Re: Widescreen monitor?

John-Paul Stewart <jpstewart@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

> Bill Marshal wrote:
>>>run of cards can't display the mode required. It would be something like
>>>4096 x 1024
>>>
>> Well, that was a typo. I meant something closer to 16:9, like 1820 x
>> 1024
>
> There are lots of cards that support 16:9 or 16:10 aspect ratios. I
> know most ATI cards will do 1920x1200 (16:10) with no
> trouble. Presumably other brands do, too. It's quite common. Lower
> resolutions at 16:9 and 16:10 are even more commonly supported by the
> card makers.

I had to check several cards before I found a card that supported
1680x1050 DVI output. Many are limited to 1600x1200 on the DVI port,
but will go higher on the VGA port. I was looking at rather low-end,
fanless cards. The more expensive models may well support higher
resolutions to a greater extent.

> The final category of monitor are those that are more-or-less just
> HDTV sets to which a computer has been plugged in. If it's over 30
> inches diagonally, that's probably what you're looking at.
> Surprisingly, these are often fairly low resolution devices. 1366x768
> is common resolution for such units. (Viewsonic's 40 inch and 42 inch
> displays are one example.) That's a much lower resolution, and hence
> more broadly supported.

It remains a mystery why they use 1366x768 on many HDTV displays. The
native HDTV resolutions are 1280x720 and 1920x1080. That scaling can
never be good for picture quality.

> The only potential catch is that you *might* need to create a custom
> modeline in your X config file for unusual resolutions.

I had to do just that for my 1680x1050 monitor. For some reason, the
nvidia driver rejected the mode reported by the monitor, but it was
fine when I entered the same timings as a modeline in the X config
file.

--
Måns Rullgård
mru@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
.

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