Widescreen Gaming Forum

Hello!

I'm thinking about using the triple head 2go on one Dell 30 " TFT Widescreen Monitor as the center.

And two 24 " TFT Monitor to the sides of it.

Do you think this is the best setup available? Or are the screens to big for the resolution that triplehead2go uses? 1280?

Is a Monitor Setup with three 24" Monitors better ?

Or is this to big and ugly resolution on it and I need to get a 21" one?

I would especially like to hear from users who got or have used big Monitors with surround gaming.

I only use it for Flight Simulations and realistic Racing Simulations, such as Live for Speed, NASCAR Racing 2003 and netkarPro.

If the triplehead2go works good on a 30" Dell, I will buy three of them. How do you think that would work? Will the resolution and quality be good?

Greetings
Thanks for any opinions[/url]

No. Don't even think about it. I don't know a heck of alot about Triple head or what ever it's called but I do know the Dell 3007wfp and I know that the triplehead only works with vga. The Dell 3007wfp only works with a dual link dvi. It may be possible to use a vga to dvi dongle but this will force the resolution of the Dell 3007wfp to 1280x800 from it's native 2560x1600.

There is no way vga could cope with 4mp x 3 anyway. Forget about it.

What I want to know is why would you want to do this with a Dell 3007wfp anyway. The Dell 3007wfp already gives you plenty of fov and is huge.

I want to have 3 screens as it greatly enhances the Field of View when Racing.

I would also turn the 2 ouside Monitors 45°, to copy better the view one has outside the driver window.

So what is the biggest Monitor suitable for 3D Gaming?

Anything above 21 Inch....?

I also need a very small edge of the monitor. I thought the DELL2407 would be looking very nice for triple monitor use?

thanks for any replys

The 30" panel doesn't give you any more FOV than a 20" widescreen. The FOV is set by the screen ratio, not the screen size.

If you want to do a TH2Go setup, you need three matched monitors. For 3x4:3 (or 3x5:4), the biggest resolution accepted is 3x1280x1024 or 3x1024x768. For 3xWidescreen, it accepts 3x180x720 or 3x1280x768. The problem with the 3xWS is that it doesn't yet support 3x1280x800 (which is the 16:10 pixel ratio of monitors at 19" and above). You would get native res with a trio of 15" widescreens, but that might be kinda small.

Once 3x1280x800 is out, you could scale it on larger panels, and then have widescreen on one, for games that don't support TH2Go.

Thanks alot for your reply Ibrin.

I know the increase of FOV doesnt give me a bigger picture, but I'm building a Race Cockit, and want myself to be surrounded by big screens as if I would actually sit in a Race Car.

What are the biggest screens do you people recommend for surround gaming?

Maybe I should get three 24" inch DELL Widescreen TFT ?

I dont think I would want something smaller then 24", but what Monitors?

Thanks alot for your reply Ibrin.

I know the increase of FOV doesnt give me a bigger picture, but I'm building a Race Cockit, and want myself to be surrounded by big screens as if I would actually sit in a Race Car.

What are the biggest screens do you people recommend for surround gaming?

Maybe I should get three 24" inch DELL Widescreen TFT ?

I dont think I would want something smaller then 24", but what Monitors?

Alright I can dig that. What you will have to do in this case is buy three 26inch or 32 inch HDTV's. A HDTV is perfect for your needs as they are 16:9 and more importantly can be connected with vga to a PC.

With a HDTV yould get a huge screen and the perfect wide screen resolution suitable for Triplehead2go. From what Ibrin just said , it means that there is nothing in the PC monitor sector that would suit your needs. As in the PC monitor world as size increases so does the resolution.

Be careful which HDTV you buy. Ideally you want either a plasma or LCD, with the smallest bezel you can find (preferably without a speaker and tuner which coincidently are also called monitors!) . You also need a resolution of 1280x768 but most lcd screens are 1366X768. They will suite your needs fine as those tv's are made for 720p ie 1280x768 and can scale to that resolution no problem with minimum scaling issues.

There are plenty of LCD HDTV's that fit the bill, you just need to look around until you see the one you like. Oh and make sure that it has a vga or PC-DVI connector or it would be wasted money.

PS. Also remember to check the specs and manual of any HDTV you are about to buy even though it says you can connect a PC , some HDTV's cheat by not using all the common vesa resolutions and max out at 1024x768 (Unless this isn't a problem, as the triplehead2go supports this resolution and it looks alright on a 16:9 HDTV), when you need 1280x768 (1360x768, will that work Ibrin?). You won't believe how many times I saw a HDTV do that, so be careful.

LG is a good brand , and like making HDTV's that work equally as well as PC monitors. Philips, Panasonic and Pioneer are usually the biggest offenders when it comes to cheating resolutions when connected to PC's.

PSS. The Dell 2407wfp is 16:10. From what Ibrin said that is not ideal either. The image will be horrible as the screen will have to scale down to 16:9 1280x768 (which you will have to make your self as this monitor doesn't do 1280x768 , it does 1280x800)

Thank you very very much for your reply TonyM16.

I WILL GO FOR LDC TV DEFINITELY :-)

What do you think about having one big screen like 37", and two 32" to the sides of it? IS this very annoying when doing 3D Gaming? Would it work good you think?

But maybe I will go with three 37" I'm not sure.

You say I should go with 32", is there a special reason for that? How bad do you think the Game looks when it has to run on such a low resolution on a 37" big screen?

I'm interested in this one:

(the Brezel looks like about 5 cm, the resolution is 1360, how about that )

http://cgi.ebay.com/Yakumo-37-LCD-TV-94J-HDMI-HD-READY-WXGA-BRAND-NEW_W0QQitemZ230051251199QQihZ013QQcategoryZ61400QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

37"
It is 16:9
WXGA (1366 × 768)
480i | 480p | 720i | 720p | 1080i
Pixeldistance 0,6 × 0,6 mm
colours 16,7 Millionen
500 cd/m²
1000 : 1
170 °/170°
8 ms
TV Tuning-System Analog Multi-PAL (Multi Europe) PAL B/G/D/K | SECAM

1 × HDMI (HDCP)
1 × D-SUB (VGA)
1 × Antennen-Eingang (UHF/VHF)
1 × Video-Eingang (Cinch)
1 × S-Video-Eingang
1 × Component Video-Eingang (Y/pb/Pr, Y/Cb/Cr)
2 × SCART (RGB)

It has no DVI ?? or is this D-SUB VGA which will work?



If I go with something smaller I thought about three of this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ViewSonic-NextVision-N3250W-32-in-LCD-Television-TV_W0QQitemZ120051157039QQihZ002QQcategoryZ61400QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

32"
800:1
170? horizontal, 170? vertical
8ms
500 cd/m2
16:9
Native Resolution 1366x768
INPUT PC RGB Analog (75 ohms, 0.7 Vp-p)
TV TV/cable, composite (RCA), component YPbPr/YCbCr, S-video
480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i
COMPATIBILITY PC 1360x768 (preferred), 1024x768, 1280x768

For me personally having a big tv in the middle and smaller ones on the isde would be terribly distracting, but then triplehead2go doesn't even appeal to me as it is at the moment (ie no dvi , no 16:10 etc), so maybe I am not the best person to judge.

Also the resolution may be low , but it will look fabulous. Alot better than a Pc monitor doing 1280x768, reason being HDTV's have very high brightness and contrast comparatively.

I used to have a 1366x768 32 inch LG LCD tv for use with my PC and nearly every game looked breath taking. I now have a Dell 3007 which is equally as breath taking but in different ways ( one for sheer brute power and one for the incredibly high contrast and brightness).

Yes at about above 32 inch the dot pitch will start to become large especially for PC use but for a driving game I highly doubt it will be of any concern. To be on the safe side I would stick with 32 inch (as long as you can live it of course).

I will look in that tv for you and tell you what I think soon.

Okay had a look at the manual of your tv choice:

http://www.yakumo.com/datafiles/produkte/manuals/man_1041228_36_2_yakumo_37_lcd_tv_94j.pdf

It can do all the common PC resolutions including 1360x768 and will do 1024x768 and 1280x1024 which is what triplehead2go wants. I know you ideally want 1280x768 as it's widescreen but I didn't see it in the list. Doesn't mean you can't have 1280x768 though as if you don't see it in the windows settings a simple mod from power strip will make it so.

Also you should take a look at LG 32LX2R or the Samsung range they can do quite a bit of spiffy things including 178 viewing angle 1200:1 (3000:1 dynamic) contrast and 600cm2 brightness and 8ms response rate.

I also liked the Panasonic range but you will have to use power strip for those. remember to only buy from a place you can return to if you don't like the picture. Don't buy something like this from ebay unless they offer a refund if youa re not happy. If you buy from a shop you have seven days to get a refund due to distance selling regulations. This is how I was able to test out many different tv's and monitors. It goes without saying that if you go this route be prepared to have lot of waiting around and will have to keep everything including the packaging in mint condition. You will aslo have to learn how to repackage everything and fix monitors so that there usage clock is reset. If you don't,, the shop can refuse refund, as the law only applies to unopened stuff.

I just was at a electronic store an spend some time staring at the screens.

37" inch gives me a nice sight vertikal wise. I mean the lenght is just very nice (46cm), but the actual length of the picture (82cm) is very wide and having 2 screens so far away from my sitting position is not that good.

I will take a closer look on 32" LGs.




The 32inch LG 32LC2 has a bit of alot brezel. Like all TVs. Having 32" inch makes me think about the possibilities of using a Monitor, as it has such small Brezel and is cheaper. But what are the downsides of that?

Thank you for the Tipps, very much appreciated!

I just was at a electronic store an spend some time staring at the screens.

37" inch gives me a nice sight vertical wise. I mean the length is just very nice (46cm), but the actual length of the picture (82cm) is very wide and having 2 screens so far away from my sitting position is not that good.

I will take a closer look on 32" LGs.




The 32inch LG 32LC2 has a bit of a lot bezel. Like all TVs. Having 32" inch makes me think about the possibilities of using a Monitor, as it has such small Bezel and is cheaper. But what are the downsides of that?

Thank you for the Tips, very much appreciated!

No Problem.

I don't like that LG model you just shown either. I haven't seen that model in the Uk for sale, I know it's on their website but it's the LGLX2R that wins all the applause. You live in the US?

Anyway if a small bezel is important than none of the LG, Philips or Samsung range will fit the bill as they often have speakers on the side.

A pioneer or panasonic Plasma on the other hand doesn't have any speakers and usually has very small bezels. Look in to them. It will have to be 37 inch and above though. The price of plasmas have come down a lot and I still maintain that they are better looking and performing than any top of the range LCD screen.

Also check out Sony's new Bravia range.

Now I think it would be a miss of me if I didn't at least try to point you in the right direction as far as PC monitors go.

So I will explain. For the triplehead you want a 1280x1024 resolution right and we all know lcd screens look awful when doing anything but their native resolution. The further away a lcd screen gets from it's native the worse it looks, this is why a Dell 3007wfp just wouldn't work. The Dell 2407wfp also fits in to the same category but just maybe you might be able to put up with it once you made a custom resolution from power strip. I assure you it won't look very nice, but maybe you need to try it out to see for yourself (so try my buy and refund technique to give at a go, just make sure to buy from a big website that will refund, so check their clauses first) .

So what else is there. Well actually there is those 1680x1050 screens. They would be ideal as they will have the small bezel, be larger than regular 17inch monitors and be cheap enough to buy three. But you may think 20 inch is to small. So the Dell 2007wfp is out. How about a 22incher. There are new 1680c1050 screens that are very cheap and 22 inch. A 1680x1050 screen won't have to scale all that much to display 1280x1024 and so would look great. In fact the Guru website used the Dell 2005fpw for their review of triplehead! Look in to it. It could be what you want.

Also I want you to understand something else. You will also need a lot of gpu power. The kinds of resolution we are talking about here can't be done with a geforce 6 series or a ATI x8xxx so a 7 series or a 8 series is needed to do this. You may even have to go sli with some games. If you don't buy a powerful gpu you will get abysmal frame rates in modern games. I think Nvidis is the way to go for triplehead, as their drivers seem more compatible. I actually think that Guru website even mentioned something about Nvidia being the best choice. SO maybe even buy a 7950gx2 or even a 8800gts or how about a 8800gtx.