First post, by Kordanor
Hey there!
I know that there are plenty of threads already which one way or the other touch this topic, but they all quickly divert, like Using DOSBox or whatever.
I am putting together a DOS Machine specifically for DOS Games from around 1990 to 1996, basically spanning from EGA Games like Commander Keen and Wizardry 6 up to Duke Nukem 3D and I am looking for a LCD Display which can handle these. If that display is then called "monitor" or "tv" is not really relevant as long as it gives the results I am looking for.
Now I do know that 320/200 is a 16/10 ratio, which however is displayed at 4/3 as the pixels are not square.
But as I am not using additional hardware the monitor built in scaler would need to make 320x200 usable.
-Worst case: Doesn't display at all
-Still bad case: Stretch over pixels, e.g. stretching 320x200 to a 640x480 resolution.
-Still somehow bad case: Scale 320x200 to 640x400 and have the remaining 80 lines all black
-Best Case: Full Scale, which I guess would only possible at a resolution of 1600x1200, where a original pixel would be exaclty 5 pixels wide and 6 pixels high.
ofc on a 1600x1200 screen a fully stretched 640 x 480 resolution would be problematic. But I am not sure how many games are using 640X480 which can't also run on 800x600, which again could be scaled perfectly on 1600x1200.
Now, a big plus would be if the screen would also have a S-Video in which is C64 compatible, but I might need to overthing that if that just isn't feasible.
So in case you are using a 4/3 LCD screen on authentic DOS hardware without additional scalers, then I'd be interested into which LCD you are using, and how it handles 320x200 resolutions.
I own a HP 2035, but unfortunately everything not 1600x1200 looks like garbage.
HP 2035 has a native resolution of 1600x1200
1600x1200 looks ok for the most part, though it feels like the monitor is even struggling there
800x600 looks washed out (individual pixels cant be identified, while they can be at 1600x1200)
320x200 (displayed on my crt as 720x400) also looks washed out.
That said I am pretty sure, that I also experienced "out of range" on that monitor in some occasions.