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September 22, 2006
Clarifying Screen Clarity
Dear Larry,
The text on my new flat panel monitor looks blurry and
distorted. Is it defective?
F. D.
Dear F. D.,
Nope.
Remember the old days of CRT monitors? Big, bulky, heavy
screens that were unwieldy at the very least. Thank goodness for flat
panels—thin, light-weight, typically widescreen, and aesthetically pleasing. But
they also come with something else that’s not so pleasing: a “native
resolution.” You’ll be settling for a slightly fuzzy, possibly distorted,
picture unless you understand what’s going on “behind the screens.”
Recall that images in magazines, newspapers, and on computer
monitors consist of little dots—called pixels in computer parlance. Now imagine
that you and I own identical 19” CRT screens; you set your resolution to
1024x768 pixels and I set mine to 1280x1024. Since my resolution is higher, I’m
squeezing more dots into the same space than you are, therefore each dot is
smaller. As a result, everything on my screen is smaller, but I can see more
than you can (i.e., more spreadsheet columns, more desktop space for icons,
etc.). With your lower resolution, you see less on your screen, but everything
appears larger and easier to read. Varying resolution is easy for a CRT—its
technology enables it to make its dots bigger or smaller to accommodate the
desired resolution.
A flat panel, on the other hand, comes from the factory with a
predefined set of dots that cannot change size. Widescreen 20” flat panels
commonly have a “native resolution” of 1680x1050, meaning their screen image
consists of exactly 1,680 columns and 1,050 rows of identically shaped pixels.
If you set your screen resolution to 1680x1050, you’ll get a perfectly clear
picture.
But suppose you want everything larger and set your resolution
to 1024x768. The end result will be crooked lines and jagged edges that appear
to you as regularly-shaped—albeit somewhat fuzzy—text and images. Furthermore,
because the ratio of the resolutions don’t match (1680÷1050=1.6 while
1024÷768=1.33), you’ll also notice distortion, circles that look like ovals, and
the like.
If you insist on the perfect picture from your flat panel,
you’ll need to set screen resolution to the monitor’s native resolution. To
change screen resolution, right-click on a blank area of your desktop, click
Properties (or Personalize), then click the Settings tab or Display Settings
link. Next, move the Screen Resolution slider farthest to the right; this is
usually the native (clearest) resolution. This will ensure the clearest picture
possible, but you might discover that the text is too small for your eyes. Move
the slider left for a larger but fuzzier image. To avoid distortion, select a
resolution with a ratio that’s identical or at least similar to the screen’s
native resolution. For instance, since 1680÷1050=1.6, aim for 1440x900 or
1280x800, each of which has an identical 1.6 ratio.
Be resolute at setting resolution, and you’ll find the exact
balance of size, clarity, and distortion that’s just right for you!
This is Larry Schneider, logging off.
