widescreen gaming on the 2405?

[Compddd]

Say a game only goes up to 1600x1200, how do I force it to run on the 2405 with the black lines on both sides so it doesnt look scretched? I tried using the search function on the forums but coulnd't find an answer. Thanks!

 

[krg]

On the monitor, go into the menu, select Image Settings, then select Scaling. 1:1 will give you a 1600x1200 picture at true res. If you select Aspect then it would be stretched to the top/bottom edges keeping the 4:3 ratio (but 1200 is already full size). For completeness, Fill will stretch the image over all the screen, distorting a 4:3 image.

(Note, the menu won't always allow you to change the Scaling option, e.g. if you're already running in 1920x1200 mode, which cannot be scaled)

 

[Dr_John]

Or if you're using an nVidia card, you have an option to do it in the nVidia settings control panel (under 'digital flat panel setting'). It works well.

Digital Flat Panel Settings
If you have a digital flat panel - most commonly an LCD display - then this section allows you to determine how various resolutions appear on your screen. Basically since an LCD display consists of a fixed number of separate pixels, they have a 'native' resolution at which images display at their sharpest. This native resolution (e.g. 1280x1024) is the number of pixels in width x number of pixels high in the panel, and any time your software resolution is different to this native resolution the LCD panel will do one of the following depending on your choice:

Display Adapter Scaling - The scaling unit on your graphics card will rescale the image before it reaches your monitor. If you have a high-end graphics card and a relatively middle-to-low end monitor, this option results in the best image quality.
Centered Output - The image isn't scaled at all, but instead your monitor will run at its maximum resolution and the image will display in the center of your monitor. This will result in a black border around the sides of the image.
Monitor Scaling - If you have a high-end monitor, try this form of scaling versus the Display Adapter Scaling option above to see which is best. Otherwise usually the scalers in monitors are not as good as those on high end graphics hardware.
Fixed Aspect Ratio Scaling - Similar to Centered Output scaling, this option will maintain the original aspect ratio of the chosen resolution and display it with black bars to the sides/above/below the on-screen imagee.

http://www.tweakguides.com/NVFORCE_6.html

ATI probably offers something similar.