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Another newbie question
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KS-Jayhawk
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Mar 25, 2004, 12:15 PM
 
Okay, I have a Viewsonic N1700W monitor hooked up via DVI (dang that cable was expensive), the mac shows that my monitor is the n1700w, what I want to know is - How do I know if the mac's output is widescreen? When I try to play widescreen movies I still get bars on top and bottom, but the same movie plays w/o bars on my widescreen TV?? TIA, Steve
     
Krusty
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Mar 25, 2004, 02:10 PM
 
Originally posted by KS-Jayhawk:
Okay, I have a Viewsonic N1700W monitor hooked up via DVI (dang that cable was expensive), the mac shows that my monitor is the n1700w, what I want to know is - How do I know if the mac's output is widescreen? When I try to play widescreen movies I still get bars on top and bottom, but the same movie plays w/o bars on my widescreen TV?? TIA, Steve
I see from the specs on your monitor, it has 1280 x 768 resolution -- which is technically 10:6. True "Widescreen" movies are usually 16:9. So your monitor is, ever so slightly, "taller" top to bottom than a true 16:9. (10/6 = 1.666667 and 16/9 = 1.777778). So, if your monitor has 1280 pixels across, it would only need 720 pixels from top to bottom and leave the rest as black bars when playing a 16:9 movie. Of course, those bars should be fairly small... how big are they on your monitor? Does the movie stretch the entire width of the monitor ??
     
KS-Jayhawk  (op)
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Mar 25, 2004, 03:46 PM
 
thanks for the response, yes the movie stretches the whole width, and the bars at the top and bottom seem to be about as big as if I were watching it on a 4:3 screen...I wonder if I should install the CD that came with the monitor (I just figured the mac would know what to do with the monitor? I guess it does since the desktop fills the whole screen.)
I just looked on viewsonics site and it shows optimum resolution of 1280 X 1024, this would seem to be for a 4:3 monitor? Maybe it is a typo on their part?
( Last edited by KS-Jayhawk; Mar 25, 2004 at 05:04 PM. )
     
Krusty
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Mar 25, 2004, 06:02 PM
 
Originally posted by KS-Jayhawk:
thanks for the response, yes the movie stretches the whole width, and the bars at the top and bottom seem to be about as big as if I were watching it on a 4:3 screen...I wonder if I should install the CD that came with the monitor (I just figured the mac would know what to do with the monitor? I guess it does since the desktop fills the whole screen.)
I just looked on viewsonics site and it shows optimum resolution of 1280 X 1024, this would seem to be for a 4:3 monitor? Maybe it is a typo on their part?
Whoops, I was looking at the WXGA specs on the veiwsonic page. If your monitor is 1280x1024 then it is technically even more "square" than a 4:3 monitor (1280x1024 is actually 5:4). So, yes, if the native resolution of your monitor is 1280x1024 then you would see SIGNIFICANT black bars at the top an bottom of your movie picture because, again, a widescreen 16:9 movie at 1280 pixels width will only be 720 pixels tall. The rest of your screen would be empty. Look at the relative shape of your widescreen TV and your monitor. The monitor probably look a lot more square-ish compared to the TV.

Same thing is true on my monitor which is a standard 4:3 CRT. if the picture is widescreen, there HAS to be black bars at the top and bottom or the picture would have to be stretched/distorted to make it fill the entire screen. I think this is just a case of the movie having different proportions than your monitor. See the viewsonic page. It clearly describes that a widescreen or HDTV image would be 1280x720 on this montior Viewsonic spec page
1280x768 WXGA native resolution
Perfect as a monitor up to 1280x1024 resolution or as a TV supporting up to 1280x720 high definition.
     
KS-Jayhawk  (op)
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Mar 25, 2004, 07:13 PM
 
Thanks for your help Krusty. I guess what I would like to know is, when games come out that are widescreen, are they going to be displayed in widescreen? I don't kow if the mac knows to do this automatically or not? thanks, Steve
     
   
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