Single-monitor portrait mode gaming

First, a note about why I am even considering doing that - I am legally blind with tunnel vision. No peripheral vision, very small center field of vision, due to retinitis pigmentosa as a part of Usher Syndrome type 2. Even my 20.1" 1680x1050 NEC 20WMGX2 monitors are a bit wide for me at 17" wide but it's manageable while gaming, and I am not aware of any better monitor under 21" for gaming even today. I do wish for a monitor that is a couple inches less wide, though.

I have just bought the 24" 1920x1200 Benq BL2411PT. I briefly tried gaming with it in landscape mode and the 20.5" width does not work for me at all. I'm now using it on my non-gaming rig In 1200x1920 portrait mode, and that way it's 12.72" wide which is absolutely great for the large amount of reading I do on that rig.

I thought about using the BL2411PT for gaming in portrait mode, but if I go 1200 pixels wide at a 4:3 ratio with a 1:1 pixel mapping, I get 900 pixel height, and 1200x900 isn't great; I'd rather stick with 1680x1050 at 17" wide until both of my 20WMGX2 monitors eventually die, because even at 1680x1050 I'm having to jack AA up pretty high to avoid aliasing in most games.

4K monitors are giving me some new hope, though. I would ideally like a monitor that's about 15" wide with as many pixels as possible. At a 16:9 ratio (because that is what 3840x2160 4K monitors are), a 17" monitor is 14.82" wide and an 18" monitor is 15.69" wide. So far we've seen 24" 4K monitors announced and 15.6" 4K laptop displays announced, so I have my doubts we'll ever see a 17" or 18" 4K monitor.

But a 31" 4K monitor has an image 15.18" tall! In portrait mode, that would give me 15.18" and 2160 pixels of width. A 4:3 ratio would be 2160x1620, a 16:10 ratio would be 2160x1350, and a 16:9 ratio would be 2160x1215. It would be like having a 17.9" 2160x1350 monitor in 16:10 mode, and that would be a really nice upgrade from 1680x1050.

I imagine I am probably the only gamer in the world interested in doing this, but I thought I'd put it up to see if anyone ever tries a 4K monitor for gaming in portrait mode.

Calculators used to make the hard math easy:
TV Calculator
Pixel Aspect Ratio Calculator

Why not use 4:3 monitors?

Do you mean 17" 1280x1024 4:3 monitors? Are any of them good enough for me to downgrade from 1680x1050?

Have you considered sitting further back from the monitor?

Skillz said:

Have you considered sitting further back from the monitor?

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To see all of a 24" monitor, I need to move back ten feet.

At normal viewing distance (arm's length), I can see about 10" wide, but rapid eye movements are letting me fill in the rest. My 20.1" 1680x1050 monitors have 17" wide displays and that's just barely manageable for me for gaming. 24" monitors have 20" wide displays, and I find that's too much ground for me to cover with glances. A 15" wide (17"-18" diagonal) monitor would be better, but I don't want to sacrifice pixels doing it.

I was hoping that new monitor technologies like OLED would start small and that I'd be able to snag a good 17", but now it looks like 4K is starting big at 24" minimum.

God bless you man, sorry to hear about your vision. Perhaps you should consider running games in window mode so you can adjust the game screen real estate to accomodate your vision. I know games like BF3 let you adjust the window mode to whatever aspect ratio you needed.

evilsofa said:

Do you mean 17" 1280x1024 4:3 monitors? Are any of them good enough for me to downgrade from 1680x1050?

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More like 21" 1600x1200 or 19" 1280x1024. Not sure if it would be an upgrade for you, but you may find them easier to look at.

l88bastard said:

God bless you man, sorry to hear about your vision. Perhaps you should consider running games in window mode so you can adjust the game screen real estate to accomodate your vision. I know games like BF3 let you adjust the window mode to whatever aspect ratio you needed.

Click to expand...

X2
Pretty much what I was about to say.

I wonder if there is a way for you to hack an iPad or Android tablet screen to work natively with your PC. It seems a high rez 10" panel is what you need.

Can you use a CRT monitor? Years ago I had a 17" Dell CRT that maxed out at 1600x1200@85hz

A 2560x1600 monitor in portrait running 1600x1200 would be 19.87inches with a slightly higher 100.6ppi and 15.9inches wide. I did this in a rush so you might want to double check the calculations however.

You should be aware of the Sharp LL-S201A. It's a 19.5" multitouch monitor with 1920x1080 resolution. It costs about $700, which is pricey, but the touch screen is rather fancy.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7979131&CatId=12

http://www.sharp-world.com/products/professional-monitors/products/ll-s201a/index.html

I've been keeping tabs on this monitor for a while, and it's already apparently off the shelves at a bunch of online retailers. It's price hasn't fluctuated much from ~$800-$700. It's effectively a quarter of a 39" UHD panel. The pixel size matches up perfectly, and it's very close to the pixel size of a 27" QHD panel.

That's really interesting, cvgd, thank you! The width is the same as my 20WMGX2 (20.1" 16:10 = 17.04" wide, 19.5" 16:9 = 17.00" wide) but it's a 1920x1080. If it were a bit smaller I would have bought it already. I may still buy it. But I'm sorely tempted to wait and see if a 4K display lands in the current hole between 15.6" laptop screens and 24" desktop monitors.

Googling around for 17" 1920x1080 screens, I found a 17" 1920x1200 rackmount monitor:

http://www.rackmountsales.com/17_6U_Wide_Screen_Rackmount_LCD_Panel_p/rmp-161-x17.htm

It costs $1000 on sale, and costs an extra $315 to add DVI-D and HDMI ports. I have no idea whatsoever whether it would be any good for gaming, or how it would sit on my desk.

If you used a projector you could make it as small or wide as you want but still have the same resolution. Not entirely sure how you will position it, but just an idea. I don't know much about what's good and bad for projectors but here's a viewsonic for 666.99. It does 1080p.

5:4 is the narrowest resolution/monitor type I know about. You should find a 5:4 monitor. Most PC games can do every aspect ratio, so you won't be missing out on anything. I currently use a 4:3 monitor and BF4 looks great.

To reply to several posts at once:

I'm fine with any aspect ratio (I can use WSGF to fix just about any FOV issue for any resolution), I'm not aware of 5:4 LCD monitors with a resolution over 1280x1024, or 4:3 LCD monitors with a resolution over 1600x1200. I'm trying to get more than 1680x1050 pixels in an LCD monitor smaller than 20 inches diagonal.

I used to have the best CRT, the 22.5" FW900, and considered moving to my current 20.1" 1680x1050 LCD monitor to be an upgrade. All CRTs are now very used, and the 17" varieties were not great like the FW900, so I'm just not interested in CRTs.

The projector idea is interesting but I have no idea how I would set it up in the room I've just remodeled in a major way into an office. I can't imagine where to mount it.

I'm thinking I should start a new thread as looking for the best high-resolution LCD display under 20". That Sharp LL-S201A is the one to beat now but I'd really like one just a bit smaller. The rackmount 17" 1920x1200 indicates that such panels do get made, but are there traditional desktop monitor versions? I've never heard anything encouraging here about converting laptop displays into desktop monitors because the connectors are so customized.

It's slightly larger than the Sharp, but Eizo sells a couple of 22" 1920x1200 monitors, the S2243W and SX2262W. The first m

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/789285-REG/Eizo_SX2262W_BK_FlexScan_SX2262W_22_LCD.html

http://www.ecost.com/p/Eizo-Nanao-Monitors/product~dpno~8273829~pdp.gdaagij

IBM used top produce a monitor with similar size and resolution. These are VA panels, and are likely ill-suited to gaming, but I've not looked into them for that use.

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Viewable Image Info:

Image Dimensions: 18.66" x 10.48"
Image area: 195.56 sq. in.
Screen Utilization: 89.88%

General TV Info:
Equivalent 4:3 TV: 19.4"
Equivalent 16:9 TV: 21.4"
Pixel Density: 10589 pixels / sq. in.

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I think you're going to have some trouble with the rackmount monitor options. In the lower range, the monitors struggle with color reproduction (look at reviews of the Blackmagic Design Smartview HD). You'll likely need an HDMI-SDI converter, which is another wildcard in a gaming scenario.

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One more option: GeChic On-Lap 1502I 15.6” Full HD IPS Panel

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA0V10SZ4949

Again, a crapshoot. IPS panel, hdmi input, 1920x1080 resolution -- no idea as to any other performance characteristics. I can't even get a good idea of how the hdmi cable plugs in.

I'm not sure why it took me so long to think of this, but I don't need to rotate a monitor to do 1:1 pixel mapping. I'm a bit of a dunderhead sometimes.

My 20.1" 1680x1050 monitor can be a 1440x900 17.23" display that is 14.61" wide. Just tried gaming with that a bit and I like it, though the resolution is a bit low.

So now I'm thinking about the Dell UP2414Q - the 24' 3840x2160 monitor. 1:1 pixelmapping on it gives me a 17.98" 2560x1600 display that's 15.25" wide! I think I will go post in its thread here to find out if that works well.

Edit: math is bad, recalculating...

2560x1600 on the UP2414Q would actually be a 16.45" display. I would want to go up to 2880x1800 for an 18.5" display, or 2800x1750 for a 17.96" display. Trying to have as many zeros as possible for these unusual resolutions, and Apple has a 15.4" 2880x1800 laptop display so there's precedence for that number.

You should also consider the Eizo S2133, although it's only 1600x1200.

I've ultimately decided to wait and see what other sizes of 4K monitors come out before plunging in on a $1300 monitor with MST. I'm concerned that a lot of game UIs would get borked at 2880x1800 in only 18". I'd like to see a 26" 4K, which would give me 18" 2560x1600, or a 36" 4K, which would give me 18" 1920x1200. I suspect that 4K will be a very popular resolution and a bunch of sizes will happen.

For now I am doing 1440x900 at 18", and cranking the AA way up when necessary.