POLL: Positive aspects of non-native resolutions?

[VIAN]

I recently saw an XBOX 360 on a HDTV LCDtv running COD2 - It looked better than on PC. Anyway, it wasn't running at native resolution. I don't know why, but I don't think many LCDtvs do. But why would would someone use non-native resolutions?

Maybe we should start looking at this non-native issue differently. What are the positive aspects of running it in non-native form? I didn't have too much time to think of this, but...

It gets rid of the screen door effect, at least on mine it does. And it makes it look more like an LCDtv if you enjoy consistancy. The blur, I know is on everyone's mind gives an image, at least in games a more filmy look.

I'd like to know if there are other positive aspects about running it at non-native.

 

[Rage187]

All I know is that the PC version of CoD2 looks better at 1360x768 on my LCT tv then 1920x1200 on my 2405.

 

[Todd33]

Sometimes native res is too high, so you drop it down. Just keep the same aspect ratio and it still looks good. In games it hard to tell unless you are reading small text.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: VIAN
I recently saw an XBOX 360 on a HDTV LCDtv running COD2 - It looked better than on PC. Anyway, it wasn't running at native resolution. I don't know why, but I don't think many LCDtvs do. But why would would someone use non-native resolutions?

Interesting, because the XBOX 360 outputs HD resolutions doesn't it? Do you know it wasn't at native? I guess they could have been playing 720p and having it upscaled to the TV's native 1080.

Maybe we should start looking at this non-native issue differently. What are the positive aspects of running it in non-native form? I didn't have too much time to think of this, but...

It gets rid of the screen door effect, at least on mine it does. And it makes it look more like an LCDtv if you enjoy consistancy. The blur, I know is on everyone's mind gives an image, at least in games a more filmy look.

The motion blur may appear worse and resolution doesn't have any effect on screen door. Screen door happens because the pixels have dark electronics around them. Non-native resolutions are still outputting to the same 1920x1080 (or whatever) pixels.

I'd like to know if there are other positive aspects about running it at non-native.

Nothing positive at all really, unless you want to be able to see better. I wouldn't purposely use them because I'd have greatly reduced image quality in precision-intensive applications. For old games the scaling is great to me, but in new games with texture detail, it's a whole different story. Though I suppose with some decreasing of LOD bias, etc. in nHancer you could make it look half-decent. Using fixed aspect ratio scaling also helps.

 

[duragezic]

Could it be that most everyone sits a foot or two away from their monitor but 6 ft or more away from their TV? When I watch regular cable TV on my 2005FPW from a normal distance, it looks almost as good as a TV, but when close up it just looks pixelated to all hell of course.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: duragezic
Could it be that most everyone sits a foot or two away from their monitor but 6 ft or more away from their TV? When I watch regular cable TV on my 2005FPW from a normal distance, it looks almost as good as a TV, but when close up it just looks pixelated to all hell of course.

Yeah, that's probably it.

 

[VIAN]

Originally posted by: xtknight

Originally posted by: VIAN
I recently saw an XBOX 360 on a HDTV LCDtv running COD2 - It looked better than on PC. Anyway, it wasn't running at native resolution. I don't know why, but I don't think many LCDtvs do. But why would would someone use non-native resolutions?

Interesting, because the XBOX 360 outputs HD resolutions doesn't it? Do you know it wasn't at native? I guess they could have been playing 720p and having it upscaled to the TV's native 1080.

Maybe we should start looking at this non-native issue differently. What are the positive aspects of running it in non-native form? I didn't have too much time to think of this, but...

It gets rid of the screen door effect, at least on mine it does. And it makes it look more like an LCDtv if you enjoy consistancy. The blur, I know is on everyone's mind gives an image, at least in games a more filmy look.

The motion blur may appear worse and resolution doesn't have any effect on screen door. Screen door happens because the pixels have dark electronics around them. Non-native resolutions are still outputting to the same 1920x1080 (or whatever) pixels.

I'd like to know if there are other positive aspects about running it at non-native.

Nothing positive at all really, unless you want to be able to see better. I wouldn't purposely use them because I'd have greatly reduced image quality in precision-intensive applications. For old games the scaling is great to me, but in new games with texture detail, it's a whole different story. Though I suppose with some decreasing of LOD bias, etc. in nHancer you could make it look half-decent. Using fixed aspect ratio scaling also helps.

It wasn't native because non-native resolutions have this look around the edges. Cause that crap wasn't anti-aliased, so I was able to tell.

I just told you from observation that I don't see the screen door effect. Are you telling me that what I'm seeing is incorrect. It may not completely get rid of it, but the effect was diminished.

Originally posted by: duragezic
Could it be that most everyone sits a foot or two away from their monitor but 6 ft or more away from their TV? When I watch regular cable TV on my 2005FPW from a normal distance, it looks almost as good as a TV, but when close up it just looks pixelated to all hell of course.

We'll I'm just judging this from what I saw and I was about 3 feet away.

 

[Crescent13]

I never use them, but here are the only positives.

Larger text (for people with bad eyes)
Faster speed (for people with slow computers)

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: VIAN
I just told you from observation that I don't see the screen door effect. Are you telling me that what I'm seeing is incorrect. It may not completely get rid of it, but the effect was diminished.

What you're 'seeing' is, at best, a psychosomatic effect, possibly because the image is not as sharp (so the inter-pixel gaps don't stand out as much). Running at non-native doesn't magically move the physical pixels closer together, which is the source of the 'screen door effect'.

I can't think of any reason to purposefully run at a non-native resolution on a fixed-pixel display. All you're going to do is to introduce blurring and other scaling artifacts, since the image must be scaled to the panel's native resolution unless you want black borders.

Edit: If text is your problem, you can scale up font sizes or use magnification software. Being forced to run at a non-native resolution due to low 3D performance usually means you spent too much on the monitor and not enough on your video card, and it will hurt image quality and sharpness.

 

[VIAN]

Originally posted by: Matthias99

Originally posted by: VIAN
I just told you from observation that I don't see the screen door effect. Are you telling me that what I'm seeing is incorrect. It may not completely get rid of it, but the effect was diminished.

What you're 'seeing' is, at best, a psychosomatic effect, possibly because the image is not as sharp (so the inter-pixel gaps don't stand out as much). Running at non-native doesn't magically move the physical pixels closer together, which is the source of the 'screen door effect'.

LOL, of course, I wasn't trying to imply anything different.

 

[duragezic]

Originally posted by: Matthias99

Originally posted by: VIAN
I just told you from observation that I don't see the screen door effect. Are you telling me that what I'm seeing is incorrect. It may not completely get rid of it, but the effect was diminished.

What you're 'seeing' is, at best, a psychosomatic effect, possibly because the image is not as sharp (so the inter-pixel gaps don't stand out as much). Running at non-native doesn't magically move the physical pixels closer together, which is the source of the 'screen door effect'.

I can't think of any reason to purposefully run at a non-native resolution on a fixed-pixel display. All you're going to do is to introduce blurring and other scaling artifacts, since the image must be scaled to the panel's native resolution unless you want black borders.

Edit: If text is your problem, you can scale up font sizes or use magnification software. Being forced to run at a non-native resolution due to low 3D performance usually means you spent too much on the monitor and not enough on your video card, and it will hurt image quality and sharpness.

You're pretty much right on that last edit paragraph, but damn if I can get a 20" LCD for $350 which is useful for many things compared to a decent video card upgrade for AGP that would cost me $250 and has limited uses (for the 2 or 3 games that I can't run 1680x1050 with my current card), it's not hard to make that "mistake".

 

[BobDaMenkey]

The only positive thing that I can think of about running anything at non-native resolution is to make it playable. With my laptop it's not a problem in any game I play. If I played BF2 or CoD2 I'd be having issues, but because I just stop at Source stuff its perfectly fine. I've got a 6800Go and a 1440x900 flat panel, so it drives it fast enough without AA.

 

[BespinReactorShaft]

Originally posted by: Matthias99
I can't think of any reason to purposefully run at a non-native resolution on a fixed-pixel display.

Anyone here plays FPSes on a large LCD (e.g. 2405fpw) with a non-top-of-the-line video card (e.g. X800)?

 

[VIAN]

nm

 

[bjc112]

Originally posted by: VIAN
I recently saw an XBOX 360 on a HDTV LCDtv running COD2 - It looked better than on PC. Anyway, it wasn't running at native resolution. I don't know why, but I don't think many LCDtvs do. But why would would someone use non-native resolutions?

Maybe we should start looking at this non-native issue differently. What are the positive aspects of running it in non-native form? I didn't have too much time to think of this, but...

It gets rid of the screen door effect, at least on mine it does. And it makes it look more like an LCDtv if you enjoy consistancy. The blur, I know is on everyone's mind gives an image, at least in games a more filmy look.

I'd like to know if there are other positive aspects about running it at non-native.

You can say what you want about XBOX vs. PC, but there is no doubt that CoD2 looks significantly better on my PC than the 360+ HDTV

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: BespinReactorShaft

Originally posted by: Matthias99
I can't think of any reason to purposefully run at a non-native resolution on a fixed-pixel display.

Anyone here plays FPSes on a large LCD (e.g. 2405fpw) with a non-top-of-the-line video card (e.g. X800)?

Like I said (in the addition to my post), doing this is a compromise that you have to make when your video card isn't fast enough. Nobody would purposefully run at non-native if given the choice and fast enough hardware.

 

[BespinReactorShaft]

Originally posted by: Matthias99
Nobody would purposefully run at non-native if given the choice and fast enough hardware.

Cripes, you've got me there. I missed the edit.