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Posted by . [70.224.237.19] on 2006/07/17 12:44:51

What's your experience been, and what games do you play that support widescreen resolutions?
Just got one of two Viewsonic VA192WB's today (19", 16:10) and it's quite a nice deal for $200 each!
http://www.viewsonic.com/products/...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...
Hooked it up to the current PC and tried Call of Cthulhu, SWAT 4, XIII and IL-2 Sturmovik in it. Here's some thumbnails of a photo in-game, and screenshots:
http://img306.imageshack.us/my.php...
http://img306.imageshack.us/my.php...
http://img412.imageshack.us/my.php...
http://img336.imageshack.us/my.php...
The photo just doesn't do it justice - you have to experience it yourself. Fortunately, Call of Cthulhu supports widescreen and at my native resolution, 1440 x 900. SWAT 4 does not support widescreen, it still ran at 1024 x 768. I did not get black bars on either side, instead it stretched. Normally stretching is bad, but in SWAT 4 - the stretching wasn't very noticable at all, and it appeared as if it was already in a natural wide aspect! The same happened in XIII. It was a bit more noticable in IL-2 Sturmovik (a flight sim).
I didn't even buy this for my gaming system, but when I build *that* system, I am definitely going widescreen again.

#1 posted by metlslime [204.15.3.5] on 2006/07/18 19:17:06
So, I just got one of those apple widescreen LCDs. I only have quake and sauerbraten installed right now, so there's no worry about the game supporting the resolution.
The problem occurs becuase LCDs only look good at their native resolution, and this LCD has a high native resolution (1680x1050) and that takes a heavy hit on any video card that is fillrate-bound. On a CRT you'd simply lower the resolution to get your framerate back, but of course that looks bad on an LCD. Running in a window is not very immersive, either.
My current solution for sauerbraten is to use invent a new video mode using the nvidia control panel (840x525) and then run at that mode. At least it's the right aspect ratio, but even with an exact doubling, I haven't figured out how to eliminate the ugly bilinear resampling being done by the monitor.
Luckily I can run fitzquake really high with not much of a hit.
Metl
#2 posted by . [70.224.237.19] on 2006/07/18 19:39:01
Why'd you buy Apple? I think their panels are made by LG, and you can find cheaper and quite comparable LCD's (I've heard good of Dell actually).
Curious what sold you on Apple :)
Phait:
#3 posted by metlslime [67.188.209.101] on 2006/07/18 20:43:34
i'd gathered that apple and dell were considered the good ones, and the only difference was that I had direct experience with the apple LCDs at work.
Basically i ordered through the mail and didn't want to buy something without seeing it in person. And i was too lazy to walk three blocks to compUSA :)
I'm fairly happy with it though. The only possible complaint is that It isn't as bright as a CRT, but I gather that's universally true.
I guess the other issue is the apple monitors have a different gamma curve than PC monitors, which puts me slightly out of sync with the rest of the gaming world. But I can just adjust gamma in games to compensate.
#4 posted by gone [213.170.89.98] on 2006/07/19 00:05:08
Widescreen should be nice indeed. But lack of support in many games and "unusual" resolution means its gaming-unfriendly. LCD stretching is really ugly ;/
#5 posted by gone [213.170.89.98] on 2006/07/19 00:05:09
Widescreen should be nice indeed. But lack of support in many games and "unusual" resolution means its gaming-unfriendly. LCD stretching is really ugly ;/
Note:
#6 posted by metlslime [67.188.209.101] on 2006/07/19 00:37:01
I did find that nvidia's control panel lets me set the 4:3 resolutions to be scaled to the correct ratio, with plack bars on either side (is this called "flowerboxed?", or centered at original size with black all around.
I would probably use the flowerbox method if playing a game that only allowed 4:3 ratios.
Still...that damned bilinear resampling.
Metl
#7 posted by nitin [138.217.0.46] on 2006/07/19 01:46:46
letterbox
My Dell Laptop Lcd
#8 posted by than [221.244.26.90] on 2006/07/19 03:57:14
is very bright indeed,and is widescreen.
Quake is great at 1920*1200, and somehow I managed to play HL2 fine at that resolution too (gf6800 go ultra)... well, aside from the FUCKING STUTTERING ON LEVEL LOADS THANKS VALVE!
I Found That
#9 posted by PuLSaR [83.69.89.6] on 2006/07/19 04:44:57
my notebook LCD is very bright comparing to my stationary pc, it makes hard to make a proper lighting in my maps imho.
I saw some games on wide screen and if the game has the support of wide screen it looks very good, if doesn't - it looks rather ugly. Tho my LCD isn't wide screen.
Hmm
#10 posted by . [70.224.237.19] on 2006/07/19 10:28:21
I'm finding my Viewsonic is "upscaling" (to term other's suggestions) and not stretching... possibly cropping the picture, but I don't see anything important in the picture missing (like HUD or entirety of weapon/hand). Or if it is stretching from 1024x768 to 1440x900 it's not horrible at all - I can't say I notice anything being oblong.
Aye
#11 posted by DaZ [80.41.150.32] on 2006/07/19 10:52:27
I wouldn't mind a widescreen but they are too $$$ :(
The picture is a lot more natural due to the aspect, my mate runs HL2 in widescreen mode and it just looks amazing... time to save those pennies I think
Daz
#12 posted by . [70.224.237.19] on 2006/07/19 12:01:45
I only payed $200 for my 19" Viewsonic, check Newegg there are some good deals on widescreens these days.
Or,
#13 posted by HeadThump [65.140.58.175] on 2006/07/19 12:10:43
And i was too lazy to walk three blocks to compUSA :)
somedays you just don't feel like hauling around the bat you need to fend off the sales staff.
Nitin:
#14 posted by metlslime [204.15.3.5] on 2006/07/19 12:40:20
i thought letterbox was only when the black bars were horizontal. (wide image on a squarish screen.) Does the word also refer to a squarish image on a wide screen, with vertical black bars?
Metl
#15 posted by nitin [138.217.0.46] on 2006/07/19 14:35:37
yea, you're right.
pillarbox is the one used for vertical images I believe.
Indeed
#16 posted by pdf [213.170.89.98] on 2006/07/24 05:16:03
http://www.answers.com/topic/pilla...
Here Be The Widescreens
#17 posted by . [70.224.237.19] on 2006/07/25 03:42:44
- http://img130.imageshack.us/img130...
- http://img451.imageshack.us/img451...
Eeeee...
#18 posted by Mike Woodham [86.143.87.28] on 2006/07/25 11:32:05
...look at mook on floower!
I'm Sure
#19 posted by inertia [24.164.73.173] on 2006/07/25 15:43:14
your neck feels just great looking up at those screens.
Inertia
#20 posted by . [70.224.237.19] on 2006/07/25 20:05:16
Since I'm a giraffe anyway...
No, it doesn't. I've moved the desk hutch w/ monitors bit closer towards me, and my chair height is good - they're not high up. As long as I don't allow myself to slouch/lay in the chair (then I get too relaxed and fall asleep, which is NOT the point of being at my design/music system), I'm fine. :p

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