What happens to games on a widescreen LCD?

[Rkonster]

I am thinking of picking up an LCD which runs at 1900x1200. What happens when I try to play games on this? Anyone have any idea?

 

[ProviaFan]

I'm not sure what happens to your game, but I'm curious to know where you found such an interesting LCD.

 

[Akira13]

It sounds like one of those sweet Apple Cinema Displays. I want one!!! Somebody on this board was bashing them saying that the games would distort (I don't remember what thread... just that some guy had $5000 to blow on a monitor), but I doubt that. Instead, I'm pretty sure you can get it to display null areas around your game's resolution. You should go to CompUSA and ask them to demonstrate one for you.

 

[Rkonster]

This is the LCD

That is the LCD that I want. I am just really curious what happens to my games! I was thinking the same thing as Akira13, but can anyone confirm? Thanks.

 

[Akira13]

Oh man, that looks sweet. I've been looking for a widescreen (non apple) solution for myself (just to dream... I don't have the $$$ yet). How much does this thing cost anyway?

 

[Rkonster]

It retails for around $4,000 I believe.

 

[ProviaFan]

That's one sweet LCD, for certain, but - sorry to burst your bubble, if you had one - it's not a widescreen LCD, even though it's very big. The native resolution, 1920x1440, actually has a 4/3 aspect ratio - which is quite normal.

 

[Rkonster]

Originally posted by: jliechty
That's one sweet LCD, for certain, but - sorry to burst your bubble, if you had one - it's not a widescreen LCD, even though it's very big. The native resolution, 1920x1440, actually has a 4/3 aspect ratio - which is quite normal.

It is a misprint on the Samsung USA website. It should say 1900x1200. I made sure by verifying it at many other sources, including the Samsung Korea website.

 

[ProviaFan]

Oh, sorry, I didn't know about that misprint. Anyway, most LCDs with "odd" aspect ratios seem to have options to strech the image so that it remains intact, and does not become distorted. So if you want to play a game at 1280x960, it will be fine, but there will be two black bars on each side of your screen. Of course, if your game is able to run natively at 1900x1200, you'll be great, and you'll get to see more, afaik.

 

[Rkonster]

Hmmm, cool! Thanks for the input guys. I guess I'll find out for sure if I end up buying it. Hehe

 

[Apex]

Wow, very nice choice! It's almost as good as the WideUSA Interface 2400HB which uses the new faster, brighter Samsung 24" 16:10 panel (the 240T currently uses the older panel, but they'll switch over sometime in the future).

Wide USA

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: Apex
Wow, very nice choice! It's almost as good as the WideUSA Interface 2400HB which uses the new faster, brighter Samsung 24" 16:10 panel (the 240T currently uses the older panel, but they'll switch over sometime in the future).

Wide USA

Wow, that's one huge LCD. If only I had $4,500...

 

[Akira13]

Rkonster, please post your opinion on the LCD when you get it. I'm curious to hear a consumer's opinion. Maybe I'll win the lottery one day and then I can get one.

 

[Akira13]

I just noticed that GTA3 can run in widescreen resolutions. If you have a really powerful video card (I'm talking GF4 Ti4600, or any of those industrial boards...), it would look really great.

 

[MrCoyote]

If the game can't run in widescreen mode, then you will have black borders along the left/right side and possibly even top/bottom of the screen. In my opinion, LCD monitors have a ways to go to catch up with CRT for gaming/video. You will notice tearing and bluring in fast moving games because the LCD can't switch it's pixels on/off fast enough. Wait until THIN CRT monitors come out for good portable gaming/video. These are going to overtake regular LCD.

 

[Akira13]

MrCoyote, thanks for the info. Those things look really cool.

 

[kendogg]

Originally posted by: MrCoyote
If the game can't run in widescreen mode, then you will have black borders along the left/right side and possibly even top/bottom of the screen. In my opinion, LCD monitors have a ways to go to catch up with CRT for gaming/video. You will notice tearing and bluring in fast moving games because the LCD can't switch it's pixels on/off fast enough. Wait until THIN CRT monitors come out for good portable gaming/video. These are going to overtake regular LCD.

So those are crts but narrowed down to lcd style type displays? wow does look neat

 

[Rkonster]

Originally posted by: MrCoyote
If the game can't run in widescreen mode, then you will have black borders along the left/right side and possibly even top/bottom of the screen. In my opinion, LCD monitors have a ways to go to catch up with CRT for gaming/video. You will notice tearing and bluring in fast moving games because the LCD can't switch it's pixels on/off fast enough. Wait until THIN CRT monitors come out for good portable gaming/video. These are going to overtake regular LCD.

Those seem nice, but I don't think they will have a 24 in widescreen version anytime soon. Also, with a 25ms response time, LCD's work quite well for gaming, though the LCD is indeed very expensive.

 

[Abem3]

If you use powerstrip to make a custom resolution, most games will recognize and have an option for it. I had my PC hooked up to my 16:9 projector and was able to put most games I play into the resolution I needed. Check a home theater based forum's HTPC area for more details.


Abe

 

[joinT]

Originally posted by: jliechty
Oh, sorry, I didn't know about that misprint. Anyway, most LCDs with "odd" aspect ratios seem to have options to strech the image so that it remains intact, and does not become distorted. So if you want to play a game at 1280x960, it will be fine, but there will be two black bars on each side of your screen. Of course, if your game is able to run natively at 1900x1200, you'll be great, and you'll get to see more, afaik.

My Fujitsu P-2040 laptop has this.. it generally uses a 1240x768 res. but for gaming (lol) I change it to 800x600 & stretch the screen (for my laptop, i just press Fn+F5) I'm sure your LCD will have something similar in software.

 

[N8Magic]

[brag] Lookee the monitor on my desk! [/brag]

Anywho, you'd be surprised as most DirectX or OpenGL powered games have support with widescreen resolutions built right in. For games that don't have the widescreen support (rare with new games) you can either stretch the image or play it with black bars on the side at a normal resolution.

The key thing i've noticed with LCD's is that you MUST try to keep them at their native resolution (1600x1024 in my case) or the monitor will scale the image which degrades the image greatly.