Display Widescreen signals on a 5:4 Samsung 19"

[chiaroscuro]

I just bought a Syncmaster 913N/915N 19" monitor which has a native resolution of 1280x1024. I am wondering if I can use it to display 720p signals (1280x720) comming from a videogame (VGA output) or do play PC games in widescreen mode (1280x720) without the monitor to scratch the image (interpolate it) to the whole screen. Like using black bars at the top and botton of the screen but keeping the native resolution on (without interpolation or scratching). Is it possible? I know models from ViewSonic that provide such features, but I was not able to do that with the Samsung. Thanks!

 

[Chuck_Hsiao]

What you're looking for is a 1:1 aspect (or 1:1 scaling) ratio. Some monitors can do this via the OSD, and some can't. Similarly, some video cards can do this, and some can't. It comes down to the particular setup that you have.

I'm running Intel Extreme Graphics, and it has a "panel fit" option that I can toggle on and off. This also does the same thing. Also, your video card might have a "full screen" option to toggle on and off which also does the same thing.

Bottom line is, there's various ways to go about it, provided you have the right drivers or monitor. So go ahead and play around with the different options that you got. Good luck.