If you insist on a flat panel display (which you do, since you want widescreen) then try to look for something with a native res of 1920 by 1080, or as close to it as possible.
This way, you avoid shit-tacular resizing issues.
How the fuck do you scale a 1920 by 1080 source to 1440 by 900?
Every 4 vertical lines become 3. I don't care how you try to use weighted averages on that, it's gonna fuck your picture.
Then you've got your 810 horizontal lines (1440 by 900 is not 16:9, you'll have 90 lines of letter boxing). 4 to 3 again.
Ass-mazing resizing again.
The downsizing ratio is 4:3 for both horizontal and vertical. You should be able to get decent results if it has some good scalars. Make sure you check the display out in a store first, preferrably with a 1920 by 1080 source. (Goes for ANY display you're considering purchasing).
But in general, I HATE scalars.
OH, that 8ms response time. It may be 16 in reality. There is no rule on how manufacturers have to measure this. The proper way (proper because it makes more sense and is more descriptive of the hardware) is to measure the time between a black-white-black transition. However, recently there has been a surge in "OMG SUPER FAST RESPONSE TIME!!!111" lcds. Response times were stuck at 16ms for the longest time, then somehow all the companies were able to crank out models at 12, 10, 8, and now some even claim 6 or 4. The most common practice is for manufacturers to measure the respone time as grey-white (or black)-grey, effectively halving the response time. But you get the same refresh rate.
8ms on a spec sheet may in fact mean 16 ms.
As always - check out the display in a store if possible, look for knowledgeable people who have it, and dig around the manufacturer's site for some harder tech info - as opposed to the marketing crap.
If you want a nice display, there are some great CRT monitors that have resolutions up to 2048 by 1536 (and higher).
They're not widescreen
They're not HDCP compliant
They're not DVI capable
They're heavy.
They're big.
But they're cheap, FAST, and provide great image quality, brightness, and contrast.
MOST IMPORTANTLY - CRTs can scan at multiple resolutions - no bullshit resizers.
I'd LOVE to see a widescreen CRT (none of this projection crap) that is HDCP (and DVI) capable. Unfortunately, it'll never happen.
Yes, I know, making the tube a 16:9 ratio would be difficult, especially when trying to keep it flat. And DVI and HDCP(HDMI) connections would lose their digital aspect once it reached the monitor, but signal noise would be reduced up until it reaches the monitor, and HDCP support is all I really want.
Personally I'm waiting for true 1080p sets to arrive (1080p DISPLAY, not signal processing!) and that one tech that uses phosphors (like a CRT) but is much thinner. I forget what that was called.
