Windows in Widescreen ???

[jerkyboy]

I am about to buy a Philips 30" Widescreen LCD which I will be using as a PC monitor from tme to time.

Is there a way Windows XP can display true 16:9 Widescreen ??.

I know this model can stretch to display to fill the screen but hopefully there is a way to properly.

Cheers

 

[fishyuk]

I think that it is limited to XGA so you will get strectching just as you would on a normal widescreen television. Most TV Apps such as Showshifter and DigiTV can compensate for this during TV/Video but for all other windows programs and games you will have streching. If PC is a major feature then I'd suggest you look at the Samsung 32" instead as it supports WXGA natively via DVI so you will get a pixel perfect resolution (1280x768 instead of 1024x768). Games like Far Cry that have a WXGA resolution look amazing at that res.

I'm probably going to get the Samsung but am waiting to see what the web price will be for the new 32" Philips that has DVI and I believe WXGA PC input support. I fear that it will be too expensive though, just as the fantastic looking new Sony 32" is.

For those not interested in PC input then the JVC and Philips current panels
are probably the best option, the Samsung seems to be the best Bang For Buck PC centric LCD out there though and its standard performance is good enough to hook a console to or watch analog telly should your HTPC be recording or doing some other task.

 

[Messiah]

If you install Powerstrip (and have a supported grpahics card) then you can set the Windows res to match the screen res perfectly. So, yes, you can have Windows in true widescreen. It's what us HTPC'ers have been doing for ages

 

[richard plumb]

except on the philips I haven't managed an wxga pc resolution. the new one says it does support wxga at 1280x768, but then so does the current one (I just haven't managed it)

 

[Smith2004]

I have the Philips 30" LCD and have managed to set it to WXGA successfully through Powerstrip. I used the 1280 x 768 (PDP) resolution in 'custom resolutions', and tweaked the refresh rate settings (to 60hz).

 

[GaryB]

If you have a fairly recent video card and the monitor is Plug And Play comaptible, it should be able to tell Windows what resolutions it can offfer. My Radeon 9800 Pro detected the JVC 17" and offered me the native resolution as the preferred option.

 

[richard plumb]

ooh, Smith, could you copy and paste your powerstrip settings here? I know I and a few others here would love a properly mapped WXGA res on the philips.

 

[Smith2004]

My settings are as follows:

Horizontal geometry
Scan rate: 48.581
Active: 1280 pixels, 15.758 µs
Front porch: 32, 0.394
Sync width: 56, 0.689
Back porch: 304, 3.743
Total: 1672, 20.584

Vertical geometry:
Refresh rate 61.031
Active: 768 lines, 15.809 ms
Front porch:2, 0.041
Sync width: 3, 0.062
Back porch: 23, 0.473
Total: 796, 16.385

I initially had problems achieving a proper PC widescreen ratio with this screen. I e-mailed Philips themselves, but they had no answer, so I turned to Powerstrip. When I intially went into the custom settings I set the vertical rate hz to 60 (as specified in the Philips manual), however Powerstrip has altered this slightly. I also manually adjusted the position an size of the screen slightly.

I am not an expert in any of this and much of my knowledge has been gained from scouring the internet, and I am not sure whether these settings will only work with my particular graphics cards (Radeon 9200 in my desktop, Mobility Radeon 9000 in my Dell notebook), but I hope this helps!

 

[richard plumb]

cheers, I'll try them as soon as possible. I've got a lowly radeon 7500 mobility, but powerstrip does let me select that default res.

Just need to nick the VGA cable from work again to try it out

 

[tartan_guru]

I have the 17" rather than the 30" but I have recently aquired an XP Media Center PC. Whilst I have been mildly impressed with it's performance, it struggled to produce smooth PAL video at 75Hz. After much fiddling with Powerstrip (a VNC client/viewer is essential here otherwise you're stumbling in the dark!) I have managed to get the Philips screen to accept a 50Hz WXGA signal. I have pasted the settings below- I hope they are of some use to one of you guys (you just paste the section between the ">>" into the advanced timing options screen):-
>>
PowerStrip timing parameters:
1280x768=1280,24,56,304,768,1,3,24,66375,2054

Generic timing details for 1280x768:
HFP=24 HSW=56 HBP=304 kHz=40 VFP=1 VSW=3 VBP=24 Hz=50

Linux modeline parameters:
"1280x768" 66.375 1280 1304 1360 1664 768 769 772 796 -hsync -vsync
>>

Ross

 

[tartan_guru]

I have the 17" rather than the 30" but I have recently aquired an XP Media Center PC. Whilst I have been mildly impressed with it's performance, it struggled to produce smooth PAL video at 75Hz. After much fiddling with Powerstrip (a VNC client/viewer is essential here otherwise you're stumbling in the dark!) I have managed to get the Philips screen to accept a 50Hz WXGA signal. I have pasted the settings below- I hope they are of some use to one of you guys (you just paste the section between the ">>" into the advanced timing options screen):-
>>
PowerStrip timing parameters:
1280x768=1280,24,56,304,768,1,3,24,66375,2054

Generic timing details for 1280x768:
HFP=24 HSW=56 HBP=304 kHz=40 VFP=1 VSW=3 VBP=24 Hz=50

Linux modeline parameters:
"1280x768" 66.375 1280 1304 1360 1664 768 769 772 796 -hsync -vsync
>>

Ross

 

[Stackers]

Hi guys

I have the 30" Philips LCD and i'm about to build a Windows Media Center PC for it! This will be the 1st time i've connected a PC so i'm a bit unfamiliar with a couple of things here;

1st, what is Powerstrip? How do i get it and configure it? I'm going to be using an Nvidia fx5200 graphics card.

Also with my Media PC i'll have the TV Tuner card too! Do you know how to connect all this to the TV and digibox?

Apologies if i'm being a bit vague, i havent looked at the Philips "manual" since the early days but know i can hook all this up....just have to work out how!!!

 

[NaTT]

If you install Powerstrip (and have a supported grpahics card) then you can set the Windows res to match the screen res perfectly. So, yes, you can have Windows in true widescreen. It's what us HTPC'ers have been doing for ages

all of which I have in readiness for my 43MXE-1s that I have on order, but I read a post by MAW once that suggested you can't get 1 to 1 pixel mapping with a PC (ie you need a scaler box). Is this 1 to 1 pixel mapping with a PC you're describing