Dochartaigh wrote:I commonly see people using 3x and 4x - do they seem to think those look better than 5x or is it that 5x doesn't work on their TV or what? (I always like to see an image full-screen - well, at least top to bottom since this is 4:3 on 16:9 screens).
In whichever output mode there's 5x displaying, and 5x displaying 1:1, two different scenarios.
The former will have upscaling applied on by the display like 2x, 3x and 4x do, so the quality will depend on the display's abilities in scaling.
The latter will look completely raw, like an emulator outputing integer scaling without any smoothing/interpolation.
The only way to see the 1:1 result of the latter is to use a display that accepts it anyway (very few I gather), or has a dedicated setting for that (like a handful of TVs do)
I've only experienced the 1:1 5x in 1080p so indeed there's a number of lines cut on top and bottom of the screen, so it's not recommended for 240p games, but with many 224p sources it's perfectly alright.
Appreciation of the 1:1 5x look depends on a number of factors such as just mentioned the source resolution size, but also if scanlines will be used or not, and the contents/type of game (some graphics look good in raw, some don't).
The main plus is that the picture is as clear as it can ever be, which is an advantage in fast moving games when you consider that LCD monitors and TVs still produce a noticeable amount of blur on their own. If you don't play sitting right in front of the screen like in a desktop environment, but rather from a chair/sofa distance, the rawness of the picture won't bother you, instead you will appreciate the improved clarity in motion.
Since the introduction of hybrid scanlines this 1:1 mode has become even more useable/appreciable and I really recommend it to those who have the luxury of it.
I haven't tried it with the special firmware that has like a 2x filter scaler included or something, but that might be even more interesting to some if fake scanlines arent their thing.
Without anything on top of it though, it's really too raw, too revealing, but I guess it can be used as an analysis tool there. :p
Last thing you can do if you own a VP50 Pro (maybe other high-end processors can do the same) is slightly modify the sharpness of the picture to add your own finely tuned level of smoothness to the picture.
Without an external processor it might be possible with some displays too if they still let you apply their own sharpness/processing on top even though it's a 1:1 situation.