So where are these widescreen monitors?

[Socrates]

Just wondering.

What monitors exist in wide screen?

I can't fit a 50" Plasma screen on my desk, and I don't have (and can't afford) a widescreen HDTV.

The only monitor that I know of is the sgi 1600sw. I have used that one and hated it. It's widescreen, but it's really just a stretched out 15" monitor. That means that to use it effectively top to bottom you have to squeeze down the resolution and then burn your eyes out trying to see it. Plus the Number 9 Rev IV card it requires is a piece of crap and if you want to use anything else it's a $500 adapter to make it work. -- wooo sorry about the rant.

So since there must have been some demand for widescreen, that means some of you must have some widescreen monitors. Help me out! I want to price them out, but I can't find them anywhere!!!!

[Jim Sachs]

Since the day I came out with the Aquarium, owners of HDTVs and Plasma displays have been screaming for a widescreen version. I saw the Aquarium on some plasma displays down in San Diego, and they are right - it really needed a 16:9 aspect ratio tank. So I finally broke down and gave them what they wanted.

[feldon34]

Technically, any computer monitor that can run 1280x720 or 1920x1080 modes can do widescreen. But yes, ideally it's designed for HDTV and widescreen displays.

[hooters]

PS~ That's providing your video card can also run at that resolution. Some monitors can handle that resolution, but their video cards can't. And some video cards can but the monitor won't.

Just thought I'd toss that in.

[Socrates]

I know I can run the screen saver wide on a square monitor, but I was asking about widescreen monitors. I thought maybe some of you had some, but it turns out everyone just wanted it for their TV's.

I was hoping that their was some CRT monitor out there in a wide format for video editing or something.

[Digital Lungfish]

Sony's new Wega line of flat screen TV's have a 16:9 enhanced mode for widescreen display and they're priced in the same range as most other quality 27-36 inch TV's. You can get a 27" model for around $699-$899. It's what I'm likely to move up to next, I'm still using my 8 year old Sony Trinitron, although it still looks brand new.

Another nice thing about the Wegas is that they have Component Video inputs, great for quality video if you can't afford HDTV.

- DL

[Socrates]

Thanks DL. I'll look at those.

I'm thinking more like a monitor replacement though. So I wonder if they make a Wega that does VGA. I'll go over there and look later.

In the mean time these are the two monitors I know of so far:
** sgi 1600sw 17.3" Diaganol, 16:10 Ratio. - Requires special interface.
** Apple Cinema View 22" Diaganol, 16:10 Ratio - I think it is G4 only though.

The thing I noticed quickly is that both have 16:10 ratios. I wonder why TV's and stuff are 16:9 and these are 16:10? I thought everything qwas going to get standardized on one movie sized format. Apple seems to say that a DVD image is a 16:10 image. What Gives?

PS sorry if this is all off-topic, but my video upgrades all revolve around the aquarium these days so I'm just asking here since y'all proabbaly know.

[feldon34]

DVDs that are anamorphic widescreen or "enhanced for widescreen TVs" have 25% more picture information hidden on the disc that's not seen on regular TVs. On an HDTV, a TV with "anamorphic squeeze" or a "16:9 mode" such as the Sony WEGAs (I think these TVs are TOTALLY overpriced and overhyped) and the widescreen LCDs from Apple, etc. plus their Titanium laptop, DVDs reveal this extra resolution.

The .99K wide version of the Aquarium provides the widescreen image in the same way. You just set your video out to 800x600 or 1024x768 and then set your HDTV, monitor, 16:9 TV, or LCD display to anamorphic TV mode and boom, it works.

The key is that the anamorphic image is squashed horizontally and then stretched back out with the 16:9 mode on various TVs, LCDs, etc.

If you take a Sony WEGA KV36XBR400 and connect a progressive scan DVD player to the 1080i input with high grade component Video cables. Then put in a DVD like Fantasia 2000. You will get a 16X9 1080i crystal clear photorealistic showing of the movie. If you get a chance to go to a sony store and check out that kind of setup on a XBR class WEGA tv not the FV WEGA you will be blown away. That demo is what it took for me to put down the money for the TV. What I am looking for now is a video card that can output to component video. Then i will have a huge Fish tank in living room. Funny thing is the tv weights about as much as a 36" fishtank would have

[feldon34]

If you take a Sony WEGA KV36XBR400 and connect a progressive scan DVD player to the 1080i input with high grade component Video cables. Then put in a DVD like Fantasia 2000. You will get a 16X9 1080i crystal clear photorealistic showing of the movie. If you get a chance to go to a sony store and check out that kind of setup on a XBR class WEGA tv not the FV WEGA you will be blown away. That demo is what it took for me to put down the money for the TV. What I am looking for now is a video card that can output to component video. Then i will have a huge Fish tank in living room. Funny thing is the tv weights about as much as a 36" fishtank would have

The XBR400 is Sony's only true HDTV WEGA. The rest are not HDTVs. And honestly, it's a waste of money to get that when a Mitsubishi HDTV looks just as good and costs less.

DVD is NOT 1080i. DVD is 720x480 or 480p. Playing a DVD on any kind of HDTV does look damn good, but it's certainly not 1920 x 1080. At that resolution, you could only fit about 26 minutes of video on a DVD.

If you saw Fantasia 2000 on HDTVs in a home theater-type store, I bet you a dollar to a donut that you saw the 4 minute Fantasia 2000 HD reel on DirecTV's HDTV demo channel. That 4 minute clip most certainly is 1920 x 1080 and looks absolutely stunning!! It blows away the DVD, which already looked awesome on its own.

[feldon34]

The "sHARk" has been fished out of the lake permanently.

well now, thanks for ripping me out of the forum!!
is my opinion not as valid as the next guy? forums are for discussion. if you like post it that you dont want me to contribute and i am gone(for good) you have the best s.s. around and since i own the key i will continue to upgrad unless like survivor you banish me from all!! atleast answer the question i posed to earlier!
when is new fish coming?
when do the regular guy get new coral?
i do have one more thing to add, i like your honesty
PEACE OUT!! the sHARk.........

[Jim Sachs]

New fish have been coming at a steady 2 per month. There are 18 now and 2 more coming soon. Any Deluxe Key holder can download the widescreen version, so it's not a "them" and "us" kind of thing. Incidentally, I don't have any widescreen devices myself, so I'm squarely in the 4:3 camp.

[feldon34]

The Widescreen version has one more little purple piece of coral to make it look good on a widescreen display. Hardly worth arguing about.

Jim has plans to completely redo the coral 2 months from now.

As for fish, Jim has been very consistant on adding 2 fish every 3-4 weeks.

[Digital Lungfish]

"the Sony WEGAs (I think these TVs are TOTALLY overpriced and overhyped)"

I agree that they may be a bit over hyped, but the prices are no different than they were when I purchased my Trinitron 8 years ago.

So to be perfectly honest, it's not really as bad as some people make it sound. The fact is, Sony does make quality televisions and I'll definately attest to that from personal experience.

- DL

Well, I know Sony has (and probably still does) make 24" widescreen monitors. I know for a fact that some were OEM'd to both Silicon Graphics (SGI) and Sun Microsystems. The model number for the SGI version is GDM-90W11 and comes in a cool looking granite-colored plastic case If you can fine one of those, or a Sun branded one, I'm sure you'd be very pleased.

[Digital Lungfish]

I think I know which monitor you're talking about. I used to use an SGI system for editing motion captures while I was still working at Atari Corp, we had several monitors like the one you've described.

In fact, if memory serves, you could use it in either a vertical or horizontal (widescreen) configuration depending on how you had it positioned.

- DL

[hooters]

*Sony Silicon Graphics 24" Multiscan GDM-90W11 $1299 *
24" Wide View Multi-Scan Color Monitor
CRT Type Trinitron 16:10 wide aspect ratio
Phosphor Pitch 0.26 mm (center) ~ 0.29 mm (corner)
Surface Treatment Antistatic & Antiglare film coating
Viewable screen size 22.4" Diagonal (19" x 12")
Maximum Resolution 1920x1200
Systems Supported Octane, Oynx 2
OS Supported 6.4, 6.5
PC Compatible Using the HD15 connector
Manufacturer's name Sony GDM-90W11
SGI part number Northern Hemisphere - 061-0021-001
Southern Hemisphere - 061-0036-001
Horizontal scan range 30-96 kHz
Vertical scan range 48-160 Hz
Input connectors HD-15 (VGA style) & 13W3
User controls On Screen Display (OSD)
Contrast, Brightness, Size, Center,
Color temperature, Convergence,
Geometry (Rotation, Pincushion, Key Stone,)
Moiré Cancel, Degauss, Input selection 1/2,
RGB gain & Bias, Purity correction,
Key lock, Reset
Power requirements 100-240VAC
200W maximum power consumption
less than 5W in Power Save mode
Regulatory UL, CSA, FCC class B, VCCI class II,
CE, TUV Ergo Mark, TUV GS Mark,
TCO-92, DHHS 21CFR, Energy Star
(C-Tick for Southern Hemisphere)
Dimensions (HxWxD) 500 x 580 x 548 / 19.7" x 22.8" x 21.6"
Packaged dimensions (HxWxD) 691 x 746 x 731/ 27.2" x 29.4" x 28.8"
Weight 41 kg / 90 lbs
Packaged weight 47 kg 103 lbs
Display Plug & play DDC1, DDC2, DDC2AB
Preset timing modes 10-SGI unique B6
User timing modes 15 modes available

Hi. I found the part number for the current Sun 24" widescreen monitor. This one uses an FD Trinitron display (NICE!), and it's part number is X7124A. The direct from Sun price is $2200, but you can probably find one less expensive elsewhere possibly used.

Samsung SM240T
24" TFT monitor speaker included,silver colour
Model No.: 240t
Industry's 1st 24" Viewable HDTV ready WUXGA LCD
1920 x 1200 Active Native Resolution
Extra Wide 170?Viewing Angle
Analog / Digital / S-Video Input
Picture in Picture, Picture-by-Picture
Digital Zoom to 64 times
Advanced Image Scaling
Switchable Aspect Ratio (16:10, 5:4 or 4:3)
Easy Access One Button Auto Adjustment
Remote control (OSD and Input Selection)
Supports Windows, Macintosh & Sun Microsystems