Thoughts on 32 inch 1080p

[mike2411]

So I've been looking for a perfect dedicated montior other than my CRT for a future arcade cab. I stumbled upon the 32MN50W-B. I wanted to get some of your thoughts to see if I'm missing something.

Normally I consider all Walmart electronics junk, but this may be the perfect monitor for MiSTer. I feel like 1080p monitors over 24 inches are not long for this world so this is probably the time to buy. My biggest concern right now is display lag and I haven't been able to find any data on the interweb regarding that on this model.

I know Bob recently did a review of Arcooda’s 32inch and that is probably better, but is also twice the price. It also doesn't have any VESA mounts so buying a pre-fab cab for it would be difficult.

The 32MN50W-B pretty much checks all the boxes.

• IPS
  32"
  HDMI
  1080p
  VRR (assuming it can hit 57hz up to 75hz)
  VESA mount

[thisisamigaspeaking]

• VRR (assuming it can hit 57hz up to 75hz)

VRR = FreeSync I assume, which AFAIK is what MiSTer uses right now?

As an aside, HDMI Forum VRR would be nice too for MiSTer for TVs if it's not implemented yet, and there are any TVs that have VRR but don't also have FreeSync.

I think normally the FreeSync range goes does down to like 45 or 48. Also you can hack (or ignore I guess?) the EDID of any monitor to force a larger FreeSync range.

Wouldn't we need displays that can go down under 50 for PAL cores?

I'm not sure 1080p is necessary, MiSTer looks good on 1440p and 4k displays even though they may use the internal scaler. Actually I think you can get 1:1 pixels on 1440p but I haven't tried that yet.

[FoxbatStargazer]

1920x1440 looks better but 1080p ain't bad. I'm assuming this is nice and cheap being at wal-mart.

[thisisamigaspeaking]

1920x1440 looks better but 1080p ain't bad. I'm assuming this is nice and cheap being at wal-mart.

Because of:

I feel like 1080p monitors over 24 inches are not long for this world so this is probably the time to buy.

I just meant there is no reason to rush to buy a 1080p thinking they won't make them in 32" in the future which OP seemed to say. Other resolutions work ok. There will be something else available at that price point in the future, but maybe the timing is perfect I don't know...

[mike2411]

Thanks, I sort of forgot Mister could handle 2560x1440. I try to avoid any scaling on the monitors to avoid unneeded display lag so figured I'd need a 1080p screen. If anyone is curious, Mister running at 1440p on an LG OLED adds massive lag. MLiG mentioned this and I'm going to assume it is because LG didn't plan on people sending 1440p to it. I currently have it hooked up to my 1440p monitor and noticed something interesting. Maybe it is something I did wrong, but all the cores run at 1440, but Jotego's. All of his are running at 1080p. Anyone else notice this?

[FoxbatStargazer]

That's an issue new to the C2 line, and specifically, it's with 4:3 aspect ratio content, i.e. 1920x1440 (mode 12). 2560x1440 (mode 14) should work fine, although its debatable whether it looks any better than 1080p since its more like half the horizontal resolution (1280x1440).

TVs in general have a lot more potential hangups than monitors when it comes to input lag. The trade-off is that monitor scaling is usually pretty godawful. But! that shouldn't be a problem at 1920x1440 on a 1440p monitor, it should just be centered with black bars.

[thisisamigaspeaking]

TVs in general have a lot more potential hangups than monitors when it comes to input lag. The trade-off is that monitor scaling is usually pretty godawful. But! that shouldn't be a problem at 1920x1440 on a 1440p monitor, it should just be centered with black bars.

Normally I agree that monitor scaling looks terrible, but I think for the low resolution content of MiSTer it hasn't mattered much for me scaling 1080p to 1440p or 4k. I don't use shadow masks or scan lines or anything that is higher resolution than the emulated content. I still haven't tried the 1440p native mode on MiSTer (assuming my 1440p monitor would even handle the aspect ratio properly) because it is hooked up to a 4k monitor right now and I am happy with that.

[FoxbatStargazer]

Maybe it is something I did wrong, but all the cores run at 1440, but Jotego's. All of his are running at 1080p. Anyone else notice this?

If a core doesn't have explicit support for mode 14 (2560x1440) it falls back to 1080p resolution, I would guess due to the double-horizontal resolution thing needing special implementation. The menu core does not seem to support nor does Jotego's stuff. Seems to run fine in mode 12 (1920x1440) though.

[mike2411]

Maybe it is something I did wrong, but all the cores run at 1440, but Jotego's. All of his are running at 1080p. Anyone else notice this?

If a core doesn't have explicit support for mode 14 (2560x1440) it falls back to 1080p resolution, I would guess due to the double-horizontal resolution thing needing special implementation. The menu core does not seem to support nor does Jotego's stuff. Seems to run fine in mode 12 (1920x1440) though.

Thanks, that explains it.