Widescreen Gaming...Is It Worth It?

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Ladyhawk

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 5, 2005
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Sharky Extreme is recommending two different LCD monitors this month for its high-end gaming computer: 1) the Samsung 204B 20" LCD and 2) the BenQ FP202W, a 20.1" widescreen.

I have some questions and concerns:

1. Is the widescreen gaming experience worth the difference in contrast (800:1 vs. 600:1); and response time (5 ms. vs. 8 ms.) or am I better off going with the Samsung?

2. I can't afford to upgrade often. I'm guessing widescreen gaming uses more CPU and GPU power. In a year or so might I be better off with a "traditional" screen?

3. How does widescreen gaming translate to older games I still play? Is there a way to utilize widescreen gaming with older games that don't have widescreen resolutions in the menu?

4. I tend to trust the Samsung name more, so I'm tempted to go with it, simply because it's a Samsung.

Finally, I have a question concerning all LCD monitors: I live far away from any decent place to buy computer hardware in person and I'd prefer not to have to deal with dead pixels. Is there a company that will test the monitor before shipping? I know New Egg has an "8 dead pixel or more" return policy. I am not familiar with LCDs since I've never owned one. How annoying is a dead pixel, anyway?
 
Well, in this case, you can't just do a standard vs widescreen debate, as the quality of the monitors in question is the bigger issue. I believe the Samsung should be better quality.

Widescreen is great, provided you have a good monitor. The reason why you see people raving about the 2007WPF/2005FPW, NEC (whatever its model name is), and Viewsonic 2025 is that they're all nice monitors first and foremost. The fact that they're widescreen is just icing on the cake.

I've seen reports of people saying that widescreen requires more power, but I haven't seen any confirmed testing, and it should actually be easier on your system since its rendering less total pixels. For the sake of not getting into too much semantics about it, we'll just call them equal. You'd need to upgrade both about the same.

For older games, you can usually "hack" them to run a widescreen resolution. Check out WidescreenGamingForum. While I don't know for sure on either of those, quite a bit of monitors will let you run 1:1 pixel scaling so that you could run a lower resolution without it stretching it which generally makes it look not too good.

Generally Samsung does offer good quality products. In this case, I would say the 204B probably is the better display. Now if you were to consider other ones (such as the Dell or Viewsonic which you can find for close to the price of the BenQ, don't know about the Samsung's price), then it would be a little different (I would probably recommend the 2007 or 2025 over the Samsung).

I don't know of any places that would test them before sending it to you, and not only that, but I wouldn't trust that they checked thoroughly enough (and they could possibly send you another person's return instead of a brand new one). The places that offer the best prices for monitors are probably too big for them to be able to focus on an individual sale unfortunately. Just try to find a company that will let you return it with little hassle (Buy.com, Dell, and there are some others, such as Costco) and without having to explain what your problem is.
 
darkswordsman17,

Oh really? Buy.com let's you return an LCD with little or no hassle? Just want to double and triple check on that, because I'm looking into buying the Samsung 244T and if I end up with input lag I'd want to return it and switch to the Samsung 204B. With Buy.com I'd have no problem returning?

That being said I actually am also having a bit of trouble deciding whether to go normal or wide. Although there is only a 20% pixel increace between 1600x1200 and 1920x1200 you end up paying 3 times as much. I'm just trying to decide if it's really worth it to get widescreen. This will be my first LCD and I don't intend to upgrade for a while, but evenwith casual gaming I'd have to have a powerful SLI setup to play on the 1920x1600 screen... while the 1600x1200 can be handled by a single card.

Thanks!!
 
Ladyhawk said:
Sharky Extreme is recommending two different LCD monitors this month for its high-end gaming computer: 1) the Samsung 204B 20" LCD and 2) the BenQ FP202W, a 20.1" widescreen.

I have some questions and concerns:

1. Is the widescreen gaming experience worth the difference in contrast (800:1 vs. 600:1); and response time (5 ms. vs. 8 ms.) or am I better off going with the Samsung?

2. I can't afford to upgrade often. I'm guessing widescreen gaming uses more CPU and GPU power. In a year or so might I be better off with a "traditional" screen?

3. How does widescreen gaming translate to older games I still play? Is there a way to utilize widescreen gaming with older games that don't have widescreen resolutions in the menu?

4. I tend to trust the Samsung name more, so I'm tempted to go with it, simply because it's a Samsung.

Finally, I have a question concerning all LCD monitors: I live far away from any decent place to buy computer hardware in person and I'd prefer not to have to deal with dead pixels. Is there a company that will test the monitor before shipping? I know New Egg has an "8 dead pixel or more" return policy. I am not familiar with LCDs since I've never owned one. How annoying is a dead pixel, anyway?
Click to expand...

For what it's worth, I currently own 4 Samsung monitors. 244T, 2x 915N, and a 910V. Of those, the 910 exhibits 2 dead or "stuck" (grey) pixels, and this monitor was also purchased used. Of the other three, I have no problems. I love my Samsung displays.
 
antioch said:
darkswordsman17,

Oh really? Buy.com let's you return an LCD with little or no hassle? Just want to double and triple check on that, because I'm looking into buying the Samsung 244T and if I end up with input lag I'd want to return it and switch to the Samsung 204B. With Buy.com I'd have no problem returning?

That being said I actually am also having a bit of trouble deciding whether to go normal or wide. Although there is only a 20% pixel increace between 1600x1200 and 1920x1200 you end up paying 3 times as much. I'm just trying to decide if it's really worth it to get widescreen. This will be my first LCD and I don't intend to upgrade for a while, but evenwith casual gaming I'd have to have a powerful SLI setup to play on the 1920x1600 screen... while the 1600x1200 can be handled by a single card.

Thanks!!
Click to expand...

I personally don't have any experience with returns to Buy.com. I've heard that they don't hassle you (ask for specific problem, etc.), just tell them you want to return it. Maybe its replacements, as a lot of places charge a restocking fee. Check their policies (sometimes they'll have different ones for displays over a certain size or items over a certain price or whatever). I would check into it more if you're going to spend that much there. Maybe give them a couple of calls to get different CSRs and see what answer you get as far as returns/replacement (e-mail too as you'll then have evidence of what they told you). I would imagine that if you're at least still ordering something they'll be pretty easy going, but people have different experiences with the same company (for instance, I've never had a bad experience dealing with Dell's support but a lot of people have).

Something to consider on the 24" monitors is that you could run 1:1 pixel scaling, which with 1600x1200 would end up giving you about a 20" viewable area. Its a tough decision and unfortunately one that no one can really make but you.
 
i have the viewsonic n2750w and its a pretty good monitor. widescreen gaming is nice and all, but to me seems kinda overrated. for movies though its nice.
 
I started widescreen gaming witha 2005fwp and frankly , i could never go back.

I Watch my son play on a 17 inch 4:3 and I feel like i am missing half the game.
 
yes. no doubt. do you like watching movies in widescreen or pan and scan? nuff said.

get teh widescreen.
 
I really belive Widescreen is the best man I wanted a lcd that can do everything for me
Big alot of space, I can plug Xbox 360 to, Hard core gaming, soft surfing the web, connect to a tv-tuner and watch nice cable on it, and edit movies, Game modding , and photoshop lots!

And I only upgrade my video card when I can no more play at high on all games and barely on medium then that is that for me to upgrade haha! (every 2 or 3 years ) and I am a student.

I spent de 500$CAN and for my VX2025 with 3 years guarantee and I think the best descision!

And worst comes to worst if you have like 1 game that really dosen't work in 1680x1050 put it on standard resolution and sit in the dark that way you wont iven notice the bars on the side lol.

Good luck
 
darkswordsman17 said:
Widescreen is great, provided you have a good monitor. The reason why you see people raving about the 2007WPF/2005FPW, NEC (whatever its model name is), and Viewsonic 2025 is that they're all nice monitors first and foremost. The fact that they're widescreen is just icing on the cake.
Click to expand...

Thanks, darkswordsman17. I did a search for a Viewsonic 2025, but couldn't find it on Pricewatch. Would you (or someone else in the know) mind giving me the exact model numbers for the three widescreens folks are raving about? I'd like to do a price/feature comparison.

Thank you kindly.

(BTW, I've been out of the computer hardware loop for awhile due to surgery/recovery blah blah blah, so I'm trying to catch up.)

LH
 
After having WideScreen I could not go back to 4:3. or the 'norm'. Movies and games all look great. Personally its worth the extra money, it just depends on what you want to do I spose!

In fact even when i sit in front of a 17" LCD It just seems so small now :)
 
As far as movies looking great goes, I doubt it.

Why?

Well, DVDs are low resolution, not 1900x1200, more like 500xWhatever, a little larger than a standard TV's resolution. So, when you enlarge them to that size on a monitor you see all the artifacting and noise in the background and what not. As far as I know there is no software DVD player that has "upscaling" like some new DVD players do, which cleans the picture and makes it look nicer at high resolutions. I mean, even watching a widecreen movie at 1600x1200 with the black borders on the top and bottom I notice the noise and such. So I imagine it would be a lot *more* at 1920x1200 with the movie taking up the entire screen.

And divx/xvid files is another thing I worry about (widescreen ones). Just wondering how shoddy they will look when using all 1920x1200 pixels when they were originally encoded at like 704x3xx.
 
antioch, you seem to be raising all the negative things.. does watching a DVD on a 50" plasma look crap? nope.. its looks great.. same goes for the widescreen LCD's. Just get your 24". You won't be dissapointed. ;)
 
++ to Samsung panels - own 2 and as soon as they put out their 30", I'll have a third.

+ to widescreen displays. I have one wide, one not, but the 30" will be a widescreen model. I tend to believe that gaming is heading to a widescreen future. I tend to enjoy a wider field of view in both fps's and mmo's.

$.02
 
Games: I personally think the extra field of view would be great in games, but be advised that some games still don't support widescreen... most notably Battlefield 2, which crops your screen vertically when you use widescreen.

DVDs:
Just about any computer screen requires upscalling from a DVD... DVDs are 720X480 IIRC. Considering that I have no trouble with watching things like DVDs and 704X396 anime fansubs on my computers, which run at 1024X768 and 1280X800, I seriously doubt that the modern PC has much trouble with upconversion... provided that you use a player that's good at it. I've seen WMP butcher some stuff.

In my experience, artifacts tend to appear more due to screen size and bad encoding then to resolution. Ever watched a 42 inch set from like 2 feet? I've seen some pretty strong motion artifacts doing that at electronics stores!
 
antioch said:
As far as movies looking great goes, I doubt it.

Why?

As far as I know there is no software DVD player that has "upscaling" like some new DVD players do, which cleans the picture and makes it look nicer at high resolutions.
Click to expand...

Isn't that was Zoom Player Pro and FFDshow do? Take a look at some HTPC stuff, and you'll see that upscaling has been on PC's long before it was on set top players.
 
Oh really?

I've been using Media Player Classic ever since MWP7 came out. I've also been using the xvid codec as I heard that FFDshow doesn't have such a great playback quality.

However, you say it is good at upscaling? That I didn't know.

Yes, I may be pointing out all the negative things because you need to keep them in mind when making a purchase this expensive - simply so that you know what you're getting into before hand. You should always be the saavy customer.

Sorry, I just wanted to put it all out there before I decided to go with that sexy Samsung 244T, especially, since as I've said before, it will put a serious dent in your wallet. The monitor plus the SLI setup required to play at native resolution.
 
Skipper007 said:
Games: I personally think the extra field of view would be great in games, but be advised that some games still don't support widescreen... most notably Battlefield 2, which crops your screen vertically when you use widescreen.

DVDs:
Just about any computer screen requires upscalling from a DVD... DVDs are 720X480 IIRC. Considering that I have no trouble with watching things like DVDs and 704X396 anime fansubs on my computers, which run at 1024X768 and 1280X800, I seriously doubt that the modern PC has much trouble with upconversion... provided that you use a player that's good at it. I've seen WMP butcher some stuff.

In my experience, artifacts tend to appear more due to screen size and bad encoding then to resolution. Ever watched a 42 inch set from like 2 feet? I've seen some pretty strong motion artifacts doing that at electronics stores!
Click to expand...


Battlefield 2 can be hacked and it looks amazing and expected in the new patch it will support Widescreen format just chek the EA forum it has been bombarded with flames because they still didnt make all there games widescreen possible.

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/
 
jacuzz1 said:
I Watch my son play on a 17 inch 4:3 and I feel like i am missing half the game.
Click to expand...

You're still missing half the game by playing on a 16:9(16:10). The top half. :D
 
RumblePen said:
You're still missing half the game by playing on a 16:9(16:10). The top half. :D
Click to expand...


Lets not cloud the issue with the facts now :p
 
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