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ADI MICROSCAN 5GT
STANDFIRST
ADI monitors have a good reputation for
performance and reliability so the 17-inch Microscan 5GT should be off to a
good start…
COPY
Once you understand the codes you can tell quite
a lot from the model numbers manufacturer's slap on their products. Take the
ADI 5GT, 17-inch monitor for example. The 'G' stands for graphics applications,
and the 'T' indicates that it has a Trintron tube. We're still working on the significance
of the 5; we think it might have something to do with the number of fingernails
you will loose trying to open and close the control panel, but more about that
in a moment…
The basic spec and price look very good
indeed. It's a reasonably compact shape for a 17-incher and like all
Trintron-glazed goggle boxes the flat almost black faceplate looks smart, even
when it is switched off. At the top of the features list is a maximum
resolution of 1600 x 1200 with a refresh rate of 75Hz, though we suspect most
users will opt for 1280 x 1024 at 85Hz which offers the best compromise for
image quality and text readability. It's reasonably well connected with separate
15-pin D-Sub and BNC inputs, they're switched so it is possible to connect the
monitor to two PCs, should you feel the urge.
Set up and picture adjustments are controlled
from an on-screen display that ADI call 'EasyScreen'; that's certainly debatable…
The OSD controls are located on a hinged panel that drops down from below the
screen. Getting it open takes some doing but closing it again afterwards was nigh
on impossible. Our sample needed an excessive amount of force to get it back,
so much so that we feared for our fingers and the monitor's internals. When
open you're confronted by row of 3 rocker switches and 8 buttons. The labelling
is such that you can't make out what they do without a torch and magnifying
glass; either that our eyes are failing after staring at monitor screens all
day... The bottom line is that it's not very intuitive, it takes a while to
figure out what it does, and how it does it. The only compensation is that you
shouldn't need to mess around with the controls again once they're set.
PERFORMANCE
With our trusty monitor test programs (CheckScreen
and Ntest) running on a 233PII the 5GT was put through its paces. Good news on
the basics, colour accuracy and focus were both spot on across all standard resolution
modes. There's sufficient control over picture geometry to sort out any
conceivable linearity errors. The power supply is rock-solid with no picture instability
when fed with a pulsating black-white test signal. All of our monitor tests are
carried out after the test sample has been on for at least 30-minutes. However,
we also check geometry and colour fidelity after they have been on for a few
hours; in the case of the 5GT we're please to report that image stability was
excellent with no changes whatsoever.
The Trinitron screen has a superb contrast
range, from black as your hat to Persil white. Unfortunately there's also the shadow
of the twin damping wires at about a third of the way up and down the screen.
We know a lot of people don't mind trading faint lines across the picture
against the undoubted virtues of Trinitron tubes and on moving video they're
almost impossible to see, but we still find them a mite intrusive on a static white
desktop display.
The function of the Trinitron damping wires
is to stop the aperture grille inside the tube from vibrating. They clearly
weren't working on our sample as the tube was highly unstable and even a light
tap on the cabinet produced a vertical wave or ripple effect on the screen lasting
several seconds and an audible 'ringing' from inside the CRT.
SUMMARY
All said and done the 5GT is very good value.
We'll be charitable and count the troubles with the control panel and unstable
tube as unfortunate on-offs, ADI normally have a good reputation for quality
control. The idiosyncratic OSD and controls we can live with, so in the end it
comes down personal preferences and those damping wire shadows. If you don't consider
that a problem then it should certainly be high on your 17-inch monitor
shortlist.
How Much? £327 (inc. VAT) *
Tube size/type 17-inch Trinitron
Visible display area 300 x 225mm
Aperture grille pitch 0.25 mm
Max Resolution 1600 x 1200 pixels at 75Hz
Dimensions 416 x 402 x 470mm
Weight 20kg
CV RATINGS
Features 8
Performance 8
Ease of use 7
Value for money 8
Overall Rating 83 %
ADI telephone 0181-236 0801, www.adi.com.tw
HEAD
HITACHI CM752ET
STANDFIRST
In desktop video size does matter and nothing
less than 19-inches will do; the Hitachi CM752 could be just what you are
looking for to improve your image…
COPY
It goes without saying -- but we'll say it
anyway -- that large-screen monitors take up a lot of room, but this 19-inch whopper
from Hitachi needs some serious space. Despite valiant efforts on the part of
the designers to shrink the sides of the cabinet to fit the screen it has a
backside half the size of Alaska. The rear of the CM752 is the scene of another,
more serious, disappointment. The huge expanse of plastic has just two sad and
lonely looking sockets; one is for the mains cable, the other -- a 15-pin D-Sub,
is for the video lead. For such a large and obviously well appointed monitor the
lack of Mac-friendly BNC connectors is a real mystery, let alone more up-to-date
facilities like USB connectivity.
The CM752 is capable of operating at most
commonly used resolution standards, up to an including 1600 x 1200 at 75Hz. It
can store up to 26 sets of geometry adjustments, there are three preset and one
user-definable colour temperature settings and the 19-inch tube as a dot pitch
of just 0.22mm. All good stuff but looking after the adjustments and settings
is a clanky on-screen display and a control panel that wouldn't look out of
place on the Space Shuttle. The row of buttons below the screen are permanently
on show; the designers really should have covered them up or hidden them away,
it looks unfinished. You can gauge how complicated
it is to drive the CM752 by the fact that the explanation of how to use the
control buttons occupies over 3 pages of the instruction manual (and that's
with a very small typeface and tiny diagrams...).
One piece of good news on the operational
front is the Colorific colour-matching program included with the outfit (on CD-ROM,
for PC and Mac). This goes through a simple test and adjustment routine that means
you will end up with an accurately aligned display that should match the output
from your colour printer.
PERFORMANCE
Following the customary half-hour warm up period
the CM752 was treated to our usual range of colour and alignment checks, using
a mixture of monitor test programs, various desktop applications and moving
video. It passed all of them with out any difficulty whatsoever. Focus can be a
problem on large screens, especially around the edges, but not in this case, it
remained pin-sharp across the whole screen area at all resolution settings. The
same goes for convergence and if there was any moire patterning, we didn't see
it. Resolution is particularly good, undoubtedly a consequence of the fine dot
pitch; the image has an almost translucent 3D quality, similar to what you get
on the best Trinitron monitors, in short image performance is very good indeed.
The monitor's power supply checked out and there were no problems with image
stability after prolonged use.
SUMMARY
The CM752 is a bit of a mixed bag but on the
whole we quite like it. On the plus side -- and obviously the most important considerations
-- are the quality of the display and the size of the screen. The price is
uncontroversial for a 19-inch monitor, there are cheaper models around but
those we've seen cannot match the CM752's on-screen performance. On the other
hand we have come across a lot of large screen monitors that put the CM752 to
shame, when it comes to back panel connections. Surely it can't add much to the
manufacturing costs to bung on a few extra sockets, if only to keep Mac owners
happy? The controls and on-screen displays could be better as well; again
they're relatively minor considerations, but together they are enough to turn what
should have been a really great 19-inch monitor into something a bit more
ordinary.
How Much? £586 (inc. VAT) **
Tube size/type 19-inch Black Matrix FST
Visible display area 367 x 276 mm
Dot pitch 0.22 mm
Max Resolution 1600 x 1200 pixels at 75Hz
Dimensions 448 x 454 x 460 mm
Weight 25kg
CV RATINGS
Features 8
Performance 9
Ease of use 7
Value for money 8
Overall Rating 85%
Hitachi Business Systems, telephone 0181-849
2092, www.hitachi-eu.com
STREET PRICES
* Choice Computers 0800 0730730
** Dabs Direct 0800 558866
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ã R. Maybury 1998 2008
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