Looking for a monitor for both PC + retro console gaming

[Maronbeere]

Hi LTT Forum, this is my first post on here! I hope I'm using this right ^^"

 

I'm looking for a monitor upgrade and I would like some advice. Currently, I have a Viewsonic VX3211-2K, which is a 32" 1440p 60Hz VA panel and I would like to upgrade to a 32" IPS panel with a higher refresh rate to play PC games. I'm struggling to find a good successor to it because I already tried a new monitor, the ASUS TUF Gaming VG32AQL1A; it worked fine with my PC, but I had to return it because it didn't work with my older Nintendo consoles (Wii and older). I suspect this is because these consoles rely on interlaced video rather than progressive (576i; I have PAL consoles). All of my consoles are already hooked up to various decent HDMI adapters, upscalers and an HDMI switch, so as long as the new monitor has 1 HDMI port, that's no issue.

 

I'm mainly asking on here because it's very hard to find information on whether a given display supports these video modes that are rather obscure for a modern gaming monitor. The manual of my current monitor doesn't mention interlacing at all, but it works regardless; which is a bit frustrating, because it means that I can't rely on the manual unless it happens to specifically mention interlacing. Keeping my current monitor and putting a new monitor on the side would be suboptimal because there wouldn't quite be enough room on my desk for two 32" monitors side by side, and I'd have to put my speakers very far apart. I would like to avoid having to juggle and return one monitor after the other until I find one that works. Maybe one of you guys knows about or is using a monitor that fulfills my requirements. I'm in Germany and a price point below €500 would be ideal. Thanks for the help!

 

EDIT: Getting a new upscaler wouldn't be ideal because most of my consoles are composite only, and I would have to mod them to work with most upscalers. The upscaler I have has a composite input.

Edited March 21 by Maronbeere

[jaslion]

5 minutes ago, Maronbeere said:

with my older Nintendo consoles

You'll need a proper convertor for these to work well with older consoles. Like a retrotink.

 

The viewsonic due to it being basically a reused tv with still analog compatible hardware is somewhat decently able to handle interlacing and lower resolutions than native.

 

Most modern screens do not do this well at all.

 

So getting a proper convertor like a retrotink or similar will be the best fix. With the added bonus that it DRASTICALLY improves image clarity and quality. Like it is IMPRESSIVE.

 

It's rolling a dice to find a display that does proper interlacing for all older consoles and such.

 

 

[ki8aras]

as @jaslion said, get a retrotink, but if you're not convinced, take a look at this:
 

 

[Maronbeere]

Retrotink upscalers aren't compatible with my Elgato capture card, at least they put a disclaimer on their website, not to mention they're extremely hard to get... All the consoles I got only have composite out. I guess I could look into getting an OSSC then?

[jaslion]

1 minute ago, Maronbeere said:

Retrotink upscalers aren't compatible with my Elgato capture card, at least they put a disclaimer on their website, not to mention they're extremely hard to get... All the consoles I got only have composite out. I guess I could look into getting an OSSC then?

Also a good option!

 

Btw composite out is not hard to split up to rgb and such. Just a mess of cables

[Maronbeere]

The upscaler I have is one that I was already quite happy with, quite a shame that I have to shell out for a new one in order to get a new monitor. It was sold on Amazon for a while, but I guess it's not being made anymore; it's a red and blue one from a brand called Kamlike, but I've seen variants of it that have no logo on it and seem to have the same stuff inside of it. How will the new upscaler improve compatibility? As far as I'm aware, the one I have can output 720i or 1080i. Would an OSSC output 1080p instead?

[Maronbeere]

31 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Btw composite out is not hard to split up to rgb and such. Just a mess of cables

Is it? I couldn't find any adapters that can turn composite (the yellow from red/white/yellow) into RGB. I would have to mod my consoles to have it natively or have S-Video or something.

[jaslion]

2 hours ago, Maronbeere said:

The upscaler I have is one that I was already quite happy with, quite a shame that I have to shell out for a new one in order to get a new monitor. It was sold on Amazon for a while, but I guess it's not being made anymore; it's a red and blue one from a brand called Kamlike, but I've seen variants of it that have no logo on it and seem to have the same stuff inside of it. How will the new upscaler improve compatibility? As far as I'm aware, the one I have can output 720i or 1080i. Would an OSSC output 1080p instead?

The ossc only does integer upscaling so for a wii and such that is PERFECT on a 1440p screen as it's a multiplicative of 480I/p.

 

The ossc takes in interlaced and spits out integer scaled non interlaced. Which is where your current one is failing the be compatible with modern screen as it is spitting out interlaced.

 

Says it all in specs

 

https://videogameperfection.com/products/open-source-scan-converter/

 

1440p is a extended option you have to enable yourself.

2 hours ago, Maronbeere said:

Is it? I couldn't find any adapters that can turn composite (the yellow from red/white/yellow) into RGB. I would have to mod my consoles to have it natively or have S-Video or something.

Sorry I confused myself with vga. You can still do it but need a translation board inbetween that takes the chromakeyed composite and splits it to rgb. There are some things available for that but if you have the ossc it is entirely not needed.

[Maronbeere]

Ahh so I would have to get the OSSC and the Koryuu transcoder for it to work because some of my consoles are composite only. Oh well. I didn't know the OSSC could deinterlace like that, that's pretty cool. Thanks for the help!