Quick calculation tip: Vertical game size in Horizontal Monitor

[MameFan]

Here's a quick conversion tip for all of you considering if you want to run with a horizontal monitor or vertical, and then of what size.

If you choose horizontal, to calculate the "used" screen diagonal for vertical games drawn in the center of the screen, simply do the following:

ActualViewableHorizontalDiagonal * .75 = VerticalGameDiagonalDisplayedInHorizontalMonitor

Therefore, a 19" Computer monitor, having an 18" viewable, yields a 13.5" Vertical picture. (18x.75)
A 21" computer monitor yields 15" Vertical (20x.75)
A 27" TV yields 20.25" Vertical (27x.75)

Remember to take the viewable size not the CRT size.


You can do this in other ways like figuring A^2+B^2 = C^2 and then working backwards with square roots, but it all yields the same: .75 as the multiplier.

[u_rebelscum]

Is this assuming a 4:3 screen ratio for the monitor & vertical game?  Are there any non 4:3 vertical games?

[MameFan]

Yes this assumes the same ratio, as most arcade games used a 4:3 monitor, standard 19" viewable TV tube.

Of course, each game may have adjusted the width/height in order to "fill" the screen, therefore the actual output (e.g. bit count in mame) is different than a pure 4:3, but this calculation assumes that.  If you dont have 4:3, you will need to take that into account.

This is meant as a rough estimate so you'll know how big games will display in "the other" orientation. This caclulation should hold true if you mount your monitor vertically, but play a horizontal in it.. Same diference.