Widescreens On Handhelds

[Shikaku]

VGA or QVGA: keep it 4:3.

 

[techFreak]

Why do you need a fucking widescreen? It does NOTHING for gaming. Fuck movies. Aren't there enough movie players out there for you? You want "yet another". You guys are clueless of the market for the device. Do you think the GP32 and GP2X gained favor because it plays MOVIES! No, it is from Homebrew, emulation, and ports. That was it's niche. Those things don't benefit at all from a widescreen and only suffer. It you want another "me too" PSP clone movie player , good luck with it.

This behaviour makes me love widescreen.

 

[xythen]

have to say I'm with DaveC on this one (though I think there are better ways to get your point across than dropping a load of f-bombs ), 4:3 is far better for this type of device.

A 16:9 screen would add nothing to the GP2X's most popular games and apps.

 

[messiah]

portable gaming device? ONLY 4:3

wanna widescreen movies on gp2x? watch them on widescreen TV, gp2x plays them ok. Does anyone really think that typical gp2x user would be spending most of his time watching movies on tiny screen? When I'm travelling I'm watching them on gp2x and do not bother if the lcd is or isn;t widescreen. Before i got gp2x i've watched movies on my N-Gage and they were also ok (for a journey)....

But when it comes to games.. one of the biggest pros of gp2x is 320x240 screen. Without a doubt. They (GPH) could not make it better overall. (They could do 640x480 but cost of hardware capabe to pushing those pixel would skyrocket the price of gp2x).

When some skilled gp2x coder write a PSP emu for gp2x - then I'll be bothering about lack of widescreen. (joking)

So, 320x240. Perfect.

 

[techFreak]

We are not talking about the GP2X. Gp2X is GP2X and it has 4:3 320x240 screen. I think everybody is happy about that. But we are talking about the future.

I don't think this device as only a game machine or movie player. Think about web browsing, word processing and other applications those need more space on desktop. Widescreen would be better for these types of applications. That was my point.

Craig just asked a question to us and everybody can share their opinion. We should respect everyone's opinion.

 

[Jarska333]

I wan't stuff projected straight to my brain. I don't give two shits about wide or narrowscreen.

 

[Ravnos]

the gp2x alone isn't too bulky for my pocket but with a carry case it becomes too bulky. a friend keeps his in just a sock, maybe i need something similar but with space for headphones and extra batteries. if the gp2x folded over and had an internal battery i wouldn't need a case!

I picked up a Transporter screen cover for the original GBA. It fits my GP2X perfectly and keeps the screen from getting scratched up. Then I can put whatever else I want in my pocket without worrying about my 2X.

 

[gaterooze]

Hate widescreen on handhelds AND laptops. I can't stand watching movies on handhelds, so that's irrelevant to me.

In fact, probably the biggest reason I haven't bought my own PSP is because of the widescreen (and the crummy controls).

OT, I also dislike them on PCs. Widescreen harms productivity, in fact, by drawing focus away from the centre of the eye. Text is more effective with a taller orientation -- there is a good reason most books are the shape they are.

 

[Shikaku]

Widescreen=more viewing area is a fallacy. Yes it adds more area on something 480x272 vs 320x240, but in reality it's just a marketing ploy. Stick with 4:3 just for the classics sake, and increase the resolution to 640x480 if you want an increase.

 

[shinneri]

OT, I also dislike them on PCs. Widescreen harms productivity, in fact, by drawing focus away from the centre of the eye. Text is more effective with a taller orientation -- there is a good reason most books are the shape they are.

Except they make multi-tasking easier because you can have more windows viewable at a time... But that's completely unrelated to handhelds as well.

 

[iignotus]

I've said it before and I'll say it again:

4" VGA screen. The future. It is.

That's what I want.

 

[DaveC]

We are not talking about the GP2X. Gp2X is GP2X and it has 4:3 320x240 screen. I think everybody is happy about that. But we are talking about the future.

I don't think this device as only a game machine or movie player. Think about web browsing, word processing and other applications those need more space on desktop. Widescreen would be better for these types of applications. That was my point.

Craig just asked a question to us and everybody can share their opinion. We should respect everyone's opinion.

That is the concept you and some others seem to struggle with. Widescreen DOES NOT equal "more space" or "the future". Actually 16:9 is a very inefficient ratio for most things. For TVs you get LESS screen area per footprint than you did with 4:3 (except it kind of makes sense there as you mainly watch movies on TVs that were 16:9), and for handhelds it just makes them longer. But you say yeah but widescreen is a 4:3 with extra space on the side right? I could say no, widescreen is a 4:3 screen with some of the top and bottom *cut off*. It is an aspect ratio, nothing more.

For example, your 480 x 272 16:9 widescreen gives *less space* (like more than half) for "other applications" than a 640 x 480 4:3 screen

It comes down to RESOLUTION not the ratio between the length and with of a rectangle. Ratio is irrelavant regarding space. The best ratio and resolution to use is one that matches the applications that we run most on it. In this community that happens to be Homebrew (which can use any rez), ports of PC stuff (4:3) and emulators, again 4:3.

If 320 x 240 is inadequate go with 640 x 480. Alot of Pocket PCs still use 320 x 240, and a few are 640 x 480.

 

[prairiefire]

Why do you need a fucking widescreen? It does NOTHING for gaming. Fuck movies. Aren't there enough movie players out there for you? You want "yet another". You guys are clueless of the market for the device. Do you think the GP32 and GP2X gained favor because it plays MOVIES! No, it is from Homebrew, emulation, and ports. That was it's niche.

Not to sound disrespectful DaveC, but I seriously considered buying the GP2X because of it's homebrew, emulation and ports. What won me over was the media player portion of it. It makes much more sense for me to have one unit rather than two when i'm travelling. Sure i could have a small movieplayer and a small handheld game player, but the two together means more stuff to cary. I think a lot of attractiveness in the unit is that it is so versatile. Don't get me wrong, I love homebrew but I also love having with this, a portable media player... and as a consumer and a purchaser of this, I AM part of the market. If you look at the tally of votes, it appears that i'm not the only one.

- as for the screen size/aspect ratio, either would be good for me, although i'm leaning towards widescreen.

 

[krosfyah]

People seem to be assuming this is a GP3x thread which the original post didn't really suggest. I'm not sure why anyone (yes you DaveC) is getting all worked up over other people's preferences. It just makes you come across as a bit of a twat if you keep disrespecting other's opinions.

I prefer widescreens, I think 4:3 is the creation of the Devil himself.

However, if we're talking about the future of our beloved handheld then I have to agree that the new screen should cater primarily to its main application, which I believe is emulation of non-widescreen systems.

 

[gaterooze]

suncon959, look at who the original poster was

 

[craigix]

I was just curious to see if the old opinions still stood now most of you have a PSP. 480*272 screens are cheaper than 320*240 but any 'new gp2x' is a long way off (like 2008).

-Craig

 

[Ravnos]

I don't own a PSP so I can't really compare but despite DaveC's rude way of asserting it I agree with his opinion. 4:3 is better for most emulation and ports. Though I'd rather have a touchscreen than widescreen, personally, just in case you're keeping track of this for future GPH handhelds.

 

[DaveC]

People seem to be assuming this is a GP3x thread which the original post didn't really suggest. I'm not sure why anyone (yes you DaveC) is getting all worked up over other people's preferences. It just makes you come across as a bit of a twat if you keep disrespecting other's opinions.

I prefer widescreens, I think 4:3 is the creation of the Devil himself.

However, if we're talking about the future of our beloved handheld then I have to agree that the new screen should cater primarily to its main application, which I believe is emulation of non-widescreen systems.

The FACTS remain though no matter what your "preferences" or "opinions" are.

These facts are:

Widescreen gives no more space than 4:3

Widescreen does not fit emulator or ported game screens as well as 4:3.

Those are facts not my opinions. Now if you like movies more than emulators or would rather have a widescreen to be like the PSP crowd etc those are opinions and any is as valid as any other. The truth is the best format is the one that fits what we run most on it.

Now maybe the poll should have been:

What would you use the MOST on a new handheld: (Homebrew not included because it can be designed for any screen format)

1) Emulators and PC ports
2) Movies

If 1) was more popular than 4:3 is the best choice. If 2) was more popular than widescreen would be the best.

I was just curious to see if the old opinions still stood now most of you have a PSP. 480*272 screens are cheaper than 320*240 but any 'new gp2x' is a long way off (like 2008).

-Craig

The problem with that 480 x 272 resolution is that it is a HORRID resolution. I am actually more against that resolution more than a widescreen format. 272 vertical closely matches NOTHING as far as emulated systems or PC games. It is not an even multiple of any system or even close. You can't do 1:1, 2:1, 3:1 etc on it to get a decent sized image that is not cropped. Every emulated system would have to be unevenly stretched fractionally (like 1.5X, 1.6X) to get an image that is close to the size of what we have now on the GP2X. Even at that a 4" widescreen is STILL a bit smaller than the 3.5" 4:3 we have now if you maintain aspect. So now we would have smaller images and they would be scaled and blurry compared to the same image that we now have at 1:1.

Now if it was as Vimacs said 240 vertical (or even 480V) and just added pixels to the sides for the widescreen then it would work. I would say OK fine so the handheld is alot longer now but at least you can still get a 1:1 image that is pretty much the same as the Gp2X. But unfortunatly widescreens are those 272 high ones (who the hell thought up that wacky number :rolleyes: ). Maybe wait until 640 x 480 becomes cheaper.

 

[White Demon]

What the hell does CPS2 & Amiga have to do with widescreen? Both were around long before widescreen was available in the home.

4:3 all the way, 320x240, or 640x480 if available with some nice hardware scaling.

 

[craigix]

CPS2 DOES use a widescreen display (384 x 224) and the amiga resolutions mean that when in overscan mode you can't see the whole screen, plus the amiga quite liked using around 480*220 for apps/ some games.