is a 1.8" screen too small?

hartleyshc · Post by **hartleyshc** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 10:43 am

Ok, first of all, Hello All. This is my first post although Ive been following this site regularly for about a month now. Of course like the rest of the world Ive been checking out this site pretty much every time Benjamin creates a new handheld and it would spread across all the game blogs.

As I wait for my materials to come in the mail, I have a few questions about screens. *making a portable noac system*
Ive been eyeballing this screen here They make a 2.5" version as well, that seems to be the same dimensions but the screen doesn't have that black boarder. Ether way, I want to make my portable as small as possible. They both have the same resolution 496x234 (which is the best rez i could find on a sub 2" screen). If I understand correctly, televisions have a resolution of 320x240. What happens to the extra horizontal pixels? Are they simply not shown on the screen, or will it be "squished" to fit the screen. I would like the image to be as clear as possible (which i know will be close to impossible using composite like these noac use) I know gba micros have 2" screens, so a 1.8" shouldn't be too bad should it?

I had something else I wanted to ask about screens but the question eludes me right now. Ill edit later if I remember.

edit: this isnt the question, but its a new one. when they list resolution size, do the numbers represent columns? ie 496(h)x234(v) would that be 496 horizontal columns? (meaning 496 pixels tall) or just simply 496 pixels wide?

jeroen · Post by **jeroen** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 11:45 am

euhm I have a 2.5 inch screen. Well I had. (fried it) it's not to big. 1.8 is gonna be invisible.

hartleyshc · Post by **hartleyshc** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 1:07 pm

I did a hip gear mod to the front of my first xbox. Does anyone know what the resolution of those screens are? I believe it was a 2.5" screen, and it was adequate for what it did (sit there and look cool). I'm mostly curious to how these small lcds handle the composite inputs, is there much blurring? If so, then a bigger screen might be my only choice.

TheOnlyOneHeFears · Post by **TheOnlyOneHeFears** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 1:18 pm

jeroen's right, 1.8" is too small, even for a NESp. If you want a small screen, use the Hip Gear, if you can find one. As you did one for the xbox, you clearly have experience of them, they're small and easy to use. If you want to go for a bigger screen, I'd go for the PSOne screen. It's 5", cheap, and easy to work with. The composite input for the Hip Gear is relatively sharp, its good enough for a NESp, I wouldn't recommend it too much for anything else.

hartleyshc · Post by **hartleyshc** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 1:30 pm

yeah, hip gear screens are pretty much impossible to find any more, even on ebay. I bought mine a little over 2 years ago on clearance from target.com, of course I should have bought more, but hindsight is always 20/20.

Seems I will upgrade to the 2.5". Which I think will be fine for me, *still trying to keep it ultra compact.

This is my inspiration, imagine this design, but with real components. Just waiting on super joy, and (when I order it) my lcd to arrive.

Post by **Triton** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 1:55 pm

personally i dont think 1.8" would be too small but whatever floats your boat

hartleyshc · Post by **hartleyshc** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 2:15 pm

well heres a quick mock up.

As you can see, I would ideally like the screen to be molded into the controller itself. In the image the lcd its self is a little too far sunk into the controller, it will actually be a bit higher in reality (space constraints). I don't mind any extra thickness behind the lcd, as long as it doesn't change the shape of the nes controller too much (I will try to add any additional bulkiness above the natural line of the controller, and behind the lcd).
Also as you can see with a project like this size really does matter. So I guess I'm still back to the question, 1.8" or 2.5"?

edit: Added side view, as you can see this will more or less be a direct ripoff of G-force's nes mini design, with an added lcd screen. Will add battery pack to the end of the cable to make it portable, might not add the cable at all if I can figure out how to power the device by lithium ion.

TheOnlyOneHeFears · Post by **TheOnlyOneHeFears** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 2:28 pm

If you wanted to do something like that, I'd suggest 1.8". That looks hard but very cool. Good luck!

Rellizate · Post by **Rellizate** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 2:51 pm

Nice design. I'd say 2.5" though. Where you gonna put batteries? I don't think you need any space really for the LCb board; they are flat.

hartleyshc · Post by **hartleyshc** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 3:13 pm

Well I currently have 2 ideas, space depending. 1) Around where I labeled space for the lcd board *lithium ion pack batteries* or 2) Have the power run down the cable to the 2nd controller/av out box. If I can mold the battery pack behind the lcd, then Ill make the cord detachable. If I cant, I will make the cord long enough to have the battery pack in my pocket *not really ideal, but I want to keep the nes controller "feel" as much as possible*.

hartleyshc · Post by **hartleyshc** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 4:27 pm

Ok, well Ive decided on the 2.5" screen listed here. Two reasons why I chose this lcd. One, its a small enclosed Lcd screen, no extras. I assume all of the inputs are on the back. I can use its own case in the construction, trim the bottom, bondo onto/into the controller, sand, paint, repeat. Secondly, with the 1.8" version it still has the same dimensions as the 2.5" version. It seems the 1.8" version simply has a thick black boarder surrounding it. Meaning I would have to construct a new shell for the top of the lcd to take advantage of the space saving lcd.

Both of these lcds are relatively cheap ($50-$70), and both already have excellent dimensions (85mm W x 62mm H x 24mm D - thats the size of the case).
Hopefully once my super joy and the lcd get here in about a week, I will start on constructing this. Expect plenty o' pics. Also I will do a mini review of the lcd so others will know if these are worth screens to use.

timmeh87 · Post by **timmeh87** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 5:04 pm

I just kinda skimmed this topic, and at the beginning you said you thought NTSC tv was 320x240. I think its actually a lot closer to 640x480 or something. 648x486 possibly.

hartleyshc · Post by **hartleyshc** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 5:58 pm

Wouldn't 640x480 on an lcd equal 480p?
Maybe because normal tvs are interlaced? Maybe thats why I thought it was 320x240?

anyone else clear this up?

edit:

wikipedia.com/nes wrote:Display resolution: 256Ã—240 pixels, though NTSC games usually used only 256Ã—224, as the top and bottom 8 scanlines are not visible on most television sets (see overscan); for additional video memory bandwidth, it was possible to turn off the screen before the raster reached the very bottom.

So although a normal tv might have a higher rez than these lcds, as long as they can handle the nes rez, Ill be just fine.

Post by **bicostp** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 6:13 pm

480p vs 480i is more up to the hardware than the screen's resolution.

The resolution won't be pixel perfect (that is one RGB triad on the LCD won't equal one NES pixel). You'll have some blurring as the LCD diaplays the picture as best it can. It's sort of like running an LCD monitor at less than its native resolution.

However, on such a small screen the artifacts should be negligible.

hartleyshc · Post by **hartleyshc** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 6:20 pm

Excellent, that was my main concern. I realize I'm not going to be getting perfect pixel picture *not with a nes at least, now a dc-p is different story

*. As long as the blurring isn't too bad and text is readable, Ill be happy.