16:9 vs 4:3

[Half-alife]

I dont know if anyone has tried it, to play with 16:9 resolution... Looks like everyone is used to play fullscreen 4:3.

All i can say is: PLAY 16:9, its just awesome, you see so much more... want proof? start the game, even with the 3D background, you will see the BIG diffrence. For example, the City17 background, on the right side, you see a hotel, with a name-panel on top of the roof. when in 4:4, you dont see it. in 16:9, you do!!! Also, in the beginning with the G-Man, you see EVERYTHING, like his shoudlers complete and other parts of the things you see behind him... I play at max 16:9 res, and dont regret it at all... even when i went back for fun too 4:3, it just looked uglier...

Anyone else who plays 16:9? and people who try it, lemme know what you think :thumbs:

EDIT: you dont loose any image on top and bottom of the screen, you just get MORE added too the sides!!

 

[WhiteZero]

But then you dont see as much below and above you.


So either way your missing some things.

 

[jacen]

old story
i posted this in the cs:s forums almost a month (maybe longer) ago

 

[Half-alife]

False, nothing drops on top and under it... its adds only more too the sides... test it in the menu with the 3D background, and see what gets ADDED, nothing is dropped at all in 16:9!!!

 

[Baal]

I tried it...

It is ok I guess, but meh, I prefere 4:3

 

[WhiteZero]

Ummm... unless you have a widescreen monitor, then something HAS to get cut out... unless it just scrunches the image.

 

[jacen]

But then you dont see as much below and above you.


So either way your missing some things.

lol
no you are not
while this is the case in hl1, in source u get extra fov when running 16:9 or 16:10

 

[Half-alife]

i have a 4:3 CRT, and i have 2 black strokes on top and bottom that my monitor doenst use as "screen"...

 

[Mr-Fusion]

But then you dont see as much below and above you.


So either way your missing some things.

Read this, you see the same above and below and more to the left and right.

4:3 - http://pcmedia.gamespy.com/pc/image/article/567/567433/strider_1100819220.jpg

16:9 - http://pcmedia.gamespy.com/pc/image/article/567/567433/striderwide_1100819523.jpg

 

[jacen]

Ummm... unless you have a widescreen monitor, then something HAS to get cut out... unless it just scrunches the image.

u just have the typical letterbox effect like when viewing cinema movies @ your screen.

see for yourself:
http://hl2.digital-ambulance.com/end_small.avi
turn it to fullscreen and thats exactly how it looks on my screen.
nothing gets cut, you only get more peripheral vision

 

[Half-alife]

ah, nice, was gonne make some screen so not needed anymore...

 

[WhiteZero]

yeah, it dosent cut anything out, but it dose however distort the image slightly (on your monitor, not the screenshots, since screenshots show you what the game is putting out, not whats showing up on your screen). Because you trying to fit a 16:9 image into a screen that is meant for 4:3.

I just did it and the image gets all stretched and/or scrunched (depending on the resolution setting).

And I look screenshots as well. They look fine in the actuall screenshot, but on the monitor the image is distorted.

 

[MGSRevolver]

I have a 16:9 display on my lappy, and the native resolution is 1280x800, and it looks amazing. I've seen many screenies taken in 4:3 resolution, though, and they look equally as good. A widescreen display is awesome for watching DVDs in their native format (as the director intended), but it's a hassle for games (b/c those that don't support 16:9 stretch the image)

So, in short, there isn't much of a difference.

 

[jacen]

yeah, it dosent cut anything out, but it dose however distort the image slightly (on your monitor, not the screenshots, since screenshots show you what the game is putting out, not whats showing up on your screen). Because you trying to fit a 16:9 image into a screen that is meant for 4:3.

please tell me that you are really not that stupid ...

why dont u just tune your monitor so that u crunch the image to a value that fits the aspect ratio?

after all its 16:9 .. not 4:3
THERE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE BLACK BARS AT THE TOP AND THE BOTTOM .... darn ..

 

[Half-alife]

play with your monitor settings, till it fits like it should, needed to do that first too. It was like totally ****ed...

 

[jacen]

but it's a hassle for games (b/c those that don't support 16:9 stretch the image)

quake3, unreal 2003/4, farcry, doom3 and hl2
they all support widescreen

rts games dont support it thats true.
but most fps support widescreen

 

[Asus]

I played HL2 in widescreen.
Took all of my screenshots that way too.

WARNING! HL2 In Game Screenshot

 

[Ultimape]

Video feeds of one aspect ratio get distored when viewing it in another aspect ratio.

If the game is outputting 16:9, but your monitor is running at 4:3, the image will be squashed horizontally.

if the game is outputting 4:3, but your monitor is running 16:9, the image will be stretched horizontally.

the only way to get around this distortion effect, is to add those black bars on teh bottom and top (in the first case), or the left and right (in the second case).

If your monitor was 12w inches x 9h inches (4:3), you would expect to see that much of the world (if no squishing). if your monitor was 16w inches by 9h inches (16:9) you would expect to see 1/3 more of the world (if no stretching).

 

[Asus]

With a CRT moniitor it is very simple. Take a screenshot of ingame in 16:9. Study the screenshot to adjust your monitor later ingame, easiest to have a circle or square somewhere in the shot. When you first set the 16:9 option it will be stretched vertically to fit 4:3. You just shrink the vertical adjustments on your CRT monitor to create a 16:9 ratio output.

 

[Ultimape]

*the whole "formmated to fit your screen" said in front of normal "fullscreen" videos is there because they (the makers of it) have to change the higher aspect ratio of the movie's thetre presentation to the lower aspect ratio of your screen. Since they dont want to distort the image (squashing the data to fit makes obviously wierd looking people), they had to essentially "CUT out" the sides of the movie, and only take the important parts. WIDESCREEN movies are better because there is less being cut when going from the thetre aspect to the wide screen aspect. Movie makers take this all into account and only film the important parts in the center.

our eyes' field of view is much more intune to a wide screen picture then to a full screen one. A wide screen image fills up much more of our visual range, so we become more immersed within the image.

With a computer, since the image being fed is just data, its really easy to show more of that data. You could actualy have monitors circleing around you and really have an immersive gameplay experiance.

I remember playing QuakeIII with 6 monitors (freinds are nice to have). I could litterally turn my head as I played to see people over my shoulder. I loved using my peripheral, which is nice since peripheral vision responds really well to the movement of enemies at one's side... something impossible to achive with a restrictive world in a 4:3 since it is only working on your straight-ahead vision.