Widescreen LCD

machstem

Member
Nov 25, 2004
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I am in the process of looking for LCD monitors. I noticed a large drop in price, by almost 100$, on most 19-23inch LCD monitors.

My question is the following: For mostly and mainly gaming, would I best with a regular LCD/DVI/8ms rather than the same, but with the screen being widescreen? Remember, it is mostly for gaming; Battlefield 2, COD2, and upcoming FPS games and LOTR BFME 2

Thanks all!
 

Markbnj

Elite Member <br>Moderator Emeritus
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Right now most games do not natively support widescreen resolutions. More than a few do, but the majority do not. However, widescreen is awesome on the games that do support it (I play COD2 and DAOC in 1650 x 1080 now), and more will support it in the future. In addition that extra screen realestate is nice, and if you watch letterboxed widescreen dvds you'll appreciate it as well.
 

videopho

Diamond Member
Apr 8, 2005
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Widescreen is a must if you consider running your pc with MCE2005. Not just DVD but HDTV as well. I beg to differ about the majority of the games do not support w/s. Older games, yes but many are tweakble per w/s forum. Newer games like FEAR, HL2, FS2004, COD2 etc all support w/s
 

rbV5

Lifer
Dec 10, 2000
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I prefer widescreen displays, and I tend to keep a display "much" longer than any other component...I'd go widescreen, and I'd get the finest display I could possibly afford.
 

machstem

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Nov 25, 2004
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What about Battlefield 2, I have no clue on how a game is "supported for wide screen"...is it an available resolution in-game?

PEACE (and thanks for all the input guys)
 

videopho

Diamond Member
Apr 8, 2005
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What about Battlefield 2, I have no clue on how a game is "supported for wide screen"...is it an available resolution in-game?

PEACE (and thanks for all the input guys)[/quote]

bf2 ws tweak
It requires a little work but is fairly simple.
 

machstem

Member
Nov 25, 2004
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I seen the resolutions, from what I've noticed, is that most of the options either condense the screen so that some of the display is missing, or the image gets squished.

So much for that idea! :)

Thanks guys, really appreciate it.

PEACE
 

VIAN

Diamond Member
Aug 22, 2003
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widescreen gaming is kinda down in the dumps. Although it's wanted, support for it isn't really offered. The only game I know that offers it is HL2. That's one game. Until it becomes more popular, I wouldn't get it. The money could be better spent on more screen area that you're actually gonna use. Damn developers.
 

Ackmed

Diamond Member
Oct 1, 2003
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Originally posted by: VIAN
widescreen gaming is kinda down in the dumps. Although it's wanted, support for it isn't really offered. The only game I know that offers it is HL2. That's one game. Until it becomes more popular, I wouldn't get it. The money could be better spent on more screen area that you're actually gonna use. Damn developers.


Holy ignorance. You are very mistaken about only one game supporting it. If you dont know the facts, please dont act like you do.

More newer games support WS, than not.
 

videopho

Diamond Member
Apr 8, 2005
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4x3 screen is on its way out. In is 16x9 widescreen. Same can be said for both pc and tv industry.
Get widescreen now so you won't regret later on.
 

duragezic

Lifer
Oct 11, 1999
11,234
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He's sort of right. HL2 is the one of very few popular games that supports it correctly. By this I mean it adjusts the FOV so that you actually see more on the sides and lose nothing vertically. UT2k4 also allows this if you switch the FOV to 100 while running 1680x1050. Very few others not. Games like BF2 can be ran in widescreen but you lose vertically viewing space. SEe the Master Game List on the Widescreen Gaming Forum which lists what type of widescreen they are.

Still tho, I really like WS overall.
 

Rage187

Lifer
Dec 30, 2000
14,276
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81
Most games DO support widescreen.

CoD2
WoW
HL2
Quake4
NFS:MW

those I play at 1920x1200, whether through native support or an INI edit.
 

Markbnj

Elite Member <br>Moderator Emeritus
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Sep 16, 2005
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The truth is that many games can be tweaked to fill a 16:10 screen, and many will offer that res if the installed graphics subsystem (i.e. card + directx) supports it. But most do not correctly calculate the field of view for widescreen. BF2 is one of these, and running it widescreen is not a good option imo. It also does not work reliably for all BF2 installations.

But then BF2 does not work reliably for all BF2 installations either ;).
 

Ackmed

Diamond Member
Oct 1, 2003
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Originally posted by: VIAN
4 games?

and Quake4 sucks.


He listed five, not 4.

The list is much longer than that. You're obviously just trolling, nobody can be as ignorant as you to think only one game supports WS. Hows about stopping.
 

rbV5

Lifer
Dec 10, 2000
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You should look forward with a display purchase. My present, Main Gaming CRT was manufactured in 1998, and will need replacing sometime sooner than later. I would hate to be tied to a 4:3 display for the next 8 years.
 

xtknight

Elite Member
Oct 15, 2004
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I suppose it's a good idea, if and only if:

[*]You're happy with how your games are going to look on it.
[*]You're happy with it for normal desktop use.
[*]You're happy with small black bars or a little distortion if you want to view actual 16:9 HDTV.
[*]You're happy with the height of it. Many people think the 2005FPW is way too short.

That said, widescreen gained traction because your eyes favor the horizontal viewing. And 16:10 is a "happy medium". You should be able to overcome the 16:10 complications with relative ease.
 

bunnyfubbles

Lifer
Sep 3, 2001
12,248
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Originally posted by: Ackmed
Originally posted by: VIAN
widescreen gaming is kinda down in the dumps. Although it's wanted, support for it isn't really offered. The only game I know that offers it is HL2. That's one game. Until it becomes more popular, I wouldn't get it. The money could be better spent on more screen area that you're actually gonna use. Damn developers.


Holy ignorance. You are very mistaken about only one game supporting it. If you dont know the facts, please dont act like you do.

More newer games support WS, than not.

I agree, I've got a game from 1998 that supports widescreen. Granted it is just a cropped image, you can tweak the game's FOV via scripts. (BTW the game is Tribes)