Question Made a mistake of buying an ultrawide...

[ibex333]

So I was foolish, and I splurged for an ultra-wide... At first it seemed great, that is, until I decided to watch movies or play games.

I did do some research online before buying, and most people make it sound like this really isn't a big deal, and that's why I jumped on this. However, it is sadly a big deal. A huge deal. When your movies and games cannot take up the whole screen and display those ugly black bars, it becomes very very annoying. Some of my favourite games, like Starcraft 2 or Mortal Kombat X do not support wide screen resolutions. (yes I know. I should have read up on that in advance)

Sure, there is some software that can artificially stretch games and video to fill up the screen, but it often doesn't look natural or work well. Plus, I don't want extra software on my PC just to get what I would call "normal functionality".

Sadly I am past my return window, and the seller refused to accept the item back. Well within his right. Cant blame him.

I guess I have to make the best on this ugly situation I got myself into. Can someone advise which tricks, workarounds, software they are using to make life with an ultra-wide better?

 

[Elfear]

I had good luck with the Flawless Widescreen app. Looks like it supports Starcraft 2 out of the gate and can probably be configured for Mortal Combat X. It is "extra software" which I know you don't want but it really is very easy to use.

 

[mnewsham]

https://www.imdb.com/list/ls073624685/

That is a fairly complete list of movies that should fill a 21:9 monitor without black bars.

I know amazon prime often has 21:9 movies available to stream.

 

[potato masher]

I'll trade you monitors if you want!

Personally I think I would just try to get used to the bars. I know everybody is different about that stuff. I don't even see black bars or bezels anymore when I'm watching a movie or playing a game.

 

[sandorski]

I love my UW. That said, so far I have only played a few Games and they all support the Resolution. Nevertheless, the extra real estate is quite useful having my Web Browser and 1 or 2 other Apps displayed at the same time without having to strain to Read anything, it's rather like having Dual Monitors without any Bezels. Also, the general Quality and Colour Accuracy of the Panels used are by default higher due to the targeted Market for these Monitors.

 

[ibex333]

I'll trade you monitors if you want!

Personally I think I would just try to get used to the bars. I know everybody is different about that stuff. I don't even see black bars or bezels anymore when I'm watching a movie or playing a game.

Yeah, but the problem with that, is that the image you get between the black bars is significantly smaller than it would be, if it was full screen, on a fully supported monitor.

I couldn't stand the drawbacks of an ultrawide, and I sent is back. I think ulrawides are ultimately better for people that care less about games, and more about overall productivity. Some gamers can argue that many new games are supported, but the bigger problem is that many of the older games are not, and probably never will be.

 

[potato masher]

I'm on 30" 4:3 right now in my office and its great for that.. I've got a 2nd 16:9 next to it too. I would agrue more square-ish formats are best for overall productivity.

Stuff like racing a car or flying a plane where you want to see as much of the horizon as possible... those uses favor a horizontal rectangle. For me. Also its nice that it keeps the pixel count relatively low for a given width and hence the gpu load down. Productivity where I'm just placing windows in quadrants or halves.. more square inches is what I want. And more square-ish formats give you that.

Personal preference is going to trounce any other factors though really. Its good you realize what you like and don't like and got it sent back.

 

[Instantwow]

Thanks for posting this. I’m in the market for a new monitor and am considering an ultra wide. Haven’t seen many good deals lately on monitors.