HOME  >>  MONITOR SETTINGS (Updated: February 26th, 2009)
Television Resolutions:
  • SDTV: 480i (640×480)
  • EDTV: 480p (720×480)
  • HDTV: 720p (1280×720)
  • HDTV: 1080p (1920×1080)
Computer Resolutions - Computers have higher resolutions, but don't crank your resolution beyond what your monitor can handle.

Missing Computer Resolutions - If the resolutions that your monitor requires are not listed, go to: Control Panel... Display... Settings tab... Advanced button... Monitor tab... uncheck "Hide modes that this monitor cannot display"... Apply button... Adapter tab... List All Modes button... select the resolution your monitor needs and click OK. If that doesn't work, you probably need a better graphics card or a newer computer.

Go Widescreen - All computers can play widescreen movies these days, or at least they should, so get a widescreen monitor and you'll get the whole picture. Widescreen monitors also have a more natural and easier to work with 16:9 or 16:10 aspect ratio. Plus you won't have to use the scroll bar at the bottom as much to view the entire width of a web page or spreadsheet, very nice.

Here are some common computer display settings:

Standard
WideScreen
4:35:416:916:10
640×480 VGA640x512 Amiga OCS640x360 
800×600 SVGA   
1024×768 XGA 1024x576 WXGA 
1152x864 XGA+    
1280x960 SXGA 1280×1024 SXGA1280x720 (HDTV, HD DVD, Blu-ray) 720p1280x800 WXGA
1400x1050 SXGA  1366x768 WXGA1440x900 WXGA+ (19")
1600x1200 UXGA   1680x1050 WSXGA+ (22")
2048x1536 QXGA2560x2048 QSXGA1920x1080 (HDTV, HD DVD, Blu-ray) 1080p1920x1200 WUXGA (24"-27")
2800x2100 QSXGA+  2560x1600 WQXGA (30")
3200x2400 QUXGA  3840x2400 WQUXGA
4096x3072 HXGA5120x4096 HSXGA 5120x3200 WHXGA
6400x4800 HUXGA  7680x4800 WHUXGA