Questions on monitors...

[bluesky-]

ok, new question. i was wondering what the difference between a 21.5' and a 22' monitor is. i managed to figure out that 21.5' is natively 1920x1080p, where as 22' is 1680x1050p. im kinda confused at how a smaller monitor, physically, is displaying a higher resolution. without personally being there to watch the 2 monitors side by side i guess i can only imagine that everything on the 21.5 inch is much smaller. and i understand that 22' monitors can't displayer 1080p, so if you were to play a 1080p movie on a 22' 1050 monitor, it would downscale and display it at 720p?

so my question would be, if im looking at both monitors playing the same movie at the same time, what would be the difference? does it come down to 21.5' 1080p vs 22' 720p? if so, which one is better? and why?

sry if my question is confusing, im still trying to get my head around it. an informative answer would be nice

 

[jaguarskx]

Size does not necessarily dictate how high the resolution can be. For example, the 22" Lenovo L220x has a resolution of 1920 x 1200; unique amongst 22" monitors. Laptop screens tends to be even denser than desktop monitors. The Dell Precision M6400 has a 17" monitor with 1920 x 1200 resolution. These new 16:9 22" (21.5") and 24" monitors have 1920 x 1080 resolution and conforms to the resolution of HDTVs.

22" LCD monitors with 1680 x 1050 resolution will downscale HD video to fit the screen, thus there will be some loss in video quality. Most people probably won't notice any loss until compared side by side with a monitor that can display 1920 x 1080 or 1920 x 1200.

While a 22" 1920 x 1080 monitor may be inexpensive, text will be smaller than on a 1680 x 1050 since there are more pixels squeezed into the same amount of physical space. It is recommended you look at one if possible to determine if text size is too small for your liking.

 

[bluesky-]

so basically if i had a 22" and a 24" monitor, and i set then both to 1080, and watch the same movie, would objects in the movie playing in the 22" be smaller? wait no, stupid question...

the 22" inch is only 1680 x 1050, so when i play a 1080 movie, would it downscale the movie to 720p and then enlarge it to fit the screen? if so, objects in the movie would be of the same size as if it was a 24" monitor displaying it on full 1080p only with less quality?

 

[jaguarskx]

I believe 1080p should just be scale down directly to 1680 x 1050. There will be a decrease in quality, the question will you be able to tell? The most likely answer is no unless you have a 24" monitor or an HDTV for a direct comparision. Smaller screen means smaller sized objects, but the full movie will be displayed; nothing will be cropped off.

Additionally, TN panels are generally good for games, but maybe not so much for movies due to the limitations of that technology. VA and IPS panels are generally better for movies because they produce better colors than TN panels, but are more expensive.

Click the following link for more info on LCD monitors:

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/specs.htm



You may also want to check my partial review of the Asus VK246H 24" monitor which has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 (same as HDTV). The review is incomplete because my DVD drive basically died when I was analyzing Batman - The Dark Knight. I did not analyze all the scenes I wanted to but so far I am not impressed.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/54250-3-asus-vk246h-1920-1080-reviewed

 

[bluesky-]

great, thanks for the reply!