proper aspect scaling for analoge monitors?

glenmack · Post by **glenmack** » 29 Oct 2008, 00:49

Hi all!

I had an idea and I was wondering if anybody had the expertise to make it work, I have a (retarded) LG192WS monitor with VGA input, even forces powerstip to a horrible stretched moronic resolution. Anyway, I was thinking if I downloaded virtual PC, and ran it windowed, with a game on fullscreen, (on virtual PC) could someone make a black bar screen that would force itself over the edges of virtual PC thus creating a scaled effect, with black bars at the sides/top?

Thanks in advance!

P-Storm · Post by **P-Storm** » 29 Oct 2008, 00:59

Do you search something like this but then movable and resizeable (if you pick black as colour). If you search that I probably can make something for you :wink:

Sweetz · Post by **Sweetz** » 31 Oct 2008, 06:20

Note that Virtual PC emulates a PC with very basic hardware. The virtual machine does not have access to the actual hardware on your physical machine.

So if you're intending to play a game with any kind of 3D requirements, it's not going to work. You'd be limited to old 2D games like Starcraft.

Post by **dopefish** » 31 Oct 2008, 08:25

VMware supports Direct3D 9, but it's not a 100% implementation of D3D9. Games work, but they often don't work very well.

VirtualBox and VMware both expose the hardware directly to the virtual machine to let it take advantage of it, but it's still a virtual machine so it will always be slower with a lot of overhead.

glenmack · Post by **glenmack** » 31 Oct 2008, 23:53

well that indeed sucks...

I bought the monitor and ripped the packaging to get it out, unfortunately I'd gone cheap and paid for the lowest of the range monitor, only to discover it was VGA and not DVI, like every other monitor in that range!!! And to add insult to injury, because I tore the packaging (it was pretty much impossible to get it out otherwise,) the shop wouldn't take it back and then, later on, LG released a "second" version of the monitor, with in-built 4:3 scaling! (I found this out a month ago and was not impressed) now despite many a long night trawling the internet I am yet to find a good generic solution to getting 4:3 games to play in proper aspect ratio! I hate my monitor so damn much!

Sigh, back to being frustrated at the sight of Gil Grissom's fattened face in CSI:Hard Evidence, or perhaps John Parrot's stretched mug from WSC 2005!

Is there any way to at least get the program for black bars, because I can get some programs to play in a window...

I tried P-Storms program but couldn't get it to work, perhaps because I'm running XP x64...?

but from what I've read on the posts, yes, I want a program exactly like that. but I'd prefer if it could hold the mouse inside the black bars, and would sit ontop of the program's info bar, even when the game is the active window.

Post by **Abram** » 01 Nov 2008, 00:21

Just go get the new version, swap it for the non-DVI one and take it back for a refund.

And let it be a lesson to keep you packaging in good shape. I keep ALL My boxes crisp until my warranties run out.

PS - cute WSGF-o-lantern at top-left. Though i never got the point of carved pumpkin lights.. vegetables aren't scary.

glenmack · Post by **glenmack** » 01 Nov 2008, 01:01

Can't do it!

1. LG discontinued the particular screen so I couldn't get that.

2. I bought it in England, over a year ago and I now live in Holland and wouldn't have a clue where to swap my screen, all the computer shops here are crap and who'd want a 19" vga widescreen with no aspect ratio support, anyway? You'd have to be stupid... (I was very tired that day! Leave me alone!)

Though, as for a solution, sometimes I do look at the badly stretched images and think... I could just throw it out the window...

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