Ask HN: Experience with Odd-Shaped Monitors?

I have an idea for a hobby project to build a cocktail-table style curling video game for my local curling club.

The official dimensions of a curling sheet are approximately 150 feet long and 15 feet wide for a 10:1 ratio. Assuming padding on the sides for some UI, an aspect ratio of 5:1 or 4:1 probably would work. Ultra widescreen monitors come in at around 32:9 or ~3.6:1, so that's also probably workable.

However, I'd like the controls to be touchscreen and the largest 32:9 touchscreen I can find is the Asus ProArt pa147cdv, which is 14".

Looking around, there are some displays made for advertising that are larger but not touchscreen. Samsung has some interesting alternatives, such as the SH37R. I also see the Canlarriz "48.5-inch Ultra-Wide Bar Digital Signage Display" available. The best I've seen might be the "Litemax SSD5846-I 58.4″ Stretch Digital Display", but at 1400 nits, I'm concerned it would blind people.

To make this work, I'd probably need to put PCAP film on the back of tempered glass for the cabinet top, designed in a way that spilled drinks can't get into the electronics.

I have a few questions here and I'm open to any ideas or advice.

- If you have worked with these odd-shaped displays, such as the Litemax, are there peculiarities regarding them that are not immediately obvious? For example, would I have thermal issues with it mounted horizontally?

- Do you have a 'favorite' wide display that would work for this use case? If so, which is it and why is it your favorite?

- Have you used PCAP film to turn a display into something touchscreen? Was it multitouch?

- This seems similar to work done for some larger digital displays at museums. Any resources you could recommend for working with this type of technology? Are there companies that do the tempered glass with PCAP film commercially?

- I would build the game in Godot Engine. Any reason why you think that might not work?

Thanks for your input!

2 points | by nrjames 1 hour ago

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