odd 5:4 aspect ratio of LCD monitors

Aspect ratio is a bit confusing as so many
things we do we look at some screen or other.
Hollywood has it's myriad screen sizes going
back in time. TV's came along in the 1940's
with a screen standard of 4:3 which is still with
us today for TV, VGA computer monitors and
point and shoot digital cameras. Most digital
SLR's though are set up to match tradition
using the same aspect as 35mm film which is
3:2, more rectangular. A properly displayed
image from a digital SLR will have bars at the
top and bottom when viewed on a standard
computer monitor at 800*600.
Older LCD monitors and all CRT monitors
have aspect ratios of 4:3 which allow selecting
several common resolutions such as 640*480,
800*600, 1024*768, 1152*864 etc. These
common choices match the monitor and avoid
distorting images. HOWEVER, I have noticed all
the newer LCD monitors, if you measure them
out and do the math have a 5:4 aspect ratio
which is “squarer” than traditional CRT monitors.
Very few commonly used video cards have
many choices for resolutions that match this
and hence will distort images.
Theoretically, to avoid distortion, one
must MATCH the aspect ratio of the display
area used on a monitor to the aspect ratio of
the resolution selected. Monitors will naturally
stretch whatever is displayed to the edges of
the screen unless adjusted differently. Monitor
borders can be adjusted but typically monitors
will auto-adjust the image out to the edge of the
screen. And after plunking down big $$$ for an
LCD monitor we naturally want to take advantage
of the whole screen.
If you do the math for all the possible
resolution choices for common video cards, you
will find aspect ratios of 4:3, 5:4, 16:9, as well as
a few oddballs like 3:2, 5:3 and 8:5.
Be aware then, if the aspect ratio of the monitor
screen and that of the chosen resolution do not
match, whatever you are viewing will be distorted.
It makes a person look taller or fatter and a square
will appear rectangular. If you choose a setting
that has a 16:9 ratio, and view on a standard
monitor, the distortion will be very obvious as
the monitor stretches the image out vertically.
But all those other aspect ratios are much
closer to 4:3 and the distortion will be more
subtle and may be overlooked.

Questions:
-Will the video card makers soon be providing
more choices for resolutions that will accommodate
these newer 5:4 LCD monitors???
-Why do the card manufacturers give choices
for resolutions with oddball aspect ratios that
no monitors will accommodate without distortion???

There is a simple reason for this

LCD monitors look pretty bad at anything other than their native resolution (i.e. the maximum resolution they can achieve). As a result, they are designed to be used at the native resolution, lower resolutions regarded as a lower priority.

All the LCD monitors with a 5:4 aspect ratio have a native resolution of 1280x1024, which is also 5:4
15 inch LCDs run at 1024x768 and have an aspect ratio of 4:3
20 inch (and above) LCDs run at 1600x1200 and also have an aspect ration of 4:3

good question.. my lcd native is 1680 x 1050 (I guess that makes mine an 8:5 monitor). Other settings I can choose are 1400 x 1050 (that's about a 7:5), 1280 x 1024 (5:4), 1024 x 768 (4:3) and 800 x 600 (4:3). Unfortunately I can't change my screen resolution without generally really distorting the view, as there is no other 8:5 option other than the native.

RichL said:

Questions:
-Will the video card makers soon be providing
more choices for resolutions that will accommodate
these newer 5:4 LCD monitors???
-Why do the card manufacturers give choices
for resolutions with oddball aspect ratios that
no monitors will accommodate without distortion???

Click to expand...

Pardon?

The standard resolution of 17" and 19" LCD monitors is 1280x1024. Even the onboard graphics card of this standard office desktop I am using at the moment can manage that.

Not sure what graphis cards you are used to which can't to be honest.

The only time you would want to use a resolution other than the monitor's native one would be for games, where the odd bit of distortion isn't really a problem. Even then that would depend on the monitor. Many of the higher spec LCDs will give you the choice of stretching the image to fit or leaving black bars at the top and bottom.

By the way, you don't have to press enter at the end of each line when entering your post. It's bad enough this forum only taking up half the monitor without your text taking only half the column.