Wide screen monitor

[Joy]

This isn't really an XP question specifically, but a general computer
question which I hope someone can answer. I just had to get a new monitor
(in a hurry) and only the flat screen type seems to be available in stores
now. My question: Are all flat screen monitors also wide screen? I find
that it distorts whatever one is viewing. A standard rectangular document
(8½ x 11) looks almost square!

 

[Bob I]

No. You just need to adjust the video adapter resolution to match the
screen. See "change your screen resolution" in Windows Help and Support.

 

[Ken Blake]

This isn't really an XP question specifically, but a general computer
question which I hope someone can answer. I just had to get a new monitor
(in a hurry) and only the flat screen type seems to be available in stores
now. My question: Are all flat screen monitors also wide screen?

No. But many, perhaps most of the newer flat-panel LCD monitors are.

I find that it distorts whatever one is viewing. A standard rectangular
document (8½ x 11) looks almost square!

You are running it at the wrong resolution. You need to use a wide-screen
resolution. Right-click the desktop, choose Properties, and change it on the
Settings tab.

If you don't find wide-screen resolutions listed there, you have an older
video card that doesn't support them. If that's the case you have three
choices:

1. Replace your video card
2. Replace your monitor
3. Live with it.

 

[Phisherman]

This isn't really an XP question specifically, but a general computer
question which I hope someone can answer. I just had to get a new monitor
(in a hurry) and only the flat screen type seems to be available in stores
now. My question: Are all flat screen monitors also wide screen? I find
that it distorts whatever one is viewing. A standard rectangular document
(8½ x 11) looks almost square!

The widescreen is the one to get, but you can get one that is not.
Once you use a widescreen you'll understand why.

 

[PD43]

Are all flat screen monitors also wide screen? I find

Change your resolution to a wide screen one (12xx by 768), or set your
desktop so things don't stretch to fit.

 

[Farad'n]

This isn't really an XP question specifically, but a general computer
question which I hope someone can answer. I just had to get a new monitor
(in a hurry) and only the flat screen type seems to be available in stores
now. My question: Are all flat screen monitors also wide screen? I find
that it distorts whatever one is viewing. A standard rectangular document
(8½ x 11) looks almost square!

You are right - it is not an XP question and does not belong here.

Ask somewhere else.

 

[Joy]

Thanks everyone (except the person who told me to ask elsewhere but didn't
suggest where). It looks like I'll have to "live with it". I don't seem to
have wide-screen resolution or 12xx by 768. PD43, is there some way to "set
my desktop so things don't stretch to fit" other than the suggestions made
by others? My computer is a laptop (I use a docking station); it was bought
in 2004.

 

[beamish]

This isn't really an XP question specifically, but a general computer
question which I hope someone can answer. I just had to get a new monitor
(in a hurry) and only the flat screen type seems to be available in stores
now. My question: Are all flat screen monitors also wide screen? I find
that it distorts whatever one is viewing. A standard rectangular document
(8½ x 11) looks almost square!

Hello, First try the manufacturer site for the correct settings, resolution
and refresh rate.
Most but not all LCD monitors' use a 60Hertz refresh rate.
Try different resolutions until you find something you are comfortable using.
Something like 1440X900, 1220x768, continue down until "with some luck"
one will be acceptable.

take care.
beamish.

 

[M.I.5¾]

You are right - it is not an XP question and does not belong here.

Ask somewhere else.

Well he might have posted it in 'windows.public.windowsxp.hardware' as the
only active hardare newsgroup, but you as a mentally ill ****wit would have
objected to it being posted there as well. So what the hell.

 

[PD43]

Thanks everyone (except the person who told me to ask elsewhere but didn't
suggest where).  It looks like I'll have to "live with it".  I don't seem to
have wide-screen resolution or 12xx by 768.  PD43, is there some way to "set
my desktop so things don't stretch to fit" other than the suggestions made
by others?  My computer is a laptop (I use a docking station); it was bought
in 2004.

I can't remember where I found that option on a friend's laptop that
had the same problem. She had never noticed that everything was
stretched in width. It was a Compaq.

The resolution should be changeable by right-clicking on the desktop,
choosing Properties, then Settings. Moving the slider will change
your resolution.

That SHOULD fix your problem. Otherwise you'll have to find the
option "stretch to fit"... might be found the same as the above but
under Desktop.

 

[Bob I]

Danged if I can see any advantage to them...

1. It doesn't show more, just displays the same data stretched horizontally.

Only if you misconfigure it.

2. You have to have a bigger monitor - about 25% bigger - to get an image
size as large as the one on a standard but smaller monitor. The actualsize
of the image is governed by the distance top to bottom; if you have a 17"
diagonal normal monitor that distance is about 10.5 inches. To get that
same top to bottom measurement on a wide screen you would have to have about
a 21" diagonal monitor.

Wrong again, due to basing #2 on incorrect assumption in #1

Waste of money IMO. Same for TVs unless the viewed material was actually
shot in 16:9 width:height ratio rather than standard 35mm 3:4 ratio. Mostly
it is a good thing for the manufacturers/retailers who have managed to
convince people that less is more.

Partial credit, due to understanding that the configuration needs to be
correct.

 

[dadiOH]

The widescreen is the one to get, but you can get one that is not.
Once you use a widescreen you'll understand why.

Danged if I can see any advantage to them...

1. It doesn't show more, just displays the same data stretched horizontally.

2. You have to have a bigger monitor - about 25% bigger - to get an image
size as large as the one on a standard but smaller monitor. The actual size
of the image is governed by the distance top to bottom; if you have a 17"
diagonal normal monitor that distance is about 10.5 inches. To get that
same top to bottom measurement on a wide screen you would have to have about
a 21" diagonal monitor.

Waste of money IMO. Same for TVs unless the viewed material was actually
shot in 16:9 width:height ratio rather than standard 35mm 3:4 ratio. Mostly
it is a good thing for the manufacturers/retailers who have managed to
convince people that less is more.

YMMV

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

 

[dadiOH]

Watching wide-screen videos/films comes to mind.

"\Same for TVs unless the viewed material was actually
shot in 16:9 width:height ratio rather than standard 35mm 3:4 ratio."

I'd still rather watch them on a TV. Better yet, in a theater

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

 

[Bob I]

No, it is based on the explanation as I wrote it. To paraphrase...

A 17" wide screen monitor will display a smaller image size than a 17"
non-wide screen monitor. A 21" wide screen monitor will display an image
roughly the same size as a 17" non-wide screen monitor. Those facts are
due to the differing length: height ratios.

Please explain how that is incorrect.

A 21" wide screen will have a "resolution" of 1680x1050 and a 17" normal
will have a resolution of 1280x1024. Now if you properly configure your
video card to the correct resolution, you will have about 30% more
desktop space, IF on the other hand you "Stretch" the old resolution to
fit, you gain nothing but a distorted view. That's how it is incorrect.

 

[Joy]

Goodness, didn't mean to be the cause for a big argument! Anyhow, the
store I went to didn't have anything BUT the wide screen in flat screen, and
for that matter, ONLY had flat screen, not the "old' type monitor any more.
What's a gal to do?

 

[Bill in Co.]

Maybe get the widescreen. I'd do it too for the other computer, but I'm
too cheap at this point. But then again, I'm on dialup, and pretty content
with that.

 

[dadiOH]

Only if you misconfigure it.




Wrong again, due to basing #2 on incorrect assumption in #1

No, it is based on the explanation as I wrote it. To paraphrase...

A 17" wide screen monitor will display a smaller image size than a 17"
non-wide screen monitor. A 21" wide screen monitor will display an image
roughly the same size as a 17" non-wide screen monitor. Those facts are
due to the differing length: height ratios.

Please explain how that is incorrect.

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

 

[dadiOH]

To put it bluntly... whodafuck cares?

Not me. If idjits want to waste their money buying wide screen stuff
because they think it makes images bigger it is no skin off my nose.

Think "horse...water"...

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

 

[Bob I]

At the expense of the size of the items displayed. Forget pixels and
resolution and go back to Pythagoras...a² + b²=c²

Even the math proves me correct. Better yet, go try it on a monitor,
since you apparently have trouble actually doing geometry.

 

[Tim Slattery]

This isn't really an XP question specifically, but a general computer

question which I hope someone can answer. I just had to get a new
monitor (in a hurry) and only the flat screen type seems to be
available in stores now. My question: Are all flat screen
monitors also wide screen? I find that it distorts whatever one is
viewing. A standard rectangular document (8½ x 11) looks almost
square!

Flat screens come in both 4x3 and 16x9 ratios.

Traditional TV and monitor screens (all the way back to Thomas
Edison's first moving picture screen!) have a 4x3 aspect ratio.
Widescreens are generally 16x9. If you select a 4x3 resolution (like
800x600, 1024x768 or 1152x864) on a widescreen monitor, things are
going to de distorted. Anything displayed on that screen is going to
have to be stretched side-to-side in order to fill the screen. So
select a 16x9 resolution for wide screens (1280x1024, 1680x1050,)