Keeping the correct aspect ratio with widescreen monitors?

[jammer_jammer]

A friend of mine who is about to purchase a wide screen monitor asked me this question to which I have no answer

because I don't have a wide screen and never really had to deal with this issue. So, I thought I'd bring the question here to

see what you learned folks have to say.<p>

 

"I've been looking at 19" widescreen LCD's for me and the wife's PCs (Dell SFF P4 2.6Ghz models) ... most of the LCD's

I've looked at run at a recommended resolution of 1440 x 900 pixels, which is a 1.6:1 ratio. Neighbor has one, and the vid

card is running in a 4:3 resolution (1024x768) which the monitor stretches to fit the 1.6:1 screen. For doing graphic work, I

prefer to have some kind of setup that maintains the aspect ratio of the program / images.<p>

 

The closest these Dell SFF jobs come to that 1.6:1 ratio, is a 1280 x 768 resolution, which is 1.66:1 - though I don't know if

that's supported by a 19" widescreen ... <p>

 

I believe there's an AGP slot in the Dell SFF, though would need a small form factor (SFF) vid card - and there aren't many

of those.<p>

 

What's the best solution for maintaining the aspect ratio? Is there something I'm missing about widescreen monitor

modes/adjustment?<p>

 

If you have a 19" or larger widescreen LCD, did you upgrade your video card? "

[Matt Laur]

Unless you can get a video card that supports the display's native resolution, your other option is to just waste some pixels on the display, and NOT let the display re-size the image. You might end up with a black margin at the top or sides of the image, but that's better than distorting the image when you're working on photographs, needless to say.

 

It does seem a waste to get a new display and then to not be able to enjoy it at native resolution. Candidly - for what they cost these days - I'd go larger anyway. Easier on the eyes. You should be able to find the low-profile video card you need online - there are gazillions of options out there.

[midnightcommando]

A pixel is a pixel. Your photos won't be mysteriously stretched, because all the pixels on the monitor, widescreen OR 4:3, are still squares.

[jammer_jammer]

Thanks guys. I'll let 'em know.

[Matt Laur]

True, a pixel IS a pixel, but some displays WILL default to forcing your computer's display output to fit the screen's pixel count, no matter what that does to the image itself. You can turn this behavior off, but many people don't know how, and then don't like the results. Hate to say it, but just read the manual. It's certainly better if the video card can support a wide variety of native display reslutions, obviously. Many do not.

[phillip_schopper]

A good friend of mine is suffering from the same problem. She has an HP Pavilion 4000 "widescreen" and all of her

programs, from Word, through Photoshop and all of the images are stretched to fill the widescreen and neither she nor I nor

a brief-ish call to HP have been able to figure out how to show everything 4:3. We would love to have it "pillar boxed" but

we can't figure out how.

[bob_sunley]

Depending on the video card, you can install the monitor drivers and it will work perfectly. But, and it is a big one, a lot of video cards will not support newer non standard monitors.

[bryantan]

All but an elite few modern video cards (read: last five years) will support widescreen resolutions natively. All one needs to do is learn how to change the display resolution.

[bryantan]

I should add also: update to current drivers.

[jammer_jammer]

Thanks folks.