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MEAN SCREENS
STANDFIRST
If you’re serious about DTV you need a
seriously large monitor. Rick Maybury has been staring long and hard at four
models with 17 to 21 inches screens
COPY
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again.
If you’re at all interested in DTV or use any sort of graphics or video-based
applications, most standard 14 and 15-inch PC monitors are simply not up to the
job. Apart from the increase in the display area -- the screens on some 17-inch
monitors can be up to 50% larger than 15-inch models -- bigger screens are much
less tiring to use, they reduce eyestrain, especially at higher resolution
settings, moreover, models with faster refresh rates have reduced screen
flicker.
However, all is not as it seems when it comes
to screen size measurement. Manufacturers continue to quote the misleading
diagonal tube size first, and if they mention it at all, bury the more
meaningful visible screen area figure in the small print. This can result in
some quite significant anomalies, especially in the 14 to 17 inch size range.
Bear that in mind when shopping for monitors, and if you’re auditioning them in
the flesh, be sure to take a tape measure with you.
There are other points to consider. The size
and spacing of the phosphor dots or stripes on the screen has a direct bearing
on the sharpness of the display. Dot pitches of 0.31 to 0.28mm are typical but
you should aim for 0.26mm or less as it will give a noticeably crisper image. A
moment ago we touched briefly on screen refresh rate or vertical scan
frequency. This can be a critical factor for some users, who are sensitive to
screen flicker. Check the specs, the facility to manually alter the refresh
rate is well worth having. Standard settings of 70 to 75Hz are fine for most
people, but there are those who are still aware of flicker at 85Hz and higher, and it becomes even more
noticeable when sitting close to a large screen.
The majority of monitors now use the industry
standard VESA DPMS (display power management signalling) system. This can reduce
power consumption by a factor of ten or more, when the monitor is not being
used. However, it’s normally a function of the PC’s operating system or video
board/controller and some older models may not be able to make use of the
feature. Most PC monitors are MAC compatible, but double check, just in case,
as some models do not support all the screen resolutions, and you may need to
buy an adaptor.
TESTING TIMES
To give you some idea of what to look out for
we’ve been having a close look at four DTV-friendly monitors with tube sizes of
17, 19 and 21-inches, costing between £450 and £950. Monitor testing is a reasonably straightforward business.
Following a 30-minute warm-up we use a combination of software test utilities
(CheckScreen and Ntest 1.0) plus moving video sourced from disc and tape, to
really push the displays to their limits. The areas we’re most interested are
resolution, convergence, geometry, focus, colour purity and power supply
stability, across the most commonly used resolution settings (800 x 600, 1024 x
768 and 1280 x 1024). We also take into account the range and ease of use of
display adjustments, the design and construction of the case and stand, the
cosmetics, and not forgetting the all important value for money factor.
BELNEA 10 70 50
The 10 70 50 is well-equipped, with 13 preset
and 19 user-defined graphics modes, covering virtually all eventualities,
including basic MAC compatibility. It has a full set of energy saving functions
and a comprehensive set of user adjustments, accessed via a 5-page on-screen
display. In addition to all of the standard picture setting and geometry
adjustments, it’s possible to store five preferred colour settings and there’s
a moiré function, for cancelling annoying cross-colour effects in areas of the
display containing a lot of fine detail.
The CRT is a Mitsubishi Diamondtron, it is a
similar design to Sony’s Trintron picture tubes, and like some Trintrons, shadows
cast by two damping wires, behind the aperture grille, can sometimes be seen on
the screen. In this instance they’re quite pronounced and we suspect they will
prove irritating on a plain white or coloured desktop. The only small crumb of
comfort is they’re less intrusive on moving video.
Apart from that on-screen performance is fine,
the faceplate is very flat so it picks up few reflections from lights and
windows, and that’s helped by an efficient anti-reflective coating. Picture
geometry and convergence on our sample were both spot-on. The on-screen display
is fairly easy to navigate and intuitive to use. Static picture tests produced
a clean set of results, in fact the only operational niggle turned out to be
the swivel-tilt stand, which kept falling off every time the monitor was
moved. Worth considering if you can
live with the lines.
How Much? £457 (inc VAT)
Tube size 17-inches
Visible display area 328 x 244mm
Dot Pitch 0.25mm
Max Resolution 1600 x 1200 pixels
Max refresh rate auto scan to 160Hz
Dimensions 536 x 522 x 565mm
Weight 23kg
CV RATINGS
Features 8
Performance 7
Ease of use 8
Value for money 8
Overall Rating 80%
BELNEA 10 60 90
In spite of the family connection with the 10
70 50, the 10 60 90 has an entirely different character. All standard graphics
and colour display formats are supported and automatically selected up to a
resolution of 1280 x 1024 pixels; it is compatible with VESA power management
systems. The on-screen menu is well
laid out, easy to use and informative. In addition to all of the usual picture
and geometry adjustments there’s a couple of bonus features. One of them is
picture zoom, which proportionally expands (or shrinks) the display, (it has
separate vertical and horizontal size controls as well). Another function,
called recall, temporarily returns all settings to the factory default, for
comparison with current settings, and the on-screen display has a variable
time-out, from 10 to 50 seconds.
The only notable omission is any convergence
controls. They’re rarely needed when new, but may come in useful to compensate
for ageing effects when the tube has got some time under its belt. Our sample
had a very minor imperfection in the glass faceplate, towards the bottom centre
of the screen. We don’t count it as serious but it might be enough to annoy
picky users, and puts a question mark over the manufacturers quality control
procedures.
Otherwise it’s all good news. Colour purity,
convergence and geometry all checked out. A pulsed black and white partial
raster test indicated some very slight power supply instability, though it’s
unlikely to give most users any problems during normal use. Image quality is
very good indeed, resolution is above average across all display modes.
Recommended, but check the glass.
How Much? £621 (inc VAT)
Tube size 19-inches
Visible display area 360 x 270mm
Dot Pitch 0.26mm
Max Resolution 1280 x 1024
pixels
Max refresh rate auto scan to 150Hz
Dimensions 450 x 450 x 460mm
Weight 22kg
CV RATINGS
Features 8
Performance 8
Ease of use 9
Value for money 8
Overall Rating 90%
VIEWSONIC GT775
The GT775 gets off to a good start. This
well-specified 17-incher comes with Plug and Play installation software plus
diagnostic utilities, a MAC adaptor and an unusually comprehensive instruction
book. It has a full set of power management functions, 13 preset and 8
user-adjustable resolution modes -- up to 1600 x 1200 pixels -- and eight preset video modes, covering
image size and position.
The on-screen graphics have been well thought
out, with all of the picture and geometry options neatly presented on a one
page display. The colour controls are a notch up on the norm, with manual RGB
level, 3 preset and 1 user colour temperature preset. Video timings cover a
very wide range and can be set manually or automatically; the instructions
containing dire warnings of what can happen if used with some fast graphics
cards.
If it wasn’t for two distinct lines, caused
by aperture grille damper wires across the top and bottom quarters of the
display, the GT775 would have earned top marks for video performance.
Unfortunately they can be seen clearly on plain coloured desktops and static
displays, fortunately they’re masked by graphics or moving video. All other
picture parameters are on the nail; the picture wobbles very slightly during
the PSU stability test, but it’s not enough to cause concern. The flat screen
and anti-reflective coating work very well indeed, the image is clean, colours
are on the money and there’s plenty of depth to the image. Shame about those
lines.
How Much? £515 (inc VAT)
Tube size 17-inches
Visible display area 328 x 246mm
Dot Pitch 0.25mm
Max Resolution 1600 x 1200 pixels
Max refresh rate auto/manual to 160Hz
Dimensions 410 x 416 x 444mm
Weight 20.5kg
CV RATINGS
Features 8
Performance 7
Ease of use 8
Value for money 7
Overall Rating 79%
OPTIQUEST V115
If, like most PC users you’ve grown up with
14 and 15-inch screens, the vast acreage of the V115 display will be a
revelation. It shares most of the features of its stablemate the Viewsonic
(Optiquest are one of their sub-brands). It has the same commendably wide range
of display, resolution and timing modes,
user preferences, power management facilities, easy to use on-screen displays,
and it’s MAC compatible but there’s a sting in the tail.
Our sample had a very rare fault; two
phosphor dots on the screen were blacked out. One, close to the centre of the
screen was obvious at switch-on, the other one only showed up five minutes
after switch on. One or two pixels in several hundred thousand might not sound
much, but it can be incredibly irritating and in our opinion it’s enough to
render the tube useless. Viewsonic tell us they have a zero defect policy, and
were genuinely surprised that this one managed to slip though the quality
control net. They assured us that any monitor with a similar defect will be
replaced without question.
That was the only blot on an otherwise
spotless copybook. Image depth and clarity are superb, colour purity and
convergence were faultless, as were geometry and power supply stability. The
big screen delivers a bright, crisp image, capable of resolving really fine
detail, particularly in the higher resolution modes. We hope the duff pixels
were an unfortunate one-off, if so the V115 is well worth shortlisting if
you’re in the market (and have the room) for a proper industrial-strength
display.
How Much? £940 (inc VAT)
Tube size 21-inches
Visible display area 410 x 305mm
Dot Pitch 0.26mm
Max Resolution 1600 x 1200 pixels
Max refresh rate auto/manual 160Hz
Dimensions 505 x 487 x 508 mm
Weight 28.5kg
CV RATINGS
Features 8
Performance 7
Ease of use 8
Value for money 7
Overall Rating 79%
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Ó R. Maybury 1997 2011
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