On 7/11/2014 10:38 AM, Wyatt wrote:
On Thursday, 10 July 2014 at 23:15:41 UTC, Nick Sabalausky wrote:
I'm fairly certain they don't. Heck, I can't even find a 5:4 anymore
which at least isn't *as* bad as 16:9. Tolerable, at least.
If you're willing to pay a bit more, you can get 16:10 which
is...actually not that bad. I think it strikes a good balance. Better
still, Google has some laptops with 3:2 screens that I'd love to have
elsewhere.
Aspect ratios need to start being expressed in decimal form. The "4:3 vs
16:9" is easy to keep track of which is which. But it gets completely
out of hand once you also figure in 3:2, 5:4, 16:10, and...this is the
one that *really* gets me... 2.1:1 (Seriously?! WhyTF use ratio notation
if you're still going to use decimals anyway?!?).
Quick! Sort these narrowest to widest!:
5:4, 2.1:1, 3:2, 16:9, 16:10, 4:3
It's ridiculous. We need to standardize on decimal-notation aspect
ratios. Or at least a standardized denominator.
But as for *actual* 4:3, or even 5:4, I really do doubt they're still
manufactured.
I think there's still a few 5:4? But for the most part, no. A big part
of the push comes back to marketing BS: Display sizes are measured by
their diagonal, so you can advertise a 20" widescreen for more money,
even though it cost less to make than a 19" at 4:3 or 5:4. And it's
"cinematic"! orz
That's another thing. Screen sizes should be measured in viewable 2D
units, like square inches. None of this BS about measuring 2D space with
a linear diagonal unit, or including part of the frame, or any other
such garbage.
And yea, as a gamer, pretty much any argument involving "it's
cinematic!" irritates me. And contrary to the manufacturer beliefs, *my*
computer is far, far more than just an overpriced DVD player.
I think the best bet for 4:3 is to just look for a used CRT. (Heck, at
least they can display more than one resolution without looking bad.)
I'm kinda jealous of those pro gamedevs with a dual-monitor, one of
them being vertical, setup. I should do that. With one of those desks
that can adjust to/from standing position. That'd be sweet :)
If you want a seriously good CRT, you pretty much want a Trinitron. For
PCs, my personal recommendation is the G-series. I had a G200 (17" flat
tube) for about ten years and it could push 1600x1200 at 85Hz and even
do 2560x1600 at 60Hz. If you're using old consoles, you can't go wrong
with a PVM (it works pretty well with a supergun too, though it still
can't do some of the wacky modes like what Gun Frontier and Metal Black
use).
Yea, Trinitrons were always well-regarded. Too bad they're not made anymore.
Not sure if it was an actual Trinitron or some other brand, but shortly
before HD sets, a friend of mine got a flatscreen[1] CRT with
progressive scan, component input, and some sort of special improved
black levels. It looked absolutely amazing. I suspect that may have
subconsciously been part of why I was underwhelmed by HDTVs (that, and
my ancient $25 used VGA CRT had *already* been doing HD for years).
As far as I'm concerned, the #1 selling point for 4k[2] is the
(theoretical) capability of displaying SD *without* making it look like
complete shit compared to a real SD set. Of course, the one 4k set I've
seen didn't even have *ANY* inputs other than HDMI, so completely
useless as far as I'm concerned, especially considering the price.
(Seriously? >$1k and they *still* couldn't toss in some cheap connectors
and decoder? Ridiculous. Clearly marketed directly at people with more
money than sense.) But I guess they expect me to re-buy all the SD stuff
I already own. Fuck that. I'll pirate before I let them pull that shit
on me.
[1] People these days don't even know there's a difference between
flastscreen and flatpanel. Ugh.
[2] 4k: Can screens EVER standardize on fucking ANYTHING anymore?!? Pick
a fucking notation for describing resolutions and STICK WITH IT!!! It's
like the freaking "Lenny"/"Mountain Lion"/"Ice Cream Sandwich" bullshit
here. I don't *want* to know the correct ordering of snacks/cats/toy
story characters, and I'm *certainly* not going to memorize which
idiotic (and completely unnecessary) name refers to WHAT freaking
version. Idiotic unnecessary indirection.
"Woody/Sarge???" WTF? "SD/1080p/4k???" WTF? Enough redundant naming
conventions already.
