO RED VIDEO The figure above shows the front panel and its controls. Each control is described below. * Note that Red mode and Hi/Lo mode require the optional vBox. 1200 Series Display, Rev. A2 Front Panel -- Page 5 The POWER Button PWR This key turns the display (and vBox, if connected) on and off. You must hold it for a few seconds to turn the display off. This delay prevents accidental shutoffs. The Brightness Control Press the up arrow to make the screen brighter. Press the down arrow to make the screen dimmer. The DATA Button DATA Displays the VGA data source connected to the DATA input. This key is also used in the Setup Menu to make choices and adjust various values lower. If the optional vBox is installed, repeated presses of this key will alternate between the primary and auxiliary data input. The VIDEO Button VIDEO Displays the NTSC/PAL video source connected to the VIDEO input. This key is also used in the Setup Menu to make choices and adjust various values higher. If the optional vBox is installed, repeated presses of this key will alternate between the primary and auxiliary video input. The RED Button RED The Red Mode feature is available only when the optional vBox is connected and affects only Data. This mode does not alter Video. Page 6 -- Front Panel 1200 Series Display, Rev. A2 Red Mode turns data images to a reddish hue, both in Hi and Lo mode. This is particularly useful for running at night when your navigator is displayed on your 1201/1202. Press again to turn off. The HI/LO Button HI/LO This feature is available only when the optional vBox is connected. It selects a day (Hi) or night (Lo) range of the displayed data or video image. Lower intensity images are more useful at night. The MENU Button MENU This button configures picture quality settings in your display. Since changing these settings can degrade your picture quality, Northstar recommends that you don't adjust the factory settings. 1201 1201 Northstar ships your 1201 pre-adjusted for the maximum video quality. Only in rare cases will further adjustment be necessary. If you are experiencing problems with image quality, follow the guidelines in the section on troubleshooting beginning on page 38. 1202 1202 Picture-In-Picture (PIP) feature on and off as described on page 4. MENU 1202 users will use MENU primarily to turn the is also used for adjusting image quality. Only in rare cases will adjustment be necessary. If you are experiencing problems with image quality, follow the guidelines in the section on troubleshooting beginning on page 38. 1200 Series Display, Rev. A2 Front Panel -- Page 7 Using the Setup Menu The Setup Menu is used to configure the display. The 1201 and 1202 have different Setup Menus. Follow the steps below for your specific model. NOTE: Always make note of a setup value before changing it. Then if you don't like the change, you can restore the previous setting. ! The Setup Menu will disappear by itself after a certain amount of time. This time can be set in both the 1201 and the 1202. The 1201 uses a line-based Setup Menu. When making 1201 adjustments, simply press MENU to activate the menu. to select the paramVIDEO Use the up and down arrows on eter you wish to modify and press MENU DATA and to adjust the value. When you have finished making changes, press and hold once again to exit the Setup Menu. Please read Setup Menu details carefully as it is possible to misadjust the display and adversely affect display quality. The 1202 uses an icon-based Setup Menu. To activate 1202 it, press MENU once. The menu appears as two rows of icons. One of these icons is highlighted. This highlighted icon represents the set of parameters to be modified. To advance to the next icon, press MENU . to and Once at the desired icon, use the up and down arrows on select the parameter you wish to modify. Then use VIDEO DATA to change the value or setting of that item. To exit the MENU menu, press and hold until the menu disappears. Page 8 -- Using the Setup Menu 1200 Series Display, Rev. A2 1200 Series Display, Rev. A2 Using the Setup Menu -- Page 9 1201 Setup Menu Brightness Adjusts the brightness of the displayed image itself, not the backlight. Brightness controls how dark the dark parts of the image appear. If this is turned too high, the display will become saturated and visual distortion will occur. Contrast Adjusts the contrast (strength of the white part of the image) of the displayed image. If the contrast is too high, the image may appear washed out. Tuning (Only When Viewing Data Input) Used to correct subtle timing differences between the display and the input source. Misadjustment of this can cause jitter, ghosting, or even light vertical lines in the image. Auto Setup (Only When Viewing Data Input) Pressing VIDEO while this line is highlighted will cause the display to adjust certain display parameters (position, size, tuning, etc.) for their optimum settings. Color (Only When Viewing Video Input) Used to increase or decrease the color intensity in the displayed image -- similar to the control on your television. Tint (Only When Viewing Video Input) Used to adjust the color values in the displayed image -- similar to the control on your television set. Input Selects the input source. Use DATA and VIDEO instead. Page 10 -- Using the Setup Menu 1200 Series Display, Rev. A2 Image adjust Used to adjust image-related parameters such as image position, size, and color/tint levels manually. Reset to RGB Default causes the display to re-calibrate its colors automatically when displaying an image from the data input. When displaying a new VGA data source for the first time, this calibration helps set colors properly. OSD Menu This line provides adjustments t ...