Am I overanalytical?

[defjux]

I'm a T42 user coming from a T30, and while I never got to compare them side by side, I'm almost sure the T30 screen XGA screen was better. I might just be overanalyzing the quality since it's a new machine and I expect it to be perfect, but want someone else with the SXGA 14.1 screen to tell me what kind of quality they get. Is DVD playback clear and smooth, or is it a little pixelated? What about avi's and mpeg's? I've got all the current drivers installed, it's dialed up to 32bit color, and every diagnostic I run comes back clean, so I'm thinking maybe it's me. It just seems like a 9600 should perform better than this.

[GomJabbar]

You are running SXGA+ resolution (1400 X 1050)aren't you? You might find the following guide helpful. Service and Troubleshooting Guide - ThinkPad T42/p, T43/p

[Greg Gebhardt]

I think the problem is in the Video processor/card. Laptops are not known for super high performance

[Kyocera]

I mentioned this on another thread, I honestly think the T30 has richer color than my T42, and I am putting them side by side, and have also maxed out settings on both. It seems as though the T42 is much brighter on the highest OSD light setting, I have backed it off a little at a time but for some reason the T30 is ever so slightly better, I don't do games or anything so it is not a big issue and I love both of the machines.
I too thought I was being anal.

[ddutta]

I have mentioned this a few months back but I had compared a T42 XGA with my friends T42 SXGA and I found the following:
* The XGA was brighter
* The SXGA fonts were better formed but a little small i.e. less pixelated. If you have weak vision SXGA might not be great for you.

Overall the XGA display isnt bad at all though most folks will swear by the SXGA display.

[pae77]

I currently have both a SXGA T42p (Hydis display) and an XGA T30 both 14.1" both dialed up to max color and at their native resolutions. When I first got the T42p just a few weeks ago, I immediately noticed the colors seemed more subtle (ok, I guess you could say washed out) compared to those on the T30, but still seems pretty nice overall. On the other hand, the higher resolution of the SXGA makes the desktop real estate seem much larger which is really nice and the fonts while smaller appear to be clearer and sharper than those on the XGA display. So overall I much prefer the SXGA T42 display to the XGA display on my T30.

[defjux]

There's no doubt I prefer the SXGA over the XGA in almost every respect; the SXGA is beautiful for the most part. It's just video and DVD playback that kills me. It really looks pretty bad sometimes. I tried watching the Godfather and it looked like it was filmed in 256 colors.

[GomJabbar]

Have you tried WinDVD for watching DVD's?

[defjux]

Yeah. I've tried WinDVD, PowerDVD, WMP10, Hardware Acceleration is on, I've played with the overlays, installed the catalyst drivers, went back and installed the original drivers. I'm just trying to get a baseline for what I should be critical of here. If this level of performance is normal for this machine, so be it, but it seems a little wrong.

[ddutta]

I find that the XGA screens have better color saturation. The SXGA displays seems a little washed out. A lot depends on one's preferences though. I would still order the SXGA if I did a lot of programming.

[defjux]

Could the problem be that I'm used to CRT screens, which are essentially perfect for video playback? I was looking at the quality on my friend's full-size flatscreen LCD, and I was equally unimpressed with video quality.

[mysbca]

Is DVD playback clear and smooth, or is it a little pixelated? What about avi's and mpeg's?

Are you watching DVD at fullscreen? If so, you are blowing up the native DVD resolution by 4X to fit the SXGA+ screen, so it may seem a little pixelated.

Also, are you watching the 2001 dvd version of "The Godfather"? According to some reviewers, the video on that version is mediocre.

[defjux]

I am watching it fullscreen, but shouldn't I be able to? What's the point of 4GBs of uncompressed data if I have to shrink it down like a common avi?

[mysbca]

Yes, you should be able watch it fullscreen. I don't have too many problems with watching dvds with my sxga+ screen. The point is that you are blowing up the image, so you can expect some degradation.

By the way, dvds are not uncompressed data. It is compressed to fit within 8.5 GB on dual layer discs. Depending on the quality of the authoring, you may see digital artifacts like pixelation, especially in the darker areas.

[defjux]

Well, I downloaded ffdshow on recommendation, and some messing around manages to render my videos just left of garbage. Does anyone know the optimal settings for this setup (14.1 sxga ati 9600)?