Choosing a Display with Unusual Resolution

Other Hardware Displays
1

Hi All,

I currently have a 16x2 character display implemented into my project for basic testing of a display. Now I want to go to the next level, and want something in which I can customize it down to the individual pixel.

One of the main issues I've been having in my searches is that for practicality/aesthetic, I want a display that's about 4.0" or 4.5" x 1.5" ... This is about a 2.5:1 / 3:1 ratio, so I obviously haven't had much luck with my searches. What I have come across are mono-color OLED displays in 1:4 ratios in similar sizes ($20 each), and one company had a TFT display in a similar ratio (although it was priced at $35) so those have been looking like the best bet.

The only problem I have with the OLED displays is that I'd preferably like the display to be full color. I want it to look as nice as possible, so it seemed like I would have to be picking between full color functionality and my desired aspect ratio, in which I started leaning towards full color.

But today a little lightbulb went off in my head, and I thought to myself would it be unreasonable to get a normal aspect ratio TFT display (4:3 or 16:9) that was 4.5" x 3" or whatever, and then just position it inside my enclosure and cut a smaller hole so that you couldn't see the excess 1.5" of the width? Is there something I should be weary about in doing this? I attached a picture to show what I'm talking about, but this seems like a valid option, and is additionally appealing since each of these screens are $10 and if all goes well I'll be making more of these for friends. I've already planned on having a clear acrylic covering for the LCD hole, so the fact that the display itself wont be flush with the enclosure is fine.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated, and if this is a little unclear I can elaborate further. Thanks in advance!

Pat

enclosure lcd.jpg
enclosure lcd.jpg1400×400 47.2 KB

2

I'm no 'pro' but I don't see anything wrong with it, although you'd be losing some screen real-estate.

Even if you were to show the entire screen and only use the 'center' section, it wouldn't change things much, so go for it.

3

Right? I was surprised that I couldn't find this kind of solution in any forums (although in hindsight it was really such a simple solution). I actually just got off the phone with a display manufacturer / distributor, and he told me this is a common practice.. For example round displays are typically just a rectangular one behind a round opening. I was surprised when he told me that their 5" TFT screen was $80 when I found one on the first website I looked for $15. I'm wondering if there are really differences in quality that require such a huge price difference, but for now looks like I'm sticking with TFTs.

Thanks for your reply, TechniX.

Pat