Question about Wide Screens

[Stormy Eve]

I want to ask if anyone is playing/using wide screen monitor bigger than 17" because I'm thinking of buying one and was wondering how does it look.
At most of the shops here the image looks streched because they input the same VGA signal on each of the monitors in the store.
Can someone share his experience and give me some advice.
I have set my mind on 22" Samsung and Asus models.

[Pass The Towel]

I used to have a widescreen laptop.

It is great as long as the applications you are using have settings to use the correct resolution. For example, Windows will be able to handle it.

However, some games (especially older ones) are very annoying because they only run at the standard resolutions, so you either have to have the picture "stretched" or have black strips on each side to preserve the aspect ratio.

[Radicc Tyranntt]

If you are thinking about buying one from a store ask them to get one out and hook it so you can see what it looks like at native resolution. Its gonna look like crap pretty much no matter what screen you are looking at when you check out their wall o' monitor that all have the same 1024x768 res video running on them. If they really want you to buy one they will do it(and make them use the DVI, all the people complaining about ghosting on a 5ms panel are just dumb and are using the vga. You got to have over 200fps to exceed a 5ms panels capability, and over 300fps on a 2ms panel).
1680x1050 is pretty high up there on the res chart just make sure you can handle that on all your stuff or its gonna look like crap when you use it. (I only say that because I'm still on agp) Widescreen does seem to be the way of the future though, So everybody is gonna have one eventually.

From what I was seeing the 22" Samsung seems to have some good reviews going for it. So I was thinking about going for that or the viewsonic vx2240 which uses less power.

[Thalion Orbdrin]

I've sorta compromised - I run a dual LCD setup, one a 22" widescreen Westinghouse and a regular 19" BenQ acts as my main screen. I'm not quite willing to do widescreen gaming yet, seeing as how if you want to run anything at a decent resolution you'll need insane graphics powah (assuming widescreen is supported).

I do agree with Rad though, everyone will eventually have a widescreen.

[Zalis]

chaosdivine said:

I'm not quite willing to do widescreen gaming yet, seeing as how if you want to run anything at a decent resolution you'll need insane graphics powah (assuming widescreen is supported).

Yeah, that was my reasoning for not going wide yet. Right now, I run everything at 1280x1024. If I were to get a large widescreen with a native res of, say 1900xwhatever, you're having to put out more pixels from the get-go. (hence, more graphics "oomph" needed to maintain performance standards)

You will notice now that most benchmarks use widescreen resolutions though, so that's helpful if you're looking to compare. (and better if you're only doing 1280x, since you're bound to get higher fps at the lower res)

[Radicc Tyranntt]

1920 x 1200
2560 x 1600

I can't imagine ever wanting to run some of these high res settings they use but maybe some day I'll have a screen that large.

[Tanin'iver BlindDragon]

I'm running a 26" Samsung TV/Monitor as my main display.

It's native resolution (VGA input) is only 1360x768 (1024x768 made widescreen) so everything is nice and big - I hate squinting at a crappy 19" in 1600x1200 or similar.

1360x768 is actually less pixels than 1280x1024, so it isn't too hard for the graphics card to drive at decent framerates, and you can use the spare processing power (if you have it!) to crank up the AA to counter any jaggies.

In general it's very nice - I especially like playing the GTA series in widescreen, and I've only had one or two older games that don't support widescreen resolutions.

Many games that don't support it have hacks available that let them work properly - check out this excellent site for much more info, especially look out for the Master Game List which lists MANY games and if they support widescreen well or not -

www.widescreengamingforum.com

P.S. let me know if you want any screenshots of how games look on it - Oblivion, Half Life 2 (and eps 1-2), Guild Wars

[paleblade]

Did you buy your widescreen yet? Just a word of warning, check to see how many colors its supports. Most LCD's with very fast rates < 5 ms don't display the full range of colors!

I bought a 20" widescreen ViewSonic 3 months ago and couldn't figure out why the colors looked dull in GW. I later found out that it supported only 16.2 million colors while a regular CRT supports 16.9 million. You wouldn't think that the loss of 700k colors would be a big deal, but trust me, it does! I've noticed that the 8 ms Samsungs have 16.7 million colors, so they might be better.

If vibrant colors are important to you, then make sure it supports 16.7 million or more, because GW colors looked washed out compared to my old 20.1 LCD display thats 8ms but has the 16.9 million.

[Radicc Tyranntt]

That is interesting I wonder if it could be the anti-glare coating.
I noticed that all the viewsonic lcd's are 16.2

Oh btw the Samsung 226BW was the one I was checking out if anyone cared.
Judging by the info I see that seems to be samsungs marketing point "we gots the most colors"

[Stormy Eve]

Thank you for all the replies!
The models that I have reviewed are 16.7mil colors. The review of the Samsung is really nice (Thanks Than!)
Hope tomorrow will be the big day - gonna buy wardrobe, 22" LCD, 2GB Ram, new video adapter, speakers and cooler for CPU.
Wish I could convert my 10 platinum from the chest into RL cash...

[Thalion Orbdrin]

You could wait till Black Friday for the 22" LCD. There are a bunch of fairly decent deals on 'em this year I think.

[Stormy Eve]

Here in Bulgaria there is no Black Friday

[Pass The Towel]

I read an interesting article about this yesterday.

Basically it said there was a cheaper technology called TN+Film, which uses only a few hundred thousand colours, with dithering and frame rate control to simulate the 16.2 million or whatever it is they claim.

There's another tech called something like SVN that actually uses the amount of colours they claim, and has looks better looking at it from funny angles too, but the input lag (time it takes the monitor to display the image once it's send from the graphics card) is higher.

I'll post some less obscure and more accurate info once I get back home.

[Zalis]

www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Samsung-245BW-24-Widescreen-Monitor-245BW/sem/rpsm/oid/185618/catOid/-12965/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do?linkid=j13774590k32998&affiliateid=k32998&mid=&=guidt&1= (link's screwed)

This 24" Samsung Widescreen LCD is a steal on Black Friday. $499 down to $399.

[Radicc Tyranntt]

zalis said:

www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Samsung-245BW-24-Widescreen-Monitor-245BW/sem/rpsm/oid/185618/catOid/-12965/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do?linkid=j13774590k32998&affiliateid=k32998&mid=&=guidt&1= (link's screwed)

This 24" Samsung Widescreen LCD is a steal on Black Friday. $499 down to $399.

*points at Bulgaria comment*

[Zalis]

radicc said:

*points at Bulgaria comment*

*points to anyone else who's posted here that might be interested*

[Radicc Tyranntt]

zalis said:

*points to anyone else who's posted here that might be interested*

So you made a post to tell Thalion what he already knows?

[Pass The Towel]

Now now, children.

[Radicc Tyranntt]

biscuits said:

Now now, children.

We are just joking around Towel, its cool.

[Dana Hawkeye]

I run a 24'' Acer widescreen - AL2416W. Also have the 22'' Acer widescreen on my 2nd PC.

No problems with it, had it a while now. Nice colours and characters are a nice size.

Very pleased with it - widescreen is a definate recommend.

I am a bit biased though as I have been using large screens for about 12 years now.

regards
Dana