16/10 or 16/9???

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Leo Santare

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I just got a new Dell XPS desktop and Im in the market for a 30" LCD display.
I understand that LCD monitors are now starting to come available in 16/9. I mainly use my pc for audio post production in windows vista ultimate 32 bit. Which to my understanding vista will work fine in a 16/10 or 16/9 display. Here's the thing I also plan to use my pc for occasional gaming, I bought 3 new releases 2 of which display in 16/10 and 16/9 where as the other one only displays in 16/9. my ulitmate goal here is to be able to play all new and future games in full screen, (no black bars). I quess what I'm asking is, will future games for the pc, be rendered in only 16/9? Or will they always support 16/10.
I've spoke with nec display and theystill have no plans as of yet for 16/9. I also spoke with ubisoft and ea games but cant seem to get a straight answer. I'm not sure if game developers render the same game differently for a consol and a pc. Is it only a matter of time before lcd monitors become 16/9 like TVs? So I'm looking at a Dell 3008WFP for $2000 but I dont want to buy if down the line some games will only display in 16/9.
Dell is starting to come out with 16/9 displays and wanted to ask if it would be better just wait for 30" 16/9 to hit the market of get the 30" 16/10?
Thanks any feedback is greatly appreciated.
 
What PC game only renders in 16:9. That makes no sense at all. Since 99% of monitors aren't 16:9.

I think you are mistaken.
 
The game is shaun white snowboarding. The display settings are at 1680x1050 which is 16/10, but it displays with the black bars. (top and bottom) I'm not mistaken.
I not sure but I have a good feeling this may happen more and more with future games.
For me there is nothing worse than having some games display in full screen and some in 16/9 (letterbox) The other side is if I were to get a 16/9 display will some games only support 16/10 or do they all now support both?
 
Looking at the screen shots for that game, it would have black bars even on a 16:9 screen. Pretty weird choice. Basically black bars on every monitor that exists. I has some strange non standard aspect that doesn't fit any monitor. That would be like 1920:1000 or 16:8.3

I don't see this as any kind of trends. In rendering games you can render easily to any screen resolution or aspect, there is no reason to pick one fixed aspect unless they chose it for some strange reason like in this case.
 
16:10 monitors are slowly being phased out by 16:9 monitors, but the problem is that you lose some vertical space if you go 16:9 so it's not as good for viewing web pages. I would rather get that extra bit of real estate.

As for resolution for games, have you noticed they still support the non-widescreen resolutions? e.g. 1280x1024, and there are hardly any new 4:3 monitors out there. This is a good choice because it doesn't take alot of effort to release games in different resolutions and you are including all gamers using all different kinds of monitors.

Right now, 16:9 monitors are all TN panels. Personally, I'm a casual gamer and I much prefer non-TN panels. It just looks better. Although, who knows what they'll release in the future.
 
You will find the WideScreenGamingForum of great interest, particularly their Games List which details what games have what issues with widescreen.

The WSGF's entry for Shaun White Snowboarding is here. You will see from the screenshots in the report that they were able to make it play without black bars by using a registry hack, which is detailed in the report.
 
The game has to be 16/9 because I hooked my pc up to my 16/9 tv upstairs and there were no black bars?
 
Get a 4:3 now you still can. If you need bigger then 1600x1200 stay with 16:10

Don't buy a 16:9! That's like helping the enemy.

TN? Bad!

IPS? Good!

IPS in PC monitors? Not a single one 16:9. So that makes 16:9 bad :D


But seriously, almost everything is vertical orientated, not horizontal. So the more to 1:1 the better.
 
jcvjcvjcvjcv said:
Get a 4:3 now you still can. If you need bigger then 1600x1200 stay with 16:10

Don't buy a 16:9! That's like helping the enemy.

TN? Bad! IPS? Good! IPS in PC monitors? Not a single one 16:9. So that makes 16:9 bad :D

But seriously, almost everything is vertical orientated, not horizontal. So the more to 1:1 the better.
Click to expand...

I was lucky enough to get a pair of NEC 20WMGX2 monitors while they were still available (don't bother looking, they are not). Flawless 20.1" 16:10 IPS monitors. All but four 22" monitors are TN, and it still feels like every 24" is flawed in some way (not the least of which there is no such thing as a 24" IPS).

But I approve of widescreen, be it 16:9 or 16:10. It makes games feel more cinematic.

I challenge your opinion that games are vertically oriented. By that I mean that information to the sides is almost always more useful than information at the top and bottom - because NPCs, monsters and other game entities tend to come at you from the front and sides, rarely from above and below. In most games, what is above and below is just empty sky/ceiling and the ground. Most people still think 2D even in a 3D game. I find even space games (X3 Reunion, Freelancer, etc) tend to be designed 2D, even though they give an illusion of being full 3-D.
 
Games may not be be vertically oriented, but productivity usage is, internet usage is.

I don't mind widescreen monitors as long as they are not a step backwards. I have been using 1600x1200 for at least 8 years. I am not going to a shorter vertical. So my 24 widescreen is a 1920x1200.

The only PC games that support 16:9 but not 16:10 will be really unbelievably poorly done console ports.
 
True, there should be more problems with an 16:9 monitor than an 16:10 monitor, until they become mainstream enough. 16:10 is not going to be phased out during any monitor that exists todays timeframe. And even if 16:9 took over tomorrow it will still take years before they beat 16:10 in the market. Thus 16:10 is the safer bet for PC use.

And much better IMHO. 16:10 has low enough vertical resolution.

And honestly, black bars is not that big a deal is it? Buy a decent monitor with decent blacks and the contrast from whatever you watch will make the black bars just that. Black. Just like the frame on the monitor.
 
I had to make a choice and came really close to getting a 22" 1080p monitor but ended up getting a 22" 1680 x 1050 16:10 monitor. I decided against 1080p because I was concerned my video card couldn't handle the resolution and I have not seen 1080p panels as fast as the curent 16:10 panels which was a concern for me because I mostly game- either on my Xbox 360 or PC.
 
Leo Santare said:
I just got a new Dell XPS desktop and Im in the market for a 30" LCD display.
I understand that LCD monitors are now starting to come available in 16/9. I mainly use my pc for audio post production in windows vista ultimate 32 bit.
Click to expand...

I use my Dell 3007 for programming, gaming, and audio recording\production with Pro Tools (just upgraded to 8).

If audio post production is what you are going to use this for the most, absolutely get the Dell 3008 instead of a 16:9.

Don't worry about games. 16:10 is what I use, and if a game cannot beplayed at 2560x1600 it is not worth playing ;-). I have yet to play a game that does not support that.

I am sure you can find one or 2, but that is probably true for any ratio.

Good luck, and let us know what you decide.
 
evilsofa said:
I was lucky enough to get a pair of NEC 20WMGX2 monitors while they were still available (don't bother looking, they are not). Flawless 20.1" 16:10 IPS monitors. All but four 22" monitors are TN, and it still feels like every 24" is flawed in some way (not the least of which there is no such thing as a 24" IPS).

But I approve of widescreen, be it 16:9 or 16:10. It makes games feel more cinematic.

I challenge your opinion that games are vertically oriented. By that I mean that information to the sides is almost always more useful than information at the top and bottom - because NPCs, monsters and other game entities tend to come at you from the front and sides, rarely from above and below. In most games, what is above and below is just empty sky/ceiling and the ground. Most people still think 2D even in a 3D game. I find even space games (X3 Reunion, Freelancer, etc) tend to be designed 2D, even though they give an illusion of being full 3-D.
Click to expand...

HP LP2475w is a IPS.

Some games might not be vertical orientated, but that's why I said "almost everything".

Battlefield 2 uses a 4:3 FOV and it's great with the expansion Special Forces, where there is a lot of activity on the rooftops. Also great for chopper flying to have something visible on the ground.

And then I didn't even mention games like Age of Empires or Supreme commander; You are basicly looking at a map. So the more 1:1 it is, the better. With Age of Empires you have a bar on the lower end of the screen to show you a lot of info. If you have that on 16:10 leave alone on 16:9 you simply don't have much left.
 
Thanks everyone, but after a lot of thinking I'm going to wait for a 30" 16/9 lcd monitor.
If there isn't one released soon I'll just get the best 32" lcd TV that exists. For me having the correct aspect is more important than everything else. Plus everything looks better on a 16/9 display.
 
Why would anything look better on a 16/9 display?

Also as said, you will probably have more difficulties reaching your goals on a 16/9 display than on a 16/10 display.

I just can't understand how you can even think of replacing a 30" monitor with an 32" TV just because of aspect ratio. Thats like choosing a chair instead of an airplane just cause the airplane didn't come with tinted windows.
 
I know this will come as a shock to many on [H], but PCs do more than just play games and movies, and most PCs in the world are used for general surfing, business and productivity software.

16:10 isn't some accident that happened on the PC while media and entertainment went 16:9. 16:10 was done quite on purpose as a more suitable ratio for general purpose PC use and is able to fit two standard Letter pages in portrait mode side by side.

I don't understand what the OP's problem is... Instead of having a couple of games which are in 1080 showing black bars on a 1200-pixel tall screen which is 16:10, he'd rather have less screen real estate ALL THE TIME just to avoid black bars and have a non-standard PC monitor.

The aspect isn't "incorrect" on a 16:10, you just have extra space. You don't lose any of the 16:9 content and the picture isn't distorted (that's what the black bars are for).

I just don't get it... Some people need better things to worry about.
 
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