What are SXGA and (WVA) on monitors? I’m looking for a new laptop and one of the sites I’m checking out described some laptop monitors as “LCD : 15” SXGA+ (WVA) “. Another site described a laptop screen as “Wide Angel”: is that just a misspelling of “Wide Angle”, and does that mean wide-screen?
As someone who spends more time with Macintosh systems than PCs (though I own two PCs and am getting a new IBM Tablet PC this week!) I have to admit that if there’s one area where techies have made it incredibly hard for customers to figure out, it’s PC screen resolutions. There are seemingly hundreds of different variations on “GA” ranging from VGA to SVGA, XGA, SXGA, and on and on and on.
Why manufacturers can’t just say “up to 1024 x 768 with millions of colors” and make our lives easier is beyond me. But they don’t and instead speak in codes. So, here’s a basic table for your edification:
Acronym | Actual Resolution |
VGA | 640 x 480 |
SVGA | 800 x 600 |
XGA | 1024 x 768 |
WXGA | 1366 x 768 |
SXGA | 1280 x 1024 |
UXGA | 1600 x 1200 |
QXGA | 2048 x 1536 |
Got it? Now, as far as I can tell WVA and another new acronym, WSXGA are actually at 1680 x 1050, so it’s almost, but not quite, UXGA in resolution. And another site suggests that WVA = WUXGA and that it’s actually 1920 x 1200 in resolution. (and, yes, I feel like I’m speaking Greek here, not English!)
So I think the best advice is to ask the manufacturer of the specific PC you’re interested in exactly what resolution or resolutions are supported natively. Which brings up another point: I think that just as important as the supported resolution is the size of the screen itself. If you have a screen that can run at UXGA resolution but the physical display is only 14″ diagonal, then you’re going to get a beautiful crisp display with ridiculously tiny content. Most likely, the text on Web pages, in word processing documents, and even the icons on the screen would be completely unreadably miniscule.
Since so many people like to view DVDs on their laptops, one of the big trends in laptop design is to change the aspect ratio of computer monitors from the default 4:3 (measure your current screen’s horizontal and vertical, you’ll see what I mean) to the widescreen movie standard of 2.55:1, which means that it’s quite a bit wider than it is tall. That’s why letterboxing is so common: it forces the screen to the correct aspect ratio for the movie, even though it’s probably designed for the more common TV ratio of 1.33:1.
The problem with widescreen laptops is that they end up being bigger and heavier, to the point where with 17″ widescreen displays, they’re only barely still able to be called “portable” for most people.
Yes, I’m sure “wide angel” isn’t some sort of slur on overweight assistant deities, it’s just a misspelling of “wide angle” and I completely understand your seeming reluctance to buy a widescreen laptop. I wouldn’t buy one either, unless I really had to have the additional pixels or improved video view.
Hope that clears up this interesting question!
I have an Nvidia Riva tnt2 model 64 very old card i know, now I bought a widescreen monitor and the card doesnt support wide resolution modes so the image appears stretched, is there a Software to alter the display width? becouse I dont think there are driver updates for that card.
Thank you for this good issue .. I do have a question, is there a software emulator or zoomer or whatever that let us view softwares that require sxga on xga ?
because i have G1000 Garmin trainer software that requires SXGA to view the whole interface … any suggestions ?
You might want to check your facts on “WVA” (which, presumedly, means “Wide View Angle”) : this is, I believe, not referring to the pixel size or screen size at all, but rather refers to the angle at which you can tilt the tablet screen before you get the “washout” effect.
As Chris wrote : “It definitly does not mean WUXGA like you claim in your article”.
Consider the following choices from Lenovo for ThinkPads:
1.
ThinkPad X60 MultiView + MultiTouch WVA XGA TFT
2.
ThinkPad X60 MultiView + MultiTouch TN XGA TFT
i.e. it’s a choice between either “TN” or “WVA”.
Some useful things about LCD Types
[edit] TN + film
The ‘TN (twisted nematic) + film’ display is the most common consumer display type, due to its low production cost and wide development. The pixel response time on modern TN panels is sufficiently fast to most users to avoid the shadow-trail and ghosting artifacts that were a cause for complaint in the past. This fast response time has been a heavily marketed aspect of TN displays, although in most cases this number does not reflect performance across the entire range of possible color transitions. Traditional response times were quoted as an ISO standard black > white transition and did not reflect the speed of transitions across grey tones (a much more common transition for liquid crystals to make in practice). Modern use of RTC (Response Time Compensation – Overdrive) technologies has allowed manufacturers to significantly reduce grey to grey (G2G) transitions, while the ISO response time remains pretty much unchanged. Response times are now quoted in G2G figures, with 4ms and 2ms now being commonplace for TN Film based models. This marketing strategy, combined with the relatively lower cost of production for TN panels, has led to the dominance of TN in the consumer market.
The TN display suffers from limited viewing angles, especially in the vertical direction, and most are unable to display the full 16.7 million colors (24-bit truecolor) available from modern graphics cards. These particular panels, with 6 bits per color channel as opposed to 8, can approach 24-bit color using a dithering method which combines adjacent pixels to simulate the desired shade. They can also use FRC (Frame Rate Control), the less conspicuous of the two. FRC quickly cycles pixels over time to simulate a given shade. These color simulation methods are noticeable to most people and discomforting for some. FRC tends to be most noticeable in darker tones. Dithering has the tendency to appear as if the individual pixels of the LCD were actually visible. Overall, color reproduction and linearity on TN panels is poor. Shortcomings in display color gamut (often referred to as a percentage of the NTSC 1953 color gamut) can also be attributed to backlighting technology. It is not uncommon for displays with CCFL (Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamps) based lighting to range from 40% to 76% of the NTSC color gamut, whereas displays utilizing white LED backlights may extend past 100% of the NTSC color gamut – a difference quite perceivable by the human eye.
With LCD displays, the transmittance of a pixel is typically not linear with the applied voltage,[1] and the sRGB standard for computer monitors requires a specific nonlinear dependence of the amount of emitted light as a function of the RGB value.
[edit] IPS
IPS (in-plane switching) was developed by Hitachi in 1996 to improve on the poor viewing angles and color reproduction of TN panels. Most also support true 8-bit color. These improvements came at a loss of response time, which was initially on the order of 50ms. IPS panels were also extremely expensive.
IPS has since been superseded by S-IPS (Super-IPS, Hitachi in 1998), which has all the benefits of IPS technology with the addition of improved pixel refresh timing. Though color reproduction approaches that of CRTs, the contrast ratio remains relatively weak. S-IPS technology is widely used in panel sizes of 20″ and above. LG and Philips remain one of the main manufacturers of S-IPS based panels.
AS-IPS – Advanced Super IPS, also developed by Hitachi in 2002, improves substantially on the contrast ratio of traditional S-IPS panels to the point where they are second only to some S-PVAs. AS-IPS is also a term used for NEC displays (e.g., NEC LCD20WGX2) based on S-IPS technology, in this case, developed by LG.Philips.
A-TW-IPS – Advanced True White IPS, developed by LG.Philips LCD for NEC, is a custom S-IPS panel with a TW (True White) color filter to make white look more natural and to increase color gamut. This is used in professional/photography LCDs.
Image of a (switched on) transreflective color TFT LCD taken under a microscope with reflected light illumination lamp off (top, self-illumination only) and on (bottom).
Image of a (switched on) transreflective color TFT LCD taken under a microscope with reflected light illumination lamp off (top, self-illumination only) and on (bottom).
[edit] MVA
MVA (multi-domain vertical alignment) was originally developed in 1998 by Fujitsu as a compromise between TN and IPS. It achieved fast pixel response (at the time), wide viewing angles, and high contrast at the cost of brightness and color reproduction. Modern MVA panels can offer wide viewing angles (second only to S-IPS technology), good black depth, good color reproduction and depth, and fast response times thanks to the use of RTC technologies. There are several “next generation” technologies based on MVA, including AU Optronics’ P-MVA and A-MVA, as well as Chi Mei Optoelectronics’ S-MVA.
Analysts predicted that MVA would corner the mainstream market, but instead, TN has risen to dominance. A contributing factor was the higher cost of MVA, along with its slower pixel response (which rises dramatically with small changes in brightness). Cheaper MVA panels can also use dithering/FRC.
[edit] PVA
PVA (patterned vertical alignment) and S-PVA (super patterned vertical alignment) are alternative versions of MVA technology offered by Samsung. Developed independently, it offers similar features to MVA, but boasts very high contrast ratios such as 3000:1. Value-oriented PVA panels also use dithering/FRC. S-PVA panels all use true 8-bit color electronics and do not use any color simulation methods. PVA and S-PVA can offer good black depth, wide viewing angles and S-PVA can offer additionally fast response times thanks to modern RTC technologies.
Hi,
I am planning to buy a dell latitude laptop and I have the option to choose between xga and sxga screen,but I am confused with the type of screen I should go with.The screen size is – 15″ and the price difference is 100$ . Please advise which one I should go for.
Regards,
Arindam
In reference to article #4182, WVA means wide view angle, nothing more. It definitly does not mean WUXGA like you claim in your article. WVA is defined (at least be HP) as being a viewing angle greater than 140 degrees. WVA has nothing to so with resolution.
So:
SXGA+WVA = 1280×1024 with >140 degrees viewing angle.
Chris
Thx alot^^