Well it didn't take long for 1080p - the highest resolution of the ATSC high definition specification - to be left in the dust. In addition to the 2K and 4K front projectors we've seen at CES, CEDIA and other electronics shows, now Gateway is releasing a 30-inch computer monitor with what they call "extreme HD" resolution - a whopping 2560 by 1600 pixels (aka "1600p"). That's just about twice the number of pixels available in 1080p high definition signals.

We first saw the XHD3000 at a Silicon Optix event at CEDIA in Denver earlier this month, but we got a chance to spend a bit more quality time with it at the Digital Life show in New York last week. You might ask what source could possibly do justice to such a panel? And the answer is, just about anything. The Gateway XHD3000 monitor ($1699, shipping in October) is one of the first flat screen displays to include the Silicon Optix Realta HQV video processing chip set, which can take virtually any input resolution (480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p) and upconvert it, with very high quality results, to the full 2560x1600 resolution of the Gateway panel.


Gateway's Tim Almeida demonstrated PC applications as well as up-converted 1080p Blu-ray Disc source material ("Planet Earth") and the image was crisp and detailed, with neglible artifacts. Although the panel refresh rate is "only" 60 Hz, with a 6 ms panel response time, the additional resolution helps to minimize motion artifacts and trails that are visible with some lesser panels.

To support most widescreen laptops and PCs, the screen's aspect ratio is actually 1.6:1 or 16:10 (not 4:3 or 16:9). When watching 16:9 (or wider) source content, you can either crop or stretch the image slightly to fit, or view the content in its true aspect ratio with the requisite black letterbox bars.

The XHD3000 includes hardware-based PIP functionality to overlay HD or SD video sources on top of the PC display, as well as an integrated speaker bar which provides more-than-acceptable sound for casual listening. It will begin shipping on October 7th.

More pictures of the unit: