Will large, widescreen monitors make THG obsolete?

Post by **wazoo** » 07 Mar 2007, 21:09

I'm a HUGE fan of THG having had a Parhelia back in the day which I bought to experiment some with THG....

I subsequently fell off the TH wagon due to the weakness of the Parhelia's graphics chipset and currently run a pair of 7800GTX in SLI.

I have recently been thinking about the THG2Go solution... but am curious for views on TH vs. single widescreen gaming.

For example, I currently use a Sony FW900 24" CRT which tops out at 2304x1440/85hz. Clearly the size of the screen (24" vs. what... 50" plus for TH2Go??) effects immersion... but what about when 42" widescreen LCD's (or 50" WS LCD's) become mainstream? Assuming they can do 3840x1024, does THG lose its appeal?

Or is the somewhat parabolic nature of a TH setup superior to a "flat" single widescreen scenario?

I'd love to hear some thoughts on it....

Thanks!

Wazoo

MatroxRulez · Post by **MatroxRulez** » 07 Mar 2007, 21:25

Even if you had really big widescreen monitor, it is still quite different than triple-monitor setup. You can compare the screenshots of both widescreen and surround gaming modes here:
http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/screenshots/

Personally, I would go for Matrox TripleHead2Go.

JKeefe · Post by **JKeefe** » 07 Mar 2007, 22:17

"Assuming a [huge widescreen] can do 3840x1024"... Why would you assume that? 3840x1024 is a 4:1 resolution, not 16:9 or 16:10. It is much much wider than it is tall, and thus your virtual peripheral vision is extended into your real peripheral vision. This makes triplehead gaming so immersive.

Sure, you could get a huge 16:9 or 16:10 screen so that the view extends into your perihperal vision as well, but you'd still be seeing the same thing you were on a 24" screen. Triplehead doesn't just make things bigger, it shows you more.

Post by **wazoo** » 07 Mar 2007, 23:05

"Assuming a [huge widescreen] can do 3840x1024"... Why would you assume that? 3840x1024 is a 4:1 resolution, not 16:9 or 16:10. It is much much wider than it is tall, and thus your virtual peripheral vision is extended into your real peripheral vision. This makes triplehead gaming so immersive.

Sure, you could get a huge 16:9 or 16:10 screen so that the view extends into your perihperal vision as well, but you'd still be seeing the same thing you were on a 24" screen. Triplehead doesn't just make things bigger, it shows you more.

Ah... ok... that makes sense. For some reason (besides my own stupidity) I have a hard time wrapping my head around the whole resolution/aspect ratio thing.

I'm getting closer to pulling the trigger on this thing....

Magic Man · Post by **Magic Man** » 07 Mar 2007, 23:07

You also won't be seeing single screens with that sort of resolution for quite while...

Post by **wazoo** » 07 Mar 2007, 23:14

True enough....

Although I am somewhat torn between getting a 42" display that is something like 1360x768 vs. a TH setup. Big really can make up for lack of seeing more....

Different types of immersion I guess. :D

Post by **Paddy the Wak** » 07 Mar 2007, 23:42

I have a 50" plasma and a TH2G with 3x20" ... although the plasma is fab I much prefer the TH2G for immersion.

starfighter · Post by **starfighter** » 08 Mar 2007, 20:09

but what about when 42" widescreen LCD's (or 50" WS LCD's) become mainstream? Assuming they can do 3840x1024, does THG lose its appeal?

Neither will become mainstream.

Tucson · Post by **Tucson** » 09 Mar 2007, 02:24

The short answer is yes, but not with the hardware you mentioned. As display technology matures to the point where manufacturing large screens is as efficient as smaller screens (think OLED or SED), a th2go would not be needed. But we're talking about years from now, like 5-10.

Right now the aspect ratio is what makes the triplehead work so well (15:4), but in the future it will be more important for game engines to allow for custom fov's to work properly with concave screens. Currently this ussualy not a problem but many games are still locking the ability to adjust this (BF2 and R6:Vegas come to mind).

Post by **wazoo** » 09 Mar 2007, 03:40

The short answer is yes, but not with the hardware you mentioned. As display technology matures to the point where manufacturing large screens is as efficient as smaller screens (think OLED or SED), a th2go would not be needed. But we're talking about years from now, like 5-10.

Right now the aspect ratio is what makes the triplehead work so well (15:4), but in the future it will be more important for game engines to allow for custom fov's to work properly with concave screens. Currently this ussualy not a problem but many games are still locking the ability to adjust this (BF2 and R6:Vegas come to mind).

I agree that the ability to modify FOV is extremely important for widescreen gaming.

Matrox seemed to have little if any success getting game companies to make this a priority back in the Parhelia days. In fact, I think I remember them pulling there game developer liason off that responsibility at some point.

Has this changed at all with TH2Go? Any idea if they are making headway?

I'm VERY excited about games using the new Unreal 3 engine or games like STALKER and Bioshock. I'm hoping that ultra-wide + FOV changes will be easy.

Tucson · Post by **Tucson** » 09 Mar 2007, 22:21

Actually I have to correct myself, I recall that there is thee ability change FOV in Vegas.

From my expierence, games are becoming extremely compatible with TH2G. The reason for this is the widespread adoption of widescreen displays. Now you'll notive all new games don't have much solid frame work in the HUD. Instead the health, ammo, time, etc. are displayed as floating objects that shift with the corners of the screen.

I'd like to see more developers allow for custom control of the placement ofHUD items. It used to be possible to move the different meters and gauges in HL2 to anywhere you wanted. This can be useful if you want to move the minimap slightly closer to the center of your vision, for example. Making this an industry stantard would be nice.

In the STALKER beta widescreen and triplehead work splendidly, but the engine is a real beast. But it's designed to be realistic, so it's actually computing the affect of crosswinds on the bullets and such. Still it doesn't look as good as Crysis. They should have just licensed the U3 engine, lol.

My Unreal Engine 3 game of choice right now is Frontlines. It's got a great team and is looking pretty fun.

Tecno · Post by **Tecno** » 09 Mar 2007, 22:25

Matrox seemed to have little if any success getting game companies to make this a priority back in the Parhelia days. In fact, I think I remember them pulling there game developer liason off that responsibility at some point.

Has this changed at all with TH2Go? Any idea if they are making headway?

I think the problem back then was everything was 4:3. There frankly was very little reason to change aspect ratios. Widescreens are still coming into popularity, and game companies now realize that they need to be flexible with aspect ratios or they are going to lose sales.

Once you break the mold from 1 aspect ratio to 2, it is very easy to say "while we are at it lets add TH2G resolutions." For example, I have not run into a game yet that natively supports widescreen that did not support TH2G natively (granted I'm still exploring and new to the market).

antihero · Post by **antihero** » 28 Apr 2007, 08:28

I have a 50" tv which i have played games on and i would have to say that Triple Head 2 Go is much more enjoyable experience for games and regular computing than a really big tv

Widescreen Gaming Forum