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BELINEA 10 60 70 19-INCH MONITOR
STANDFIRST
Belinea must rank as one of the most prolific
monitor companies around. It seems that no sooner have we reviewed one then
along comes another, like this 19-incher we're looking at here…
COPY
So far we've been quite impressed with what
we've seen of Belinea's monitor range though the most recent 17-inch model we
reviewed suffered from slightly under par screen regulation. The 10 60 70 puts
them right back in contention, this good-looking 19-inch monitor is just the
kind of thing we're looking for in our quest to spread the message that when it
comes to desktop video, bigger is most definitely better!
Since the price tag is what most people look
at first that's where we'll begin. The 10 60 70 has been in the retail and
mail-order channels for a few weeks; distribution seems to be a bit patchy but
if you shop around you should find it selling for around £430 to £450,
including VAT. That's not a bad deal, all things considered. That buys a
versatile and well featured monitor capable of automatically resolving all
standard VESA resolutions up to and including 1600 x 1200. The maximum refresh
rate is 85Hz and the horizontal frequency range is between 31 and 93.75kHz; it can
store up to 13 PC-defined presets, so it can cope with just about anything you
care to throw at it. Dot pitch is 0.25mm and the flat faceplate has low
reflectivity and it should be well suited to a broad range of demanding
applications, in an equally wide range or operating environments.
Connections to a PC or Mac are handled by a
standard 15-pin D-Sub socket and a set of 5 BNC sockets. As the relatively low
price suggests we're not quite into USB or FireWire territory but as we shall
see, that's one of the few things that separates the 10 60 70 from similarly
sized monitors, costing a good deal more. There's really not a lot to say about
the front panel controls; they consist of a row of four buttons and the main
on/off switch. The buttons are used to call up the graphical on-screen display,
which covers all of the user-settable picture adjustments. All the usual
options are there, including picture size and position, geometry, colour
temperature and degauss. There's a couple of handy extras too, such as moiré
correction, image rotation, on-screen display position and input switching. The
latter means it can be connected to two PCs at the same time, should you feel
the urge. The only picture adjustment -- apart from brightness and contrast --
is colour temperature. There are four presets and one user colour setting with
individual red, green and blue level controls.
PERFORMANCE
Since our last encounter with a Belinea
monitor we paid particular attention to power supply regulation. We're please
to report it is rock-solid on this model with no more than the tiniest of
twitches when fed with a pulsating black-white test signal. It was good news
all the way down the line on the focus, colour and resolution checks, the only
small hiccup was a very minor convergence error in the top right-hand corner of
the screen, that virtually disappeared after it had been running for just over
an hour. Normally we would expect the tube to reach operating temperature and
give its best after 30 minutes; this one was just a bit slow.
SUMMARY
The 10 60 70 stacks up well against the
competition. It lacks the pin-sharp clarity and depth of the very best
Trinitron-based monitors but you would only be aware of such differences in a
side by side comparison. As it stands this is a good all-rounder; it is a more
than able performer when it comes to desktop video and definitely worth
shortlisting for more critical jobs, requiring a large screen display, at a
sensible price.
How Much?
£430 (inc VAT)
Tube size
19-inch CRT
Visible display area
352 x 264 mm
Dot Pitch
0.25mm
Max Resolution
1600 x 1200 pixels
Max refresh rate
180Hz
Dimensions
448 (w) x 454 (h) x 415 (d) mm
Weight
21.5kg
Belinea, telephone Maxdata (01189) 362900
CV RATINGS
Features 4
Performance 5
Ease of use 4
Value for money 4
Overall Rating 85%
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ã R. Maybury 1999 2312
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