The Result of My Search for a Great MiSTer Display

[akeley]

If you go over 21", yeah, quite possibly. But I got a couple actually delivered right to my flat for the price of few more beers

[lamarax]

I returned the Asus since I don't like the blurred picture when scrolling.

Ah, thank you, you've reminded me of the 'trace free' slider on the monitor While I can't really perceive slight motion blur, I'm certainly sensitive to ghosting and flicker.

A TFT panel is never meant to replicate a CRT, especially a BVM. The topic here was about finding a decent middle-of-the-road, acceptable solution which would negate the grave handicaps of dealing with bulky, moribund devices.

[Vic20-Ian]

Does this monitor rotate to portrait both ways so Gorf and Centipede will be playable in portrait mode as my Dell only rotates one way?

[Francis]

Hello

I have an old crt tv - lg lafinion 72, 480p - and plasma tv 1080p. Which of both would be better? I dont have the mister yet...

[RevolvingDork]

Does this monitor rotate to portrait both ways so Gorf and Centipede will be playable in portrait mode as my Dell only rotates one way?

The Asus Pro Art PA248QV comes with a stand that rotates 90 degrees in either direction, but if you have an existing monitor you already like you can probably save money by buying a VESA arm mount instead.

[RevolvingDork]

I have an old crt tv - lg lafinion 72, 480p - and plasma tv 1080p. Which of both would be better? I dont have the mister yet...

Since you already have two different types of displays, you can experiment with both to figure out which you like! For most people, it comes down to the types of games they want to play and where they'd like to play them. The MiSTer supports both digital and analog output, so it can be used with just about any display as long as you have the right cables.

Having a variety of displays to play with is a great place to start, since you can weigh the pros and cons of the CRT versus the Plasma without buying anything new.

[Vic20-Ian]

Does this monitor rotate to portrait both ways so Gorf and Centipede will be playable in portrait mode as my Dell only rotates one way?

The Asus Pro Art PA248QV comes with a stand that rotates 90 degrees in either direction, but if you have an existing monitor you already like you can probably save money by buying a VESA arm mount instead.

Good Call. Thank you.

I just removed a Vesa arm on my desk for 2 new LG monitors for work that have their own arm.

I took the Dell off it's own stand an found the vesa holes behind.

Problem solved!

[wethebased]

Hey everyone

First time poster here. So I picked up this monitor due to the kudos it has been receiving from this thread and I have to say that it is by far the best lcd I have used so far for the mister from a price to performance perspective, as well as simply just because it works with anything I have thrown at it so far.

If you are looking at picking this lcd up, by all means go for it, you won't be disappointed. Heres what my work in progress mister project currently looks like:

IMG_1510.jpg (2.37 MiB) Viewed 31429 times

Looking forward to becoming a frequent poster here and thanks to everyone for the work on this project. Absolutely obsessed these days with fiddling around with my mister:)

[RevolvingDork]

If you are looking at picking this lcd up, by all means go for it, you won't be disappointed. Heres what my work in progress mister project currently looks like:

Nice collection of control options!

I recently ordered a SNAC set with NES & SNES adaptors and I'm looking forward to trying out multiple controllers as well. The metagame of messing around with different configurations is pretty fun in its own right.

[wethebased]

Nice collection of control options!

I recently ordered a SNAC set with NES & SNES adaptors and I'm looking forward to trying out multiple controllers as well. The metagame of messing around with different configurations is pretty fun in its own right.

Thanks! Ya I have a bunch of controller options that I have gathered throughout the years and its so awesome they all work great with the mister. I may pursue the SNAC option one day as well. Its to bad the fight stick I have needs the Magic NS to function as its the Ps3 model, but really, I have not noticed much in the way of additional latency when using it.

For displays I have a bunch of CRT's, and I was on the hunt for a decent to great LCD and the Asus you recommended just simply worked. Thanks again for starting this post as I would not have known to try this monitor otherwise.

[pbsk8]

Hey everyone

First time poster here. So I picked up this monitor due to the kudos it has been receiving from this thread and I have to say that it is by far the best lcd I have used so far for the mister from a price to performance perspective, as well as simply just because it works with anything I have thrown at it so far.

If you are looking at picking this lcd up, by all means go for it, you won't be disappointed. Heres what my work in progress mister project currently looks like:

IMG_1510.jpg

Looking forward to becoming a frequent poster here and thanks to everyone for the work on this project. Absolutely obsessed these days with fiddling around with my mister:)

what is the model of this asus monitor?

[RevolvingDork]

what is the model of this asus monitor?

Check out the first post of this thread for the model number and a lot more information.

[gibs]

Two things:

1. Does it support 50hz like Amiga and C64 natively? (No stuttering on scrolling)

2. With the exclusion of DoDonPachi nothing is 240p, but less. I find 1080p with cropping a better solution.

1. I'm not a C64 expert, but I booted up Turrican and took a test video with a dinky webcam. It scrolled quite smoothly to my eye, and the monitor was matched at 50.1Hz.

WIN_20210223_18_03_16_Pro.jpg


2. That is also a good option! I like anything running at integer scale so scanline filters don't cause inconsistencies.

I have the older model of the ProArt (PA246Q) which I've used for many years. It's also a 1920x1200 display which is a rare aspect ratio.

I really like it, but I recently upgraded to a wider screen for work (3440x1440). I now run my main MiSTer as half of that screen, which is pretty good for regular display and TATE (1720x1440). My ASUS PA is still around, so I might use it for a TATE setup later on.

That sounds great, 1440 is also a very nice vertical resolution!

Sorry, but 50Hz sync is good for vertical scrolling.
Here, you are showing Turrican wich is a horizontal scrolling game.
To get Horizontal scroll smoothness you'll need a 15KHz monitor (LCD [there are a few supporting it] or CRT) and if you still want to go with LCD, then you will have to use the VGA output...
With your monitor you have solved a problem of ratio with some cores only

[FoxbatStargazer]

I have 2 LCDs (older VGA/DVI ones) that fully support 50hz and two TVs that fake it OK with a 120hz pulldown. There's plenty of LCDs that won't oblige but they do exist... it also works fine over HDMI with vsync_adjust=1 or 2 if you got the right display.

I would agree this display better do 50hz as well as 70hz right or it can hardly be called the "ultimate."

[wethebased]

thanks for the insight guys. what would be a quick and dirty way to test 70hz? ill test and post results. i currently do not have the ao486 core setup or i would simply try it out with that.

TIA

[FoxbatStargazer]

Honestly it is difficult to test 70hz because many games VGA DOS games internal framerate was more like 35 hz at best (although the mouse was still 70?). And the one game I know of that shot for smoothness was Jazz Jackrabbit at 60 hz. There is probably some test out there but I can't think of any. Only one of my displays I have confidence in does 70hz correctly (because it seems incapable of buffering more than one frame), the others may or may not but I don't have a reliable test.

The panel in this monitor does cover 48-75 hz but that does not mean the scaler will oblige, as I do have newer freesync monitors that clearly do not handle 50hz from the Mister right and do a pulldown (up?) to 60hz, even though it is in the range of the panel and 50hz can work fine in say Retroarch emulation using adaptive sync on a PC.

[TheLastMember]

I got the architectural resin cut to match and this monitor looks beautiful under the smoked glass. Next up is either putting it in the space invaders cocktail or fabricating a cabinet. Haven't decided yet.

https://youtu.be/bLCTV4k7AJ8

[lamarax]

I'm a bit worried about the upcoming WonderSwan core which is running @ 75.4 Hz natively.

Imma try a VGA to VGA cable and see how it goes

PS: I haven't access to the beta; can anyone with the particular monitor (and the beta) attest to how it goes?

[Edit 12/6/2021] what the...I'm happy to report it does sync beautifully @ 193.69 Mhz 75.4 Hz! Poor DE10 is gonna explode!

[sofakng]

So what's the verdict on the best monitor for MiSTer?

I have an LG 27UK600-W (4K) secondary monitor but I've been looking for something that supports up to 75 Hz for DOS gaming, but the 27UK600 does sync to all refresh rates I've been able to throw at it. (under 60 Hz of course)

[lamarax]

So what's the verdict on the best monitor for MiSTer?

I have an LG 27UK600-W (4K) secondary monitor but I've been looking for something that supports up to 75 Hz for DOS gaming, but the 27UK600 does sync to all refresh rates I've been able to throw at it. (under 60 Hz of course)

Tell you what, the PA248QV was my 2nd best money spent besides the MiSTer itself

...and I've spent a lot on the thing

[xmpp]

Hi all,

I'm considering getting this monitor or the bigger 27 inch, exclusively for MiSTer use. Are there any pros/cons to having 1440 vertical resolution instead of 1200?

Thanks!

[wethebased]

I second lamarax on this monitor. Excellent purchase, no regrets. You can see a picture of my setup further back in this thread.

I find the 24 inch with the 16:10 aspect ratio preferable in the sense that the screen is filled more vs the 27 that is a 16:9.

[MISTerMark]

I picked up one of these up recently and im pleased with it.

I used the settings suggested by lamarax and it looks great -

- Scenery preset on the monitor.
- SL_Br_130_060_Soft on mister filter
- Poly gamma setting 2.7 on mister

I also copied RevolvingDorks mister.ini and was scratching my head as to why there was no audio, I had to change dvi_mode=0 in mister.ini

[lamarax]

I picked up one of these up recently and im pleased with it.

I used the settings suggested by lamarax and it looks great -

- Scenery preset on the monitor.
- SL_Br_130_060_Soft on mister filter
- Poly gamma setting 2.7 on mister

I also copied RevolvingDorks mister.ini and was scratching my head as to why there was no audio, I had to change dvi_mode=0 in mister.ini

ᕙ( ͡◉ ͜ ʖ ͡◉)ᕗ

It's a great panel for the MiSTer isn't it?

Now that @ghogan42 (shh.. sekrit) is working on a shadow mask filter (which needs to be implemented in the framework; it's not just a simple .txt file), I think that we'll at last be able to toss those bulky CRTs to the bin.

Please don't shoot me!

[atrac17]

I picked up one of these up recently and im pleased with it.

I used the settings suggested by lamarax and it looks great -

- Scenery preset on the monitor.
- SL_Br_130_060_Soft on mister filter
- Poly gamma setting 2.7 on mister

I also copied RevolvingDorks mister.ini and was scratching my head as to why there was no audio, I had to change dvi_mode=0 in mister.ini

ᕙ( ͡◉ ͜ ʖ ͡◉)ᕗ

It's a great panel for the MiSTer isn't it?

Now that @ghogan42 (shh.. sekrit) is working on a shadow mask filter (which needs to be implemented in the framework; it's not just a simple .txt file), I think that we'll at last be able to toss those bulky CRTs to the bin.

Please don't shoot me!

Don't get too crazy... It's quite nice though.

[DevilHunterWolf]

I just picked up the ProArt monitor after seeing this pop up in recent posts and intrigued by the glowing reviews for it. Saw it at my local MicroCenter for a good price and gave it a try. My initial impressions were good. Nice and colorful with a very useful out of box stand. I put in RevolvingDork's ini changes for the monitor and I was immediately impressed. My personal preference is for a sharp 1080p output that goes to the screen edges over a 720p integer scale correct output. The 16:10 ratio gives a best of both worlds approach. Even for a 24 inch display, its native resolution with integer scale is nice, big, and crisp. It's not perfectly filled in, but much less empty space than it would be at 1080p normally. And now the scanlines filter has proper spacing with no more wavey pattern to it. It was not that big of a bother to me, but oh man do I appreciate it's no longer there!

Is it a perfect monitor? No. It's not the quickest on the draw for handling display changes. As a result, it takes a while after a core loads to get an image or freaks out if you change Scandoubler FX settings. Also, the monitor doesn't like to play well with native VGA output ratios. It'll handle the input like a champ (love seeing that mystical 16KHz on its information page) but the ratio setting likes to gray out and not let me set it to 4:3 to fix the stretching. And of course, vertical rotation looks a bit weird with extra space on the "top" and "bottom" of the image. But considering that CRTs and many affordable 4:3 panels are getting up there in age and use, it's nice to have a modern alternative that works so well. Price and availability are better than an Arcooda Arcade 4:3 monitor or some of the highly priced cheap quality monitors you find online. This is a consumer friendly pick up, indeed!

I still have more to run through with the monitor, but I think this is a fantastic option to use for these retro games. The MiSTer's FPGA low latency plus the monitor running in no lag mode and just how beautifully crisp the games look all add up to a wonderful experience. I may not have needed another monitor but I'm so far very happy with the decision.

[elvis]

Are there any pros/cons to having 1440 vertical resolution instead of 1200?

1440 is an integer scale of 720, 480 and 240, whereas 1200 is not (only 240 for it). If you use all those input resolutions, that's quite convenient.

[FoxbatStargazer]

My personal preference is for a sharp 1080p output that goes to the screen edges over a 720p integer scale correct output. The 16:10 ratio gives a best of both worlds approach. Even for a 24 inch display, its native resolution with integer scale is nice, big, and crisp. It's not perfectly filled in, but much less empty space than it would be at 1080p normally. And now the scanlines filter has proper spacing with no more wavey pattern to it. It was not that big of a bother to me, but oh man do I appreciate it's no longer there!

There is zero need to compromise here, supply a custom 1920x1200 video mode to use the full native resolution and great 5x scaling for 240p cores.

Is it a perfect monitor? No. It's not the quickest on the draw for handling display changes. As a result, it takes a while after a core loads to get an image or freaks out if you change Scandoubler FX settings.

This is pretty standard for vsync_adjust=2 on Mister, not the monitor's fault.

[DevilHunterWolf]

My personal preference is for a sharp 1080p output that goes to the screen edges over a 720p integer scale correct output. The 16:10 ratio gives a best of both worlds approach. Even for a 24 inch display, its native resolution with integer scale is nice, big, and crisp. It's not perfectly filled in, but much less empty space than it would be at 1080p normally. And now the scanlines filter has proper spacing with no more wavey pattern to it. It was not that big of a bother to me, but oh man do I appreciate it's no longer there!

There is zero need to compromise here, supply a custom 1920x1200 video mode to use the full native resolution and great 5x scaling for 240p cores.

Is it a perfect monitor? No. It's not the quickest on the draw for handling display changes. As a result, it takes a while after a core loads to get an image or freaks out if you change Scandoubler FX settings.

This is pretty standard for vsync_adjust=2 on Mister, not the monitor's fault.

RevolvingDork's ini settings does set the MiSTer for a native 1920x1200 resolution, as far as I'm aware. The monitor agreed that was the resolution being pushed through it. I am opting for vscale_mode=1 for only exact integer scale at that resolution, no half or quarter steps. But even at correct integer, I'm still pretty happy with how little blank space there was over the same thing on a 16:9 1080p output. Unless there's something different you're referring to?

I am a bit relieved to hear that the vsync_adjust=2 is contributing to the display black outs on changes. I was thinking it was budget Asus at play since none of my other Asus monitors are particularly quick with input or display changes. But if that's expected from that mode, then I know that's how all kinds of monitors would behave, not just this particular ProArt. One less thing to wonder if another display could handle better.

[FoxbatStargazer]

Sorry I may have misunderstood. As long as you got 1200p from Mister (not 1080p) then you are making full use of your display. vscale_mode=1 will give you perfect vertical integer scale, or the V-integer scaling mode available in many cores, which is particularly important for lining up your scanline filters.

Vsync_adjust=2 seems to have been a relatively later development, it wasn't what the system was built on, so that's probably why there is lingering weirdness. Sergio in particular doesn't seem to see as much value in ultra-low latency as many other Mister enthusiasts.