Widescreen in emulation


PandoraNoHako

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Oct 4, 2008
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So the Pandora has a widescreen format of 5:3. I'm assuming that this means that its screen is 5/3times as wide as it is tall. Right? The overall surface is supposed to equal that of the PSP's screen (the diagonal being 4.3 inches for both), right? But then again, the PSP has a ratio of 16:9. So basically the PSP is even more of a widescreen device than the Pandora (5:3 = 15:9). Surely that means that the Pandora's screen eventually isn't as wide as but taller than the PSP's. Or am I wrong?

Since most (if not all) of the emulated TV consoles will have their game visuals in 4:3 (12:9), there will be black borders to the right and left. But will the taller screen allow the Pandora to utilize more of the actual screen surface for display than the PSP utilizes? Will less space of the screen be occupied by black borders or will borders show up at the top and bottom as well?

In short: Will my PSX games look bigger when running on a Pandora compared to running on a PSP?




And am I right when assuming the screens will look like this when compared:

-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
.__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ - - - - - | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |- - - - - | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |- - - - - | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
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| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |- - - - - | . . . . . . . . . . P A N D O R A . . . . . . . . . . |
| . . . . . . . PLAYSTATION PORTABLE . . . . . . . . |- - - - - | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
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|____ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __|- - - - - |__ ___ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ ___ __|
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
.__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
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| . . . . . . . . . P A N D O R A . . . . . . . . . . .. |
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|__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ ____|
 
Emulators will usually give you display options to determine this. Emulating many systems at their native resolution will result in letterboxing and/or pillarboxing, but there are usually options available for scaling to fit the entire screen (often at the expense of image quality).

I think Tinnus has put a fair bit of work into tweaking the PSX emu for display on the Pandora screen. It's going to be much better than on PSP. :D
 
Gruso said:
there are usually options available for scaling to fit the entire screen (often at the expense of image quality).
Yes, this is what I mean: Upscaling without changing the native ratio (not fitting the entire screen, but using more of it).
If a PSX game is played on both devices in 4:3 aspect ratio without letterboxing (meaning that it is scaled to the non-stretch maximum), will the non-black area of the screen (aka the game) be bigger on the Pandora than on the PSP?

Gruso said:
I think Tinnus has put a fair bit of work into tweaking the PSX emu for display on the Pandora screen. It's going to be much better than on PSP.
I'm aware of that. :D But sometimes size does matter too, right?

I am asking that in general and the PSX emulator was only an example. A friend of mine moaned about the Pandora's screen not being bigger than the PSP one (he's one of those guys constantly asking 'what can it do that the PSP can't?') and also about the developers' choice to use a widescreen ratio screen although the emulated machines won't use it (he hates pillarboxing and stuff on the PSP).
 
the pandora has a much higher screen res than the psp

pandora 800 x 480



psp 480 x 272




this means you get much more information on the screen of the pandora

you can fit almost 3 psp screens in the same space of a pandora screens if you think in pure pixels
 
PandoraNoHako said:
I'm aware of that. :D But sometimes size does matter too, right? .
I'll say.
anyway, i don't have issues with the screen. it still very large, and even then it has a huge resolution, so as long as you aren't going blind you can still get most of the information.
 
PandoraNoHako said:
So the Pandora has a widescreen format of 5:3. I'm assuming that this means that its screen is 5/3times as wide as it is tall. Right? The overall surface is supposed to equal that of the PSP's screen (the diagonal being 4.3 inches for both), right? But then again, the PSP has a ratio of 16:9. So basically the PSP is even more of a widescreen device than the Pandora (5:3 = 15:9). Surely that means that the Pandora's screen eventually isn't as wide as but taller than the PSP's. Or am I wrong?

Since most (if not all) of the emulated TV consoles will have their game visuals in 4:3 (12:9), there will be black borders to the right and left. But will the taller screen allow the Pandora to utilize more of the actual screen surface for display than the PSP utilizes? Will less space of the screen be occupied by black borders or will borders show up at the top and bottom as well?

In short: Will my PSX games look bigger when running on a Pandora compared to running on a PSP?




And am I right when assuming the screens will look like this when compared:

-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
.__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ - - - - - | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |- - - - - | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |- - - - - | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |- - - - - | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |- - - - - | . . . . . . . . . . P A N D O R A . . . . . . . . . . |
| . . . . . . . PLAYSTATION PORTABLE . . . . . . . . |- - - - - | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |- - - - - | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |- - - - - | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |- - - - - | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
|____ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __|- - - - - |__ ___ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ ___ __|
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
.__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
| . . . . . . . . . P A N D O R A . . . . . . . . . . .. |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
|__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ ____|

There are picture comparisons comparing the screen of the Pandora with the screen of the PSP. It's somewhere on GP32X, use the search function to find it. (It's a really old topic, the pictures were taken in November last year I believe.

-God Ginrai
 
PandoraNoHako said:
So the Pandora has a widescreen format of 5:3. I'm assuming that this means that its screen is 5/3times as wide as it is tall. Right? The overall surface is supposed to equal that of the PSP's screen (the diagonal being 4.3 inches for both), right? But then again, the PSP has a ratio of 16:9. So basically the PSP is even more of a widescreen device than the Pandora (5:3 = 15:9). Surely that means that the Pandora's screen eventually isn't as wide as but taller than the PSP's. Or am I wrong?

Since most (if not all) of the emulated TV consoles will have their game visuals in 4:3 (12:9), there will be black borders to the right and left. But will the taller screen allow the Pandora to utilize more of the actual screen surface for display than the PSP utilizes? Will less space of the screen be occupied by black borders or will borders show up at the top and bottom as well?

In short: Will my PSX games look bigger when running on a Pandora compared to running on a PSP?
Well, here is a short answer :)

pandora can display 4:3 picture without stretching it as 640x480, leaving 10% black to both sides (160 pixels out of 800)
When psp displays 4:3 picture it should be 320x240 for the psx, leaving 18,75% black to both sides (140 pixel out of 480) and 5,75% on the top and bottom (32 out of 272)

Having 480 pixels of vertical pizels is a great thing as it allows filling the space 100% vertically without scaling in 4:3 games that output the image as 320x240.
 
Gaeryc said:
Well, here is a simple answer :)
pandora can display 4:3 picture without stretching it as 640x480, leaving 10% black to both sides
When psp displays 4:3 picture it should be 320x240 for the psx, leaving 18,75% black to both sides and 5,75% on the top and bottom.

Having 480 pixels of vertical pizels is a great thing as it allows filling the space 100% vertically without scaling in 4:3 games.
Thank you sir!!! :p This is exactly answering what I tried to ask! :D


Thanks to all other replies, though. It is these factors comined that will make portable emulation lots of fun again. The link posted by Gruso was also very insightful on how much power the emu-devs actually have in enhancing the experience!

I am really looking forward to seeing an Gameboy/GBC emulator in the future. Playing Gameboy games on the awesome Pandora screen will probably feel more like playing them on SNES back in the days with that ingenious Super Gameboy Adaptor (although I will be missing the animated frames and the color-ish game graphics)!
Do you think a GB/GBC emulator could draw picture frames around the actual game display like the SuperGameboy did? Technically it shouldn't be much harder to do than integrating some options menu into the pillars like shown on the linked Ridge Racer on PSX thread, right?
 
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