(Native) resolutions and blurriness?

Duvan · 27 Nov 2010 at 16:09

Only used CRTs myself up till now

Has LCD:s improved at all since they came out in using non-native resolutions? How bad is it in games (as I'm sure I won't be able to run all games on 1900x something)?. Some games don't even support widescreen resolutions - meaning I'm sometimes forced to run something completely different from what the monitor was designed for.

Also do the new LED-backlit monitors differ in any way on this?
And is there a difference in between panel types regarding this aspect (TN,VA...)?

smilertoo · 27 Nov 2010 at 16:23

Not really, theres still some blurriness if you dont run at max res.

PCM2 · 27 Nov 2010 at 17:47

The 'trickery' that they use to display non-native resolution is the same as it has always been. Some monitors do it a bit better than others but I don't think it depends at all on LCD panel type. The problem with the pixels being a fixed size and shape simply can't be physically overcome.

Angilion · 28 Nov 2010 at 03:54

I've just switched from CRT to LCD.

LCDs are still much worse at non-native resolutions than CRTs are at less than max resolution.

Regarding games that don't support widescreen formats, the best you can hope for is to run the game in 4:3 with black bars at the sides.

So, for example, I can use my monitor (standard 1920x1080) for 1280x1024 with big black bars at the side and barely visible ones top and bottom.

It's tolerable.

I'd rather have a 24" widescreen CRT, but that wasn't an option.

Adrianr · 28 Nov 2010 at 13:06

I say this time and time again, in games, when you're flying around trying not to get your head shot off, it's very hard to notice (unless you're deliberately looking for it - which is often half the battle) one or sometimes two steps below native resolution. EG running Crysis at 1440 x 900 was a common trick for everyone with 1920x1200 24" panels, because native res just crawled. But in reality it often wasn't that bad. It's no CRT, but then all the other advantages usually outweighed it tenfold.

If your game requires a lot of slow movement, sat about looking at things intensely, it could be a problem for you. But then graphics cards have long been marching ahead of gaming requirements, and now even modest middle road hardware can play damn near everything at 1920x1200 now.