ViewSonic VA1912wb widescreen is blurry at high resolution

driverSeat

Hi,

The drivers work great when my LCD flat panel display is set at its native resolution of 1440 x 900. However, if I bump it up to the next largest resolution, 1680 x 1050, the screen gets blurry.

Why is this, and what, if anything, can I do about it? Does it have to do with how many pixels this display has? Or is this related to my display adapter, which is a Mobility Radeon 9600?

Here is the product reference page for my LCD flat panel:

http://www.viewsonic.com/products/de...ries/va1912wb/

Any help would be appreciated! thanks!

Mike

tullnd

If the native resolutions is 1440x900....that's as high as you should be taking it. Normally...i wouldn't expect windows to display resolutions above that setting for your monitor. Might not be properly identified by Plug N' Play

driverSeat

what do you mean by that? There were 3 monitors in my Device Manager and I updated all three of them with the VA1912wb drivers. thanks.

BWX

LCD's aren't like CRT's.. you can't raise the resolution up or down and expect it to look good.. if fact I didn't think you could raise it up at all from the native. One of the reasons I hate LCD's.

driverSeat

Although I know jack smack about LCDs versus CRTs, wouldn't it seem like if I can get the LCD to display a higher resolution (albeit blurry) than the native resolution, that maybe, just maybe, there is a chance I can figure out how to get it non-blurry? I tried toying around with different refresh rates, horizontal/vertical/composite syncs, and even the monitor's fine-tuning and sharpness .... had a little luck with the sharpness adjustment, but it's still unacceptable for long-term use.

Surely, there must be a way. This display would kick ass for me if I could have it at a high resolution, but the native resolution is just too small for me... all the buttons are huge, and the text is much to big. I need lots of space to work.

Perhaps another question for the newbie like me is, "What makes a CRT so much better at displaying high resolutions?" I'm not an electrician so I don't really know what makes a CRT 'tick', other than protons or electrons firing at light-speed from the back to the front of the glass (which is what creates the static when you touch it). Perhaps if I could understand why the CRT is better at displaying higher resolutions, I might understand the limitations of LCDs.

What kills me is that I can display the higher resolution, it just looks slightly blurry. It's like running the marathon and then tripping up right before your nose crosses the finish line.

tullnd

It can't physically display a higher resolution and look decent. Think about that...if it's 1440x900...that's all the pixels it supports. If you try to display 1680x1050...it's physically incapable of drawing that many pixels...cause the screen doesn't have that many.

Frankly...native resolution on an LCD is just like the max resolution on a CRT. The difference is a CRT, at it's highest resolutions, probably looks worse, due to a poor refresh rate, compared to a step or two below. LCD's look best at native...but pretty good at lower resolutions(on most units). You just can't take them above their max resolution. If it can only physically draw 1440 vertical lines....it's gonna look like crap if you try to draw 1680.

Tipstaff

I have to assume your using a laptop, right? And are hooking up the monitor to the external D-Sub connector? Are objects (text, bars, desktop, that sort of thing) smaller or larger than when set to its native resolution?

The reason I ask is that even though it's saying it set to 1680x1050 it may actually be set to a lower one instead. This is likely since your saying everything looks blurry, and this usually happens at non-native resolutions (ie. lower resolutions). If things look bigger than at native rez than that is a clear indication it's saying one thing, but displaying a lower rez (most likely it's a stretched 640x480).

Here's something else to consider: what is the maximum resolution of your laptops display? Would it happen to be 1680x1050? Depending on the settings Windows may have mistaken your laptops display settings with the external monitors settings.

driverSeat

Yes, I am using a laptop, and yes on the external D-Sub connector. At native resolution of 1440x900, there is no difference between the size of the objects. the size of the standard red X (close) button on a window is exactly 1/4" on my laptop and exactly 1/4" on my new 19" widescreen display. The main difference I see is that I have a little more workspace from left to right because of the wider screen. That is, I have 16" of space from left to right to work with on my LCD display, versus 13" of space from left to right to work with on my laptop.

Definitely not the case on my end. When I switch over to 1680x1050, all objects get smaller, which is ideal--my workspace increases dramatically. The red X (close) button this time appears to be 1/5" instead of 1/4" at the native resolution.

Max resolution of laptop display is 1280x800.

mkk

Try running at the native resolution but with a Windows theme or manual settings that gives you more workspace. For instance the Classic style with manually adjusted button sizes and fonts could make a noticeable difference.