The Result of My Search for a Great MiSTer Display

[mikeboss]

4:3 panels are still being done today:

https://www.amazon.com/Acer-America-Cor ... B01LJUNTZC
https://www.amazon.com/Dell-P1917S-48cm ... B01G3459GG
https://www.amazon.com/ViewSonic-VA951S ... B00NM75OZ4

these are all 5:4 aspect ratio.

[virtuali]

These are 4:3:

https://www.amazon.com/FOSA-Computer-Mo ... B0BQWFGSCV
https://www.amazon.com/E157FP-15-inch-M ... B006M5RFHI
https://www.amazon.com/Eyoyo-Small-Moni ... B0BG77R6ST
https://www.amazon.com/Zunate-Computer- ... B0BQ3JYCK8

And I've excluded hundreds of industrial and touchscreen.

Also while very expensive, this is a very good 4:3 1600x1200 monitor that is still being made today:

https://www.eizo.eu/flexscan/s2133

[dmckean]

Those panels are all very old though, there has been a lot of advancement in LCD technology in the last 14 years.

[CHR$]

Those panels are all very old though, there has been a lot of advancement in LCD technology in the last 14 years.

Yes, those 20" 4/3 LCDs are almost 20 years old... but i am also much older too ... and not yet obsolete and hopefully very usefull.
As for my case, i have ZERO interest in taking a bulky CRT, my last one was scrapped maybe in 2000 and i never regretted it since them.
I anyway have no space to store one thanks to the nice housing bubble we are most all in now.

But people are right now dumping their 4/3 old LCDs almost in the streets and one can get some former top-of-the-line 1000€/$ when new for right now 10-30 €/$ on the local used market. Some people are asking for 50-60€/$ ? Negociate down to 30 €/$ max or move on.

Just got myself last Friday evening a "top of the range" Eizo FlexScan S2000 20" IPS fast (for the time) 60Hz and 75Hz 1600x1200 for 10€....
The screen can also rotate for vertical Shmups.
And it works great with everything i tested so far with fantastic colors and no noticeable to me blur/ghosting/lag.
So far, only some Amiga graphic modes need some Mister/core further tweaking. Maybe others i did not tested yet.

So what can go wrong testing experimenting for 10-30€/$ ?

[werpu]

Found this one, apparently there is an oem which manufactures that beast and various brands sell it for different prices.
I ordered one in the 150 bucks price range, should come this week.
And yes, I figured 16:10 is the closest you can get to 4:3 for cheap bigger displays atm, I just wished someone would do a portable oled panel in this size.

Anyway here is one of the many links, I will keep you guys informed how the display fares compared to the 9.7 retina display, which was too small for my taste:
https://de.aliexpress.com/item/1005005697118903.html

[mr-box]

anybody have the unico 26inch 4:3 screen ratio arcade monitor is it good?

[Koston]

This is a bit of a curveball, so take it with a pinch of salt.

My "great display" turned out to be the cheapest LG 65" 4K I could find a few years ago, iirc 650 EUR. I had no intention of using it for gaming, but it turned out to have almost no perceivable latency and syncs to everything I've thrown at it, with the unfortunate exception of 1920x1440 resolution. I use either 2560x1440 or 1920x1200 normally, with integer scaling and vsync_adjust=2. The viewing distance, size of 4K pixels and generously applied CRT style filtering make any potential scaling artifacts undetectable, I don't bother with my CRTs any more except for serious speedrunning (then also use original hardware).

I know there's a lot to improve in technical specs of my ghetto TV. But it's big, flat, cheap, lightweight, maintenance-free (I've had to service every damn CRT I've had and none still are/were anywhere near "perfect") and thanks to the newer video filters, I am very happy to finally be (mostly) rid of CRTs

Update: I just received a MiSTer Laggy by Wickerwaka (viewtopic.php?t=7270) and measuring latency on top part of the screen consistently turns out roughly between 6-8ms, regardless of resolution.

Then the bad news - setting any other refresh rate than 60Hz or 50Hz causes the framebuffer to kick in, and latency climbs to 1,5-2,5 frames. My TV doesn't support VRR (variable refresh rate) or any other than 50/60Hz apparently, so it either needs to be fed one of the two, or it converts the signal internally. This is consistent with Wickerwaka's findings:

Biggest thing I've discovered with this device so far is that you really should use vrr_mode if you are using an LG OLED. Their low latency boost mode is fantastic, 2.4ms latency, but only if the refresh rate is 50hz or 60hz. Lots of arcade cores have refresh rates like 58hz or 62hz and when receiving a refresh rate like that the LG OLED goes into a buffering mode and adds 1-3 frames of latency. When in VRR mode it does not add this additional latency.

This leads to the conclusion that a VRR-capable TV is very desirable for any signal that's not flat 60/50Hz. Which leads to more bad news - checking prices today, the cheapest same size LG model I can find that supports VRR is twice as expensive as what I paid for my peasant TV roughly four years ago. Prices at the lower end haven't changed much either, equivalent of my TV is now 550 eur (down from 650 eur) - and it's been stripped of component input, if that matters.