Looking to buy my first 22" wide screen monitor

[Canadianguy]

I have around 300cad inc tx......i was thinking of an Acer AL2216WBD,LG L226WTX-BF or Samsung SyncMaster 226BW but thats a little more out of budget.Right now i have a ATi X1300 Pro card and eventaully up grade to 512.I like BF2 and I will be watching movies.

I was wondering to about this whole stretch thing with keeping aspect ratio,when playing games.
Ideas and suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks

[Babrbarossa]

You're wondering if the games will look stretched on these monitors?

They won't if you set them up properly and you can't really go wrong with any of those monitors- I just bought the LG and I'm pretty happy with it.

[Spaceman-Spiff]

Copy and paste from my post in another forum:

There are multiple widescreen resolutions:

16:9 ratio:
852x480
1280x720
1365x768
1600x900
1920x1080

16:10 ratio:
1280×800
1440x900
1680x1050
1920x1200

I like how Valve group these options by the ratio in their games' video settings, other games sometimes mix all those resolutions and confuse you when choosing. Wish more game developers will do the same/similar thing.

If you're playing older games that may not support widescreen, you should check this forums if there's a fix for them: http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=32

Some monitors, like the 24" BenQ has a feature to enable 1 to 1 pixel mapping. Not all monitors support this though. I have a 22" Acer myself, and as far as I can remember, it doesn't have a 1-to-1 pixel mapping feature.

Widesreens are awesome for movies.

[Thund3rball]

As far as I know all PC LCD screens are 16:10 aspect ratio. Most new games support WS resolutions, if not there is usually a .ini fix or user made hack for it (i.e. Bioshock). For $300 CAD I would definitely try to see these monitors up close on a dedicated machine at BB,FS, LD etc... Then buy it from someplace that sells it cheaper ;)

All 22" panels are TN panels so they are pretty good for gaming and for movies. They have fast response times (so no ghosting) but the colours are not as good as *VA or IPS panels.

1:1 pixel mapping is good for watching movies at 1080p on a 24" screen but I doubt your 22" TN panel is going to have it.

[AkG]

If you are worried about the IQ of movies on your monitor, you should investigate FFDshow. Its a free program and when setup properly will allow you to harness your CPU to turn 480i/p movies into 1080p...or even higher. All in real time, I use it and while it was a pain to setup it it is was worth it.

Heres a link to get you started...if you are interested:
SourceForge.net: ffdshow

[Canadianguy]

Babrbarossa...did u get the LG L226WTX- BF?

[Canadianguy]

Thanks guys for the feedback so far.....

[Zertz]

You should take a look there:

AnandTech - The LCD Thread

There's a ton of info in that thread and recommended models depending on what you use your monitor for. Listed US prices are similar to what you'll find here

[Canadianguy]

Thanks for the link....quite interesting.Still could use some more feedback...i'm figuring i want the monitor to work good for gaming and for movies and just everyday use will be good enough for me.

If that makes sense.

[Zertz]

Personally, in that price range I'd say the Samsung 226BW is the best choice... I'm in the market for one as well and that may be the one that's going to end up on my desk.