experience with Dreamcast on (17") TFT monitor, anyone?

[Peet]

Apologies if this is in the wrong forum, but I figured it'd go here since it's sort of a question and tech (but only vaguely PC tech) related.

Anyway...

I'm looking at getting a new monitor (for use with PC and Dreamcast, eventually maybe XBox as well) towards the end of the year, and I've decided on a TFT. I'm currently looking at this one.

The whole resolution and aspect ratio thing worries me a bit (in addition to the prospect of dead pixels and ghosting), so I'm wondering if there's anyone who has experience with playing Dreamcast games (or something else that runs in 640x480) on TFT monitors in general and on 17" TFT monitors in particular. I'd like to hear some comments on how you find the image quality, and just any thoughts in general.

Thanks guys!

[Geezer]

I have an AOC LM720A 17" TFT, and it looked shockingly bad. I'm not that good on the tech side of TFTs but I think TFTs don't produce great images when run at resolutions below their native res, which for mine, I think is 1280X1024

[marcus]

My story is completely the opposite

I have a 19" Samsung Synchmaster 191T and use and official Dreamcast VGA box and the image is nothing short of superb. Games look pin sharp and very detailed, its easily the best Ive ever seen Dreamcast games looking, and is especially good for 2d fighters. Heres a pic -

[Geezer]

My story is completely the opposite

I have a 19" Samsung Synchmaster 191T and use and official Dreamcast VGA box and the image is nothing short of superb. Games look pin sharp and very detailed, its easily the best Ive ever seen Dreamcast games looking, and is especially good for 2d fighters. Heres a pic -

Ah yes, I remember when you posted that in the set-up thread, I fired up my VGA box expecting similar results
I suppose it's a question of tft quality too, but the pic quality is so lush in windows and in in games that I thought the DC would look great on it too.

btw, I used a 3rd party VGA box, would that have affected it at all?

Geezer
I

[Peet]

I have an AOC LM720A 17" TFT, and it looked shockingly bad. I'm not that good on the tech side of TFTs but I think TFTs don't produce great images when run at resolutions below their native res, which for mine, I think is 1280X1024

That's the native res for all 17" TFTs. Notice that the proportions are 5:4, not 4:3 like 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768 etc.. I can't find Marcus' exact monitor on the Samsung site, but all other Samsung 19" monitors seem to have a native res of 1280x1024 as well, so it might just be down to the quality of the particular monitor itself, rather than a common problem.

Maybe I should bring my DC and a few games with me when I go shopping...

[mid]

I'd imagine it'll probably look fine, actually - 1280 is an exact double of 640, so horizontally you're bang on, and 480 to 1024 is going to be exactly the same as the many people here with plasma screens have to put up with every day.

Is this one of the rotating ones? Many 17" LCDs have a stand that makes doing tate mode an absolute piece of cake, which has got to be a good thing.

[marcus]

Beware which way it rotates though. Mine rotates clockwise as opposed to anti-clockwise, making Tate play near impossible on games like Ikaruga, as you are effectively playing from top to bottom of the screen...