From the point of view of the monitor, it cannot easily distinguish 720x400 from 640x400 so all LCD monitors I've tested assume it's 720x400 and you get some doubled pixels. To avoid it you must use additional hardware like the OSSC (it also removes the requirement for VGA input). Many monitors also do not support 70 Hz especially on the VGA input. You will get dropped frames and a more jittery experience. Finally the 4:3 aspect ratio option and VGA inputs are now quite rare.

Personally I use the AOC G2590PX which handles 70 Hz on the VGA input without frame dropping, has many 4:3 options that are persistent, and also has a 1:1 option which is nice for XP era gaming (so you get pixel perfect 800x600/1024x768/1280x1024). However like other scalers it assumes 720x400 so you will get pixel doublings: Re: Widescreen monitors and 4:3 aspect ratio compatibility thread

cde wrote on 2022-07-27, 14:12:

From the point of view of the monitor, it cannot easily distinguish 720x400 from 640x400 so all LCD monitors I've tested assume it's 720x400 and you get some doubled pixels. To avoid it you must use additional hardware like the OSSC (it also removes the requirement for VGA input). Many monitors also do not support 70 Hz especially on the VGA input. You will get dropped frames and a more jittery experience. Finally the 4:3 aspect ratio option and VGA inputs are now quite rare.

Personally I use the AOC G2590PX which handles 70 Hz on the VGA input without frame dropping, has many 4:3 options that are persistent, and also has a 1:1 option which is nice for XP era gaming (so you get pixel perfect 800x600/1024x768/1280x1024). However like other scalers it assumes 720x400 so you will get pixel doublings: Re: Widescreen monitors and 4:3 aspect ratio compatibility thread

Thanks, yeah, but as mentioned in the post I am specifically looking for 4/3 monitors as well as VGA/DVI input. The year of release is not really relevant, as long as it shows good results.

Just get an old SCART TV (CRT) from the road side and use an homebrew VGA to RGB cable.

There are DOS tools that can change 31KHz to 15KHz output.

https://www.geocities.ws/podernixie/htpc/cables-en.html

Edit: Or, alternatively, if an TFT/LCD is a must, just use an emulator.

Kordanor wrote on 2022-07-27, 14:17:

cde wrote on 2022-07-27, 14:12:

From the point of view of the monitor, it cannot easily distinguish 720x400 from 640x400 so all LCD monitors I've tested assume it's 720x400 and you get some doubled pixels. To avoid it you must use additional hardware like the OSSC (it also removes the requirement for VGA input). Many monitors also do not support 70 Hz especially on the VGA input. You will get dropped frames and a more jittery experience. Finally the 4:3 aspect ratio option and VGA inputs are now quite rare.

Personally I use the AOC G2590PX which handles 70 Hz on the VGA input without frame dropping, has many 4:3 options that are persistent, and also has a 1:1 option which is nice for XP era gaming (so you get pixel perfect 800x600/1024x768/1280x1024). However like other scalers it assumes 720x400 so you will get pixel doublings: Re: Widescreen monitors and 4:3 aspect ratio compatibility thread

Thanks, yeah, but as mentioned in the post I am specifically looking for 4/3 monitors as well as VGA/DVI input. The year of release is not really relevant, as long as it shows good results.

But the information he gives is 100% relevant. Old 4:3 LCD monitors don't support 70Hz and apply improper scaling. I'm using a Dell 2007fp and it looks fine, in fact, I didn't know about these issues when I first got it for retro gaming. But the best option is to use a high-refresh-rate modern monitor and a device inbetween that outputs the monitor's native resolution filled with a centred 1600x1200 image at 70Hz. If I recall earlier posts here correctly, we'll have to wait for the Ossc Pro for that to be 100% workable.

Again:

Jo22 wrote on 2022-07-27, 14:48:

Edit: Or, alternatively, if an TFT/LCD is a must, just use an emulator.

DOSBox-X has scaler support.
Some of them do simulate an SVGA monitor quite good, as far as I can tell (I do still own real CRTs for testing purposes).
They also play nicely with your overkill monitors.
I think that's a good alternative to those that refuse to use a traditional VGA monitor due to "limited space". 🙂

But with that we are back to DOSBox and external scalers, just like all the other threads. That was not my intention. ^^

General Problems with analog VGA on TFTs and Converters

As far as I can tell, nobody was able to come up with a monitor that actually displays 70hz over VGA and has the ability to toggle between 320x200 and 720x400, let alone a 4:3 one.

My Dell 2007fp does have s video I believe and looks fine enough, so it might suit your needs. But it's not perfect.

Such a monitor basically doesn't exist. Some sort of external scaler is necessary that can do the work no monitor is willing to for you. OSSC can help as mentioned before. Main issue is 70Hz + 720x200/400, which shares timings with 320/640x200/400 and all monitors I am aware of go for 720 timing for proper text mode. Of course scaling is always some blur thing so you don't get clean pixels either except on some old laptops where no full screen scaling is ever done. When FPGAs are available again I may look into making some sort of an external scaler that can target few common native resolutions but you still need a monitor capable of 70Hz without dropping frames.