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Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 9:16 am Post subject: LCD widescreen monitor question

Greetings everyone,

My project of building my media PC is half way complete. I am now looking at monitors.

Since this PC will be mainly a media/gaming PC, I am thinking of getting a widescreen LCD monitor - something like a 20 inch LCD widescreen from Dell. Is a widescreen monitor compatible with many of the games out there? Will the video be stretched at all like when a standard broadcast is stretched to fit a wide aspect TV?

Thanks,

EEps · Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 9:22 am Post subject:

I do believe that you can have yer widescreen monitor revert to a standard 4:3 format via the front panel button... Wink Smile

Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 10:09 am Post subject:

BamZipPow wrote:
I do believe that you can have yer widescreen monitor revert to a standard 4:3 format via the front panel button...

Indeed !

I'm staring right now at the Dell 2005FPW and i must say that it's a sweet monitor. Some games fully support widescreen(like Half-Life 2 and FarCry), but most of them will only give you the option to stretch the image to completely fit your monitor. However, i'm talking about pre-2005 games. Most recent games support widescreens.

Also, it might be interesting for you to know that even if Dell says that the 2005FPW has a response time of 12ms, about half of them are actually 8ms screens ! Dell won't tell you that and the only way to find out, is to take apart the monitor(i'm not gonna try that).

Mutt Joined: 10 Apr 2002 Posts: 121 Location: USA

The Dell 20 inch is great. My work bench here in front of me has 3 23" Sony Widescreen and and 1 24" Dell widescreen monitor. I like the Dell the best and it is cheaper than the Sony. We have some of the 20" in Dells here to and they are great.

I do have another option for you and i posted about this in another thread.

Look at this
http://accessories.gateway.com/AccessoryStore/PC+Accessories_316441/Monitors_316684/LCD+_Q1_Flat+Panel_Q1_+Monitors_316694/20_D1_21+inch+LCD_381955/1534243_ProdDetail

This monitor is really nice. We brought one on our lab for evaluation purposes and i went out and bought one for home. I know it is Gateway but the screen i beleive is made by Samsung.

This monitor has better split screen than the Dells and it has component in which the Dell does not have so it will do true 1080I down scaled to 1050. The Dell 20" does not have component in. The Gateway also does HDCP which a nice feature for DRM Cable content if you need support for that which most people will not use i would guess since they will have the pc on the DVI slot. The picture is much better than the Dell and you can get them at BestBuy. They do not look good in the store though with the crappy feed they have coming into them.

Downside to this monitor is that it has a 600 price vs the Dell which with coupons you can get under 400 sometimes and most to the time you can get it for around 450.00.

I can answer more questions if you want and we have almost every widescreen monitor on the market in the lab so i can give you feedback.

Oh and i love my job.

Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 11:27 am Post subject:

deagler wrote:
This monitor has better split screen than the Dells

I have never used a wide screen monitor before - I am using a dual monitor (standard 19 inch Samsungs) right now.

When you mentioned split screen, I am not sure what this is. Does the video card see one monitor? Does Windows use this monitor as a single unit?

Thanks,

Mutt Joined: 10 Apr 2002 Posts: 121 Location: USA

When i say slpit screen i mean that you can split the monitor inputs into different areas of the screen. Works like picture in picture on a TV but better.

So the Dell monitior that you are looking at has many connections to it. Your standard 19" CRT monitors only have 15pin VGA i am guessing.

The Dell that you are intersted in has
Svideo
Composite
DVI
15pin

So with split screen you can hook something up to Svideo of composite and display them side by side with what you have on DVI or 15pin VGA. So it is a cool feature.

Now with the Gateway you have all of the connections that the Dell has but you also get component which is nice if you have say and Xbox or other console system that works with component. Many of the cable and satelite boxes now have component out on them so you can send the signal to an HDTV device like a Gateway monitor. So you could essintially watch what ever you get on your cable box with the Gateway without the support of your computer.

Now back to split screen.

The Gateway can split the 15pinVGA and the DVI on the same screen which is something that the Dell cannot do. This is nice if you have more than one computer. You could also picture and picture that component sginal of the game in the top left of the screen or anywhere for that matter while you are working on something else on your pc or play your console system and still have your pc on the screen.

To me the benefits of the Gateway exceed the Dell which is why i bought the Gateway and the extra inch makes a big difference. Hopefully i have given you enough information to better make your choice.

Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 5:05 pm Post subject:

dstg_ll wrote:
Also, it might be interesting for you to know that even if Dell says that the 2005FPW has a response time of 12ms, about half of them are actually 8ms screens ! Dell won't tell you that and the only way to find out, is to take apart the monitor(i'm not gonna try that).

You don't have to take the monitor apart. Just follow the simple button-press sequence listed here:
http://www.baddass.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/tft_central/articles/content/dell1905_whichpanel.htm