I Found the Perfect Portable Retro Gaming Monitor
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ก.ค. 2024
- The CNBANAN portable monitor is a happy accident of all the essential features for good retro gaming: a 3:2 aspect ratio, a super high (2520x1680) resolution, a vibrant screen, and a reasonable ($149) retail price that is often on sale for much lower. In this video we're going to take a look at its features and how it performs with both classic and modern gaming.
Buy one here: amzn.to/3mxLhAV
Currently on sale for $109!
RG552 aspect ratio video: • This is still my FAVOR...
This was a review unit sent to me by the manufacturer. All opinions are my own, they did not see this review ahead of time, and no money was exchanged in any way.
Timestamps:
00:00 introduction
02:53 pricing
03:20 unboxing and impressions
06:30 features and sound test
08:14 aspect ratio comparison
09:22 4:3 system testing
12:48 GBA testing
14:05 video playback and PC gaming
14:45 Xbox, Switch, and Steam Deck
17:04 summary (likes and dislikes)
18:45 conclusion
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Theme song written by Jim Gray of Our Ghosts:
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This video is for entertainment and educational purposes only.
#retrogaming #emulation #steamdeck - เกม
To fix the Steam Deck Dolphin issue, you can go into the properties (if you added a game with Steam ROM Manager) and change the resolution from "Default" to "Native." It'll then fill up most of the screen appropriately.
Edit: this also worked with various other emulated systems that I saw issues with.
Beat me to it. Yep. Steam allows for this on games that don't "detect" the correct display modes.
I did the same thing with Castle Crashers on Steam the other day. The game's options menu only went up to 1280x720p when I was docked to my 4K TV.
But go into the properties, and force native or whatever other resolution you want, and BOOM... suddenly in those same game options, now we can go up to 3840x2160p.
Awesome, that worked! Thanks for the tip
I need a computer or steamdeck class since i dont know nothing coming into it..
Wow, I didn't even think of this. Though I use it all the time for PC games. I'm hoping this work with emulation station and subsequent emulators it launches. Don't really want 99 sega 16 bit games in my main library. Thanks for the tip.
@@RetroGameCorps can I ask you to do one more test? Regarding the Nintendo switch dock, if you turn down the brightness (and therefore power consumption) does the connection become stable, and if so how dim did you have to go?
No purist elitism, only appreciation for games and different ways to play them. I love this channel so much
Just picked one up for $109. Great video and channel, I've learned a lot about the developments in retro/handheld ecosystem from your content!
Appreciate you finding this and doing a deep dive. Some things that could have added insight for other folks interested in this display- 1) looking at actual power draw and specs, to understand which devices might provide that over USB (the Switch clearly didn’t) versus using the power brick. 2) more evaluation of scanline shaders and CRT mask emulation. When you have a 2K or higher resolution monitor available, and high integer scaling, the options for high quality scanline and CRT filters increases significantly particularly in retro emulation scenarios. Using an old iPad Retina display with an HDMI board on a PC, for instance, lets you have an amazing experience with nice nostalgic CRT visuals at very low power consumption compared to an actual tube.
Ordered and received yesterday. This is really great! Perfect for a retro game set up or a travel monitor for my boys to take with them on vacation or the Grandparents. Thanks for the find and recommendation!
Thanks for the review and the heads up on the sale price. Been looking for a portable monitor and this looks like a winner!
Hi Russ! Very cool. We've already got a 16×9 one for my wife's coding. I could see a taller screen like this as very nice for coding/ productivity as well to see more text without scrolling. If the colors could be calibrated, this is a good aspect ratio for photography too!
I’ve been looking for something like this. The 3:2 ratio is not only great for retro gaming, but good for productivity. I do a lot of blogging and news writing, so I can have my writing doc on one half and a website/research doc on the other. Great product!
Haha the video at 14:05 is the exact video I used to demo 4k TV's when I was an installer. Thanks for the review as usual Russ!
Good looking out, just caught the lightning deal! Appreciate what you do for the culture
Thanks for this suggestion. Been looking for an extra monitor, so I ordered this now. The sale was eaten up by vat and shipping, but I still think I made a good deal.
HOLY HELL! I HAVE THIS! don't use it for retro gaming really but as my main PC monitor :3 it's a super slick monitor and incredible for the price imo, thank you for the review! Awesome work as always! ❣️
You are not getting full screen in GBA because even though it is 3:2, it is not integer scaled to the original resolution of the GBA of 240 x 160.
You have to multiply it to 10.5 to get the resolution of the monitor. You are getting 120 pixels off in the horizontal side and 80 from vertical
This is it. Just because it’s the same aspect ratio does not mean you can just directly use integer scaling, and fill out the entire screen. You’ll have to take the original resolution as the increment for your whole number scale.
You're right, but if that was the case he'd have black bars at the top and bottom I can't see any in the footage.
This is a good point but when there are that many native pixels in each emulated pixel it isn't an issue. You integer scale as close as you can and then bilinear to finish, or integer almost all the way and then use that as input to your LCD shader which fills the final frame.
the issue is probably because of the crop overscan option, since there are no actual border on the horizontal side.
2560x1680 is very slightly wider than 3:2
Ohhh what a deal! 3:2 is such a nice middle ground, and it works so well for productivity. 😊
Ordered! Thank you!
Love your videos, Russ! Keep it up!
I like the 3:2 aspect ratio (one of the few things truly worthy of praise in the Microsoft surface line), have long been an iPad “power user” and my desk monitor is an LG Dual Up at 16:18. Thanks for sharing this kind of content, especially with portable stuff. This scratches a very specific intersection of itches. Cheers! 🎉
This looks outstanding! Great find!
nice! so glad I saw this before buying the one I had in my cart I was lagging on. Thanks again for an informative and easy to watch video.
Amazing find! Thanks for this.
Ordered, got the sale price! Thanks for the heads up, seems a good deal with good options.
Great product, and great review as usual! I bought one immediately to replace my old 16:9 portable monitor. Just a suggestion: I would have liked to see it in action with an OSSC or a RetroTINK, as I'm going to use it mainly with old consoles like the SNES and the Genesis. But I get it's a very niche scenario.
It must be so awesome having a dad like you! kids never getting bored in the house because of the gaming tech you share with them
Maybe he will adopt you
He's already said that his kids don't care about retro gaming. It's not as interesting when you encounter it every day, and I'm sure Russ deals with it so often that they've tuned it out.
My kids like gaming and it just so happened that I grew up with gaming being a big part of my leisure time. I put together a retro gaming emulation box for them using EmuElec two years ago and my kids love it. We've played many games on it too, as well as games on my PC, and I'm planning to get a Nintendo Switch for them. But it's not just gaming that I enjoy playing with them: I also buy them toys, print out activity sheets for them, etc.
@@barrymanutts8223 haha.. I'm older than Russ though 🙂
@@ronch550 that's awesome! I will introduce retro gaming to my future kids as well. it's really a fun pick up & play sort of thing. I wish there are more couch co-op games out there for family bonding 🙂
Thanks for the heads up. 3:2 is by far my favorite productivity resolution and lament how rare it still is in the laptop space. I also use my 3:2 tablet on its side when playing tate shmups, which I expect would be a great use case for a portable monitor like this.
Wish you put in a couple of retro emulation handhelds with HDMI out as well, like the RG35XX. That would have been neat to see.
Agreed! Good content idea for a short!!
Came today and it's awesome! This will be great for work use too.
i bought 3 of these from your review. love em!
Looks pretty awesome man!
Man, nice heads up. Just bought one since it's on sale. That thing would be useful to me not just for gaming.
Oh my god ! you just made my month with this
Picked it up. That vertical height makes a great extra productivity monitor and is good for gaming too.
Thanks Russ. Bought one delivered to the UK just in time for Eid to play with the Steam deck!! Lovely monitor.
This is great! I am buying this portable monitor. Thank you!
Great video, very informative. Disappointing to hear about the Switch. Would love this for my night stand when in bed but I don’t need any more wires there lol
i've used a similar 16:9 monitor of this type to play my RG35XX with a controller and i can use a battery bank to power it all. Fun portable setup!
I bought this awhile ago and it looks so good
The surface pro has this aspect ratio too, never considered using it for retrogaming, nice!
Man the top down shots look really great, I wish you did more of the video like that and the glare from your bright windows is kinda over powering.
Thank you very much for your videos! Because of you I’ve bought Anbernic RG351P, Xbox Series S and Nintendo New 3ds! Awesome platforms!
Now you got me wanting one of these, lol. I do think that in conjunction with a Steam Deck, I’d probably want a 16:9 screen but man 3:2 looked really good for retro games. Decisions, decisions.
This just makes me want the KT-R1 even more!!
As of this writing on Sunday April 23rd the Amazon deal is still going on. Looks like there's actually 2 different versions of the 2:3 monitor, the one you cite looks to have HDR which could explain your vivid colors. Both are the same $109 price though.
This piqued my interest because I'm currently using a portable monitor as a glorified lightbox for art on the road and my current 16:9 monitor is annoyingly narrow. I'll have to try it out!
Also, after watching your review I did pull the trigger on a Anbernic 353M! It's a nice bit of kit, but as my first handheld emulator it's kind of daunting, even though I bought one already customized. I did get some of vertical MAME games going which is a blast, although for some a real joystick is just better than the hat. Time Pilot is great on it, and I can even play Crazy Climber with the 2 hats! Thanks!
So to anyone that might care. I purchased this same monitor and am currently pairing it with a DCDigital HW1 Dreamcast and it fills the screen and looks beautiful at 960p. It almost makes me want to cry, but I won't. Just a quick tip, to access the full menu you have to press the Volume/Brightness wheel in. Took me a while to figure that out.
That Micro USB might be for updating firmware, it’s common on portable video monitors.
Ended up ordering one. Supposed to come today.
I bought this monitor 3 weeks ago to use under my main monitor, It has been fantastic so far!
Great to hear!
Fantastic find and great review. I can't see whether it's a touch screen; might be expecting too much at this price.
I would love to see this tested with MiSTer and its amazing CRT shaders. Also, some input lag hard tests would be awesome.
This is really cool. Wouldn't mind having one for my laptop/desktop settup. Really wish it was OLED, though, which would make the pillars far less noticeable. Also, a shame that we still don't have any modern 4:3's. I'd kill for one.
OLED would definitely double and maybe triple the price though. Not that important to me, price is kinda awesome here.
Oled also more prone to burn in. With games played hours on end, wouldn't that be a draw back?
I found it depending upon the game It's actually better to run in 4:3 mode on the Steam deck because you get a bigger play area than 16:9.
I also found out that some games like half life will crop the image in 16:9 mode so rather than letting you see more of the screen you see less.
Snagged for $109. What a deal! TYVM!
About LAG and for those with a MiSTer FPGA at 2048x1536: I measured the lag on this monitor (with the Time Sleuth lag testing device) and in the MOVIE mode at 4:3 it was 9 milliseconds. So it is a great option for portable gaming and looks great with the CRT filters. However, if you play in TATE mode (vertical) you will want to get a good base for large tablets or something like that. Also, I recommend getting 180 Degree Angled Adapters for both the HDMI port and at least one of the USB C ones. I got a couple from amazon from the brand AGVEE and they work great.
Picked this up, there's currently as of 5/3/23 30 dollar off coupon. I can report that this doesn't suppor VRR with the PS5. I forgot to turn it on in the OSD menu first but checked the amazon listed and tested again. PS5 VRR is a no go, but 1440p and HDR work for what it's worth. 120 dollars to be exact. 😁
Bought this within 30 seconds of finishing the video. It's not quite $109 for me, given that I have to pay for shipping, import duties, and an exchange rate fee, all to get it across the border to Canada. But Russ sold me on something I didn't even know I wanted or needed. I hope you're getting a commission out of this, Russ!
This is a great purchase amigo. I bought 2 for work but the quality and resolution for the price is excellent. Only thing I wouldn't use them for is outside. The screen is reflective but so are most. Enjoy!
I got this in the mail today. Looks fantastic with PS2 original hardware and Hdmi upscaler.. So vibrant with that HDR.
Just got this monitor, its very nice. One thing the switch will display over USB C, but you need to provide power as well to the monitor via the other USB C port. Its not one cable, but its really nice not having to use the dock or hdmi cable
That is really interesting indeed 😳
I had a very similar experience with my 16:9 portable monitor. Looked suspicious on Amazon but turned out to be great.
Bojler Eladó
I'm in the market for my first retro handheld, this one seems a winner
Super high resolution LCD plus CRT shader is basically perfect for those who want a retro experience and don't want a CRT. I absolutely love this monitor but since I do have a few CRTs I don't have much of a reason to get it
I'm shocked it's priced so low... this could be neat to make a retropie station with.
That's what I was thinking! Like a nice bartop one!
@@Bighoula That's a freaking awesome idea. Would be so much easier to mount in there, compared to an expensive bulky monitor. Could fashion it in a way to be easily removable too.
Can't wait to get my KT R1 delivered!!
Neat. Perfect for a Framework 16 dual monitor setup.
The lowest setting on the stand is useful for drawing or as a secondary monitor for your PC underneath the main monitor.
I"m holding out for an OLED with this aspect ratio...
Yeah that would make sense
Unlikely. OLED displays keep to 16x9 or wider. They're the hottest new display tech, so nobody is going to build a new OLED panel with "ancient" aspect ratio. Maybe next year.
In the retro gaming community, It seems that many people are always fighting the never ending battle to find the "best" video fidelity instead of just playing games and enjoying them.
It's crazy we used to play video games with RF on a crappy tube TV and didn't think twice about it. Those were better times in my opinion. No video quality snobbery to be found.
I have Samsung Fold 3 and it has amazing oled screen for retro emulation
@watchmejumpstart that supports variable refresh rate sync. Some mame games refresh at non standard refresh rates
You mention this screen was only capable of 60 Hz but @6:30 during your features and sound test you can see the 120 Hz refresh rate underneath the resolution. It must only be capable of that refresh rate when at a 1080p resolution.
Exactly why I love my pixel book!
the GBA issues is probably because of the Integer scaling and crop overscan options being turned on. it is probably cutting off some pixels of the top and bottom and that is why there is black borders on the left and right.
so i would turn off crop overscan and keep integer scaling, this way it would be x10 scaling so 2400x1600, which means it would have a small border all around but perfect pixels. or turn off the integer scaling and overscan and just stretch the whole thing to the whole display with some filter on top to normalize the pixels afterwords
Thanks for this. I was able to get the monitor for $17.14 thanks to lightning deal and a gift voucher I received from work.
I bought it before watching the video, you have built up that much credibility with me.
Ha same here!
Did the same. 😂
Gotta love the Stadia Controller! ❤
What's the response time? What does the blur busters ghosting and UFO test look like?
Also wondering this
bump. I'm curious about response time.
Thanks as always Russ! Any preferred brightness or other settings?
Got one on amazon warehouse for $80, thank you!
Thank you. Bought one. Did you try different cables for troubleshooting the screen issues?
for dolphin on steam deck there’s a hot key to fix the aspect ratio i forget what it is but, it’ll cycle between 4:3 16:9 and stretch which has some bugs with UI but it stretches perfectly with the 3D assets
I'd love to see you review the LG 28MQ780-B and the Huawei MateView from a retro gaming perspective.
16:10 is great for early DOS games too. I'll try to plug a CRT to my Mini M2 one day.
Kid chameleon! Love it. Thanks russ
Hey russ can you try to use custom resolution utility on pc and see if you can overclock the monitor to 75 hz if so then try 80 or 90.I had one kinda like this and was able to get it to a stable 75 hz which came in handy on first person shooters
Portable monitors are game changers. I have a mini itx build that I can literally carry and game anywhere
Very cool. I already have a 16:9 version of this for my tech bag, but I'm going to grab one of these for $110. Not only will this be cool for retro gaming, but this is a great taller aspect ratio for doing work in some document or spreadsheet scenarios I need for work. Thanks so much for the review.
Very cool. I've got loads of the ASUS Zenscreen portable monitors because they're great for work. But a retro ratio one might actually be pretty handy too, just a shame that display stand solution looks pretty janky. They should all follow ASUS and have tripod screw threads.
I don't know if you've covered it elsewhere, but the Stadia controller with the Bluetooth firmware update is a nice controller.
Yeah russ sneaked that controller in and didnt say a word. I wonder if this is a ploy for next years April fool. The lore of RGC keeps expanding
I’ll do you one better: 9.7 inch Ali Express USB type-C 2k display… its an Ipad 3 lcd with a controller board that accepts HDMI and USB C video and power. Awesome resolution, low price and a really portable size!
What’s it called?? Could you give a link to it here? :P
I’ll admit that I’ve always found around 15-16 inches for these screens (which is usually the “standard”, I’ve noticed, generally) a bit too large for my taste - after all, I need to be able to put these in a standard laptop-cover inside of the laptop slot on the back of the backpack, and the M1 MacBook Pro that I have now is 13’ 👀 (and fits about perfectly there; anything toooo much bigger than that in size just wouldn’t actually fit I think inside of the backpack hahah)
But I think this is mostly just a “me-problem” lol, because I don’t really ever see anyone else complaining about this tbh :P
Oh that’s awesome, thank you!! And a bit cheaper than I expected as well 😁 very nice
Yeah, I didn’t see any reply earlier with a link if you sent one hahah, not sure why 🤔 and also, now almost all of our comments have disappeared here for some reason I can see lol, kinda weird.
Two questions about the monitor btw:
1. Is it *actually* a 2k display monitor, do you think? Because, I have to be honest… some of those pictures on the store (and from customers in the reviews section) don’t exactly look too convincing :P but maybe it’s just hard to tell from the photos lol
2. Do you *have* to use that included big old charger, and can you just use a USB-C charger (or the micro-USB port, for example) to charge the monitor? (with either a wall charging brick/portable charger, etc etc) Because that would be much, much more practical I think 😅
Thanks for the link, appreciate it! 👊🏼 I might just buy it actually
You're doing us 6.3 inches worse.
Mad love 2 U 4 playing Kid Chameleon.
Thanks for the upload. How is the response time?
I'm really tempted to build a sff retro rig with this built into the case.
Or a cabinet maybe
Russ, you're seriously the best reviewer. I'm interested in a portable monitor for retro gaming. I've been doing my research and I'm so sick of seeing shill reviews that start with this is the "best" or the "coolest" and the reviews don't actually say why (Hint starts with ETA ends with Prime). Please keep doing what you're doing!
The price is great, normally I wouldn't spend extra for a super high res on such a small monitor but at that price why not.
And again I want you to test a fold 3 or 4 for it's unfolded screen. you have to try this. Great screen in your pocket, and great for emulation combined with a gamesir controller. Russ, Please take in consideration, to at least try this solution.
Thanks for your videos.
Could be the perfect little monitor for a mini bar-top arcade build.
I had this exact thought too!
Hey what controller are you using in this video? I don’t think you’ve covered that one on your channel before.
Hi! Does the screen still plays sound when it goes black, or does it really shut off? If it definitely shuts off, it could be the the powersave mode is switching off the usb port as if you had unplugged the cord. I would also try another cable (i'm sure you know sometimes electronic stuff gets weird).
The screen of the Galaxy Z Fold 4 is perfect for emulation, when paired with a controller like the Nacon MG-X Pro. 6:5 aspect ratio on the tablet screen is great for 4:3 aspect ratio games. Plus, it portable :)
This is my current setup but with a gamesir x2 instead
I have the same, but my ocd doesn't let me stop seeing the crease from the fold in the screen and the camera dot even though it's slightly masked.
@@DevinTheDude93 ah must be an ocd thing,. I have no such issues. I do game in the dark a lot so the crease is completely hidden In that case
I just ordered one for $109. It's a steal.
Been wanting a good 1080p one for my Xbox One X to play older games.
Hey Russ, so this is a 16inch 3:2 monitor. Going by rough calculations we get 15.3 inches of screen at 16:9 which doesn't seem bad considering small bezels. How big was the screen when you were playing GBA since it didn't fill out but it was 3:2? Could it be that it's not a true 3:2 aspect ratio? And how much screen size are we getting at 4:3? Thanks
i love my fold 3 for retro games, it has a 4:3 screen
Another option that is very DIY is to use the screen from an iPad 3 with an hdmi controller. Very high resolution and 4:3 ratio.
GIANT GAMEBOY ADVANCE! Absolutely sick, maximum drip 😎