Scaling on NEC 20WMGX2

[Marlowe13]

I bought an NEC 20WMGX2 a few weeks ago and am extremely happy with it, but have a couple of questions on resolution and aspect ratio. When playing games that lack a widescreen solution, I would prefer to play games with a resolution lower than 1680x1050 in a centered image with letterboxing. I am using an ATI 1900 xtx and have the CCC control set to display the image in that way. Nonetheless, the monitor scales games with lower than native resolution to fill the entire screen. Unlike other inputs on the NEC, the DVI input lacks any way to adjust how the image is displayed (this appears to be confirmed by the NEC manual). Is there anyway to get this monitor to display lower than native resolution games with letterboxing?

I have a somewhat related question on using the VGA input. I am using the NEC to view OTA HDTV with a external standalone Samsung HD tuner. I have the tuner connected to the NEC via the component input and it displays perfecltly in widescreen (with the proper slight letterboxing to present a 16:9 aspect ratio from the native 16:10). However, when I tried to connect the tuner via the VGA input (which should be a bit higher quality), I got a 4:3 image with side letterboxing rather than a 16:9 image. I was unable to adjust this at all, since any attempt to use the OSD (or the supplied remote) returned an "out of range" message. Needless to say, I went back to the component connection. Any solution for this?

 

[xtknight]

Just as a note, my external Samsung SIR-T451 tuner also has issues connecting to my ViewSonic VP930b (with both VGA and DVI) in 720p. I even tried to flash the resolution into the VP930b's EDID and it still refuses. I still think the blame is on the monitor though. It doesn't show out of range, it just goes into standby.

 

[Marlowe13]

Thanks for the response. Yes, that's the same tuner that I am using. BTW, I got the tuner while I was waiting for Newegg to deliver the NEC and in the interim connected it to a Viewsonic 924 via the VGA input, and it displayed a perfect 16:9 image when properly adjusted.

 

[lamere]

That's one of the reasons I took the same monitor back. It won't scale properly for gaming, and it'll tell you that in the reviews and on the little peice of paper that was just inside the box when I opened it.
Everything is stretched no matter waht, and that for me is a NO-NO, especially in a $600+ monitor

 

[LittleNemoNES]

The tuner is the problem cos I can do it no problem with my 20wmgx2.

 

[us3rnotfound]

Hold on, this monitor doesn't have built-in scaling support in the OSD?

 

[hennethannun]

generally speaking, video cards have severall different scaling options.
1) the video card scales whatever res it output by your program up or down to a different res (ie your LCD's native res)
2) the video card outputs whatever resolution your program specifies (so it puts out 800*600 if you set your game or desktop to 800*600)
3) It outputs whatever resolution your program specifies surrounded by a black border around it. (ie, if you set 800*600 and your native res is 1680*1050, then the output is 1680*1050 with black pixels on the outside and 800*600 active pixels in the center of the display)

can anyone actually confirm how the NEC responds to these different options. My understanding is that there is not scaling option on the OSD, and any non-native resolution is scaled to 1680*1050. but what about option 3. does that work successfully?

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: lamere
That's one of the reasons I took the same monitor back. It won't scale properly for gaming, and it'll tell you that in the reviews and on the little peice of paper that was just inside the box when I opened it.
Everything is stretched no matter waht, and that for me is a NO-NO, especially in a $600+ monitor

I don't know what you guys are whineing about I scale just fine


http://www.csc.calpoly.edu/~smanning/1280x1024.jpg
&
http://www.csc.calpoly.edu/~smanning/1024x768.jpg

All you have to do with nV driver is setup a hot key NV destop manager to "toggle LCD scaling." In my case it's set as Alt + F1. I hit it once and it will scale, pixel for pixel, forever after. I hit Alt + F1 again and it stretches forever after. That's easier than OSD.

Hold on, this monitor doesn't have built-in scaling support in the OSD?

Not with DVI in.. Has to do with tuner electronics and DVI. All other NEC's have OSD...

 

[hennethannun]

bump

 

[xtknight]

The NEC's own DSP can not perform centered mode in DVI-PC mode (or with a PC hooked up to DVI-HD mode it appears). NVIDIA cards perform the letterboxing on the GPU itself and send the monitor the full resolution. Why ATI can't I have no clue.

In VGA on the NEC, 1080i is only sort of supported (hence the "out of range" but you can get it to go away by pressing exit, although you can't adjust anything). DVI handled 1080i brilliantly for me. The "video" inputs (component, S-Video, composite) have great scaling options.

The DVI-HD mode (in OSD options) when used with my Samsung tuner allows me more expansion (scaling) options.

 

[josh6079]

Why does this say that my maximum horizontal resolution is 1080 and my maximum vertical resolution is 1920?

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: josh6079
Why does this say that my maximum horizontal resolution is 1080 and my maximum vertical resolution is 1920?

The NEC DSP actually can downscale 1920x1080 in DVI/component, and in VGA with the small side-effect of that "out of range" message. What software is that?

 

[josh6079]

ATI Tray Tools.