Widescreen distortion?

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MartynK

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Martyn
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I've just returned to the UK and am using my wife's computer and widescreen monitor. It's a cheap Acer 19" and I wouldn't expect particularly good results, but it seems to distort photographs vertically in DPP and CS2. I have no previous experience with widescreen, which wasn't too common where I was living before. At a bit of a loss here. Can anyone make any suggestions? Thanks guys.
 
Are you sure the display is running at it's native resolution?
 
Ah, no. Could you excuse my ignorance and explain this? I've had a couple of CRTs and LCDs which worked well enough when I just plugged them in.
 
you need to right click on to the desktop in vista select Personalization for get XP might be properties
Any how you need to go to Display settings (properties) and this is where you see how to set it a slider will have low to high as you move teh slider to teh right or left you will see the number below change
 
whats the model number of the screen we can check the native res.

but no normally a widescreen should not affect an image in any way. but if the resolution of the screen is set wrong it might.
 
OK. The OS is XP Pro, and I can set the display to 1024 x 768, 1280 x 768 and 1280 x 1024. The monitor is an Acer 193W.
 
MartynK said:
OK. The OS is XP Pro, and I can set the display to 1024 x 768, 1280 x 768 and 1280 x 1024. The monitor is an Acer 193W.
Click to expand...

None of those, i bet the money on that the native res is 1440 x 900, if that option isnt there then you need to update your drivers.
 
I'll try this and report back later! Thanks everyone.
 
Downloaded the drivers, unzipped the file (3 folders) and installed them but I'm afraid this isn't making any difference, unless I screwed up somewhere. Could the videocard and/or drivers be an issue here? Thanks again.
 
After you installed the driver did new screen modes become available in display settings?
 
Back again. Let me explain what I did step by step, and maybe someone can point out where I'm going wrong. I download the driver and unzipped it as V193W Vista WHQL Driver, which gave me a folder called LC1 containing three files - V193W Security Catalogue, V193W ICC Profile and V193W Setup Information. I saved the unzipped file to the desktop. Opened System, Device Manager, Monitor, Plug and Play Monitor and selected the Driver tab and Update Driver. Checked the option declining connection to Windows Update and Install from a list or specific location. Used the browse button on the next page, battled to find the folder on the desktop and eventually recopied it to another location and found it. The system basically refused to accept any of the folders, but eventually and grudgingly loaded one. I was getting a bit frustrated by this stage and really can't remember what I did at this stage (sorry), but the Driver tab in Monitor Properties confirmed that the new driver was loaded. Rebooted and opened Properties from the desktop. No options to select 1440 x 900 or any other new resolutions. Went back into System and so on and found the Microsoft driver again!

I'm not giving up on this, and if anyone has the patience to step in again I'd be grateful. Thanks.
 
Well trying to install Vista drivers into XP Pro is never going to go well.

pxl8 linked you to the wrong drivers, which I doubt has helped your quest, though you can't blame him too much as Acer only supply Vista drivers for their entire range of 193W screens.

I would suggest looking at the graphics card and the drivers in use for that.

If you get to display properties, on the settings tab click advanced, then the adaptor tab and see what the graphics chip is - it may well be that its drivers are not correctly installed and doing so may well open up the options for you.

A last resort would be a utility such as powerstrip but go for the graphics drivers first.
 
I note that there are various 193W models, the first letter could be important so is your monitor a V, a P, or a ??? it might be that it needs a different version of the driver installed.
 
Another option, under monitor properties untick the box that says hide modes this monitor can't display and see if 1440x900 becomes available.
 
pxl8 said:
I note that there are various 193W models, the first letter could be important so is your monitor a V, a P, or a ??? it might be that it needs a different version of the driver installed.
Click to expand...

I checked them all and none offer an XP driver, so it doesn't matter which one you try, it'll probably spit it back at you regardless - Vista drivers won't work on an XP Pro machine.

He describes it as 'cheap' though, so the logical assumption would be the V193W from Acer's Value range of screens.
 
I'll give these suggestions a go, and let you all know how I get on.
 
It's a VIA S3G Unichrome Pro IGP. I updated the driver but it doesn't increase the options for settings, unfortunately.
 
Google shows quite a few hits of issues with your gfx card and widescreen modes but they don't have a common solution and for an intergrated card knowing the motherboard will help too.

It might be that only a bios upgrade will fix the problem. It might be a lot less hassle to pick up a cheap gfx card and install that.
 
Yuck, S3 graphics. Not surprised you're having problems. I'd buy a cheapass new graphics card from somewhere and replace it.
 
That's starting to sound like the best option. My wife inheirited the PC from her brother, and I left my computer and monitor in SA for my daughter. Don't want to spend a whole lot on this because I'll probably replace the system at some stage, but this widescreen issue is a pain. Any suggestions for a card? Thanks.
 
First double check what kind of slot you've got available on the motherboard - AGP or PCI-E or ???
 
I pulled a scanning utility off the web, and as far as I can see the motherboard is a Lenovo K8M800 (VT8380) and the graphic interface is AGP version 3.0. I'm pretty sure the video is integrated, but that's about all I know right now. I'll open the case over the weekend if necessary. As you can see, I'm not very clued up on computer technology. AGP = Advanced Graphics Port, I think, but PCI-E???
 
Thanks for this. I hooked up a laptop and it found the right 1440 x 900 setting straight away. Incredible difference! I'll but a cheap card to upgrade the PC to be going on with.
 
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