21:9 vs 16:9 - why ultrawide should be the new standard.

[Elfotografoalocado]

You have exactly the opposite argument in movies where they take a CinemaScope image and expand above and below to IMAX or whatever because the image was actually shot in that format, and the FOV is bigger, and people claim CinemaScope is outdated and constrained.

It's a completely fruitless argument. Personally, I'm happy with a 16*9 screen, I'd even prefer a 16*10 for my computer for work and whatnot. It's also an unfair comparison the moment you are comparing very different FOVs.

 

[Nabs]

I have a 32:9, but I can admit it's not for everyone. 21:9 seems like the perfect sweet spot to me. I can never go back to 16:9.

ultrawide >>>>>>>>>>> 4k. Its also great when 2d games take advantage of 21:9 aspect ratio.

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Indeed. I recently played Carto in 32:9, and the devs had no idea it was possible:

Stardew in ultrawide also is wonderful

The future1996 is now!

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Super Mario in Super Ultrawide is a dream :)

 

[Stacey]

No thanks also

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That shows me that the adoption to 21:9 is almost as high as 4k.

 

[Tecnniqe]

No it shouldn't. 16:9 is perfectly fine.

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Wrong

21:9 is the perfect screen format. Every game should use it. I'd take it over 4K any time.

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21:9 @ 1440p is where it's at, both performance and image quality and it feels so good.
I M M E R S I O N

 

[sandboxgod]

They should

Samsung is pushing for the Xbox Series X to support ultrawide monitors

https://www.pcgamesn.com/samsung/xbox-ultrawide-gaming-monitor-support

www.resetera.com

Ultrawide coming with next gen consoles? Philips 21:9 345M1CR Momentum for consoles

This is a strange product press aimed for a need/product that does not yet officially exist? https://www.tomshardware.com/news/philips-345m1cr-momentum-144hz-monitor-ultrawide-consoles There's no consoles that support 21:9 yet, so they have to be aiming that PS5 / Xbox series X will support...

www.resetera.com

21x9 support on next gen consoles?

Given that the next gen consoles seems to be very performance capable comparing to high end PC's but at a much more affordable price most likely, I could see the PC gaming audience buying the console to their desk / PC set up instead of investing in a new PC. As MS is catering more and more...

www.resetera.com

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Great!!! I always find almost any game made in Japan (with rare exceptions like Yakuza)- does not natively support ultrawide. For instance, Ace Combat 7 doesnt have native ultrawide support ;(
Granted, not holding my breath for UW to become widespread. Looking at steam data UW users are a niche ;(

 

[PKrockin]

I don't get what's supposed to make this some kind of objectively better aspect ratio than 16:9. Aren't these ultrawide monitors being compared to 16:9 monitors of the same height and vertical resolution, but the ultrawides are wider and have a greater horizontal resolution? No shit they can display more when they're physically larger and have a higher resolution. What does that have to do with the aspect ratio? What's wrong with me equally comparing that ultrawide to a 16:9 monitor with the same width and horizontal resolution but taller and with a greater vertical resolution and claim that the ability for the 16:9 to display more things vertically makes it superior? "How could anyone be satisfied with such a restricted vertical view?" I guess I need a more solid argument than this weird unfair comparison.

 

[Puru]

I don't like ultra wide, it's harder to parse everything happening on the screen and keeping track of HUD elements that usually are on the side of the screen..

 

[headspawn]

That shows me that the adoption to 21:9 is almost as high as 4k.

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But what about compared to 16:9?

 

[Ashhong]

I hate 21:9

32:9 or bust

 

[Hyun Sai]

I'll send you a RIB so you can all finance my next 21/9 TV.

 

[OmniStrife]

I have a 32:9 and a 21:9, 16:9 looks like 4:3 to me now.

 

[AfropunkNyc]

I don't like ultra wide, it's harder to parse everything happening on the screen and keeping track of HUD elements that usually are on the side of the screen..

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Seems like you would benefit more with a 25 inch ultrawide vs a 34 inch one.

 

[Sabin]

That shows me that the adoption to 21:9 is almost as high as 4k.

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That shows to me that ultrawide is even more insignificant than 4k

 

[Neuroxia]

I could get an ultrawide display and day of the week, but i still prefer multiple 16:9 instead for my work

I get the benefit of being able to set every monitor at different angle towards me as opposed to a single one at a fixed curve.
I can also use them as 2 or 3 individual units if the situation demands it and shuffle through different inputs (although i think modern ultrawides support split screen inputs).
If one of them breaks, i can still use the other 2 while the broken one is being replaced/repaired.
I can have any combination of horizontal and vertical positioning (currently having 2 in horizontal position and one in vertical).
Although highly subjective, i actually prefer having a small bezel separating my workspaces.

Now, if i would do more video editing, or work music production, then i would pick an ultrawide.
And i have to say, they look cool af.

 

[Ain't Nobody]

Why haven't you upgraded to an ultrawide?

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Chicken and the egg.
Why aren't there more games that support it out there to drive adoption?
Why hasn't adoption reached the point where developers add support?

 

[jimboton]

100%. I'm not a fan of widescreen, or at least these stupid extreme widescreen displays.

Humans do not have widescreen FOVs. Peripherals are for detecting movement so your head can turn and see what's there, and not taking in visuals.

16:9? Fine, I get it, there is huge amount of cinematic content in widescreen, which has filtered through to TV, so it's a fair compromise.

But I personally wish the standard was a little bit squarer, 16x10 or so, it fills your view better. The more widescreen the more it's just looking at a strip with giant gaps at the top and bottom. Wasted space. I'm glad a lot of computer manufacturers (like Apple and now MS) are trending to slightly less widescreen aspect ratios on their laptops and desktops. I'm glad the iPad exists and has plenty of people who use it in portrait mode.

Widesceen movies didn't evolve because it was better at filling our field of view/attention. They evolved simply because it's easier/cheaper to build buildings (and therefore movies theatres) wide than it is to build them to be tall. It's not because it's better or preferable/immersive viewing experience.

'Premium' experiences like IMAX that go for the whole 'view-filling immersion' thing, generally build 'taller' theatres and use a more squarish aspect ratio. I think it's as plain as the nose on your face when you see it in reality. It literally fills your visual attention far better than widescreen. Kubrick did not shoot on widescreen.

If you get a super widescreen monitor for productively and alternating between 3 or 4 side by side windows, fair enough, i'm sure they are fine for productivity.

As for gaming? You are either sitting back to the point you have a giant blank strip at the top and bottom of your field of vision that your display doesn't cover, or you are close enough that the sides of the display are in your peripheral vision and you aren't really seeing anything extra except for, as the poster above stated perfectly, 'tickling your peripherals".

But I don't expect to convince anyone, the choice-supportive bias will be strong.

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This is kinda 'why ultrawide shouldn't be any kind of standard' and I agree completely.

Super Mario in Super Ultrawide is a dream :)

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Honestly it just looks like half the screen is missing.

 

[Magog]

so is this a redemption thread for the order 1886? are we now demanding to bring the black bars back?

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I had zero problem with the presentation of The Order. The visuals were 10/10. The gameplay was too short and there weren't enough fighting sections though.

 

[StereoVSN]

That shows me that the adoption to 21:9 is almost as high as 4k.

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It's basically the same since you have UW 1440p and 1080p each with about 1%.

 

[KillLaCam]

Yeah I can't go back. Ultrawide is so good

 

[Warrior of Light]

32:9 is terrible for gaming. Looks incredibly narrow. Imagine playing fighting games using that aspect ratio. Do people actually want this? Or are people talking about 21:9 and 32:9 interchangeably as 'ultrawide'?

Honestly it just looks like half the screen is missing.

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Agreed. The wider it gets, the more I'm thinking "what if it showed more image on the top and the bottom?".

 

[Nabs]

32:9 is terrible for gaming. Looks incredibly narrow. Imagine playing fighting games using that aspect ratio. Do people actually want this? Or are people talking about 21:9 and 32:9 interchangeably as 'ultrawide'?

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Ultrawide = 21:9.

 

[Massicot]

I'm not sure i have the space to replicate my triple monitor setup in ultra wide.

 

[Tecnniqe]

32:9 is terrible for gaming. Looks incredibly narrow. Imagine playing fighting games using that aspect ratio. Do people actually want this? Or are people talking about 21:9 and 32:9 interchangeably as 'ultrawide'?

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Gonna go out on a limb and say most think 21:9 when they say ultrawide.

Not that there is anything wrong with 32:9 but it's a bit too wide at bigger screen sizes for me.

 

[_bemusedchunk]

I play on tvs

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came here to post this. best answer. truest answer.

 

[Warrior of Light]

Ultrawide = 21:9.

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Yes, but there are lots of 32:9 examples in this thread, many of which are directly or indirectly referred to as 'ultrawide'.

 

[Kyoufu]

The future right now are ps5 and xbox whatever.

Developers will prioritize the features these consoles have and pc versions will be, as always, based around the features and limitations of consoles.

21:9 is not the prevalent aspect ratio on windows, does not have giants actively pushing for it (like Nvidia and ray tracing/dlss) and is not supported on consoles, therefore is not high on the priority list

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Consoles meet TV standards, not the other way around. Blame TV manufacturers.

 

[Nabs]

Yes, but there are lots of 32:9 examples in this thread, many of which are directly or indirectly referred to as 'ultrawide'.

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I must have missed those. I posted some shots, but I call it super ultrawide or just 32:9.

 

[The Praiseworthy]

I find 16:9 is the sweet perfect spot specially for gaming.

You enjoy 21:9 more? good for you.

But please we don't need "some" people acting like they have discovered the new holy light and that everyone who is gaming on 16:9 are stuck in the darkness of the past and needs to be shown the light of truth.

To each their own preferences as simple as that.

 

[Tecnniqe]

I must have missed those. I posted some shots, but I call it super ultrawide or just 32:9.

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ultrawide 21:9
uberwide 32:9

 

[OmniStrife]

The reactions here are probably very similar to how people reacted to 16:9 monitors over 4:3.

 

[JuniperAndSage]

Consoles meet TV standards, not the other way around. Blame TV manufacturers.

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Ya'll gonna blame architects and home builders next? The zoning department? Cause some of the stuff being suggested here just won't work as a tv shape in most homes.

 

[Powerofthecloud]

It's all a matter of perspective, preference, and position. You could say that a 16:9 4k tv is a expanded top bottom wide screen compared to a 1440p 21:9 widescreen montior.

I think viewing distance comes into play the most. Sitting closer like to a monitor widescreen shows benefits because your eyes are offset so you will be able to take in more data on a horizontal plane opposed to vertical. Where as further back for a tv the benefits of more screen space on the vertical plane show a larger benefit until you get to a massive size screen versus sitting distance.

 

[Kyoufu]

Ya'll gonna blame architects and home builders next? The zoning department? Cause some of the stuff being suggested here just won't work as a tv shape in most homes.

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what are you talking about

 

[Zukuu]

ultrawide >>>>>>>>>>> 4k. Its also great when 2d games take advantage of 21:9 aspect ratio.

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What game is that?

 

[TSM]

The reactions here are probably very similar to how people reacted to 16:9 monitors over 4:3.

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On PC there was more pushback on 16:9 supplanting 16:10 for monitor aspect ratio. There are people that are still mad about it.

 

[Pargon]

There sure are a lot of uniformed takes from people here, but I expect nothing less from Era. I couldn't possibly respond to them all.

I play on tvs

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Really though, I wish they would give it another try.
OLEDs would be ideal for 21:9 displays, since you don't have to worry about backlight uniformity or viewing angle.

Also if you just get a larger/higher res 16:9 monitor you could match the horizontal FOV of an ultrawide while having a larger vertical FOV

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In theory, yes.
In practice, no.

With a 21:9 display I can comfortably sit close enough that I have a 60° horizontal viewing angle and a 25° vertical viewing angle.
Sitting the same distance to a 16:9 display increases the vertical viewing angle to 32° - which I find uncomfortably tall to look at. It involves too much head/eye movement to see everything.

When I sit further back from a 16:9 display to the point that it becomes comfortable, the horizontal viewing angle is only 44° and vertical is back around 25°.
After trying various displays, I've found that 60° horizontal and 25° vertical is about the limit of what is comfortable to me on either axis, no matter the aspect ratio.
Which means that 21:9 monitors (2.39:1) are almost the ideal aspect ratio. 60:25 is 2.40:1.
Anything taller shrinks the horizontal view, while anything wider shrinks the vertical, because it forces me to sit further back.

2.40:1 also eliminates letterboxing from 99% of movies in existence.

Consoles don't support it at all and PC support is so-so.

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Rare supported it in some of their N64 games. It's not that difficult.
Perfect Dark:

Ultrawide is amazing, but the additional hardware requirements puts it out of a lot of people's price range. My 1080 ti went from being great on a 16:9 1440P monitor to struggling on a 21:9 1440P monitor, which means I need to upgrade to a 3080. I won't go back to 16:9, but I think it needs to remain as the standard.

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The GPU workload is only 1/3 more for 21:9 - and that's if you keep the same vertical resolution.
3440x1440 is about 60% of the cost of rendering native 4K, and looks much better.

It's just like adding black bars at the top and bottom of your screen. So, a useless feature that should better stay dead and forgotten. 4K is where it's at.

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No.
It fixes the problem of movies getting smaller and requiring you to sit closer to get the bigger impact it is supposed to provide.
And you get a much larger image in games.

• While ultrawide support has definitely increased in many PC games, it's still lacking in way too many. Bloodstained stands out as the most recent example for this. Sometimes I get weird things going on, like in the level transitions for A Hat in Time.

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Start using the PC Gaming Wiki and Widescreen Gaming Forum.
I played through Bloodstained: RotN in 21:9 the day of release.

• Having one monitor is worse than two when it comes to screen sharing (work) or streaming (gaming) and I've been feeling that pinch a lot lately. Having to do a lot of manual window sizing and keeping things in their own area of the ultrawide. There are times where I wish I could just throw a game on one monitor and all my Discord/chat/stream controls on another.

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Use FancyZones or buy DisplayFusion in the next Steam sale (typically 75% off, and has a less restrictive license than buying direct).

Microsoft PowerToys

Microsoft PowerToys is a set of utilities for customizing Windows. Utilities include ColorPicker, FancyZones, File Explorer Add-ons, Image Resizer, Keyboard Manager, PowerRename, PowerToys Run, a Shortcut Guide and more to come.

docs.microsoft.com

32:9 is terrible for gaming. Looks incredibly narrow. Imagine playing fighting games using that aspect ratio. Do people actually want this? Or are people talking about 21:9 and 32:9 interchangeably as 'ultrawide'?

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• Widescreen = 16:9
• Ultra-wide ≈ 21:9
• Super Ultra-wide = 32:9

I've seen a lot of confusion about this, or terms being misused now.
Many seem to have started calling 21:9 displays "widescreen" and 32:9 "ultra-wide" as though 16:9 was not.

I do agree with you about 32:9 though.
I wouldn't go as far as to say that it is terrible for gaming, but I see it as a substitute for a dual-monitor productivity setup rather than being ideal for gaming. It's too wide.

 

[AndrewDean84]

ehhhh, I'm good with normal widescreen.

 

[rsfour]

ultrawide >>>>>>>>>>> 4k. Its also great when 2d games take advantage of 21:9 aspect ratio.

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edit - nm, was looking for the name, forgot that it was sword of ditto

I'll take UW over 4k.

 

[Kopite]

21:9 option should be available on all PC games.

 

[JuniperAndSage]

what are you talking about

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I'm talking about walls. Houses have them. Desks don't. Switching to an ultrawide monitor on your desk is a lot easier than switching TVs to that format.

 

[Kyoufu]

I'm talking about walls. Houses have them. Desks don't. Switching to an ultrawide monitor on your desk is a lot easier than switching TVs to that format.

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is your desk outside or what? what the fuck

 

[Digital Savior]

Not enough people have one? Probably why it won't be standard.

I also hate the stretching and distortions; way more annoying than immersive.

 

[smokeyp]

32:9 crew, rise up!

 

[AfropunkNyc]

What game is that?

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[Tecnniqe]

There sure are a lot of uniformed takes from people here, but I expect nothing less from Era. I couldn't possibly respond to them all.

Really though, I wish they would give it another try.
OLEDs would be ideal for 21:9 displays, since you don't have to worry about backlight uniformity or viewing angle.


In theory, yes.
In practice, no.

With a 21:9 display I can comfortably sit close enough that I have a 60° horizontal viewing angle and a 25° vertical viewing angle.
Sitting the same distance to a 16:9 display increases the vertical viewing angle to 32° - which I find uncomfortably tall to look at. It involves too much head/eye movement to see everything.

When I sit further back from a 16:9 display to the point that it becomes comfortable, the horizontal viewing angle is only 44° and vertical is back around 25°.
After trying various displays, I've found that 60° horizontal and 25° vertical is about the limit of what is comfortable to me on either axis, no matter the aspect ratio.
Which means that 21:9 monitors (2.39:1) are almost the ideal aspect ratio. 60:25 is 2.40:1.
Anything taller shrinks the horizontal view, while anything wider shrinks the vertical, because it forces me to sit further back.

2.40:1 also eliminates letterboxing from 99% of movies in existence.


Rare supported it in some of their N64 games. It's not that difficult.
Perfect Dark:

The GPU workload is only 1/3 more for 21:9 - and that's if you keep the same vertical resolution.
3440x1440 is about 60% of the cost of rendering native 4K, and looks much better.


No.
It fixes the problem of movies getting smaller and requiring you to sit closer to get the bigger impact it is supposed to provide.
And you get a much larger image in games.

Start using the PC Gaming Wiki and Widescreen Gaming Forum.
I played through Bloodstained: RotN in 21:9 the day of release.


Use FancyZones or buy DisplayFusion in the next Steam sale (typically 75% off, and has a less restrictive license than buying direct).

Microsoft PowerToys

Microsoft PowerToys is a set of utilities for customizing Windows. Utilities include ColorPicker, FancyZones, File Explorer Add-ons, Image Resizer, Keyboard Manager, PowerRename, PowerToys Run, a Shortcut Guide and more to come.

docs.microsoft.com

• Widescreen = 16:9
• Ultra-wide ≈ 21:9
• Super Ultra-wide = 32:9

I've seen a lot of confusion about this, or terms being misused now.
Many seem to have started calling 21:9 displays "widescreen" and 32:9 "ultra-wide" as though 16:9 was not.

I do agree with you about 32:9 though.
I wouldn't go as far as to say that it is terrible for gaming, but I see it as a substitute for a dual-monitor productivity setup rather than being ideal for gaming. It's too wide.

Click to shrink...

 

[GMT Master]

I have a 32:9 and I don't think it's ideal. A little too wide. Love it for productivity and overall immersion but it's a bit much.

21:9 absolutely. So much better than 16:9.

 

[BAW]

No.
It fixes the problem of movies getting smaller and requiring you to sit closer to get the bigger impact it is supposed to provide.
And you get a much larger image in games.

Click to shrink...

Bottom pic is the same as top pic if you just sit closer.

 

[OmniStrife]

Here's some examples of my G9... even with pillarboxes which disappear after about 30 seconds of your eyes focusing on the game.
The 1000R curve makes it incredibly immersive.

 

[AfropunkNyc]

I mean you get to appreciate a games art more when you get to play that game in ultrawide.

 

[Reckheim]

I'd say 21:9 is the perfect ratio as well. Anything bigger then that and you are moving your head unless you're sitting way back. I would love a 32:9 as a work screen tho; I'm already using two monitors for work anyways.