Widescreen Source vs. Fullscreen Source (PICS inside)

[CoreyGH]

Ok, yes these are pictures from Counterstrike Source, but in this thread I'd like to discuss Source video modes in general and since there isn't a "Source" forum I figured this was the next best thing.

The latest screen shots and vids have been in widescreen format. There's 2 ways to do widescreen: take the fullscreen mode and subtract the top and bottom OR, take the fullscreen mode and add to the left and right sides. I've attached two screenshots that show the difference between widescreen Source and fullscreen Source. It's pretty obvious that Valve has chosen to add to the sides of fullscreen to achieve the widescreen look. (Which, IMO is a good thing, since it shows more screen area).

Some things to note: if you lay the fullscreen on top of the widescreen you'll notice that everything in the widescreen mode (especially the gun) is slightly stretched to the left and right. I think this has to do with the fact that the screen ratio is 16:10 instead of 16:9. The video options show both ratios, but 16:9 is not selectable, only 16:10. Also, there is of course a slight drop in FPS.

So, will you be playing HL2 in widescreen or fullscreen? One note to people who are using CRT monitors and not LCDs: when you first change to widescreen mode, you'll have to use your monitor controls to squish the screen vertically (up and down) to give your view the black bars on the top and bottom. If you don't, everything will look stretched out.

Also, the only selectable widescreen resolution was 1280x768. I didn't check in the console to see if you could force other widescreen resolutions.

Here are links to the pics incase something happens to the attachments:
Fullscreen:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v131/CoreyGH/fullscreen.jpg
Widescreen
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v131/CoreyGH/widescreen.jpg


FYI:
ATI 9800 pro
P4 2.8C
1 Gig ram

 

[63]

Nice read, but wrong section

and since there isn't a "Source" forum I figured this was the next best thing.

Just noticed that

 

[CoreyGH]

Huh? Where would you have put it?

 

[63]

Huh? Where would you have put it?

I'd have put it in CS:S, HL:S, or General Gaming..

 

[Hazar]

Prolly just fullscreen on my dinky CRT.

 

[ShadowFox]

I'd have put it in CS:S, HL:S, or General Gaming..

Why? He asks which mode you will be playing HL2 in. Seems valid to me.

 

[63]

Why? He asks which mode you will be playing HL2 in. Seems valid to me.

Yes, I am at fault, at the time of writing my first post the poll was not up... and I skimmed through, and must of missed the HL2 related part my bad!

 

[nimh]

those pics arent a good comparison if you want widescreen on a normal lcd or crt.
http://www.dvdweb.co.uk/information/anamorphic.htm

 

[NJD2003]

Ill be playing fullscreen on my CRT.

 

[CoreyGH]

those pics arent a good comparison if you want widescreen on a normal lcd or crt.
http://www.dvdweb.co.uk/information/anamorphic.htm

Actually, those pics show the exact difference between Source's version of wide and fullscreen. Even on a normal CRT. I think the point you may be trying to make is that, on a normal CRT the widescreen version will be "shrunk" somewhat, but it still displays more actuall in-game area. I should have mentioned that in my original post.

I'm suprised more people aren't going to play in widescreen. I think it'll make the game look more cinematic, and it's completely doable on a regular CRT. Probably at least 19 inch, that's what I run it on.

 

[Agent.M]

Here are a few pics of it on my widescreen. :smoking:

 

[McFace]

Those are limited options, what about us with HTPC's? I'll be playing on my 50inch WideScreen Samsung DLP HDTV at 720p :cheers:

 

[CoreyGH]

720p is 1024x720, so even if your HDTV can downsize the 1280x768 res of HL2 widescreen, I'll still be playing it at a higher resolution on my 19inch $250 CRT.

 

[McFace]

720p is 1280x720!

Where did you hear it was 1024x720?

Besides, even if you could play it at a higher resolution, are you gonna be able to see that much more detail on a 19inch? I prefer the 50.

EDIT: 5.1 Surround as well.

 

[Pibborando San]

MACHINE: I am soooooo jealous of your computer. I mean, top of the line CPU, top of the line GFX card, plenty of fast ram! And a 23" widescreen moniter!!!

*weeps*

And I thought my 19" Flat CRT was nice. Well anyways, I'll be playing it *probably* at 1280x1024 on my moniter. Unless it's too laggy and I have to bump it down to 1024x768.

MACHINE, you won't have any problems with FPS, lol.

 

[luketabor]

most likely 1280x1024 on my CRT at home, but at 1280x768 on my friends 8-foot cinema screen (drool)

 

[Agent.M]

MACHINE: I am soooooo jealous of your computer. I mean, top of the line CPU, top of the line GFX card, plenty of fast ram! And a 23" widescreen moniter!!!

*weeps*

And I thought my 19" Flat CRT was nice. Well anyways, I'll be playing it *probably* at 1280x1024 on my moniter. Unless it's too laggy and I have to bump it down to 1024x768.

MACHINE, you won't have any problems with FPS, lol.

Thanks bro, yeah hehe I better not have any FPS problems.

After only buying crt's, I decided to go with this widescreen since I can play games at 1920x1200 I love widescreen now, bye bye crt's for me .

 

[CoreyGH]

720p is 1280x720!

Where did you hear it was 1024x720?

Besides, even if you could play it at a higher resolution, are you gonna be able to see that much more detail on a 19inch? I prefer the 50.

EDIT: 5.1 Surround as well.

I checked a site, and I think it must have been wrong. But unless you enjoy eyestrain, your 50 inch TV won't take up any more of your field of view than my 19 inch can. And since my horizontal lines of resolution are still higher, I think I will see more detail. (And I've got 5.1 on my computer as well)

Again, this is all assuming your HDTV doesn't mind accepting signals that aren't one of the standard HDTV resolutions, as well as not just chopping of that extra 42 lines. Have you checked?

 

[Razor]

It depends if i have a widescreen monitor or not, at the moment, i just have 4:3 so i will most probably just use fullscreen.

 

[CoreyGH]

It depends if i have a widescreen monitor or not, at the moment, i just have 4:3 so i will most probably just use fullscreen.

No see, that's the thing, you can do widescreen on a fullscreen CRT. That's what I have, I didn't realize it at first, but it's easy. After you've selected the widescreen option and applied it just go into your monitor controls and squish the vertical dimentions. You'll have some black bars on the top and bottom, but it'll all be proportioned correctly. I'm sure it would also work on a fullscreen LCD, but probably only on one with native resolution of 1280x1024. Just tell your LCD not to stretch resolutions out to fit the screen. Then it should work.

 

[Varsity]

I don't like them adding screen area, as it gives people with widescreen an advantage over fullscreen.

How do you use widesreen, anyway? I've got a Display Mode option but it's greyed out, and all the reolutions are 4:3.

 

[B.Calhoun]

MACHINE is loaded, lets raid his house.

 

[Briderider]

There's 2 ways to do widescreen: take the fullscreen mode and subtract the top and bottom OR, take the fullscreen mode and add to the left and right sides.

Its a 3d game your camera can be any shape you want ??

 

[EVIL]

are there any good cheap CRT widescreens? or are all the good widescreen monitors tft now..

 

[CoreyGH]

I think I saw a widescreen sony CRT once, but it wasn't cheap.

 

[Agent.M]

MACHINE is loaded, lets raid his house.

HAHA bring it Im a big gun enthusiast too so youll have to get buy my ar15 and mp5 first! :sniper:

I think most widescreens that are good enough quality for pc gaming are tft now, I tryed to find one cheaper than my apple but they just couldnt compare picture wise so Im not sure, however the HP l2335 was very nice looking and its a little cheaper.

 

[Some_God]

CTR = Old School. :O

 

[CoreyGH]

CRT still has better color reproduction and zero ghosting.

 

[Intamin]

Exactly, CRT is still, overall, the best picture quality. It just doesn't do as much as TFT or LCD or any other digi-picture monitor.

 

[McFace]

I checked a site, and I think it must have been wrong. But unless you enjoy eyestrain, your 50 inch TV won't take up any more of your field of view than my 19 inch can. And since my horizontal lines of resolution are still higher, I think I will see more detail. (And I've got 5.1 on my computer as well)

Again, this is all assuming your HDTV doesn't mind accepting signals that aren't one of the standard HDTV resolutions, as well as not just chopping of that extra 42 lines. Have you checked?

I didn't say anything about FOV, but your argument is fair enough.

No I will be sending it the proper HDTV resolution, my screen is native 1280x720. I'll be sending that with 1x1 pixel mapping via DVI. I've tried it before. I've played on it before, no eyestrain here.

 

[Agent.M]

Exactly, CRT is still, overall, the best picture quality. It just doesn't do as much as TFT or LCD or any other digi-picture monitor.

Negative color reproduction has exceeded most crt monitors I did ALOT of research on this stuff before I forked out 2 large on this baby there is also no ghosting at all anymore with the right lcd's granted they are expensive as hell but 0 ghosting and if there is I have just about every game on my computer right now and I have yet to see any also my monitor and the hp L2335 also have more colors in them as well with a 16 ms response time and a dvi conection I have no refreash rate either. Not only that but those with widescreen will physicaly see more of the game then you ever would on a crt. Im not saying crt's are bad cause hell I bought only flat screen crt's and wouldnt even think of touching an lcd for the past 10 years but now that many lcd's have response times dropping so quickly and color reproduction increasing on them the age of the crt is dwindlling down.

 

[CoreyGH]

The only problem I have with your statement is this:

Not only that but those with widescreen will physicaly see more of the game then you ever would on a crt.

This is simply not true. I have a regular square 19inch CRT. I can run CS:S in widescreen 16:10 mode with no problems. I can physicaly see the same amount of the game as anyone with a widescreen LCD. I just have black bars on the top and bottom of my monitor. . .so I scooted it 6 inches closer to me

 

[Agent.M]

The only problem I have with your statement is this:


This is simply not true. I have a regular square 19inch CRT. I can run CS:S in widescreen 16:10 mode with no problems. I can physicaly see the same amount of the game as anyone with a widescreen LCD. I just have black bars on the top and bottom of my monitor. . .so I scooted it 6 inches closer to me

True you can do that on a regular fullscreen but the experience wont be as good IMO, just like renting a WS movie and watching on your tv at home compared too watching it on a wide screen at the movie theatre. :cheers:

 

[Lobster]

Theres an r_animorphic option, i dunno if thats switched on automaticly when u select widescreen, but i know its a cool thing to have lol.

 

[CoreyGH]

True you can do that on a regular fullscreen but the experience wont be as good IMO, just like renting a WS movie and watching on your tv at home compared too watching it on a wide screen at the movie theatre. :cheers:

I would hardly say that the difference between a 19inch fullscreen monitor 23inch widescreen monitor is anywhere near the difference between a 27 inch TV and a gigantic (50ft?) movie theater screen.

Yes, the experience will be better, but you were saying that it wasn't possible to see as much of the game on a regular monitor as it is on a widescreen one. That's just incorrect.

 

[McFace]

I would hardly say that the difference between a 19inch fullscreen monitor 23inch widescreen monitor is anywhere near the difference between a 27 inch TV and a gigantic (50ft?) movie theater screen.

Yes, the experience will be better, but you were saying that it wasn't possible to see as much of the game on a regular monitor as it is on a widescreen one. That's just incorrect.

But it is correct, you proved it with your pictures. Valve adds to the sides, so viewing 16:9 will show more then 4:3.

 

[SubKamran]

Widescreen on a 4:3 CRT monitor. That's how I play CS:S, and let me tell you, it makes all the difference when you're trying to stay alive. I've seen numerous people get killed because they didn't see the people hiding.

I play on 1280x768 by the way so I can still have 4xAA/16xAF.

 

[Agent.M]

I would hardly say that the difference between a 19inch fullscreen monitor 23inch widescreen monitor is anywhere near the difference between a 27 inch TV and a gigantic (50ft?) movie theater screen.

Yes, the experience will be better, but you were saying that it wasn't possible to see as much of the game on a regular monitor as it is on a widescreen one. That's just incorrect.

I think you just like to argue....and yes Im pretty sure that it was stated that you will see more on a widescreen compared to having to add the bars on a regular fullscreen If I can find where I saw this ill post a link.

EDIT: O and I have a 18" diamatron vx920 flat screen crt and I just hooked it up next to my apple and ran cs on both and even on widescreen on my crt I see less than I do on my apple ive measured on some pics I took Ill put them up when I get my card reader working .

 

[CoreyGH]

MACHINE, I'm not trying to be argumentative but I persist because you just keep making incorrect statements. You insist that a fullscreen monitor can not show as much in game area as a widescreen monitor. That is simply wrong. The widescreen resolution that CS:S provides is exactly 1280 pixels wide and 768 pixels tall and that's exactly the number of pixels my square CRT is displaying. Moving the same number of pixels onto a widescreen display does not somehow enable you to see even more screen area.

My screen shots are taken while using a square 19 inch monitor. Now, if I had a 19 inch widescreen monitor, the picture certainly would be larger but it would not show any more in-game area.

 

[McFace]

MACHINE, I'm not trying to be argumentative but I persist because you just keep making incorrect statements. You insist that a fullscreen monitor can not show as much in game area as a widescreen monitor. That is simply wrong. The widescreen resolution that CS:S provides is exactly 1280 pixels wide and 768 pixels tall and that's exactly the number of pixels my square CRT is displaying. Moving the same number of pixels onto a widescreen display does not somehow enable you to see even more screen area.

My screen shots are taken while using a square 19 inch monitor. Now, if I had a 19 inch widescreen monitor, the picture certainly would be larger but it would not show any more in-game area.

Ah, that makes perfect sense. He is correct in that, but who would played a 16:9 resolution on a 4:3 CRT? I don't want my characters squashed