Which LCD to get widescreen or regular?

[Guest Cali]

I'm buying one within the next week and wanted some advice. I'm not sure if I want a wide screen or regular screen. I did a search and looked at some of the threads. Just need some quick info and inputs from you guys. Like what you have and what resolution you run at. Most likely I'll be getting a 19 inch 5-8ms and something like 700-1, thanks

[SuperKungFu]

i have a widescreen and lock on looks and works great on a widescreen, its just that you have to deal with the ratio a lot. everytime you go into the options menu, you have to change the ration back to 1.6 for the proper look in Lock On. So that's why you have to set everything up right the first time to avoid going into the options frequently. But it's really up to you and your taste. I like a widescreen because you can do more work on it, not necessary talking about Lock On. Some games out there may or may not support widescreen so that's another factor. I'm pretty much stuck on a widescreen since im using a laptop, but i can hook it up to a CRT monitor for other use. After playing around with both monitors, i guess a reg one would be more worth it since you know most programs/games works fine on it whereas widescreen you have to do little workarounds.

[3Sqn_Fudd]

Ditto on everything Kung said

 

Cali... whats your budget buddy? If you can grab the 21inch Gateway FPD2185w at Best Buy for 500$ i would do so... I have it and love it, Shepski has one as well.

 

Other than that i would make sure you actually VIEW the monitor before buying and have recourse if there are any dead/stuck pixels.

 

As always... hit up LCD reviews

[504MrWolf]

I saw some 19" widescreen TFT monitors with 5ms responce for £130 on overclockers.co.uk and they were top notch!!

 

Shame you dont live over the pond :( but usefull to anyone UK side looking at this thread.

[kam]

I saw some 19" widescreen TFT monitors with 5ms responce for £130 on overclockers.co.uk and they were top notch!!

 

Was that the Hanns-G one?

 

I have it and it's absolutely top notch.

 

Dont think I can go back to a normal monitor after Ive been widescreen.

[504MrWolf]

Yeah thats the one. I was looking at the Belina too they have made some nice stuff over the years.

[Shaman]

Regular for gamers.

Widescreen for movie maniacs.

I'd go for regular only, since I watch movies using widescreen LCD HDTV.

 

Take a note that in A2A turns you'll actually benefit more from vertical field of view.

[Dudikoff]

Take a note that in A2A turns you'll actually benefit more from vertical field of view.

 

I saw sam pics of Lock On in WS and they seemed to be cropped vertically and somewhat zoomed in. Is it possible just to zoom out to have the same vertical screen size?

[3Sqn_Fudd]

I saw sam pics of Lock On in WS and they seemed to be cropped vertically and somewhat zoomed in. Is it possible just to zoom out to have the same vertical screen size?

 

No cropping is present if you're running LOMAC in the monitors native resolution (1680x1050 for me.)

 

Vertical field of view isnt an issue either... Just have graphics config handy on the desktop b/c if you make any changes to your game settings LOMAC like to revert back to 1.3 aspect ratios.

 

As for other utility points... I'll never go back to 4:3 screens, day to day it just feels more natural to have the screen wider.

[firesoldier845]

Here are just some things to think about as well. Most everything everyone else said makes sense but some other things to consider:

 

With LCD you want to run at native resolution or your image will look subpar. I'm not saying the image will be terrible but to get the best looking image you want to run at the native resolution. Just remember that bigger higher resolution monitors mean your probably going to have to run your games at higher resolution so make sure you have the other hardware to do that. I ran into that problem when I bought my first LCD. I had to run LockON at 1280X1024 and at the time (like 3 years ago) my vid card just had trouble pushing that high a resolution and getting any decent fps. Now it's not a problem. But FYI, even some of the newest vid cards are gonna take a pretty steep fps hit running at 1600+ resolutions. It's just something to consider.

 

As far as widescreen vs regular. Well my home PC that I run LockOn is regular 4:3 and my laptop is widescreen. Everything is pretty much going widescreen but there are a lot of games that don't support the widescreen format and it's pretty annoying to me. I definitley like the widescreen better when I can actually find games that run natively widescreen it's really nice. I have mixed feelings really - I like WS better for sure - but there are so many games that just look like crap on it cause they are formatted for 4:3.

 

I'd like a WS for my home PC as well, but I've kinda held off until it's the standards for everything. That's why I just haven't felt the urge to run out and get a new monitor for my home PC. BUt if your in the position that you have to get a monitor right now I don't think you could go wrong with either a WS or a 4:3. You'll probably get a longer life out of the WS cause I think eventually 4:3 will be phased out but that's still going to be a long long time before it is. Just a few things to consider that might help you out with your decision. But I would definitley say that if you don't have a top notch video card you might be better off with a smaller lower resolution LCD. In other words IMHO a 17" LCD that runs at 1280X1024 is going to look better than a 21" LCD that could run at 2560X2048 but you have to run it out 1280X1024 cause your video card can't push the 2560X2048 at a decent fps. Just my two cents. good luck

[Pilotasso]

I have one regular 19" and compared to wide screens I saw, it has a larger area. Wide are for bigger screens because, remenber the wider they are for a given size the smaller is the viewing area.

[hotray]

in other words: the pythagoras thing...;)

 

with a 19" WS you will lose 2.1" in height compared to a 19" regular.

(look at pixel amount)

vertical distance between two lines (in the cockpit view)will

decrease, the picture looks smaller or more far away.

 

19"WS 16:9 = 16.5" x 9.3" native resolution: 1440x900 pixels

 

19"reg 4:3 = 15.2" x 11.4" native resolution: 1280x1024 pixels

 

If you want a WS and you expect a increase of FOV with the same quality compared to your old regular screen then you have to go up at least 3" (eg. old 17" reg; new 20" WS)

 

I have the Samsung SyncMaster 204B (20", 1600x1200, 5ms) and I can recommend it for simulation/gaming.

[Guest Cali]

thx for all your inputs, I was leaning towards either 1280x1024 or 16x12. Wednesday I'll be going to costco and compUSA to take a look at some. I don't want to buy it online cause it somethings wrong with it, I don't want to go thru the hassles of returning it and waiting.

[Pilotasso]

I got one Fujitsu/Siemens 19" at 12ms last january and Im very happy with it. They seem to be very reliable and image quality is good for all kinds of gaming.

[Slammin]

Here are just some things to think about as well. Most everything everyone else said makes sense but some other things to consider:

 

With LCD you want to run at native resolution or your image will look subpar. I'm not saying the image will be terrible but to get the best looking image you want to run at the native resolution. Just remember that bigger higher resolution monitors mean your probably going to have to run your games at higher resolution so make sure you have the other hardware to do that. I ran into that problem when I bought my first LCD. I had to run LockON at 1280X1024 and at the time (like 3 years ago) my vid card just had trouble pushing that high a resolution and getting any decent fps. Now it's not a problem. But FYI, even some of the newest vid cards are gonna take a pretty steep fps hit running at 1600+ resolutions. It's just something to consider.

 

As far as widescreen vs regular. Well my home PC that I run LockOn is regular 4:3 and my laptop is widescreen. Everything is pretty much going widescreen but there are a lot of games that don't support the widescreen format and it's pretty annoying to me. I definitley like the widescreen better when I can actually find games that run natively widescreen it's really nice. I have mixed feelings really - I like WS better for sure - but there are so many games that just look like crap on it cause they are formatted for 4:3.

 

I'd like a WS for my home PC as well, but I've kinda held off until it's the standards for everything. That's why I just haven't felt the urge to run out and get a new monitor for my home PC. BUt if your in the position that you have to get a monitor right now I don't think you could go wrong with either a WS or a 4:3. You'll probably get a longer life out of the WS cause I think eventually 4:3 will be phased out but that's still going to be a long long time before it is. Just a few things to consider that might help you out with your decision. But I would definitley say that if you don't have a top notch video card you might be better off with a smaller lower resolution LCD. In other words IMHO a 17" LCD that runs at 1280X1024 is going to look better than a 21" LCD that could run at 2560X2048 but you have to run it out 1280X1024 cause your video card can't push the 2560X2048 at a decent fps. Just my two cents. good luck

 

 

Excellent post and I agree 100%!

 

I have a Dell 2405WS and absolutely love it but to get the best PQ, I have to run everything at 1920x1200. I'm running two 7800GTX's in SLi and they barely keep up.

[firesoldier845]

Excellent post and I agree 100%!

 

I have a Dell 2405WS and absolutely love it but to get the best PQ, I have to run everything at 1920x1200. I'm running two 7800GTX's in SLi and they barely keep up.

 

Yeah it happened to me so that's why I posted. I used to run LOCKON @ 1024X768 on my 19" CRT and my video card had no problem keeping up with the 1024X768 resolution. Then my wife bought me a nice 17" flat screen LCD that had a default resolution of 1280X1024. When I tried running at 1280X1024 my video card couldn't keep up with that and I had stutters and I was really disappointed. If I tried to run at 1024X768 on the LCD the game looked like crap, it was very noticeable image quality loss due to pixelation in the LCD. Now 3 years later I have a new compuer and a 7900GTX and I have no problems running at 1280X1024. The game looks great and I am very happy with the image quality\performance. But I wouldn't want to go out and buy a bigger screen and have a huge loss in performance if I had to try and run at 1600+ resolution. Truth is I don't know, maybe my card could run higher resolution without much of a performance loss but I'm happy with the resolution I have now and image quality. I don't want to spend the $$$ on a bigger monitor and find out I made another bad decision.

 

cheers

[GR27]

I'm going to buy LCD 22", Chi Mei, CMV 221D, Widescreen, 1680x1050, 5ms, DVI for only 500$, and i know it is not so well known but i know it is a good monitor and i have seen it in action.

Features:

Model 221D

Input Interface D-Sub & DVI-D

Pixel Pitch 0.282 mm

Resolution 1680 x 1050 / WSXGA+

Display Colour 16.2 M

Brightness 330 cd/m2

Contrast Ratio 800: 1

Viewing Angle

Horizontal 170°

Vertical 160°

Scan Rate Horizontal 30~82 KHz Vertical 56~76 Hz

Display Area 474 x 296 mm

Response Time 5 ms

Power Source 100~240VAC, 50/60Hz

Weight 4.5 kg Including Stand

Tilt Angle 0° ~ 20°

Wall Mount VESA Standard

Dimensions 532*402*244 mm

Power Consumption 48 W

Power Saving State 2 W

Security Colour Kensington Lock Silver Black

 

http://www.eyo.com.au/sh_image.php?img_file=%2Fimg%2Fmonitors%2Cdisplay%2F221d-1_2.jpg&thumb_sz=150

What do you think?

:pilotfly:

[WhiskeyRomeo]

Everything is pretty much going widescreen but there are a lot of games that don't support the widescreen format and it's pretty annoying to me. I definitley like the widescreen better when I can actually find games that run natively widescreen it's really nice. I have mixed feelings really - I like WS better for sure - but there are so many games that just look like crap on it cause they are formatted for 4:3.

Don't give up on your favorite games. You can see a list of games that support widescreen (with any tweaks, hacks or mods to get them to run that way) on sites like WideScreenGamingForum or TigerDave forum

 

If you just can't live with that game that only runs 1024x768 (I still have one) you can always run older games in a window on the bigger monitor. Yes the big black areas are slightly annoying but you should be able to ignore that after a minute or two.

[SuperKungFu]

There as some sims out there that doesn't have any widescreen support (well at least to my knowledge there is none) like Silent Hunter III or Dangerous Waters. That is where 4.3 monitors will be worth it.

[WhiskeyRomeo]

Silent Hunter III

Get the SH3 widescreen mod here: http://www.communitymanuals.com/shiii/index.php?title=Display_Resolution

[warthogmadman987]

I recomend the regular screens. I have the Samsung syncmaster 930b and love it.

[SuperKungFu]

Get the SH3 widescreen mod here: http://www.communitymanuals.com/shii...lay_Resolution

 

thanks :thumbup: I saw this link before but when i saw i had to download plugins and such, i kinda got turned away. But i guess ill give it anther shot. I hope Silent Hunter 4 will actually allow how to change the res in the option menu.

[WhiskeyRomeo]

thanks :thumbup: I saw this link before but when i saw i had to download plugins and such, i kinda got turned away. But i guess ill give it anther shot. I hope Silent Hunter 4 will actually allow how to change the res in the option menu.

I had some previous good experiances with the Windows Application Compatibility Toolkit so I wasn't too worried about giving it a shot. I've been really happy with this mod.

 

Also the whole Silent Hunter III Community Manual is a great asset. The Lock On community could really use something similar.

[GR27]

What do you think about this: LCD 22", Chi Mei, CMV 221D, Widescreen, 1680x1050, 5ms, Input Interface D-Sub & DVI-D, Pixel Pitch 0.282 mm, Display Colour 16.2 M, Brightness 330 cd/m2, Contrast Ratio 1:800, and the price 500$

Should i buy it?

:pilotfly:

[SuperKungFu]

Also the whole Silent Hunter III Community Manual is a great asset. The Lock On community could really use something similar.

 

Yea, especially over at the ubi forums. Most of the questions there just repeats itself over and over again. No one bothers to read the faq anymore. That's why i kinda stopped visiting that area.