No consumers products have been announced yet, but we have a feeling
AU Optronics could be on to something with its new "world first" LCD panel size -- which seems to at least be a first of its kind for consumer applications. Instead of the traditional 1920 x 1200 resolution and aspect ratio of normal "widescreen" 24-inch LCDs, the new 1080p MoniTV display is true 16:9 and 1920 x 1080, for perfectly matching that HD signal coming from the likes of your PS3, Xbox 360 or Blu-ray player. AU Optronics is banking on the trend of people watching TV and movies at their desks, and with a mere 14mm of thickness to the panel (pictured on the left), we're guessing this'll be a pretty attractive offering once it gets into the hands of manufacturers. AUO is building a range of MoniTV 16:9 panels to go along with, starting at 15-inch and running on up to 32-inches. Most will be available Q2 this year.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
julz007 @ Mar 11th 2008 9:15AM
sounds good
although i wonder what the response time will be.
Phil Perman @ Mar 11th 2008 9:21AM
Well as its designed for movie viewing, I imagine they'll stick in a nice PVA or MVA panel for wide viewing angles, and at the moment they seem to average somewhere around 5ms. Should also hopefully get some good contrast ratios, 3000:1 at least I would be expecting
PhilxBefore @ Mar 11th 2008 12:55PM
I couldn't imagine the response time being any different than what we are staring at today.
However, I think this is a stupid idea! The whole point of 16:10 is for the video playback controls at the bottom (or top) of the screen. If you are sitting back far enough to use the remote control with your computer than why don't you just watch the movie on a bigger TV screen?
Personally, I don't care at all about a black bar or two. This would mean you could ONLY watch the movie fullscreen, with no instant messenger, taskbar, or any other apps (like your company's homebrewed database software in case you need to alt+tab quickly back to that).
Then what happens if you're watching a 4:3 standard of a TV show?
Kakaze @ Mar 11th 2008 9:31AM
Why hasn't anyone done this before?
I always wondered why computers were 16x10 and TVs were 16x9. I always thought it would make more sense for computers to fall in line with TVs.
schmitty338 @ Mar 11th 2008 9:49AM
Well...it is a good idea for people who are going to be using their computer for HD movie/TV viewing ONLY.
However, I have a 22" widescreen (1680x1050) screen on my desk in the living room that also serves as our main entertainment centre....I have 1.6TB of video on it, and maybe 1/3 of that is in 16:9 format...for everything else, it would waste even more space than my regular Widescreen 22" when viewing regular 4:3 video, or pictures, etc...
It's definitely a good idea for a high def entertainment centre, but not for those who will be using it as a multipurpose display.
IMHO of course ;-)
Chad Upton @ Mar 11th 2008 10:56AM
I'll buy one. Must have at least 2 HDMI inputs so I can hookup my video game systems and play them at my desk.
Miikun @ Mar 11th 2008 9:49PM
Well the big advantage of 1200 vertical pixels is you can show 1600x1200 applications without scaling. A few years ago, that really mattered since that was about the max resolution you could get on a 22" tube with .22mm dot pitch without the pixels blurring together, and lots of applications were hard coded for 3:4 resolutions including 1600x1200. I'll still take 1920x1200 any day just for the extra real estate, but I'd be happy to get a 16:9 version for console gaming, or maybe a really nice photo frame, especially since the module is so thin.
andyo @ Mar 11th 2008 3:51PM
The advantage of 1200 vs. 1080 is simple: more pixels. You're not losing ANYTHING with 1200 horizontal lines of pixels, you're just gaining desktop space. My monitor and others have an option to not scale to full screen whatever signal comes in, so you can get 1080p with a perfect 1:1 pixel mapping and 16:9 ratio. There is absolutely no need for this kind of thing for the PC. It takes away more than it gives (which is pretty much nothing).
Mat Brady @ Mar 12th 2008 12:21AM
I've been waiting for this for ages!!! And to all those nyerrrds complaining about screen real estate... I use a 17" MacBook Pro as my single do-all computer and at the highest setting it's 1650x1050. I've been waiting to hook a monitor up to that which would double as a tv (since I don't want to fork out mega$$$ for a lounge room behemoth). This is the perfect solution because I get more resolution than my current computer at 1920 x 1080 AAAND it's ready to watch Blu-Ray movies on *perfectly*. Now all I need is Sony to come out with a slimmer PS3 and I'll have a complete setup! :D
Paul @ Mar 11th 2008 9:49AM
So basically its the same size as all the other 24" monitors but has a lower resolution? I think I will pass.
Kamokazi @ Mar 11th 2008 9:54AM
I prefer the extra screen real-estate, personally (pixels, not physical size as it would be about the same). A black bar at the top and bottom doesn't bother me. Heck, half the movies on my TV have them anyway since movies apparently can't even agree on an aspect. Admittedly, a uniform size would make things simpler for everyone...and by the time that happens I might be ready to upgrade my Dell 2707WFP...
Homeboy @ Mar 11th 2008 11:04AM
Exactly. Go to the cinema or rent a movie and you'll see that most movies aren't recorded in true 16:9. Personally I have no interest in a 16:9 for my deskptop or laptop since I would have to do more scrolling while sufring the web or word processing. 16:10 is really the way to go if you're spending most of your time on the computer not watching movies.
The ones who would have best use for these "new age" computer monitors are PS3 or Xbox 360 owners.
Andrew @ Mar 11th 2008 1:31PM
You prefer extra 120 pixels - or should I say extra 11%? In exchange for many scaling issues (as almost no 10:9 monitors get those right) with watching high definition content or trying to connect a non-PC HDMI device to it? You people are unbelievable. If that's what it's going to be then I have to say I vastly prefer old monitors that had 1600x1200 and were 4:3 as they are MUCH better suited for computer use. Both for web browsing and for software development, a 4:3 which allows for a lot of vertical real estate handily beats a widescreen. I don't care to be forced to scroll after reading a few sentences or writing a few lines of code (dramatizing for effect). Just about the ONLY reason I can think of for having a widescreen on a PC is to watch video. And if you're watching video, then WHY THE HELL NOT HAVE IT MATCH THE ASPECT RATIO OF THE ACTUAL CONTENT?
Sorry but whoever thought of introducing "widescreen" garbage to PCs AND made it non-compatible with standard widescreen TVs should be (*censor bad language*) fired and denied pension in old age.
vb @ Mar 11th 2008 2:02PM
How does a 1600x1200 beat a 1920x1200 (all the 24" 16/10 monitors)? It does not have any more vertical real estate and has less horizontal.
Kamokazi @ Mar 11th 2008 2:35PM
I have no idea what scaling issues you are referring too? All modern operating systems support resolutions much higher than 30" monitors...it depends on the video drivers more than anything. For video, any decent media player just adds black bars to maintain aspect ratio. And any modern game supports widescreen resolutions just fine (with the stubborn exception of EA's Battlefield).
And I am talking PC monitors, not TV's (Although my 27" has the capability for component or composite input, I just use DVI from my PC). There is no HDMI input (although it could be adapted to DVI).
And furthermore, widescreen monitors are a more in line with our natural field of vision. You see a lot more side to side than you do up and down. The biggest problem is that a large percentage of people are still on 4:3 monitors, and content creators have to either make it scale to both, or just fit standard screens, and generally, the easier method wins out.
As for the question of why they made them 16:10 instead of 16:9? Who the heck knows. A lot of people use HDTVs at PC monitors anyway, so I imagine we'll see PC monitors migrate that way eventually.
J.D. Fournier @ Mar 11th 2008 9:56AM
Sounds worthless. Why are we going backwards in technology? Computer panels have always had higher resolutions than TVs, which is one reason why a PC LCD screen costs more. I would not pay more for something with less. Also, making a thinner panel is useless. The panel could be 5 inches thick and no one would complain in the typical office environment. It's the base of the monitor that really matters. I still haven't seen many monitor stands that are 14 mm thick.
Martin Trautmann @ Mar 11th 2008 12:53PM
I thought PC displays are $200 and TV is $400, while you say it's the other way round?
Kamokazi @ Mar 11th 2008 2:47PM
When you get into the larger screen sizes, that changes very quickly. The cheaper units have to include tuners in them, which cost money and offsets the cheaper panels...and smaller computer panels are cheaper than larget ones because they are made in huge quantities. It's when you get to 24" and up where the difference starts to become drastically apparent. Larger TV screens are cheaper becuase more are produced, and fewer computer screens are produced that large.
Organic_Shadow @ Mar 11th 2008 10:09AM
More display manufacturers need to support standard HD resolutions as their LCD's native resolutions. That way we can use the monitor for whatever we want, especially if they support HDMI/HDCP.
As for losing a little bit of screen height when using it for PC purposes: ummm, so what? I'm going to cry because it isn't quite as tall as 1200, which isn't even natively required by anything yet? 1280x1024 is doing it fine for me currently, so a tiny bit taller and a lot wider is fine with me.
Don't see what the big deal is with losing a little bit of height. I think what my point is, is that HD resolution monitors needs to be the NORM and the 16:10/4:3 resolution monitors need to be the SPECIALTY.
Chad Upton @ Mar 11th 2008 10:56AM
The problem with losing height is reading spreadsheets, code and lists. It's nice to see as many rows as possible at a reasonable zoom level.
Andir3.0 @ Mar 11th 2008 12:46PM
It all depends. As a coder, I'd actually love to have a bit of side screen real estate for things like project trees and the like. I don't know if 20 lines would be all that bad of a loss. It might prompt me to go with a bigger screen and more side use. For now though, I'll stick with my two 19" 4:3 panels. One for code. The other for everything else. I am actually dreading the jump to wide screen though simply because of the resolutions and prices, so I really don't know how I'd feel about the loss. I'd have to touch/feel/see it to judge.
Martin Trautmann @ Mar 11th 2008 12:55PM
> The problem with losing height is reading spreadsheets, code and lists. It's nice to see as many rows as possible at a reasonable zoom level.
Use it sidewards, 1024 x 1900
Other people have spreadsheets with many columns and fewer rows - or now have the chance to use full column titles instead of crazily broken ones for small width columns ;-)
pokey @ Mar 11th 2008 10:10AM
AU made the first-gen Macbook millions-of-colors-if-you-like-bad-dithering-and-random-cracking LCD. Never forget!
Carmelo Lisciotto @ Mar 11th 2008 10:34AM
Now this looks cool!
Carmelo Lisciotto
www.carmelolisciotto.com
PopsG @ Mar 11th 2008 12:00PM
Insightful comment! I like the "lol" in the middle of your website.
batrun @ Mar 11th 2008 10:56AM
i think 24 inches is too big for a screen that will be viewed from 12-20 inches away. people will have to either place them much further (from their faces) than current screens , occupying desk space or bear with constant neck pain
AlphaTeam @ Mar 11th 2008 11:30AM
What's the point really. All I see if them also selling this for like $2000 for the 32-inch and then it pretty much defeats the purpose 'cause it would be better to the higher res Dell monitor.
The regular 24 still isn't worth it 'cause you lose some resolution. We're trying to use out computers, so making a TV out of it doesn't help.
Martin Trautmann @ Mar 11th 2008 1:03PM
24" @ 1920 x 1080 would be 20.5" x 11.5" (-> 23.505") and about 90 dpi. Not high resolution, but not bad either.
boe @ Mar 11th 2008 11:49AM
This is good news in my opinion. I'm hoping they come out with a 36" and I'll probably want to trade my 30" if these are any good.
BenSmith @ Mar 11th 2008 12:21PM
It is pretty common for LCD TV's to accept DVI inputs. I have been using a 37" 1080p TV as my second monitor for almost a year now. It also has a PS3 hooked up to it and at one time my cable TV.
Ty @ Mar 11th 2008 12:47PM
"No consumer products" not "No consumers products."
Nick V @ Mar 11th 2008 1:21PM
Why couldn't you just go buy a 26" to 32" LCD TV today with DVI and/or HDMI on the cheap right now if your primary focus is going to be a media center like capacity?
It would seem this new product is a niche of that niche (via it's 1080p resolution which wouldn't be available on TVs of that size).
Mark L. @ Mar 11th 2008 1:33PM
16:10 > 16:9
Why the hell are you championing this device for less pixels? The movie industry has adopted an incorrect aspect ratio.
Evan @ Mar 11th 2008 1:34PM
I would absolutely prefer 16:9 over 16:10!
My biggest problems are:
1. When something 4:3 aspect comes on, then I get black bars on all four sides! That's because my upscaling DVD player and cable box output 1920x1080 and the monitor is adding the black bars. The only thing that fills the screen is my computer.
2. The thin black-bars on my 16:10 monitor exposes black-level problems. If the black in the program in not exactly right, I notice it because the line between the content and letter-boxing is visible.
Mark L. @ Mar 12th 2008 10:19PM
Movies are never filmed in true 16:9. First off, 16:9 is a repeating decimal so you'll always get a black line to appear. Second, movies are filmed in 2.35:1 aspect ratio, much narrow that 16:9.
EEJ @ Mar 11th 2008 3:04PM
My 42" Westinghouse HD Monitor already has a 1920x1080 resolution screen, with VGA input, and all of the other knick knacks you would want in a home theatre display, such as DVI, HDMI, etc.(except a built-in tuner, obviously).
Is this an industry first just because it's designed to be on your desk?
Invisiblemoose @ Mar 11th 2008 3:45PM
1:1 pixel mapping seems easier and just as effective to me...
SharpShooter @ Mar 11th 2008 6:22PM
Just buy a Westinghouse monitor. I have a 24' one, which has about 5 different inputs, including HDMI (I bought this for my PC, but I use my PS3 with it also) and a higher resolution (1920x1200).