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Monitors:Widescreen or Non-widescreen.

26 posts · originally from https://geek.digit.in/community/threads/monitors-widescreen-or-non-widescreen.100383/

R
redmanc Original post #1
Oct 22, 2008 at 7:26 PM
Widescreen or Non-widescreen ?
Which one do you prefer ? Which is the better ?
skippednote
Oct 22, 2008 at 7:37 PM
Obviously widescreen
amitash
amitash #3
Oct 22, 2008 at 7:51 PM
Widescreen FTW
A
Oct 22, 2008 at 8:13 PM
Why u prefer wide screen?????
I
imgame2 #5
Oct 22, 2008 at 8:40 PM
its the simple reason why u prefer watching a movie in theater ... the screen aspect ratio is 16:9 or 16:10 ...which looks elegant for movies and most of the people tend to like watching movie and other stuff in that aspect ratio ...it has more to do with aesthetic sense of general public ....
VarDOS
VarDOS #6
Oct 22, 2008 at 8:52 PM
W I D E S C R E E N...has more resolution than normal screen...widescreen is gr8 for viewing movies..as most of the movies comes in widescreen ration 16:9..u can have more desktop space...good for gaming...and also for surfing on net...

in short widescreen is gr8
dheeraj_kumar
Oct 23, 2008 at 6:56 AM
Widescreen allows more working space. Especially for programmers, developers and designers. You can have more toolbars or more area to work, whatever you like.

You can have more icons in the desktop, and um... people can post more thoughts about why they like widescreen... cant think now, its very late night now!!! :D
desiibond
Oct 23, 2008 at 8:40 AM
Widescreen.

Simple reason. Our eyes have higher horizontal viewing angle than vertical. That is the reason why widescreen LCD's look lot easier on eyes.

It's not just aesthetics. It's science :)
P
paroh #10
Oct 23, 2008 at 11:57 AM
For better resolution with wide screen a good graphic card needed
Zangetsu
Zangetsu #12
Oct 23, 2008 at 5:12 PM
While watching a movie in a widescreen we c two parallel black stripes....:D
the image quality is gr8ly enchanced in a widescreen

In future we will c widescreen mobiles....:D

PSP is also widescreen....:cool:

Widescreen: more viewing area,gr8 pleasing experience
R
RMN #15
Oct 23, 2008 at 9:14 PM
but then when you watch a movie you don't use around 30% of the screen right?
A
Ankit #16
Oct 23, 2008 at 9:47 PM
Though I agree that a widescreen monitor looks better, I think it is more because of the novelty factor. Screen clarity and resolution has nothing to do with a monitor being a widescreen or 4:3.
As far as screen area is concerned please note that FOR SAME DIAGONAL SCREEN SIZE A CONVENTIONAL SCREEN HAS MORE AREA THAN A WIDE SCREEN...it's a simple mathematics calculation...infact the screen area is largeby 15-20%. That is the the reason why conventional screens are costlier than widescreen for same diagonal size. Hence saying that Widescreen allows more working space is wrong. Infact with a 4:3 monitor you can view larger portion of your drawings or documents in one go provided their native size is not in landscaspe mode.

The only advantage you get with a widescreen monitor is while watching a widescreen movie (so that you can eliminate the black stipes while retaining the aspect ratio). Infact in India the tv telecast is in 4:3 so if u watch tv on a widescreen then either it will be in incorrect aspect ratio or picture is crroped.
arijit_2404
Oct 23, 2008 at 9:58 PM
in my opinion it's totally depends upon the user/viewer.

i am using 19" wide screen LCD for last 6 months after using square monitors for last 9 years(still using at workplace).

here are some points i would like to say:

1. widescreen provides more screen area than square. so if you need more screen area - go for widescreen.

2. more and more movies are coming out in widescreen format - so u can go for it if you watch lots of movies.

3. widescreens are very convenient especially for spreadsheets where you can display more on the screen horizontally. for word docs, widescreen doesn't help much.

4. on the other hand, webpages are formatted in a portrait mode and at a lower width than most screens anyway, so you'll probably get little benefit with web viewing in widescreen.

5. today's games are widescreen supported ... gaming is awesome in widescreen monitors too!

6. widescreen really helps a lots of apps like, programming editors, graphics design softwares etc.

So make a list of your work area. then point out which one works best in widescreen and which one suited best for square monitor.
now go for most voted way.

I hope some confusion is gone now. :D

... That is the the reason why conventional screens are costlier than widescreen for same diagonal size.

This is not true. they're same now.
even if widescreen becomes cheaper tomorrow then it'll be because of popularity or manufacturing cost factor. like, DDR1 is costlier than DDR2 :)
K
Kalyan #18
Oct 23, 2008 at 10:18 PM
square monitors were used before with a aspect ratio of 4:3 before as that was the standard for most formats before. document reading and other activities were supporting that format. and not the main reason but one of them was the resolutions of the movies. they were in 4:3 ratio.

But now, widescreens have more advantages, as @desiibond says, its science.

eye strain: your eyes would get more tired moving vertically than moving horizontal. so, the eye strain would be minimal while using the widescreen formats.

document space: with applications growing more and more gui specific, using a widescreen would accommodate more tools/pallets in a widescreen (eg: photoshop/eclipse/flash etc.) and using them with a 4:3 monitor would give u less workspace to work.

movies: as for the movie formats, there was the scope picture which was developed to accommodate more picture in the image. in a 4:3, the image would be smaller, covering the upper and lower picture which would be of lower importance like the sky/land we could see more people/scenery in a scope/widescreen format. as a consequence, the widescreen format would be better to view these movies in this format, as the normal one would have to set the upper and lower screen areas with a black image i.e., the scope to be able to view all the widescreen picture. same is the case when viewing a 4:3 picture in a widescreen. the black scope is placed on the sides.

my view: on first looks, widescreens dont look good compared to normal ones. the ws ones look a bit smaller than the normal ones. resolution wise, the widescreen ones accomodate less no of pixels than the normal ones.

ws: 1440 x 900 = 1296000 px
norm: 1280 x 1024 = 1310720 px

the lesser no of pixels is compensated by more usable area.

hope this helps.
comp@ddict
Oct 24, 2008 at 4:06 PM
I'm able to run normal 4:3 videos on my POWERDVD in 16:9 with no probs
toofan
toofan #20
Oct 24, 2008 at 8:47 PM
Jet Audio do this in much better way. I use jet Audio or VLC palyer. Both have great features.
I
imgame2 #21
Oct 24, 2008 at 10:26 PM
maybe because CRT tube does not allow widescreen :)

i was Talking about LCD there not CRT and infact widescreen CRT were made but were very costly and bulky ..since with CRT the length of tube increases as well if u increase the screen size :(

*www.amazon.com/Toshiba-MD26H82-26-Inch-Widescreen-Player/dp/B000F9WFK4

and widescreen is in the market for different reason cos they are much cheaper to manufacture than a 4:3 format
Then, you have to keep in mind that LCDs are manufactured using a process that's very similar to the one used for semiconductors. Glass substrates are printed using lithography, depositing the TFT transistors onto the glass. It's easy to see that the more displays that can be made from a sheet of substrate, the lower the unit price will be, since the cost of the sheet of substrate is divided by the number of displays. And that's just where wide 19" displays have an advantage. On a fifth-generation substrate, measuring 1100 mm x 1300 mm, the AU Optronics, Samsung and Innolux fabs can make nine 19" monitors in 5:4 format or twelve wide-format monitors with the same 19" diagonal. That's why 19" wide panels are less expensive than standard 19"ers.
source
the above was quite some time ago but it so happens that widescreen is much more cheap to manufacture even for higher screen sizes ...and this also gives an advantage as movies and videos in widescreen can be watched gleefully
V
VexByte #22
Oct 30, 2008 at 1:34 PM
Is Widescreen suitable for normal office apps ?
desiibond
desiibond #24
Oct 30, 2008 at 1:57 PM
i was Talking about LCD there not CRT and infact widescreen CRT were made but were very costly and bulky ..since with CRT the length of tube increases as well if u increase the screen size :(

*www.amazon.com/Toshiba-MD26H82-26-Inch-Widescreen-Player/dp/B000F9WFK4

and widescreen is in the market for different reason cos they are much cheaper to manufacture than a 4:3 format
the above was quite some time ago but it so happens that widescreen is much more cheap to manufacture even for higher screen sizes ...and this also gives an advantage as movies and videos in widescreen can be watched gleefully

Imagine a 42" CRT TV. That will eat up half of the living room space. Yes, it will have superior clarity. But......
max_demon
max_demon #25
Oct 30, 2008 at 2:28 PM
u can see 2 Spreadsheets or Pages in Office

or 2 Pages Simuntenously in Web Browser

PDFs are also good as we can see 2 pages at once , like Book

i also prefer games in Widescreen as my view of sight is is in Widescreen

also many Digital cameras allow taking pics in (widescreen) format and it looks better imo


i assume if in future there would be touch support in widescreen monitors we can use both hands simuntenously .

let me show with an example image

*img207.imageshack.us/img207/6489/51343633fj0.th.jpg*img207.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif
T
tusharlad #26
Oct 30, 2008 at 3:46 PM
Its simple to why widescreen are becoming popular, Our human eye expect ratio is wide something around 16:9 or so we feel comfortable with that. and along with time movies and games have developed with wide ratio. in any way widescreen will rule the future.