Native Resolutin really that important?

[kyis]

Well this is my first post and have no idea where its going, so hopefully I haven't screwed up a thread or something. Was trying to post into LCD thread, well anyway..

I have a program and the monitor will only be used for it. The program runs at 1024x768.
So I'm having difficulty finding lcd's 20" and larger that run at this natively and esp in 4:3.
Is it really that important? If I go down in resolution from max is Ok?
I seem to have an easier time finding HDTV's that may work, just not sure if the image is going to get stretched. Would a 1366 x 768 lcd work with black edges on the sides.
What determines if an image is going to get stretched?
The monitior?
The OS? (which is XP pro in my instance)
Is max resolution the same as native resolution?
How about resolution conversion software?

So looking forward to some answers.

THANKS!

 

[Saiyukimot]

I'll try and answer the question...


The monitor displays the image at whatever size the graphics card sends it at. Usually it is your video card drivers which define if the image is stretched to fill the screen, or whether it has black lines/is an image with black lines all around the box (which is in the middle)

Default would be to stretch the image, loosing clarity and picture quality slightly.

You won't find an LCD monitor that has 1024x768 nativly over 17" - they are 1280x1024 nativly.

Native just means that the image size is the exact same as the monitor size, meaning there is no image resizing or reshaping - meaning it is as crisp as it is going to get.

However any image size generally as long as the aspect is normal 4:3/16:9/16:10 will work as long as the image is smaller or the exact same as your monitor.

So, the graphics card driver settings chooses if it is going to have black lines.

the application chooses the image resolution.

Windows/graphics card driver software chooses your desktop resolution.


HDTV's will stretch the image also I believe.



resolution conversion software...not heard of heh, its all done in windows drivers.



Hope that helps and makes sense?

 

[kyis]

So do you think a native 1600x1200 will look as good set to 1024x768 versus an actual native 1024x768 or the difference would be negligible? The program displays lots of photos. So if the screen is just too wide, but the native height is correct does that work?

Tiger Direct has some of these at a good price. They are 768 high, just too wide. And it's a TV too.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/app...=2931749&Sku=S197-2302

And this Viewsonic which are 1200 high & correct ratio, but much pricier and not native and no TV.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/app...INGDF&CMP=OTC-SHOPPING

Thanks again for the reply.

 

[AzN]

IF you have a NVIDIA card you can do fixed aspect scaling. So it doesn't matter if you have wide screen monitor or not. While ATI cards stretch the image to widescreen.

I think with current LCD technology the picture doesn't lose all that much clarity if you go down resolutions.

 

[Dkcode]

No it will look dire. You would be better using a 14" CRT than a 20" LCD running non natively.

We use a managed OS at work and it defaults to 1024x768 which is running on our 17" TFT's. I always change the resolution when i re-image but my colleagues leave it to 1024 and it drives me crackers.

 

[AzN]

Some people don't mind and some do. You can't satisfy everybody.

 

[kyis]

Thanks for info all. That info about the NVIDIA cards was very good. I will check this all out.

This is the type of conversion software, which is intended for mac, that I was talking about
http://www.3dexpress.de/index.html
over my head esp since i'm a PC guy at best.

 

[kmmatney]

There are 2 basic options for 4:3 monitors: 1600 x 1200 amd monitors that are 1400 x 1050. I have a 20" Viewsonic that is 4:3 @ 1400 x 1050, and it works great for 4:3 programs. However I no longer see it at newEgg. However they do ahve another oine I've used before:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16824009109

Programs running at 1024 x 768 will be scaled, and it won;t look quite as good as the native resolution, but its not too bad, and at least the aspect ratios are always correct.

Also, the monitor in my Sig (Soyo 24" LCD) has a native resolution of 1920 x 1200, but you can set it to work as a 4:3 monitor in the on-screen menu, which converts it into a 1600 x 1200 4:3 screen. Very handy, so I can run older programs (like Diablo II) at 4:3, and then convert back to widescreen for normal windows use.