What resolution is best on widescreen?

[Gig-O-Ram]

My sister got a 19" widescreen for Christmas, and it's pretty cool and all, but we're having a problem with photos in slideshow mode where people look short and fat. We've tried all the res settings, and can't seem to find one that allows picture files to look normal. Is there a way, other than changing the resolution, to get around this?

[gvblake22]

19" widescreen monitors usually run 1440x900. If it is a laptop though, it might be different.
If the pictures are distorted, it's most likely a resolution issue. If the resolution is set correctly, then it is possible they are being resized without maintaining the aspect ratio of the image and thus, the distortion.

[Panda Man]

Originally Posted by gvblake22

If the resolution is set correctly, then it is possible they are being resized without maintaining the aspect ratio of the image and thus, the distortion.

Indeed, try viewing the photos with irfanview.

IrfanView - Official Homepage - one of the most popular viewers worldwide

Free light weight image (and some movie formats) viewing software, it should maintain the aspect ratio unless you specifically tell it no to

[Gig-O-Ram]

Originally Posted by gvblake22

19" widescreen monitors usually run 1440x900. If it is a laptop though, it might be different.
If the pictures are distorted, it's most likely a resolution issue. If the resolution is set correctly, then it is possible they are being resized without maintaining the aspect ratio of the image and thus, the distortion.

Is there a way to have windows maintain the aspect ratio of photos? The top resolution of the monitor in question is 1400x1050. The slideshow pix are coming out of the My Picture folder and I've looked in the folder options and there is nothing there that helps me. I'm looking in Windows Help now. Any suggestions?

[polobunny]

Windows maintains the ratio of photos when viewing.

[Hitman]

You have to make sure that the monitor runs in it's native resolution. It should be in the documentation that came with the monitor.

[Mithosphere]

If you are trying to watch a slideshow, its most likely the program's fault, not the monitor. There must be an option somewhere that should allow to either crop the picture to the screen or just display it at its normal resolution. It's probably just ona "stretch to fit" by default

[Gig-O-Ram]

What's happening is that the screensaver mode is set to run a slideshow out of the My Pictures folder. There's nothing in there to change aspect ratios.

As for the native resolution, the documentation says it's 1440x900 @60Hz. The last res option I have is 1400x1050. I think I've got it set on 1024x768 @60Hz right now. The system is running with onboard video. Would a video card add or give different res options, or at least offer the native res?

Edit= Also, there were two discs that came with the monitor. One seemed like a standard driver disc, but it's more of a video tutorial that shows you a step by step of how to get into the monitor properties and install drivers. The other disc is LG's Forte Manager with an EZ Zooming thing. All it does when I install it is set the monitor to a 640x480 4-bit resolution, screwing up the system. Then I have to run System Restore.

[Mithosphere]

Well then its windows screensaver, just run the monitor at the native resolution 1440x900, and maybe try finding a screensaver program to aid in the not stretching of pictures.
Its definitely not the monitors fault nor the video card, its definitely windows

[Yellowhello]

My widescreen runs at 1440x900.