Visualizing some monitor specs

[genegold]

I'm considering buying (trying via purchase) a 21.5" HD monitor with 1920x1080 native resolution, one that is not available for in-store viewing nearby. Given that reviews are typically written in a coded language that's hard to picture mentally, I'm writing to ask about a couple aspects of this monitor's specs. For comparison, I've recently had a 22" 1680x1050 for a week and my current old monitor is a 1280x1024.

1) Reviews say this 1920x1080 is good for viewing HD videos, which I assume primarily means DVDs and games. I don't view those. My video viewing is comprised of downloads of movies and TV programs from sites like mininova and piratebay, as well as streaming video online. The 1680 monitor almost invariably filled (interpolated?) the screen with these videos. Speaking generally, what should I expect the 1920 monitor do with these - i.e., fill or black bands?

2) I'm trying to visualize the size text would appear on the 1920 vs. the 1680 (and 1280). Is there somewhere to look to get a sense of the relative size that text shows in different resolutions?

Thanks.

(P.S. I'm leaving out brand names in order to focus on the more generic questons.)

[poisondeathray]

1) Black letterbox will be depending on the content. If it's full 16:9, there were be no borders. Most Hollywood movies are wider 2:35:1 , so there will be borders top and bottom

2) You can adjust the text size display in Windows, or applications.

[jagabo]

1) Reviews say this 1920x1080 is good for viewing HD videos, which I assume primarily means DVDs and games. I don't view those. My video viewing is comprised of downloads of movies and TV programs from sites like mininova and piratebay, as well as streaming video online. The 1680 monitor almost invariably filled (interpolated?) the screen with these videos. Speaking generally, what should I expect the 1920 monitor do with these - i.e., fill or black bands?

The media player and graphics card are responsible for "filling" the monitor. With everything set up properly 16:9 material should completely fill the screen of a 1920x1080 16:9 monitor. Any other aspect ratio should be letterboxed or pillarboxed.

16:9 material should not have filled the screen on your 1680x1050 monitor -- it's 16:10. Most decent media players will let you scale the video any way you want though.

2) I'm trying to visualize the size text would appear on the 1920 vs. the 1680 (and 1280). Is there somewhere to look to get a sense of the relative size that text shows in different resolutions?

Text will definitely be smaller on the 1920x1080 monitor. Not only is the diagonal smaller but there are more pixels per inch. Text will be about 15 percent smaller.

[genegold]

Thanks for the replies. The 1680x1050 was a Dell 2209wa (ips), if that makes a difference. Doing a quick sample of my movies and TV shows, I find the following resolutions (using MediaInfo), in addition to 2:35:1:

576x320, 640x352, 640x360, 560x304, 624x352, 608x336 (all 16:9)
624x336 (1.857), 640x336 (1.905), 640x384 (1.667), 720x480 (1.500)
720x576 (5:4)
640x256 (2.500)

I don't want a situation where I'm changing the text size, which is why I'm looking to get a picture.

[jagabo]

I don't want a situation where I'm changing the text size, which is why I'm looking to get a picture.

Unfortunately, it's not possible with small text. Any scaling that's done will result in blurring because you will not have 1:1 mapping of the original pixels in the scaled text. The smaller pixels on the 1920x1080 display won't be blurred but the individual pixels will be smaller. It's easy to simulate with large text but that won't really be helpful.

Here's some text that will show you the approximate difference in size but don't judge by the sharpness. The top is normal, the bottom is 15 percent smaller:



It may make more sense to only look at the top part of the image and imagine that the 12 point line will look about the size of the 10 point line on the 1920x1080 monitor.