Gateway's FPD2185W: a 21in widescreen 2005fpw killer!

alexpronko said:
You need to do that through the video card drivers. For nvidia got to custom timings and select - video card scaling and either 1:1 or aspect ratio. The monitor itself DOES NOT have scaling for VGA / DVI inputs
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Very true

Agree

Lord Exodia
 
Lord_Exodia said:
Not true. In fact I'm trying to find out how to stretch movies to full screen in some occasions.

Lord Exodia
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L.E.

To stretch the video on the composite, component or S-Video inputs, go to the video adjust, then video scaling option and choose wide or panoramic. If you are trying to strech WMV or MPG files, Windows Media Player cannot do this. If you are playing DVD's using PowerDVD or the like, use the built in stretch features of the program. Also, if you are inputting video from a DVD player or Set Top Box, be sure to configure the player to 16:9 mode. Good luck!!

Tim-in-CA
 
Just to let everyone know, the problems I was having through DVI with my X800XL have been fixed by the Cat 5.10 drivers. Widescreen goodness through DVI. Now to get my GTO2 that I received today in my amd rig and see what BF2 looks like with it. X800XL has been banished back to the dlp :)
 
ND40oz said:
Just to let everyone know, the problems I was having through DVI with my X800XL have been fixed by the Cat 5.10 drivers. Widescreen goodness through DVI. Now to get my GTO2 that I received today in my amd rig and see what BF2 looks like with it. X800XL has been banished back to the dlp :)
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ND40oz,

This confuses me ... you were having problems with your PC not passing POST. A driver update should not have cured this. Are you sure there is nothing else you did to solve the problem?

Tim-in-CA
 
alexpronko said:
You need to do that through the video card drivers. For nvidia got to custom timings and select - video card scaling and either 1:1 or aspect ratio. The monitor itself DOES NOT have scaling for VGA / DVI inputs
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Yup, I've been playing Pirates! at 1280*1024, stretched to fit vertically while maintaining the 4:3 ratio, with black bars on the sides (via DVI). Doing this was a simple click in the nVidia control panel on the LCD properties screen. I have not seen the custom timing screen alex mentioned.
 
Tim-in-CA said:
ND40oz,

This confuses me ... you were having problems with your PC not passing POST. A driver update should not have cured this. Are you sure there is nothing else you did to solve the problem?

Tim-in-CA
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I spoke with ATI about this issue, they told me to try the 5.10 or revert back to the 5.6 drivers as it's a known issue. Apparently I would post and immediately following post when the drivers would attempt load is where I would experience the problem. I thought it was a bios issue, either card or mb, but it seems like it was a driver issue. Either way it's working now and the cat 5.10 drivers fixed it, incase anyone else has this issue.
 
i got 2 of these bad boys now, the only issue i have is that one of my ports doesnt let me use DVI for some reason, anyone know why?? I have a dual dvi 6800gt and one port i have to use the vga cable/and adapter.
 
Have you tried swapping the 2 monitors to make sure the new one's DVI works at all? It might be too much Res for the 6800GT. I have seen spec sheets saying max res for 6800GT is 1600x1200 in digital. If the new monitor works. Try lowering the res on primary monitor to 1280x1024 and the shut down after applying attach second pannel and see if it boots when you set input to dvi on both. If still doesn't boot I suggest trying one monitor alone on 2nd dvi port to see if it's the dvi port. Swap cables to see if it's the new cable. Try both ports with the known working cable.

Wow monitor problems are annoying. :D

L.E.
 
i have tried both monitors, when i have both with dvi cables, the one port doesnt work, i switch monitors to see and the one that connected to the good port comes up fine, so both monitors work, now when i use a vga cable with either one into that port then it works fine.
 
Sounds like a vid card limitation. Could be fixed via a bios flash for vid card possibly. Maybe it's just res limit. Try putting the 1280x720 res on primary and then connecting the other through dvi and rebooting to see if this can work. I have seen a card able to go as high as 1600x1200 but when another monitor is connected that same card can only go as high as 1280x1024 for example. Maybe 1280X720 can be done one each port but 1680x1050 is max videocard res. I'm not sure. So many variables.

Good luck
 
Not a video card limitation. I had two monitors connected through DVI on 6600GT - 1920x1200 - dell 2405 and dell 2001 1600x1200 at the same time. Right now I'm running two at 1600x1200 just fine.
 
AthlonXP,

Have you tried updating to the latest NVidia drivers? Do you see your PC POSTing on both monitors during the bootup phase of your PC?
 
AthlonXP said:
when both are in dvi mode, only 1 posts up.
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Have you tried one of the FPD2185Ws on DVI and a different monitor on the 2nd DVI? If so, do you still only see on monitor during POST?
 
This monitor looks great.
It lacks brightness ???
Someone mentioned this earlier...:s
just wanted to know because im anxious that this monitor arrives in UK.
Could the lucky boys post more pics of the beast?
:D
 
I just bought this monitor today and I am new to LCD's. I am having trouble playing Counter strike source game looks dark and seems to chop up abit on me. I am using the VGA and not the DVI. Was wondering if DVI would help in anyway and also will upgrading my video card drivers help?
any Help would be nice!
Oh i also noticed that when you go monitor tab in properties it says Plug and play monitor and i already installed the drivers from the cd!
 
I also notice while playing any heavy 3d games my fps jump down 20 to 40 fps Every 3 seconds regardless of heavy graphics or not could this be a refresh rate problem Please help!!
 
This could be a combination of refresh rate and the fact that your vid card may not be able to handle the game at the settings you always used at such a huge resolution. 1680x1050 is brutal even on SLi where on SLi it will still run well but it does make your cards work hard. If you don't have a Geforce 6800 or above or a Radeon X800 or above I seriously suggest gaming at a lower res than 1680x1050. On some high end games this res may be unplayable on lower cards. If using VGA set refresh to 75hz if using dvi use the native 60hz for digital.
 
Can someone please post a picture of Doom III on this monitor!!!!! i want to see if its really "unplayable"
 
I am running an A64 3800, X800XL 1 gig of OCz 2-2-2-5 MSI Nforce3 MB I normally play Counter strike source @ 1600x1200 with everything on high AA@4x and Ansotropic filtering @16x and i get a smooth 90 to 150fps. Since I put in this monitor i get Frame rates all the way from 100 drop down to 30 in a blink of an eye.
 
You system is nice enough to run it at 1680x1050. I'm not sure about the fps drop in counterstrike. It's not the first time I heard of it either. I do tech support and this was told to me before as happening with a 6800GT card. It may be a game issue. Do me a fav. If you still have your old monitor try CS again. Also try another game too. Lets not let only one game create your opinion of the pannel. For the 2nd game try an open gl game to cover all bases. CS sourse is Direct 3d so open gl game is a good test .
 
Clearshot101 said:
I just bought this monitor today and I am new to LCD's. I am having trouble playing Counter strike source game looks dark and seems to chop up abit on me. I am using the VGA and not the DVI. Was wondering if DVI would help in anyway and also will upgrading my video card drivers help?
any Help would be nice!
Oh i also noticed that when you go monitor tab in properties it says Plug and play monitor and i already installed the drivers from the cd!
Click to expand...


have no issue at all with CS source, also the video card was the issue, so I am selling it off to a bud who doesnt really care for dual SLI support for cheap and picking up a 7800gt.
 
So is the 300 brightness of this monitor not allowing good Doom 3 playback? My current lcd monitor Viewsonic VP171b has a 260 brightness and I had a hard time seeing things in the dark in Doom 3.

What about movies for those that have complained about the brightness in games, is it also prevalant in the dvds that you watch?

Maybe I will buy a widescreen when its closer to the MS Windows Vista release, I think they should be just as cheap and have better "tech" than the current Gateway.
 
tronmaster said:
So is the 300 brightness of this monitor not allowing good Doom 3 playback? My current lcd monitor Viewsonic VP171b has a 260 brightness and I had a hard time seeing things in the dark in Doom 3.

What about movies for those that have complained about the brightness in games, is it also prevalant in the dvds that you watch?

Maybe I will buy a widescreen when its closer to the MS Windows Vista release, I think they should be just as cheap and have better "tech" than the current Gateway.
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If you adjust the gamma settings in Doom 3 (or any other game for that matter) you should be able to set it to optimal settings for the display.
 
Clearshot101 said:
I am running an A64 3800, X800XL 1 gig of OCz 2-2-2-5 MSI Nforce3 MB I normally play Counter strike source @ 1600x1200 with everything on high AA@4x and Ansotropic filtering @16x and i get a smooth 90 to 150fps. Since I put in this monitor i get Frame rates all the way from 100 drop down to 30 in a blink of an eye.
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Have you updated to the latest ATI drivers yet? They still may be tweaking their drivers for performance on widescreen. Try also knocking down the Ansotropic filtering and AA down by a notch to see if you see an improvement in frame rates.
 
I haven't run doom 3 on the monitor but I know for a fact it would look nice on it. Otherwise try this hack. Open up the console with the tilde (~) type in r_gamma 1.3 You can try several values like 1.4 1.5 but it kills the fear factor of the game. Part of the thrill is having to walk into the room with the flashlight instead of the rocket launcher because you can't see. Darkeness is the point, but this gamma hack will light the game up like a christmas tree.
 
Tim-in-CA said:
If you adjust the gamma settings in Doom 3 (or any other game for that matter) you should be able to set it to optimal settings for the display.
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I'm the one who had problems with Doom 3. And just to re-iterate, my comments were based upon the xbox version, not the PC version. The xbox version does not have any sort of gamma setting to adjust, which is pretty much the case for most xbox games.

This monitor is pretty good (with adjustments) for PC games, but I stand by my comments about the brightness problems when playing via xbox.
 
Tim-in-CA said:
Have you updated to the latest ATI drivers yet? They still may be tweaking their drivers for performance on widescreen. Try also knocking down the Ansotropic filtering and AA down by a notch to see if you see an improvement in frame rates.
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Thanks Tim-in-CA updated to latest ATI drivers and everything runs Smooth now!! Love this monitor!
:D
 
Clearshot101 said:
Thanks Tim-in-CA updated to latest ATI drivers and everything runs Smooth now!! Love this monitor!
:D
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Cool .... glad I could help!!! ATI and NVidia are CONSTANTLY tweaking thier drivers. I've found that updating video drivers usually helps improve performance.
 
HeyGuys,
I just picked up this lcd a few days ago. I mostly like it so far. I was wondering if anyone else is noticing or bothered by the colour washout at different angles? for regular surfing and pc use I was able to adjust the gamma levels on the videocard to make the center (dead on view) less dark. You still see a change when you look at it from an angle but not as bad as before. For watching videos on the pc. well that's another story! It just looks too dark if you're viewing it head on! Do you guys now if there's a way to calibrate the lcd to improve on this? I'm running an ati 9550 video card with the latest drivers.
Thanks,
rbq
 
rbq said:
HeyGuys,
I just picked up this lcd a few days ago. I mostly like it so far. I was wondering if anyone else is noticing or bothered by the colour washout at different angles? for regular surfing and pc use I was able to adjust the gamma levels on the videocard to make the center (dead on view) less dark. You still see a change when you look at it from an angle but not as bad as before. For watching videos on the pc. well that's another story! It just looks too dark if you're viewing it head on! Do you guys now if there's a way to calibrate the lcd to improve on this? I'm running an ati 9550 video card with the latest drivers.
Thanks,
rbq
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RBQ,

Did you install the included EzTune software? In addition to controlling the auto rotation feature, there is a color calibration module in EzTune. Its under the Plug-ins tab. Try it out and see if this improves your color. You should adjust the color settings back to normal in the ATI drivers before adjusting them here. This is the next best thing to buying a $300+ ColorVision Spyder.
 
Hi Tim,
I did install the eztune software. It was the only way I could get the resolution to show up as an option. I've seen the calibration module. i'll give it a shot and see if it helps.
I'm curious, do you have this lcd?
Thanks for your time,
rbq
 
Tim-in-CA said:
RBQ,

Did you install the included EzTune software? In addition to controlling the auto rotation feature, there is a color calibration module in EzTune. Its under the Plug-ins tab. Try it out and see if this improves your color. You should adjust the color settings back to normal in the ATI drivers before adjusting them here. This is the next best thing to buying a $300+ ColorVision Spyder.
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No amount of calibration will help the wash out look when viewing at angles, it's just the inherent flaw of the PVA technology. That's why I've returned 2405 and this 2185.
After initial wow factor wore out lot's of people around here are finaly start noticing it too.
The best example is to look at hardforums and look at the gray colored bars on the sides of the thread. Depends on the angle they will change through many shades of chrome-silvery-shiny grey.
 
alexpronko said:
No amount of calibration will help the wash out look when viewing at angles, it's just the inherent flaw of the PVA technology. That's why I've returned 2405 and this 2185.
After initial wow factor wore out lot's of people around here are finaly start noticing it too.
The best example is to look at hardforums and look at the gray colored bars on the sides of the thread. Depends on the angle they will change through many shades of chrome-silvery-shiny grey.
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Hi Alex,
You are so right! It's too bad because I like the monitor otherwise. I intend to pack it up and take it back to the store this weekend. After it awhile it becomes really annoying too!
I'm just wondering if you can recommend an lcd in a similar size range that doesn't do this annoying washout?
thanks,
rbq
 
rbq said:
Hi Alex,
You are so right! It's too bad because I like the monitor otherwise. I intend to pack it up and take it back to the store this weekend. After it awhile it becomes really annoying too!
I'm just wondering if you can recommend an lcd in a similar size range that doesn't do this annoying washout?
thanks,
rbq
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Unfortunately current state of the LCD technology leaves alot to be desired. If you wan to get a LCD today it will have to be a compromise, no single technology is the best.
All PVA/MVA displays will have this color wash and annoying grey problem, so you can immediately scrap Dell 2405 and all Samsung based models (Samsung is the PVA king).
IPS and S-IPS do not exhibit the color wash however they do have much lower contrast ratio than PVA. In the 400 to 600:1 range. This will manifest itself as not truly black levels, more like dark dark grey. From practical experience however this is only really visible and bothersome on either completely black screen or in the dark environment games like Doom etc. or in the dark scenes in the movies. In normal use when there is no signifficant area of black on the screen it tends not to be a problem.
I personally, for now, have settled on the Viesonic VP2000s. It's a 20.1" S-IPS panel with 1600x1200. I figured it will tie me over till the next technology step. It can be head for less than $500 after rebate from Newegg. I tried to get Dell 2001fp however after 3 exchanges I still could not get one with uniform background, there was always signiffican backlight bleeding, I finally gave up on Dell. The Viewsonic has perfect backlight and zero dead/stuck pixels.
I was contemplating Westinghouse 37" LCD TV/monitor however I am not able to see it in person. On paper it looks good with lots of inputs 37" size and 1920x1080 resolution. Couple of people here have it and are quite happy with it. However I have few doubts, first I'm affraid that it may be actually too big and with 0.42 dot pitch screen door effect may be visible, second I suspect that it's a MVA technology descendant so it will have color wash problem. I cannot confirm those as no BB store has it in stock or on display in my area.
I hope that pretty soon we will see a bunch of new 1080p LCD tv's pop out, then we'll have more choices. Till than the Viewsonic will do. I still have a CRT next to it just for those moments I really need to check something but the LCD is my primary monitor now.
 
thanks for your input Alex. I was looking at an Acer 20 inch widescreen (Al2032W) today. I would imagine that it has an lcd like the dell. I was checking it out and it didn't appear to exhibit the washout. As far as the black levels it seemed fine. Mind you I'm not too picky as I just want it for mostly computer use and to watch the occasional movie. The only thing that I really didn't like was that it only had vga and dvi ports. I saw it at the costco here in Toronto. it's probably a step down tech wise but if it doesn't have that annoying washout and funky greys then I'm happy!
Cheers,
rbq
 
rbq said:
thanks for your input Alex. I was looking at an Acer 20 inch widescreen (Al2032W) today. I would imagine that it has an lcd like the dell. I was checking it out and it didn't appear to exhibit the washout. As far as the black levels it seemed fine. Mind you I'm not too picky as I just want it for mostly computer use and to watch the occasional movie. The only thing that I really didn't like was that it only had vga and dvi ports. I saw it at the costco here in Toronto. it's probably a step down tech wise but if it doesn't have that annoying washout and funky greys then I'm happy!
Cheers,
rbq
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I'm pretty sure Acer is using IPS panel, so no washout. This is probably the same panel as Dell 2005fpw. A rule of thumb would be that anything with the advertised contrast above 700:1 will most likely be MVA/PVA.
You can try to get Dell which will give you Composite and S-Video as well as additional USB ports, pretty cheap going on sale often, but judging from the posts here and my own experience you'll be hard pressed to get a perfect model. The biggest issue seems to be backlight unevenness. I wouldn't sweat the lack of other inputs if it's mainly for PC use (that's what I buy PC monitors for). However I am ready to dump mine as soon as there is another monitor technology that will be satisfactory to me and offer an improvement over the model I have.
I wish costco near me was carrying that model, maybe I would've bought it instead Viewsonic. Any way you can't go wrong with buying it in Costco due to their excelen return policy, if you don't like it in 6 months you can still bring it back for a full refund no questions asked. I wouldn't abuse this policy but it definitely might come in handy.
 
here's the specs for the acer:
20" wide-screen TFT LCD with Acer® CrystalBrite Technology, 1680 x 1050 native resolution, 800:1 contrast ratio, 160°/160° horizontal/vertical viewing angles, 2 x 5.0W integrated speakers, VGA and DVI-D connectors, 300 cd/m2 brightness, 8ms response time, gloss-black color"
Maybe it's a different lcd? look at the contrast ratio on it. I checked and double checked and I couldn't see any washout. I'm going to go back and see if they'll put a dvd on the computer or put a dark wallpaper on it. It's a nice looking lcd as well. Do you have any other ideas or suggestions as what I can look for other than the obvious washout?
thanks
 
rbq said:
here's the specs for the acer:
20" wide-screen TFT LCD with Acer® CrystalBrite Technology, 1680 x 1050 native resolution, 800:1 contrast ratio, 160°/160° horizontal/vertical viewing angles, 2 x 5.0W integrated speakers, VGA and DVI-D connectors, 300 cd/m2 brightness, 8ms response time, gloss-black color"
Maybe it's a different lcd? look at the contrast ratio on it. I checked and double checked and I couldn't see any washout. I'm going to go back and see if they'll put a dvd on the computer or put a dark wallpaper on it. It's a nice looking lcd as well. Do you have any other ideas or suggestions as what I can look for other than the obvious washout?
thanks
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The wasout is pretty obvious and I don't have any other techniques. If you can take a laptop with you with this forum page saved and look at the grays, should be pretty obvious.
I would try to shade the monitor as in the bright store lights the wash may not be that obvious.
 
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