Pardon my ignorance for not searching the whole LCD monitor thread. I hope you guys are able to help a little bit in buying a LCD Monitor.

From what I understand, 720p movies have 16:9 aspect ratio, with the native resolution of 1280x720, am I right?

I am planning to buy a 19" LCD Monitor but I've noticed many of them comes with 1600x900. The aspect ratio is the same as 720p movies, but what will the movies look like since the resolution of the movie is just 1280x720?

Will it have black areas around the monitor? Will the video stretch and reduce the video quality?(Reduced to what extent?)

Finally, is it possible for you all to recommend me a budget 19" Widescreen Monitor that is good for viewing 720p movies?

Thank you so so much to you all in advance for helping me out!

I know not necessary 16:9 but for the best movie experience without black borders, I need a monitor with 16:9 right?

Is the Acer one reliable? I heard from one guy that many people complained about Acer monitor. Just wanna confirm

The cheapest monitor with 16:9 is Acer? Is there other brand around 19" that has 16:9 aspect ratio?

Sorry for the inconvenience yea

EDIT: I noticed that Acer has 3 years warranty right? If it's true then I might as well get the Acer one because I am not planning to use it for more than 3 years.

This post has been edited by xcen: Feb 15 2009, 12:07 AM

Looks really cool! This monitor seems to fit best for those who are tight on budget, am I right?

Ah btw, I'm using a 7300GS Graphic Card. Will I have problem watching 720p movies on the Acer X203H?

According to the 7300GS Specification, the card supports PureVideo Technology which supposedly helps to improve performance when watching HD movies, I don't know to which extent is this statement true.

If watching the 720p movie on my 17" CRT monitor doesn't lag, will it be the same when I have a new LCD?

Aiks, I've seen from a thread just a few days ago that people are experiencing lagginess from playing HD movies, in the end they need to enable hardware acceleration or something.

If playing HD movies depends on software, which part of the hardware is it used to decode the movie?

Pentium D 3.0 Ghz is enough... rigth?

http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/899853

In this topic, some of the contrast ratio has DC whereas some has not. May I know what difference does it make? DC and not DC.

On a side note, is 15,000:1 contrast ratio much better than 10,000:1? How significant is the difference in daily use? (Ex: Watch HD movies, surf net, play games... you get the drift...)

This post has been edited by xcen: Feb 16 2009, 06:05 PM

Which brings to the conclusion that many companies are trying to trick people by only advertising their DC ratio, not the typical ones!

Btw, the typical ratio is also called the static contrast ratio, am I right?

http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/899853

According to this thread, Samsung 20.0" 2033SW/HD with DC10,000:1 is selling much more expensive than Acer 20" with 10,000:1 contrast ratio.

I just don't get it, what advantages does Samsung has till its price is so much more expensive if compared to Acer? Plus, Samsung's advertised contrast ratio is DC.

To me, I don't feel comfortable facing such a big screen for so long everyday. It's like very... impractical. Well that's just me anyway.

To me, 20"-22" should be the best for normal everyday use or gaming. If you want the best movie experience, get a LCD TV and use the Bluray converter thing to play HD movies using your thumbdrive only.

But since I'm so poor, had to watch movies on my computer only T_T

What concerns me most is that Samsung is so much more expensive at RM400+ while Acer is only RM300+

Plus, the specifications is not entirely the same.

While Samsung has DC15,000:1, the true contrast ratio is only 1000:1

Acer has a true contrast ratio of 10,000:1 according to the specs advertised.


Now, why is Samsung so expensive and Acer so cheap?