Would a 'Top Screen HDMI Video Out' be possible?

[Deleted User 3830]

Just a question. Personally, for me, I'm not interested in capturing video or posting to YouTube or anything like that, I just want to play my games 'on the big screen.' I've seen a few YouTube videos that show that when connecting to a PC, a small, but visible amount of lag is introduced and I'd really like to avoid that or else that would work just perfectly fine.

Would it at all be possible to instead of a USB-out, put a micro-HDMI connector, so that I could simply connect a 3DS to my HDTV and only output the top screen to that TV? Something would have to tell the video being output to multiply the resolution being output by 4.5 so that it outputs 1800 x 1080, though, right (or multiply by 9 to future proof for 4K TVs)? Also, while connected or disconnected, it would be nice to still display the top screen on the actual 3DS.

I know that the official PlayStation Portable video-out doesn't even go full screen. You end up with a window boxed image, and I thought I read somewhere that it was due to the refresh rate of the PSP not matching standard TVs or something, although I could be totally wrong. I don't know if that same issue would apply to a 3DS Top Screen Video Out like I'm suggesting.

While I'm at it, I may as well also ask another ridiculous question...Would it at all be possible to have two micro-HDMI outs so the top screen could be output to one TV while the bottom could be output to another?

[Czar_Yoshi]

There's a pic floating around somewhere on the site that shows off a prototype board from when they were first being designed that uses dual HDMI outputs, so it's definitely not impossible. However that sort of thing requires extra hardware, there's less demand, it's bigger, etc and basically there's probably no way Loopy will ever make them.

Even if you did have one, though, upscaling doesn't quite work like that. There's just no way to get the 3ds to render at 8x+ its natural resolution- even if it were just a simple setting (it's not), some games already lag at the native resolution. You'd have to settle for just blowing up the existing screen, and that stops looking good fairly quickly as you get bigger.

Having used the regular capture card just as a display, though, I didn't have a problem with screenlag. Unless you're playing competitive Sm4sh or something, it's not noticable- I was getting more delay from my monitor than from the capture card. Fire Emblem, OoT, Pokemon etc all were perfectly fine.

[Guest]

Thanks for the reply. And yeah, I did figure there wouldn't be much demand, and it wasn't a request or anything, it was just more of a for-curiosity's-sake question.

I've been a little interested in some of the official hardware Nintendo makes and uses at press events like E3 and stuff such as the PARTNER-CTR Capture as shown in [s]this thread[/s] (uhh, well, I guess I can't link to gbatemp as it's blacklisted) and was just wondering if since the official hardware is like $2,500 and I don't even know the legality of owning something like that, then maybe it might be possible to make a homemade version of that thing much cheaper and legally.

The thing is a giant hunk of stuff though. I think the 3DSes connected to the PARTNER-CTR Capture are modified so much, they don't even have game card slots. I think you might have to insert the game into the unit itself, just like you had to do with the IS-NITRO-CAPTURE (although I couldn't find a game card slot on that PARTNER-CTR Capture). There is video on YouTube of the IS-NITRO-CAPTURE (I can't link to it either since I guess YouTube is blacklisted on these forums.) I think the unit itself has the processor and motherboard and is sending video out to the DS screens and the TV and accepting input from the DS touch screen and buttons...(?) Those cables connecting the 3DS are both input and output? It looks almost as if you have a hacked up DS, where all of the guts are inside that big box, which sends the video output to the DS and two TVs while the DS you hold in your hands is a 'dummy device' with no processor or anything, it just has the displays and buttons for sending input.

But yeah, ok, you might have to ELI5 for a sec, but I'm just curious...assuming I didn't care about how anything looked and didn't care if wires were sticking out all over the place or had to play with a disassembled 3DS in my hands. Doesn't a 3DS motherboard have two ribbon cables connecting the displays to the motherboard? Why can't you just 'tap the lines' and also send those signals to two different TVs too? I mean, I'm sure you can't just do that or Nintendo wouldn't be lugging around and using these giant PARTNER-CTR Capture boxes at all of these events, I'm just wondering why.

[Deleted User 3830]

Ah rats, somehow I was logged out, didn't realize it, and it let me post as a Guest and that's why I couldn't link to those sites. Now I can't edit that post. My bad.

[jargusz]

An indirect method would to use a video card on your PC that outputs HDMI and view that on your TV

[lokistarwind]

There does exist what you are looking for, but only industry have access to them. I saw it at an event. However the video was a bit fuzzy since scaling video output does that.