How to I change the output resolution? MHL-to-HDMI cable? (non-root)

RetroArch Android devices
#1

I hooked my Note 3 (1080p screen) up to a 1080p television using an MHL-to-HDMI cable, but the gameplay lags by a fraction of a second. It’s great for watching tv/movies as lag is not important here, but for gaming it just sucks and looks stupid. I was hoping to connect it to a 720p monitor instead, but I don’t own one to test the latency. I read that modern 720p tvs might actually revert to a 1080i signal, so it’s probably not worth trying anyway.

I read elsewhere that changing the output resolution of the screen can help. I know i can change the resolution of PPSSPP and Mupen64Plus, but what about the other cores??

If i could somehow cut the output resolution of the phone by half (1920x1080/2=960x540), I may be able to make RA run buttery smooth on a 1080p tv. There are tons of config options that might benefit MHL output, but have no idea what to change…

aspect_ratio_index = “21” video_aspect_ratio = “1.333300” video_aspect_ratio_auto = “true” video_black_frame_insertion = “false” video_context_driver = “” video_crop_overscan = “true” video_disable_composition = “false” video_driver = “gl” video_filter = “” video_filter_dir = “/data/data/com.retroarch/filters/video” video_font_enable = “false” video_font_path = “” video_font_size = “64.000000” video_force_srgb_disable = “false” video_frame_delay = “0” video_fullscreen = “false” video_fullscreen_x = “0” video_fullscreen_y = “0” video_gpu_record = “false” video_gpu_screenshot = “true” video_hard_sync = “false” video_hard_sync_frames = “0” video_message_pos_x = “0.050000” video_message_pos_y = “0.050000” video_monitor_index = “0” video_refresh_rate = “59.950001” video_rotation = “0” video_scale = “3.000000” video_scale_integer = “false” video_shader = “” video_shader_dir = “/data/data/com.retroarch/shaders” video_shader_enable = “true” video_shared_context = “false” video_smooth = “true” video_swap_interval = “1” video_threaded = “true” video_vsync = “true” video_windowed_fullscreen = “true”

audio_block_frames = “512” audio_device = “” audio_driver = “opensl” audio_dsp_plugin = “” audio_enable = “true” audio_filter_dir = “/data/data/com.retroarch/filters/audio” audio_latency = “64” audio_max_timing_skew = “0.050000” audio_mute_enable = “false” audio_out_rate = “44100” audio_rate_control = “true” audio_rate_control_delta = “0.005000” audio_resampler = “sinc” audio_sync = “true” audio_volume = “0.000000”

(not sure if related) console_resolution_height = “0” console_resolution_width = “0” custom_viewport_height = “600” custom_viewport_width = “800” custom_viewport_x = “0” custom_viewport_y = “0”

#2

Just scaling the game up to 1080p probably isn’t what’s causing the framerate dip, it’s more likely the MHL output, unfortunately.

Nevertheless, if you’re using a shader, try setting the scale of it to something like 3x instead of “don’t care”. That will force it to render to that resolution and then use the GPU’s “free” scaling (either bilinear or nearest neighbor, depending on your shader settings) to go the rest of the way. This will make scanlines and CRT effects look bad but there’s not really any way to get around that.

#3

There is hardly any control over the resolution in android. I tried a HDMI to VGA adapter for my ATV since my bedroom TV is 720 and I didn’t manage to get the correct res either.

#4

[QUOTE=hunterk;34261]Just scaling the game up to 1080p probably isn’t what’s causing the framerate dip, it’s more likely the MHL output, unfortunately.

Nevertheless, if you’re using a shader, try setting the scale of it to something like 3x instead of “don’t care”. That will force it to render to that resolution and then use the GPU’s “free” scaling (either bilinear or nearest neighbor, depending on your shader settings) to go the rest of the way. This will make scanlines and CRT effects look bad but there’s not really any way to get around that.[/QUOTE]If I am understanding you right, I will try that. I’m using a pretty basic shader (scanline.glsl), but I guess I could try turning it off too.

[QUOTE=Radius;34267]There is hardly any control over the resolution in android. I tried a HDMI to VGA adapter for my ATV since my bedroom TV is 720 and I didn’t manage to get the correct res either.[/QUOTE]I’m gonna try to get my hands on a 720p tv and see what kind of results I can get from it. I may get 1080i, but that might be adjustable from the tv.

Earlier I tested PPSSPP’s default internal/output resolutions (400x something) on the 1080p tv, and that didn’t do anything to help performance. Turning off the live wallpaper, rotation, and all the unneeded radios (wifi/data/gps) seemed to help quite a bit, but it wasn’t enough to stop the lag. It’s frustrating because I’ve seen it done lag-free on several Youtube videos like this one:

//youtu.be/cSc9dekmo3c

This video is about a year old, so unless he’s using cutting edge tech, I don’t know how he’s doing so good.

Like he said, MHL is a direct connection, the performance should be way better than what I’m experiencing. Maybe its the generic 9$ cable i bought off Amazon. I could have dropped 50$ on an actual Samsung MHL adapter, but there are so many knockoffs, I just settled on something affordable. It works too, it just doesn’t seem very ideal to game with.

#5

There’s all kinds of weird shit that could be going on. For example, on iOS, their digital connection kit does airplay over a wire, which adds significant latency. Something similar could be happening here (miracast over wire, for example).