Widescreen LCD Monitor?

[wwaag]

My 19" CRT monitor is slowly fading with text near the edges becoming very blurred. I suspect that I'll replace it with a 19 or 20" LCD monitor.

Question. Should I go for a widescreen LCD or stick with a normal 4:3 one? My uses are almost totally for photo and video work--no games or watching DVDs, TV, etc. on the computer screen. What are the advantages of a widescreen monitor for these uses?

Any assistance would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

wwaag

[Cobra]

I would have thought that the extra width would allow you to have more space for your photo and toolboxes on the side, as opposed to either having only a few open at once or having lots but the photo partly obscured.

Aside from that, perhaps there isn't much of an advantage (that I can think of, anyway). It's cool, though!

[TBoneit]

and one small drawback is that many webpages, videohelp included will only fill the left half of the screen with anything useful.

Another drawback could be that the 19" WS display will not have the same height as a 19" 4:3. Or IOWs less pixels top to bottom so it would be less useful for word processing and working on Portrait mode photos but better if working in landscape mode photos.

[wwaag]

Thanks for the replies. Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't some allow you to simply rotate the display for portrait work?

wwaag

[INFRATOM]

consider the future, video cards Windows Vista all support widescreen your movies etc there is always a trade off. If you you buy one of those 20" should also look good for widescreen. If you can get a bigger better screen that is taller than your widescreen then I would say it is better to go with the square

[SingSing]

Thanks for the replies. Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't some allow you to simply rotate the display for portrait work? wwaag

This is indeed the best setup for highres LCD monitor. I use a 20.1in Dell in portait form. Love it.

[wwaag]

SingSong,

How easy is it to change from landscape to portrait? Does the system automatically recognize that you have swiveled the display? Thanks.

wwaag

[SingSing]

1. Get a landscape and portrait monitor, and turn the monitor screen to lock in upright.

2. In video setting, Use 1024x1280 setting instead of 1280x1024 setting.

3. Show off.

[Soopafresh]

I have a 24" Dell Wide Screen flat panel at work and a Gateway 21" Wide Screen LCD at home. Both are really nice, although neither are perfect (both crush black levels a bit). The Dell is at 1920x1080 native resolution, which is really good for HD.

[rhegedus]

I have a 24" Dell Wide Screen flat panel.....

[valvehead]

Widescreen monitors can be useful for some applications, but don't rule out the option of using multiple monitors. A 20.1" widescreen lcd with a decent resolution (1680x1050) would cost about as much as a pair of 17" lcd's. The vertical resolution and viewable height are about the same, but the 17" pair has loads more horizontal real estate. Spend a little more for a pair of 19" lcd's and you'll be able to see things a lot better.

I don't do much video work (yet), but for my audio work dualhead is essential. I'm running Steinberg Cubase SX 2.2 and Adobe Audition 1.0 on two 19" LCD's. I think I would probably shoot myself if I ever had to go back to a single monitor (even if it was a wide screen). Here's what Cubase looks like on my desktop:



For photo editing (and most other apps) I generally use just one monitor. I put the toolbars in the other monitor so that the photo can use the full screen if needed. Even in this configuration I feel that the vertical resolution is the limiting factor when I zoom in.

For serious video work I think it would be better to have a dedicated video monitor in addtition to the program display.

Now, how about a pair of 24" widescreen lcd's with 1920x1200 resoultion each?

[wwaag]

valvehead,

Thanks. That's really a good idea that I'll try. My concern over the WS monitor is viewable height which already seems small for my 19" CRT (a 20.1" WS would actually be an inch less). I've got a dual-head video card (Matrox) which frankly I've never used with 2 monitors. For video editing, I use an external monitor (fed through either a dedicated video editing card or my ADVC-100 through firewire), but having extra real-estate using Premiere would really be great. I've got an extra 17" CRT that I think I'll try.

wwaag

[rhegedus]

24"WS vs 20.1"

Dell Ultrasharp 2405FPW 24" widescreen - price £942 = $1641USD

Monitor size and type : 24" (61.0cm) active matrix TFT
Resolution : 1920 x 1200 (WUXGA+)
Dimensions h x w x d : 451x559x229 mm

Dell Ultrasharp 2001FP 20" performance LCD - price £406 = $707USD

Monitor size and type : 20.1" (51.0cm) active matrix TFT
Resolution : 1600 x 1200 (UXGA)
Dimensions h x w x d : 459x448x245 mm

You pay 130% extra cash for 20% extra screen.....

[rhegedus]

Also just noticed that you Yanks get a 24"WS for the same price that we pay for a 20"........

[SingSing]

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/ProductDetail.aspx?sku=20013YR&c=us&cat=snp&categor...ctlisting.aspx

This is a 20inch Dell LCD for -- $458.00 -- that does 1200x1600 With stand: 25" (fully extended in portrait mode), 18" (compressed/locked in landscape mode). Voltage Required: 90 to 264 VAC . So it is good for U.S., U.K. as well as manchester united.

It is cheaper in U.S., because U.S. is closer to China, where all Dell stuff are made.

[SingSing]

Most laptops and PCs can support two displays, but its is a pain to drag the cursor over the two physical screen. These are the single screen's multiple view solutions :

SUN uses four screens and let you look at one a time. Linus has copied this feature.

Acer has another idea, and comes out with Acregrid, that can partition a large wide screen into 1 and 1, 2 and 1, 2 and 2 side by side screens on one landscape monitor. It actually works suprising well.

High res Portrait monitor can do multiview very naturally. You place the main screen on top 80%, and open another document at the bottom that you scrolled up/down like a cheap sheet.

[wwaag]

Thanks for all of the inputs.

I tried the dual monitor set-up and must say that I really like it. Working with Premiere was especially nice being able to have the monitor window on the second display, thus freeing up space on the main display. The Matrox dual head card (an older G550) seems to do a good job.

In any case, I've decided to to try a 19" DVI as the main and a 17' RGB that also accepts S-video as the secondary. I'll keep my fingers crossed as to the quality. Again, thanks.

wwaag

[SingSing]

I saw a stock broker set up his dual screen in a very interesting way. He bought a see thru glass work station, and put one of his monitor inside, and the other infront of him. He said his offcie also have dual screen,s one in fornt of him, the other hang upside down ( video inverted by ATI driver ) also infornt of him. See this for customer satisfaction.

[SingSing]

When we can wireless send video to a hight res large screen TV, then we don't have to make compromise. A thin and light laptop will do, since we can get on BIG screen whenever we need to.

[SingSing]

Go, Quad screen !