Widescreen?.. Advantage or disadvantage for DAWs

  • Thread starter Thread starter Arcturus
  • Start date Start date
A

Arcturus

New member
For DAW software is screen aspect ratio important...

Do you find widescreen (say 16:9 or 16:10 formats) an advantage or disadvantage over older 4:3 for DAW use.
 
Bigger the better as far as I'm concerned regardless of aspect ratio. My daw has an old 4:3 21" crt. At work I use a pair of 22" lcds. I wish I had that for my daw. :D

I saw a guys studio around here that had one 37" lcd tv as his monitor for his recording setup. *drool* :)
 
Better zoom capability for editing.
Less tracks visible though for mixing.
 
I'm also think bigger is better but I don't think widescreen is really that big of an advantage with DAW's. I always find myself needing more space vertically in which case a 4:3 monitor set at 1280 x 1024 is almost as good as 1680 x 1050 or even 1920 x 1080.

If I was strapped for cash it wouldn't be my first upgrade.
 
When I switched from a 17" CRT to a (I believe) 20" LCD, I lost about 100 pixels on the top and bottom but gained 200 on left to right (plus the pixels were a bit larger). I believe I went from 1280x1024 to 1440x960 resolution.

I had to make my timeline slightly smaller to fit the mixer, but it gave me much more space on the right to put Master Effects, VST Instruments, and other smallish windows (While I was still using Cubase).
 
Jim Lad said:
Less tracks visible though for mixing.
Click to expand...

So long as the vertical resolution is the same or better, this is not the case. Say you're upgrading from a 1280x1024 monitor to a 1680x1050 (16:10 ratio).

There are 16:10 monitors available with 2560x1600 resolution.

You could always reduce the height of your track faders too.

I don't recommend 16:9 ratio monitors for anything, really. The lack of vertical resolution bugs me. 16:10 is great though.
 
Thanks everyone who answered this post.

Widescreen seems to be the "sweet spot" on TFT price/performance, so hearing details of how other people find widescreen is great.

I'll definitely look for plenty of vertical pixels.

It's because of quietness that I'm considering a TFT, they're nearly silent I believe. Have been using a large CRT, 4:3 aspect ratio.

I'm going to leave the PC itself in another room, and run in cables to the screen, keyboard, mouse, etc. So the PC fan and hard drive noises won't be near where I'm recording.

Thanks Again
 
I like the widescreen on Adobe Audition's dual monitor settings. It allows me to have more channel strips showing during mixing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top