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OT - wide PC screens

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sycamore
Posted 2008-12-31 3:35 AM (#435847)
Subject: OT - wide PC screens


Joined:
March 2007
Posts: 698

Location: Cork, Ireland
Why are 99% of all PC (and TV) screens now 'widescreen'? Just got a new PC, 17" screen but when I get it home I realise it's widescreen i.e. it distorts everything so that a square is no longer square. Maybe OK for editing text but doing anything graphical is a real pain. Retailer says they MAY be able to get a normal one. Why can't we see have squares?
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dvd
Posted 2008-12-31 3:46 AM (#435848 - in reply to #435847)
Subject: Re: OT - wide PC screens



Joined:
December 2003
Posts: 1889

Location: Central Massachusetts
Sycamore, sounds like you need to tweak the screen resolution for your video card. If the PC and the screen are not in "agreement" on what resolution to use, you'll get the distortion you describe.

First off, determine the maximum native resolution for the screen. something like 1280x800 or 1680x1050 or something. Look at the manual, or the box, or whatever.

Next, (going from memory here).. right click on an empty space on your windows desktop. Then pick the bottom option to change desktop properties. Work your way across there and you should find a tab where you can change the screen resolution to match the monitor.

Some PC geek will correct me with the details. But if it's all set up properly, squares should in fact appear square.

The 16:10 wide-screen aspect ratio seems to have taken off along with the trend towards HDTV/digital-tv. It's got its advantages and disadvantages, to be sure.
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CrimsonLake
Posted 2008-12-31 8:38 AM (#435849 - in reply to #435847)
Subject: Re: OT - wide PC screens


Joined:
August 2006
Posts: 3145

Location: Marlton, NJ
You've got it right DVD. For windows XP and back, it's the last tab on the right - "settings". For Vista, I'm not sure - same general idea, but they've moved things around a bit.
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stephent28
Posted 2008-12-31 10:51 AM (#435850 - in reply to #435847)
Subject: Re: OT - wide PC screens



Joined:
April 2004
Posts: 13303

Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066
definitely a video setting issue and not the monitor.
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Waskel
Posted 2008-12-31 10:58 AM (#435851 - in reply to #435847)
Subject: Re: OT - wide PC screens



Joined:
February 2005
Posts: 11840

Location: closely held secret
Yup. And wide screen monitors are great.
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Weaser P
Posted 2008-12-31 11:27 AM (#435852 - in reply to #435847)
Subject: Re: OT - wide PC screens


Joined:
October 2005
Posts: 5327

Location: Cicero, NY
(and you all KNOW what's coming next...)
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Old Man Arthur
Posted 2008-12-31 11:30 AM (#435853 - in reply to #435847)
Subject: Re: OT - wide PC screens



Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 10777

Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR
Computers with wide screen monitors are those that create crap that won't fit on my screen! :mad:
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moody, p.i.
Posted 2008-12-31 11:34 AM (#435854 - in reply to #435847)
Subject: Re: OT - wide PC screens


Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 15651

Location: SoCal
Originally posted by Weaser P:
(and you all KNOW what's coming next...)
Big screen porn?
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Weaser P
Posted 2008-12-31 11:48 AM (#435855 - in reply to #435847)
Subject: Re: OT - wide PC screens


Joined:
October 2005
Posts: 5327

Location: Cicero, NY
I MEANT responses from the dark side ala "Yeah, we've heard that happens with the pc - you need a MAC!"

But since you've brought it up...
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moody, p.i.
Posted 2008-12-31 11:52 AM (#435856 - in reply to #435847)
Subject: Re: OT - wide PC screens


Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 15651

Location: SoCal
Gotta stay on top of this stuff. Porn doesn't download itself, ya know.....
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Mr. Ovation
Posted 2008-12-31 11:53 AM (#435857 - in reply to #435847)
Subject: Re: OT - wide PC screens


Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7209

Location: The Great Pacific Northwest
As most of what I do these days is programming, I find the best use of a wide screen is to rotate it so the long way is up'n down (yes they have drivers to rotate the text to appear correctly).

Great for seeing complete functions on one screen without scrolling and most lines are less than 1/2 the normal screen width anyway.

In the studio on the otherhand... wider, wider, wider.... When I moved to two monitors side-by-side it was like a weight was lifted, but I think next setup, is going to be at least two really wide monitors, maybe 3. Would be nice to have the console, waveforms and clock'n widgets all visible...

Back to your question... why?
The big attraction now is HD video. DVD's and even Netflix can stream HD to your pc. Lots of folks watch HD on their laptops and pc's these days. More than I would have thought really, and lets not forget games, games, games.
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Jeff W.
Posted 2008-12-31 12:03 PM (#435858 - in reply to #435847)
Subject: Re: OT - wide PC screens


Joined:
November 2003
Posts: 11039

Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub
http://lorensguitars.com/DSC_0230.JPG
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Waskel
Posted 2008-12-31 12:11 PM (#435859 - in reply to #435847)
Subject: Re: OT - wide PC screens



Joined:
February 2005
Posts: 11840

Location: closely held secret
I see Jeff's been using his Mac to resize pictures again...
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stephent28
Posted 2008-12-31 12:56 PM (#435860 - in reply to #435847)
Subject: Re: OT - wide PC screens



Joined:
April 2004
Posts: 13303

Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066
and screwing things up for 90% of the population.
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G8r
Posted 2008-12-31 1:34 PM (#435861 - in reply to #435847)
Subject: Re: OT - wide PC screens


Joined:
November 2006
Posts: 3969

For those using Firefox, this addon lets you right-click an image and zoom it - one option is "image fit" which automatically zooms a huge image down to the right size to fit your particular monitor. Very useful when dealing with wankers like Jeff.
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Jeff W.
Posted 2008-12-31 1:46 PM (#435862 - in reply to #435847)
Subject: Re: OT - wide PC screens


Joined:
November 2003
Posts: 11039

Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub
. . . that's what the "W."s for.

If Moody wants widescreen porn, Moody gets widescreen porn.
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keven
Posted 2009-01-01 12:54 PM (#435863 - in reply to #435847)
Subject: Re: OT - wide PC screens


Joined:
February 2004
Posts: 70

Location: kansas
or on a PC viewing this post on Internet Explorer, just hold down the control key(Ctrl) and roll the mouse wheel forward to enlarge & backwards to minimize....
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Waskel
Posted 2009-01-01 1:01 PM (#435864 - in reply to #435847)
Subject: Re: OT - wide PC screens



Joined:
February 2005
Posts: 11840

Location: closely held secret
Originally posted by keven:
or on a PC viewing this post on Internet Explorer, just hold down the control key(Ctrl) and roll the mouse wheel forward to enlarge & backwards to minimize....
...works on FireFox as well.
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Jeff W.
Posted 2009-01-01 1:09 PM (#435865 - in reply to #435847)
Subject: Re: OT - wide PC screens


Joined:
November 2003
Posts: 11039

Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub
Safari too.
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sycamore
Posted 2009-01-01 1:28 PM (#435866 - in reply to #435847)
Subject: Re: OT - wide PC screens


Joined:
March 2007
Posts: 698

Location: Cork, Ireland
Though i work in IT (sort of) I know very little about PC's as such. At work we have no access to change any settings so I never have to do it.
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sycamore
Posted 2009-01-01 1:46 PM (#435867 - in reply to #435847)
Subject: Re: OT - wide PC screens


Joined:
March 2007
Posts: 698

Location: Cork, Ireland
And I know about all that HD stuff but so many people I know view non-widescreen content on widescreen TV screens. They've paid a lot of money cos wide is 'better', but they are then looking at a distorted picture and they don't seem to notice.
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stephent28
Posted 2009-01-01 7:00 PM (#435868 - in reply to #435847)
Subject: Re: OT - wide PC screens



Joined:
April 2004
Posts: 13303

Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066
Yep, those watching a 16x9 in Zoom mode should be shot. I have mine set to automatically go full screen on HD material and 4X3 on standard definition. Works beautifully and looks great all the time.
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