Dell Ultrasharp 2405FPW

[Koudelka]

Anyhow.. i've thought about maybe upgrading from my Samsung Syncmaster 930B 19" LCD.

All i keep hearing when it comes to LCD's is this Dell 2405FPW.

I've never played a game on a widescreen LCD, or even looked at pictures on one.

But, my friend has a widescreen TV, and i hate it. Unless the movies are widescreen, everything looks so odd and stretched out to the point of not being able to watch it without my eyes going crazy.

But, is this LCD worth it for games? Is the picture stretched out?


Thanks in advance!!

EDIT: I've done dual display before, but thats it.

 

[imported_Phil]

It's not stretched out if the game supports that resolution, or has a widescreen option.

 

[KoolDrew]

For games, especially FPS, you are given a huge advantage since there is more viewable area on the sides. Here is a pic:
http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/6646/css7ra.gif

 

[Koudelka]

Oh wow, i really like that CSS pic.

It's my favorite game, and that'll definitely help a lot.

Thanks guys.

 

[0roo0roo]

its the future.

as for your friends tv..he has hdtv right? most prime time shows are widescreen hdtv these days.

 

[Markbnj]

Also, even if the game doesn't support widescreen, you don't need to live with a stretched view. Just set the "Fill" mode to none, and the monitor will center the view.

 

[coomar]

Originally posted by: Markbnj
Also, even if the game doesn't support widescreen, you don't need to live with a stretched view. Just set the "Fill" mode to none, and the monitor will center the view.

sweet, stretched madden looked horrible

 

[Tarrant64]

That by is one of the best examples I've seen and quickly gets to the point.

Thanks for the pic! Really helps to understand the real difference with widescreen.

 

[svi]

Depends on the game. In most games, including many of those that list widescreen options / support widescreen, you will merely get a stretched-out image or an image with the extreme top and bottom missing. The latter is the aforementioned "zoom" option. Probably not the best for competitive gaming, but it beats the hell out of a stretched image in terms of pure image quality.

As far as I know, the only games that actually do offer more in the picture in widescreen mode instead of merely distorting or clipping a 4:3 picture are Source-based games (HL2 and friends; if you play a lot of CS:S, this is definitely a big deal) and Far Cry. I'm sure there are more, but I don't know of them.

 

[Koudelka]

Yeah, thats what i was worried about. I didnt want to play older games, or even current games that might not support it.. with a stretched image.

Is the 'Fill' option, an option of the LCD or the games you mean?

Yeah my friend has HDTV. I remember watching family guy on it.. my favorite show. And, i couldnt watch it for more than 5 minutes without turning it off. Lois' head looked like a watermelon.


Does the LCD have any kind of options to center the view instead of stretching it? Or does it all depend on the game?

 

[JonnyBlaze]

that monitor has 3 modes, aspect, 1:1 and fill. you would want to use aspect on games that dont support widescreen to avoid stretching.

 

[Tarrant64]

MMORPG's I have heard have great support for this. World of Warcraft, GuildWars, err not sure about FFXI though...

 

[Caly]

KoolDrew, what is the deal with bunny? I've even seen him on graphics forums...

And er, I'm waiting for the baby brother of this LCD (2005fpw) to get to me sometime this week. I'm unsure about the whole Widescreen thing too, but here's hoping. ^^
I intend to use it for FFXI online... I guess I'll be finding out if it supports the format.

 

[Koudelka]

I would have played FFXI but i didnt like the controls Totally ruined it for me.

 

[Caly]

Originally posted by: Koudelka
I would have played FFXI but i didnt like the controls Totally ruined it for me.

I've been playing it on the PS2 for about a year now. I got this large keyboard/joy stick combo thingie and it worked pretty well.
I'm afraid that when I switch to the PC I'll totally mess up the controls actually. I think you can customize them somewhat though?

 

[Koudelka]

My friend had it for a while. And i remember him telling me that you could not customize the controls AT ALL.

I guess i'd have to say that making the same MMO multi-platform is about the worst idea.

I'll imagine they didnt want to give PC users an advantage over those on console.

 

[klah]

Originally posted by: Koudelka

But, my friend has a widescreen TV, and i hate it. Unless the movies are widescreen, everything looks so odd and stretched out to the point of not being able to watch it without my eyes going crazy.

That is the fault of your friend, not the television. Set it to OAR mode, not stretch mode.

 

[svi]

Is the 'Fill' option, an option of the LCD or the games you mean?

Both. At any rate, in the worst case, most monitors offer you the ability to display the picture in actual pixel size when running at a non-native res.

Of course, for reasons listed below, running a game (or anything, even) in 4:3 mode and not stretching or clipping the output will give you less usable screen space than a 2001FP.

That is the fault of your friend, not the television. Set it to OAR mode, not stretch mode.

And then you have massive black bars that cause your screen to be much smaller than it is. A widescreen 24" display becomes a 4:3 display with a diagonal of only 19.6" when you use it in this windowboxed mode.

It's worth noting that a 24" 4:3 display becomes a widescreen display with a diagonal of 22" (well, 22.04") when used with letterboxing. In other words, a 4:3 display used in widescreen will offer what is effectively a widescreen display with a diagonal of 92% of the original display, whereas a widescreen display used in 4:3 mode will offer what is effectively a 4:3 display with a diagonal of 82% of the original display.

The same, obviously, will apply to games if you want to keep the picture in its original form, without clipping any of it or stretching it in any way.

 

[andyfasthands]

I play Warcraft III on my 2405FPW and in the game, they do not offer 1920x1200 resolution. I had to edit the registry key manually to set it that way (which was not hard at all--You can find a walk-through on the intarweb).

ATI 9600X PRO

 

[aatf510]

Originally posted by: KoolDrew
For games, especially FPS, you are given a huge advantage since there is more viewable area on the sides. Here is a pic:
http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/6646/css7ra.gif

It's true for CS:S, and true for many RTS games.
Not true for BF2 tough

 

[svi]

It's true for CS:S, and true for many RTS games.

Which RTSes? Do you have screenshots?

Oh, and don't take that as aggression. I actually just want proof to offer _other_ people for the next time I get involved in an argument about what games support widescreen and what games don't. I already have screenshots of various Source-based games and Far Cry to offer whenever someone tells me that those games don't do widescreen properly (yes, people do try to tell me this sometimes).

I play Warcraft III on my 2405FPW and in the game, they do not offer 1920x1200 resolution. I had to edit the registry key manually to set it that way (which was not hard at all--You can find a walk-through on the intarweb). It actually gives a lot more field space to keep my eyes scanning!

As with toattett, any screens? They don't have to be full-res so long as they're in the original aspect ratio and of the same thing. If possible, screens taken at 1920x1200, 1600x1200, and some other lower resolution (aspect ratio doesn't matter) would be perfect, as they would show that there is more on the screen at 16:10 reses AND that this has nothing to do with how high the resolution is.

 

[LxMxFxD3]

I got the dell 2405fpw last week on the $744 deal - was $810 after taxes and shipping for me though

If ever there was a time ot use this horrible word now is it: PwN3s. This monitor rules. After my GF got the apple 20.1" I felt inadequate so I had to 1 up her. This monitor is not perfect, I have many gripes but it is definitely the largest/best monitor in terms of bang for the buck. Gaming is great!

Complaints:

Video is TERRIBLE looking in anything but native size
No "true black" unlike my samsung
Way too bright

The good:

Colors are very good to excellent
White is actually white and not yellowish
Games are awesome on it including scaling games like BF2 @ 1280x960
1920x1200 res

This will hold me over for another year or two when "true color" lcds appear on the market at a reasonable price.

 

[klah]

Originally posted by: svi

Do you have screenshots?

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/screenshots.php

 

[aatf510]

Originally posted by: klah

Originally posted by: svi

Do you have screenshots?

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/screenshots.php

I think that would answer your request. Any specific games are you looking to get WS on though?

 

[andyfasthands]

Originally posted by: toattett

Originally posted by: klah

Originally posted by: svi

Do you have screenshots?

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/screenshots.php

I think that would answer your request. Any specific games are you looking to get WS on though?

If you're interested, here's how to do it: http://www.gargan.org/en/Widescreen_Gaming/

It turns out i was wrong about the wider field of view (FOV). The text is not stretched when you set widescreen manually, but the FOV is stretched. More info: http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=452

Oh well. I still absolutely positively love this monitor. It helps a lot, bc I love to multi-task (programming / graphics) for web development.