User avatar
Sheegoth
Posts: 36
Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2013 5:45 am
Location: Louisiana, USA
Contact: Website

Composite vs HDMI

Mon May 06, 2013 4:32 am

Hi. I recently purchased a cheap LCD that attaches to my Pi via its GPIO pins. It's an incredibly small LCD, but it works well. The only issue is that it's through GPIO, so there was a lot of driver issues to go through to enable it to display the console and x11 interfaces. Unfortunately, I haven't managed to enable other key programs to display to its framebuffer, so it's pretty much useless to me now.

Anyway, I'm here because I'm looking into getting a composite or HDMI LCD to attach to my Pi, seeing as how GPIO has issues, and the fact that there isn't an official LCD for the Pi as of late. In your experiences, is there a great enough difference between composite and HDMI that it'd be worth spending the extra cash on an HDMI LCD for my Pi? Do you know where I could find a 3.5" or smaller LCD in the form of composite or HDMI for my Pi?

klricks
Posts: 7154
Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2013 3:01 am
Location: Grants Pass, OR, USA
Contact: Website

Re: Composite vs HDMI

Mon May 06, 2013 1:38 pm

Get the HDMI.
Here is the RPi screen on a 7" screen from my web site:
http://64.13.91.137:86/Comp/RPi/RPiComposit.html

I had to increase the default font size to get readable text.
Unless specified otherwise my response is based on the latest and fully updated RPiOS Buster w/ Desktop OS.

User avatar
Sheegoth
Posts: 36
Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2013 5:45 am
Location: Louisiana, USA
Contact: Website

Re: Composite vs HDMI

Mon May 06, 2013 2:33 pm

Thanks for the reply, klricks. Unfortunately, 7" is far too large for what I am aiming for. I'm trying to make my own miniature gaming system of sorts, and would prefer a 3.5" or less screen. Any ideas where I could find one of those? I haven't had much luck as of yet. Also, isn't the Foundation supposed to release an official LCD in the near future?

Edit
Is it possible to attach a GBA screen (such as this one) to the RPi?

toxibunny
Posts: 1382
Joined: Thu Aug 18, 2011 9:21 pm

Re: Composite vs HDMI

Mon May 06, 2013 5:33 pm

At that size, composite is your best bet, and no - gba screen won't work.
note: I may or may not know what I'm talking about...

User avatar
Sheegoth
Posts: 36
Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2013 5:45 am
Location: Louisiana, USA
Contact: Website

Re: Composite vs HDMI

Mon May 06, 2013 8:17 pm

Yeah, I thought as much. Thanks for the input, toxibunny. I may purchase this one soon enough. I'd use it to display 320x240 "games" (self-made projects) on it. Do you think that'd look fine in composite?

klricks
Posts: 7154
Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2013 3:01 am
Location: Grants Pass, OR, USA
Contact: Website

Re: Composite vs HDMI

Wed May 08, 2013 4:17 am

The smaller screens might be OK for arcade type games as long as they don't have allot of text. I can barely read text on the 7" screen.
Unless specified otherwise my response is based on the latest and fully updated RPiOS Buster w/ Desktop OS.

ryanwhite
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Feb 18, 2013 4:15 pm

Re: Composite vs HDMI

Sat May 11, 2013 3:56 pm

just used compostie

i wouldn't recommend it hdmi is your better bet
composite is very grainy and hard to read unless of course thats just my setup ;)

User avatar
Jim JKla
Posts: 2218
Joined: Sun Jan 29, 2012 11:15 pm
Location: Newcastle upon Tyne UK

Re: Composite vs HDMI

Sat May 11, 2013 4:01 pm

I have a TV set up to use composite and HDMI and a second model "A" with the option of pushing it's output onto the scart socket (I tend to use it headless)

HDMI is the best and should be what you are going for you should only be using composite if you have no other choice the difference in quality is huge.

There's also the HDMI - DVI option but HDMI is by far the best. ;)
Noob is not derogatory the noob is just the lower end of the noob--geek spectrum being a noob is just your first step towards being an uber-geek ;)

If you find a solution please post it in the wiki the forum dies too quick

Return to “Off topic discussion”