Wide screen monitor distortion/stretch

[sofasurfer]

I'm shopping for a wide screen monitor. The first ones I looked at
showed the images ( pictures of bubbles) streched horizontally whereas
the 4:3 ratio screens had perfectly round bubble images.
Then I saw some other wide screens father down the isle on which the
bubble images were perfectly round, unlike the earlier wide screens.

So my question is:
Should a pc display images the same on a wide screen as on a 4:3
screen? Why were some of them at the store distorted and some not
distorted?

What else should I know?

Thanks...

 

[John McGaw]

I'm shopping for a wide screen monitor. The first ones I looked at
showed the images ( pictures of bubbles) streched horizontally whereas
the 4:3 ratio screens had perfectly round bubble images.
Then I saw some other wide screens father down the isle on which the
bubble images were perfectly round, unlike the earlier wide screens.

So my question is:
Should a pc display images the same on a wide screen as on a 4:3
screen? Why were some of them at the store distorted and some not
distorted?

What else should I know?

Thanks...

If installed and set up properly then the aspect ratio should be correct
and round will be round. No doubt the stores in your area hire the same
sort that are hired around here -- if something is unboxed and put on
display correctly it only by random chance. Just make sure that your
video card and drivers will support whatever the monitor's native
resolution may be and you should be fine.

 

[Grinder]

I'm shopping for a wide screen monitor. The first ones I looked at
showed the images ( pictures of bubbles) streched horizontally whereas
the 4:3 ratio screens had perfectly round bubble images.
Then I saw some other wide screens father down the isle on which the
bubble images were perfectly round, unlike the earlier wide screens.

So my question is:
Should a pc display images the same on a wide screen as on a 4:3
screen?

Should? No.

Why were some of them at the store distorted and some not
distorted?

I think you know the answer already. The distored images on the
widescreen monitors were most likely displaying 4:3 resolutions,
requiring them to be stretched to fill the wider area.

What else should I know?

What resolutions are available is a function of your graphics card's
driver. Ideally it should offer the native resolution of your LCD
monitor, and some lesser resolutions with the same aspect ratio.

Previously I would have said that you don't have to worry much about 4:3
resolutions, but I just recently ran into a monitor that had a native
resolution of 1400x1050, and I couldn't get the official ATI drivers to
output to that.

As for widescreen ratios, I would say they are generally less supported.
The driver for my 9600XT, for instance, has these widescreen
resolutions: 1360x768, 1920x1080, and 1920x1200. The one widescreen LCD
I have is 1440x900. Good thing I don't intend to use it on this PC.

A couple of things I'm unclear about, is if drivers tend to poll the
monitor in question to determine reasonable resolutions, and if the
monitor "drivers" (they're actually just preference information--no
active code) you see with some devices can actually add to the
resolutions list.

Perhaps you can do a bit of research before you buy to make sure you
card will easily support the monitor you're looking at.

 

[Noozer]

I'm shopping for a wide screen monitor. The first ones I looked at
showed the images ( pictures of bubbles) streched horizontally whereas
the 4:3 ratio screens had perfectly round bubble images.
Then I saw some other wide screens father down the isle on which the
bubble images were perfectly round, unlike the earlier wide screens.

So my question is:
Should a pc display images the same on a wide screen as on a 4:3
screen? Why were some of them at the store distorted and some not
distorted?

What else should I know?

Know that if they have multiple monitors hooked up to the same source, you
can't trust anything you see on display.

 

[Joel]

I'm shopping for a wide screen monitor. The first ones I looked at
showed the images ( pictures of bubbles) streched horizontally whereas
the 4:3 ratio screens had perfectly round bubble images.
Then I saw some other wide screens father down the isle on which the
bubble images were perfectly round, unlike the earlier wide screens.

So my question is:
Should a pc display images the same on a wide screen as on a 4:3
screen? Why were some of them at the store distorted and some not
distorted?

What else should I know?

I am not a widescreen experted (the only widescreens we have are 5
laptops), but in general whatever you display depends on the program itself.
Example

- If you display a photo using graphic viewer then the photo will fit inside
the window of the program. If the program is smart enough then it should
display base on the Ratio-Aspect

- If you use the same photo as wallpaper and you tell your Windows to
stretch to FIT the screen then it will stretch

 

[sofasurfer]

sofasurfer wrote:

What resolutions are available is a function of your graphics card's
driver. Ideally it should offer the native resolution of your LCD
monitor, and some lesser resolutions with the same aspect ratio.

So, the resolutions available as a function of my graphics card would
be the resolutions I find when I go to
desktop>properties>settings>screen resolution? There are about 14
differant resolutions available.

Previously I would have said that you don't have to worry much about 4:3
resolutions, but I just recently ran into a monitor that had a native
resolution of 1400x1050, and I couldn't get the official ATI drivers to
output to that.

The native resolution, which I should match to one of the available
resolutions under desktop>properties>settings>screen resolution, is
the resolution number that I see in the monitor advertisment or store
specification display card?

Thanks...

 

[Grinder]

So, the resolutions available as a function of my graphics card would
be the resolutions I find when I go to
desktop>properties>settings>screen resolution? There are about 14
differant resolutions available.

Yes, but with a possible caveat. The driver may be able to poll the
monitor, or information cached about the monitor, to add resolutions to
the list. I don't know of this happens, but it's possible.

The native resolution, which I should match to one of the available
resolutions under desktop>properties>settings>screen resolution, is
the resolution number that I see in the monitor advertisment or store
specification display card?

Native resolution (sometimes Optimal Resolution or Maximum Resolution)
is a property of the LCD monitor. It is the actual number of elements
in the LCD panel. CRT monitors do not have a corresponding "sweet spot."

 

[sofasurfer]

A lot of the monitors I look at in the store have a native resolution
of 1440x900. I looked at the possible settings for my video card (ASUS
N6200LE) under start>control panel>Nvidia Control Panel and I see that
there is no 1440x900. The closest settings are 1360x768 and 1600x900.

Does this mean...
1. I have a crappy video card that doesn't have enough resolution
choices to match a reasonable monitor
2. The monitors I looked at were crappy and didn't have a native
resolution that matches a reasonable video card
3. The process of matching a video card to a monitor is a time
consuming process that doesn't always work out

What do you recommend? Do you like my video card or did I buy the
wrong one? Am I supposed to just keep looking until I find a matching
monitor?

And one final question.
Is the refresh rate something that I can safely change?

I alway though it was dangerous to the monitor to change it but in the
doc. for my video card there is a control to change the refresh rate
and it says that all it does is to help eliminate flicker, as if it is
something that can be set to your preference.

 

[Brett Kline]

A lot of the monitors I look at in the store have a native resolution
of 1440x900. I looked at the possible settings for my video card (ASUS
N6200LE) under start>control panel>Nvidia Control Panel and I see that
there is no 1440x900. The closest settings are 1360x768 and 1600x900.

1440x900 is very common resolution for a 19" widescreen LCD. Try new drivers
as your video card does support 1440x900 and quite a bit higher.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_93.71_2.html

Does this mean...
1. I have a crappy video card that doesn't have enough resolution
choices to match a reasonable monitor

You have an entry level video card which does not support HDMI nor DX10. For
general purposes it's fine.

http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=2&l2=6&l3=0&l4=0&model=0&modelmenu=0&share=txt/2

And one final question.
Is the refresh rate something that I can safely change?

Yes. 60-75 Hz is common in LCD monitors. Unlike CRTs flicker is not so much
an issue so higher refresh rates are unnecessary.

 

[Grinder]

A lot of the monitors I look at in the store have a native resolution
of 1440x900. I looked at the possible settings for my video card (ASUS
N6200LE) under start>control panel>Nvidia Control Panel and I see that
there is no 1440x900. The closest settings are 1360x768 and 1600x900.

Does this mean...
1. I have a crappy video card that doesn't have enough resolution
choices to match a reasonable monitor

Not necessarily. The list of possible resolutions may be (in part)
determined by the monitor connected. Earlier I said that I didn't know
of this every happens, but I recently saw it in operation.

I connected a 1440x900 monitor to the PC, and 1440x900 showed up in the
list of resolutions. After I disconnected it and reconnected a
1280x1024 monitor, the 1440x900 was gone. This machine was running an
2-3 year-old ATI card with an even newer version of catalyst.

It does seem odd, though, if *your* display driver is trying to match
your monitor, that it would include some widescreen resolutions. Is
your currrent monitor widescreen or the more traditional 4:3 or 5:4
ratio? Is it LCD or CRT?

2. The monitors I looked at were crappy and didn't have a native
resolution that matches a reasonable video card

1440x900 is a fairly common native resolution for widescreen monitors.

3. The process of matching a video card to a monitor is a time
consuming process that doesn't always work out

I hadn't really run into a problem until that 1400x1050 monitor I told
you about, but I'm starting to agree with you.

What do you recommend? Do you like my video card or did I buy the
wrong one?

I've been happy enough with Asus products. In fact, I'm currently using
one their ATI chipset cards right now. I've not really had any problem
with nVidia-based cards either. In fact, the solution to my 1400x1050
problem might have been to use an nVidia card.

Am I supposed to just keep looking until I find a matching
monitor?

Contact the manufacturer, or participating in an nVidia-specific forum
would be a good next step.

And one final question.
Is the refresh rate something that I can safely change?

I alway though it was dangerous to the monitor to change it but in the
doc. for my video card there is a control to change the refresh rate
and it says that all it does is to help eliminate flicker, as if it is
something that can be set to your preference.

I don't think it's the risk it once was. I've never had any problem
with the recommend settings, though, so I've not really chanced it.

 

[kony]

A lot of the monitors I look at in the store have a native resolution
of 1440x900. I looked at the possible settings for my video card (ASUS
N6200LE) under start>control panel>Nvidia Control Panel and I see that
there is no 1440x900. The closest settings are 1360x768 and 1600x900.

Does this mean...
1. I have a crappy video card that doesn't have enough resolution
choices to match a reasonable monitor

no

It means you either see the resolution when monitor is
hooked up, or you can set a custom resolution with any
semi-recent video driver (from http://www.nvidia.com) in one
of the Display Properties Menu items, there's some button
you click to get to it after wading through a few menu
choices, IIRC.

2. The monitors I looked at were crappy and didn't have a native
resolution that matches a reasonable video card

No, although 1440x900 may not be such a desirable resolution
as it is not a very large screen nor much detail today, but
of course it would take up less desk space and cost less
than a larger monitor.

3. The process of matching a video card to a monitor is a time
consuming process that doesn't always work out

With some brands and/or older drivers this might be true but
you should have no trouble with your video and any
semi-recent full version of driver from nVidia's website.
As for a 3rd party driver provided by motherboard
manufacturers, it may or may not have all the features and
may or may not be a very recent driver even if a date seems
to suggest it is as new as some others.

What do you recommend? Do you like my video card or did I buy the
wrong one? Am I supposed to just keep looking until I find a matching
monitor?

Install recent driver, it should work.

And one final question.
Is the refresh rate something that I can safely change?

Not really except within the range the monitor spec sheet
states which is generally around 60-70Hz which is fine
because LCDs don't have the same flicker problem that CRTs
do at these refresh rate ranges. 60Hz is a good value to
use until you have reason to use another.

I alway though it was dangerous to the monitor to change it but in the
doc. for my video card there is a control to change the refresh rate
and it says that all it does is to help eliminate flicker, as if it is
something that can be set to your preference.

Many years ago CRTs had no facility to check and reject
using the wrong refresh rate, and running at wrong rate
could damage them. Nothing CRT made recently has this
problem and LCDs never would. In other words with any
monitor that allows using the rate you're trying to set, it
is fine to do so but you should notice little if any
improvement on an LCD by increasing it because it is a
different display technology.

On an LCD the larger improvement usually comes from using
DVI instead of D-sub analog connection, though 1440x900 is
only a moderate resolution, as the resolution gets higher it
makes even more of a difference.