PlanetZ forums - scopeusers.com

Anyone tried ?
Useful or Gadget ?
resolution is around 1000*600 (depernds on monitors)

like this one for example https://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B01KH2 ... w_unk&th=1

Those were originally intended for things like car monitors & cheap security monitors, hence the big frame & base.

I have a 7" HD monitor, which claims 1920x1280 but check the native resolution and it's 1280x720. That's not horrible for scope, but not great if you want to see more than 1 synth or etc. The monitor you've posted is lower, at 1024x768. I actually bought mine as I can mount it on a tripod or cheap camera arm (clamped to a stand) at gigs, and have an HD monitor capable of showing me what I was sending to LED screens & projectors sans all UI (in Resolume, Modul8 etc). A 'program' monitor, as it were. It's been great for this, but unless it's close to my face it's a bit harder for general use & small UI elements. I can use it that way, but I have decent eyesight still.

The main issue here to consider first is distance from the monitor and pixel density. I am in the market for a native 1080p unit to replace what i used to use this for, as I now use my 7" monitor entirely for Pinguin Audio Meter (PG-AM) in the studio, and probably won't stop using it for that until I have a better replacement.

I started to look at slightly larger units like this one here on amazon, only to realize that there are 1440p (2k) and even 4k units available for not much more in cost and size. The downside is may of them are intended for laptop use, and so only have a USB port, which I am loathe to use (meaning CPU driven graphics). They also tend to look a LOT less sturdy, being very thin and rarely having any kind of mounting mechanism (rather they tend to have folding arms or 'case'-stands like a tablet). I did find a few that were 2k (4k is too tiny in terms of pixel density) and had the ability to accept a 75mm VESA mount, but in the end I've gone back to looking at the unit I linked above and units like them. The only other option is to go several hundred dollars more for monitors that are meant for remote work for videographers and the like, and while they're very sturdy the cost just isn't worth it.

Here's an example of what I was looking at in the portable range: [url=
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087RGSRQM/]FANGOR 15.6 Inch 1080P Full HD IPS Computer Display[/url]

If you click through the associate products, you'll notice that not many of them have VESA mounting capabilities, and some don't have any type of HDMI input. This particular unit has the capability of mounting via the attached leather case (?sturdiness?) but otherwise is similar to many of the other 1080's offerings. The sizes go down to about 10", but 13" on up seems common with 15" being very common. I presume this is because they're using laptop panels.

There are some 2k models available, and as mentioned even 4k. Brightness seems to be the biggest issue, and many are only 50-75% of the srgb gamut (which won't matter much for scope). I also prefer IPS for the viewing angles, with a monitor this small it's very easy to be off angle in the studio or on stage, which might render elements unreadable or hard to make out.


And while this is not for the use you're considering, but I feed Raspberry Pi's here the output from AIDA64's sensor panel as an html address (which triggers a script, and elements on the page dynamically update). That currently is displayed on separate Pi's using 3.5" touchscreens arranged near each PC. I wanted to aggregate as many as possible into a single strip display that I could take to gigs to monitor the machines and ensure things are stable. I was considering something like this housed in a custom enclosure...thought this was an interesting format for a small monitor as it should tuck nicely under the main one (or above).

Thanks for the inputs, very interesting. there are weird sizes i never heard about (1920*480 ).

I would put that screen near or above my current screen, so it's not a "close monitoring", may be the 8' or 7' could be too small, but at the same time, it is not for intensive manipulations. That said, as I envision this for extra synths, there would be occasional pareameter editing, so size could be an issue, especially because it would not be easy to move the screen (because of the cables). Touchscreen are cool, but it would not be easy to use if the screen is away (distance = approx my arm's length, even a few centimeters further).
HDMI is cool too, because i could occasionnally plug the screen on my eos 60D and it would help a lot when looking for the right focus. It is something i missed a lot when doing outdoor photography, years ago, but the monitors where much more expensive in those days.

Right now, for video, my priority is to get a proper light at a resonable budget... ring leds or tubes... because i do want to make some kind of live videos (in France we can get paid for live streams, at 76€ each 1000 live YouTube viewers and 20 minutes minimum.... which is a very high number to reach already, at least when you are not already "famous" so i would not do that just for getting 76e of course (or for 1 million direct views=76000 €, which is for very big stars) but it is a motivation to think about it... must get a new midi keyboard too... and behringer must be quick releasing the bcr32.... anyways, lots of projects and gear ideas, wants and needs... Anyways, in terms of lights, in photography/video you often need more than 1 unit of anything, and it's quickly high budgets...

I suppose the clever thing to do here is to try with my current screen and see how I use it for a few weeks or months, and see if it justifies the extra investment. it only has VGA input, and is heavy etc (19' classic pc monitor) but well, I will know if i really need more.
The small screen would indeed allow putting it above my eurorack, but as the eurorack needs to move often (for ex, when adding a module) it would not be practical to have a screen screwed on it, because of the cables that i would need to unplug to move the rack (it would look really cool and sci-fi though )

Thanks for all the feedback! very helpful to know about many use cases, and it also helps redefining priorities. thansk!

The devices you make do not scream "touchscreen user", imho.

I think 7-8" is acceptable for 1024x768 (4:3 aspect ratio but too small for scope though imho) and 1280x800 (16:10). I personally found that 1920x1200 made Scope eminently more usable. Especially with large modular patches and devices like the Solaris, otherwise I was having to use larger virtual screens and mouse around at the edge of the screen to reveal hidden areas of a device.

My scope PC now has a 1440p (2k) monitor, and tbh that's overkill for my workflow. So a 13-14" 1080p mounted on a VESA mount & arm seems ideal to me for studio use. I am sure those same units will fail when abused, so I was thinking of an AJA or something akin to that without the recording possibilities, perhaps. Ie, a device that can capture and display many more input types including SDI (serial digital interface, BNC cable), as I sometimes work shows where I support other artists.

Anyway most of the DSLR mount style monitors have inputs that are often compatible with closed circuit cameras for cheap security and car uses, as mentioned. This is why they still often have RCA & S-Video ports. Here's an example of a 1280x800 monitor, similar to the one I have on my desk: Neewer F100 7-inch 1280x800 IPS Screen Camera Field Monitor Kit.

These units will always advertise a resolution up to the highest supported for whatever dsp is driving the thing, but 4K on an 800p monitor is going to be awfully difficult to read or make out tiny onscreen elements, as these are typically just doing a bilinear scalar function on the input image buffer.

Here's a slightly better unit, more comparable to the Black Magic or Atmos units I am referring to as being the type that will be truly road worthy. Note this fellow has a 1080p native screen and supports SDI: FEELWORLD FW703 7 Inch IPS 3G SDI 4K HDMI DSLR Monitor Full HD 1920x1200

Note that I would consider this unit as a program monitor, and it's a good budget option for 1080p native uses there. I am unsure whether I'd recommend it to you for the pixel density reasons mentioned above. I think you'd want it mounted lower in your visual range, just on the edge of your workspace, where you can easily read textual elements & etc.

Here's the Black Magic "SmartView" series for HD & 2K, you can see why they're considered road-worthy. They are built for rackmount, and metal housed with thick plates over the monitors themselves. Small flying objects shouldn't pose much of a problem, and they mate well with the video switchers you can see below them. The 4k version (on another page) is closer to 10" tall

Then there's AJA and Atmos, companies that make DSLR & studio monitors with built in recording and/or switching control. The Shogun-7 from Atmos runs $1300 USD and supports 4K & a bevy of color modes for film & video, along with high bit-depth files directly stored on the monitor unit. The 5" version called the Ninja was very popular 4-5 years ago. They also have larger units, but note the studio monitors can run $3000-4000 from them.

You don't need anything in the last 2 paragraphs imho, not for scope surely. But just to be aware of what many of these smaller monitors are attempting to imitate, using recycled panels from older laptops and commercial uses. 48% sRGB coverage will likely matter even for scope, meaning a cheap TFT panel with limited contrast & brightness is being used to make a $99 panel, whereas the counterpoint here uses very high end 12-14 bit panels (or 10-12 bit with FRC + dither), and there are many extra functions built in to analyze and scope the inputs you're feeding signal to...

valis wrote: Fri Feb 26, 2021 2:32 am The devices you make do not scream "touchscreen user", imho.

Most certainly they don't (potis etc, whether from scope or not, has always been the thing that kept me away from touchscreens, as it looks less practical than having a cheap midi controller).
My devices they are designed on a 1920*1200 24' screen (they are not always easy to find nowadays, as 1920*1080 seems to be the current standard). They are useable on a 1380*xxx resolution but look zoomed in and edges are often out of the screen (that's for KrOn and LogiQ). Making those device smaller is actually a lot of work, mainly because some text displays must be resized individually, or made differently from scratch, with the risk of loosing many presets... Size on scope is never optimal to please everyone. it's one of the difficult choice, and that can only be made once.

Those black magic screens are awesome, i would not expect less from them in terms of quality and design (and price, lol)

There are actually a few 16:10 monitors in that same range of products, that are native 1920x1200. Typically field monitors used for higher end productions are running various wide film formats, so the black bars on top are always there regardless of what res is offered, and some places still need backwards compatibility for NTSC/PAL sizes too. I'll see if I can find a few links later.