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ADI MICROSCAN A610
STANDFIRST
One day we’ll all have one, that much is
certain, but will ADI’s latest LCD flat panel monitor persuade to ditch that
fat old boob tube for desktop video? Rick Maybury has been doing a spot of
crystal gazing…
COPY
Are we there yet, are we there yet? Frustrating
isn’t it? We sit in front of state of the art PCs with the latest super fast processors,
bucket loads of memory and monster hard drives, watching the results of millions
of complex computations per second on a big glass bottle with all of the air
sucked out of it…
The bad news is that the arrival of the ADI MicroScan
610 flat panel LCD monitor is not about to usurp deeply entrenched CRT picture
tube technology that’s over 100 years old. One glance at the price tells you
that, but the 610 is another useful step closer to the glorious day when we can
finally junk those overweight dinosaurs. The trouble is there is no quantum leap
in LCD monitor design or manufacture to look forward to but as this model
clearly illustrates performance is improving all the time, and prices are falling,
albeit rather slowly.
ADI have launched the 610 as a successor to the
MicroScan 6L, which we looked at late last year (now selling for £800 or less).
Like the 6L the 610 has a 15-inch screen so the display area is as big, if not
a little bigger, than some 17-inch CRT monitors due to the ludicrous way these
things are measured. (On LCDs the measurement relates to the diagonal of the actual
display area, on CRTs it’s the diagonal of the outside of the picture tube).
The new panel is a Super TFT type and there
has been a very welcome increase in display colours from 256 to 16 million, viewing
angles have also jumped from 110 degrees to 160 degrees and contrast ratio is
up from 150:1 to 200:1. Maximum resolution is still 1024 x 760 and the synchronisation
range remains the same, not that it was a problem before and it’s compatible
with just about anything the average PC or Mac graphics card can throw at it. Most
of the other differences are relatively small though. It’s powered directly
from the mains (the 6L had an external mains adaptor) and it looks a lot
smarter than its predecessor. The screen surround is noticeably narrower and
squarer, so it’s a few millimetres smaller all around, and a wee bit lighter
too, though at only 5kg it’s hardly a burden since it weighs a quarter as much and
occupies a quarter of the desk space as most equivalent sized CRT jobbies.
A simple on-screen display system and three
buttons on the front panel takes care of the main setup parameters for brightness,
contrast, colour, width and height or if you don’t fancy messing around there’s
a one-shot auto adjust button that sets horizontal and vertical positions and
synchronisation. The colour control allows for individual settings of red blue
and green levels, or you can leave it to the electronic minions. Since this is
LCD there are no irksome geometry adjustments, it is also goodbye to things like
moiré and degauss, very civilised.
Around the back there are just two sockets,
one for the mains lead, the other for a standard 15-pin D-Sub connector for the
analogue RGB video connection to the PC. It comes with a matching tilt stand
but unlike the 6L it doesn’t come with a wall-mounting bracket.
PERFORMANCE
The new panel produces a noticeably crisper
image and the improved colour range really shows up on moving video, producing
more lifelike shades and subtle variations, especially on skin tones. Contrast
is better too, revealing more detail in shadows or gloomy scenes. Rapid
movement is still a touch blurry but that’s an inherent characteristic of all LCD
displays that we suspect will take some time to resolve.
However, good as it is it still lacks that
almost indefinable quality of depth that is apparent on the best CRTs. Technically
the image is very good indeed, and on plain graphics applications and desktops
(word processors etc.) it is excellent and a lot more restful than a CRT due to
the almost complete absence of flicker, but on video it’s still a bit sterile
and unmoving. The differences are small, and getting smaller all the time but they
are still there, and you do notice it on a side by side comparison.
SUMMARY
Nearly there! We would happily use the 610
for routine desktop video applications and the convenience of a flat panel goes
without saying, but there’s still the nagging thought in the back of our minds
that you can buy one helluva great CRT monitor – and still have change -- for
eight hundred smackeroons…
ADI MICROSCAN A610
How Much?
£ 833
Screen size
15-inch LCD
Visible display area
304 x 228 mm
Pixel Pitch
0.29mm
Max Resolution
1024 x 768 (XGA)
Viewing Angle
160 degrees (H & V)
Synch range
Horizontal: 31.25 to 60.25KHz
Vertical: 56 to 75Hz
Dimensions
397 x 386 x 179 mm
Weight
5kg
ADI UK Systems Ltd, telephone 020 8327 1900 www.adimicroscan.com
CV RATINGS
Features ****
Performance ****
Ease of use ****
Value for money ***
Overall Rating 90%
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ã R. Maybury 2000 2403
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