Widescreen Gaming Forum

Hi, I have two questions:

I'm trying to run some games in widescreen, but since they don't support my displays native rez (1680X1050) I have to run them in a 16:9 rez. like 1280X720. Now the catalyst control panel for my ATI card scales this rez to fit the display just fine. But I would like to know, is there a way to scale just the horizontal axis and not the vertical axis? I know the difference between 16:9 and 16:10 isn't much, but it would still look better with black bars on the top and bottom (instead of stretching the vertical axis) IMO.

The second question is: why won't the catalyst drivers scale a non-native 16:10 resolution to fit the panel? Is it because the aspect ratios match?

Thanks in advance for answers to any of my questions!

The ATI drivers are very peculiar. They'll add black bars to a 16:9 resoution, but nothing else. And they don't provide any options like the Nvidia drivers. Sorry to say, but until ATI gets its act together, the answer to both questions (at least as far as I know) is no.

I think 16:9 and 16:10 are the same height, just different widths. So, I think it could be scaling properly.

I really can't say why it won't add black bars to non-native resolutions. Theoretically it sounds simple enough, but I guess ATI doesn't want to take the time and add it.

The ATI drivers are very peculiar. They'll add black bars to a 16:9 resoution, but nothing else. And they don't provide any options like the Nvidia drivers. Sorry to say, but until ATI gets its act together, the answer to both questions (at least as far as I know) is no.

I think 16:9 and 16:10 are the same height, just different widths. So, I think it could be scaling properly.

I really can't say why it won't add black bars to non-native resolutions. Theoretically it sounds simple enough, but I guess ATI doesn't want to take the time and add it.

Maybe I need to get an Nvidia card. :(

You said they'll add black bars? How do I get them to do that? the only options I see in the CP are: "use centered timings" and "scale image to fit panel" I even tried the omega drivers, but they didn't have any options at all for scaling.

How are 16:10 and 16:9 different widths? I thought the 16 is the horizontal axis and the nine (10) is the vertical axis? :? I guess I don't really understand aspect ratios as well as I thought.

Let me get this strait. So if 16:9 is displayed on a 16:10 monitor, then the black bars will be on the sides and not the top and bottom (that is if it is not stretched)? So 16:10 just appears 'taller' because 16:9 is longer.

Does Nvidia support all these options I'm looking for?

Thanks again in advance for any answers!

Well, Nvidia used to support all the options those of us without a scaling monitor need. Unfortantly, from what I've gathered from members on here and other forums the 7900s and the 7600s do not support the options (I believe it gives people an out of sync error on the monitor). Although I can't confirm this myself, it would help if others would speak up.

I do know my old 7800gtx worked flawlessly with all the nvidia options. The nvidia drivers offer centered (black bars on top and bottom), fixed aspect ratio scaling (black bars on sides), monitor scaling, and I think driver scaling.

As a note.. Nvidia's centered timings doe not equal Ati's

Now.. in my experience, I have NOT seen any black bars AT ALL with my ATI card, and it seems to confer with your experience. I've had others tell me they have seen black bars, but that doesn't agree with my experience.

I believe 16:9 and 16:10 are the same width, even though I'm not too learned in the resolution ways. Look at this detailed report on Titan Quest: http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/node/
If you scroll down you'll see three screenshots. One is 4:3, 16:9, and 16:10.

EDIT: Ok, I was a little confused. They would have the same width, not the same height.

Edit again: Ok, I'm still confused but I think what I corrected is now the right way.

Both the 16:9 and 16:10 have a width of 1920 while their height differs.

I'm still kind of confused on your original problem. Do you want black bars or not? Also, are you getting black bars or not?

Now.. in my experience, I have NOT seen any black bars AT ALL with my ATI card, and it seems to confer with your experience. I've had others tell me they have seen black bars, but that doesn't agree with my experience.

Yeah, I DO get black bars when selecting the "use centered timings" option in the ATI drivers. But that DOESN'T scale the image at all, it just displays whatever the resolution I am running at in the center of the screen with black all around. What I want to do is essentially letterbox what is being displayed(I need to find some images to better illustrate what I'm talking about).

So yeah, I want black bars when displaying 16:9 on my 16:10 monitor (Basically, letterboxing) , that way the image won't be distorted (stretched out of proportion). Though, I am beginning to think it is not possible to stretch only one axis to fit the display with ATI. e.g. like with 4:3 resolutions, my monitor's (dell 2007 wfp) OSD has a wide mode option that stretches the height to fit the display and still keeps the 4:3 aspect ratio by adding black bars to the sides.

EDIT: I made a very crude drawing of what I am attempting to achieve.

It's bad I know :oops: