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March 2000
Short & Flat: The New Look in 19s
By Maria Medina
Short and flat may not be attractive qualities on the fashion runway, but these two words
describe the look of some of the latest 19-inch CRT monitors.
Flat-screen designs can improve image quality by reducing the glare and reflection you get from
ambient lighting. Geometry can improve as well, particularly at the edges of the screen. The image is
supposed to look as sharp, crisp and clear as a flat-panel (LCD) display. Several of the eight models
featured in this review have gone flat, including the Sony Trinitron CPD G-400 and the Princeton
Diamondtron AGF900.
Monitor Glossary
As part of our testing, we assess more than two dozen display characteristics. We also
list fundamental specifications including physical dimensions, resolution and refresh rates. The most
important aspects of performance are described below.
Average Picture Level (APL): A higher intensity of white raises the APL and can affect
the intensities of black and grays.
Black Level: The monitors should be able to produce a true black while also handling
the most subtle variations or scales of gray.
White Level Saturation: The brightest whites should not be saturated and the monitor
should be able to display a range of white intensities.
Gray-scale Shift: This measures the change in the brightness level of gray areas on
the screen when the adjacent area alternates between dim and bright states.
Color Registration and Convergence: The red, green and blue electron gun beams must
converge precisely (vertically and horizontally) on the screen to produce a single, crisp image.
Color Saturation and Tracking: This is the monitor's ability to display
gradations of color intensity without altering tint.
Focus, Contrast and Legibility: The image (or text) should be in focus from the
center of the screen to the corners. There should be a minimum of color streaking and halo effects,
which undermine contrast.
Geometry: This refers to the monitor's ability to reproduce various shapes
without distortion. Problems with geometry include poor linearity, shape variations and a
disproportionate aspect ratio.
Moiré: These are undesirable wavy lines or ripples that are caused by a mismatch
between the pattern of a monitor's shadow mask or aperture grille and a horizontal line pattern
of an image.
Resolution: The resolution as set in the control panel, for example 1600 x 1200 (or
some other level),is the "addressable" resolution. "Visual" resolution refers to
how many pixels you can actually differentiate on the screen. If a monitor can't deliver at a
high setting, you will detect visible flicker and should adjust the resolution to a lower addressable
setting.
Refresh rate: This is the number of times per second an image is redrawn from top to
bottom. A high refresh rate (a.k.a. horizontal scan frequency) gives you low flicker. Don't go any
lower than 65 Hz or higher than 85 Hz.
Pitch: Is the separation between Red, Green and Blue colors on the display. For
Invar Shadow Mask displays it is considered the distance between the triad. These displays have a
horizontal and vertical pitch. For Aperture Grille (flat screen) displays there is only a horizontal
pitch. It is considered the distance between stripes.
Screen Regulation: This exhibits the effects of brightness on display stability. A
high intensity of white can cause images to expand or contract. If the image jumps, it is related to
geometric distortion.
Screen Uniformity: When displaying a solid color, the screen should look the same
from the center to the corners without dark spots or tint variations.
Video Bandwidth: This is the monitor's ability to refresh the screen in a given
amount of time. The ideal video bandwidth is 100, if it's lower, it means either your monitor or
your video board can't turn the pixels on and off as rapidly as it should.
Dimensions: "Short-neck" monitors give you the same size screen in a more
compact, shorter depth casing. Angled cables and other design features let you place these big
monitors up against walls and into tight spaces.
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Big footprints have always been a tradeoff for large-screen monitors, but some of the latest models
feature "short-neck" or "short-depth" designs. Advances in electron gun technology
have enabled manufacturers to increase beam deflection to 100 degrees, up from 90 degrees; this lets
them place the gun closer to the screen and shorten the depth of the chassis. Short-necks such as the
Hitachi SuperScan 769 are about the same depth of a conventional 17-inch monitor.
No matter how advanced a monitor may be, it's likely to need fine-tuning and adjustment to give
the best possible image, so intuitive menu navigation remains an important feature. In this regard we
really liked the Sony CPD G-400, which has a joystick on the lower front panel that lets you review
the menu options with ease. It also featured a Help option with tips on image display. Samsung's
950p has a sophisticated control panel that pops out with a click of your finger, and the multi-button
navigation was very intuitive. All the monitors in this review offered the usual battery of
standard controls such as Brightness, Contrast, Color, Shape and Positioning, and they all had
advanced features for perfecting Geometry (trapezoid, pincushion, parallelogram, etc.) More advanced
features included moiré, degaussing, convergence, zoom and color purity (uniformity) adjustments.
Our review is based on overall design, ease of use (i.e., menu navigation) and display performance
during our lab tests. The street prices for these eight CRTs range from $699 for the (Sony) to as low
as $359 (KDS). All of the monitors reviewed are more than capable of handling business-intensive
applications. However, not all monitors offered compact designs or the full battery of image controls.
For high-end graphical applications such as CAD, color performance and control is particularly
important.
Test Procedure
To test these 19-inch monitors, we relied on an updated pre-released version of DisplayMate for
Windows Multimedia Edition Version 2.0 ($495) from Display-Mate Technologies (www.displaymate.com).
DisplayMate software presents a mix of test patterns that help you fine tune and assess monitor
performance. Our test bed was a 350 MHz HP Vectra PC running Windows 95. The PC was equipped with
an ImageAccel 5, 8 MB 320 MHz DAC, AGP graphics card from Cornerstone (www.bigmonitors.com). The
board has a maximum resolution of 1600 x 1280 @ 87 Hz refresh rate at 32-bit color. All the monitors
tested were run at 1280 x 1024 @ 75 Hz with a 32-bit color depth (16.7 million colors). Each monitor
was connected to an Extron (Anaheim, CA) P/2 DA6 Plus VGA splitter attached to the HP Vectra. The
splitter let us view and test up to six monitors simultaneously. If we weren't satisfied with a
monitor's performance, we took it off the splitter, isolated it and connected it directly to the
PC. This eliminated the splitter as a possible cause of the problem. We then degaussed the monitor
three times (once every fifteen minutes) to demagnetize the monitor's tube and reduce picture
distortion.
Standout Performers
Our Editors' Choice among these eight 19-inch monitors was the Sony CPD G-400 ($699). It aced the
test patterns in most categories (see "Test Procedure" above) and offered great
overall design, ease of use and control comprehensiveness. It delivered the most vibrant colors,
luminous hues, clear text and a focused image all the way to the edges of the screen.
For our Best Buy award, we considered performance and design relative to the price of the monitor. Our
pick was the KDS VS195e. At ($349), it was the lowest-priced of the eight monitors we tested, yet it
delivered a solid performance, produced vivid colors and had an intuitive and easy-to-navigate menu.
Notable runners up for Editors' Choice consideration included the Hitachi SuperScan 769 ($649)
and the Cornerstone p1401 ($539) They shared the same overall design, navigation and strong
performance results during testing. The Cornerstone offers a longer warranty and comes with software
that includes scale-to-gray, automatic scaling of screen fonts and icons, and application-independent
color correction.
—Maria Medina
Cornerstone
Fremont, CA, 510-580-8900
www.bigmonitors.com
Model: P1401 (short-neck)
Street price: $539
Viewable area: 18"
Dimensions: 17.4" x 17.6" x 17.59" Weight: 49.5 lbs
Max res./refresh: 1600 x 1280 @ 82 Hz
Pitch: .22 mm (h), .14 mm (v)
Video input: 15 pin D-sub
USB: Compatible (sold separately)
Warranty: 5-year parts, labor and CRT
Strengths: Nice rich colors, distinct gray scale and focused text. Uniform color across the screen. Rich black level and distinct white level. Sharp image overall.
Weaknesses: Minor moiré was correctable except at corners of screen. Some screen regulation errors.
Control comment: Menu was simple to adjust. It had all the standard menu options, plus a user-adjustable color option, zoom and horizontal and vertical moiré adjustments.
ProductInfo 260
Eizo Nanao
Cypress, CA, 562-431-0100
www.eizo.com
Model: FlexScan FX-D7
Street price: $699
Viewable area: 17.8"
Dimensions: 17.8" x 17.9" x 18.8" Weight: 52.9 lbs.
Max res./refresh: 1600 x 1200 @ 76 Hz
Pitch: .22 mm (h), .26 mm (v)
Video input: 15 pin D-sub, BNC
USB: Yes (Integrated)
Warranty: 3-year parts, labor and CRT
Strengths: Produced nice levels of color and overall brightness. Good focus and crisp contrast without tweaking menu adjustments.
Weaknesses: There were some errors with color uniformity, which can produce a tinting on the screen. Lacked ideal black-level.
Control comment: The Menu has some advanced control options such as horizontal and vertical convergence, uniformity (purity) and an auto-adjustment option that tweaks image size and display for you with one touch of a button.
ProductInfo 261
Hitachi
Westwood, MA, 781-461-8300
www.hitachidisplays.com
Model: SuperScan 769 (short-neck)
Street price: $649
Viewable area: 18"
Dimensions: 17.6" x 17.4" x 17.6"
Weight: 50 lbs.
Max res./refresh: 1600 x 1280 @ 85Hz.
Pitch: .22 mm (h), .14 mm (v)
Video Input: Dual 15 pin D-subs
USB: Compatible (sold separately)
Warranty: 3-year parts, labor and CRT
Strengths: Design and performance is similar to Cornerstone's p1401. Produced vibrant colors. True black level with accurate grayscale. White levels are distinct. Good focus, color distinction and color registration. Very sharp picture overall with clear, distinct text.
Weaknesses: Some moiré and screen regulation errors.
Control comment: Standard user-friendly menu with all key options. Menu includes horizontal and vertical moiré, a zoom option and user-adjustable color.
ProductInfo 262
KDS
Garden Grove, CA, 714-379-5599
www.kdusa.com
Model: VS-195e
Street price: $359
Viewable area: 18"
Dimensions: 18.1" x 18.9" x 17.4"
Weight: 52.9 lbs.
Max res./refresh: 1600 x 1200 @ 75Hz
Pitch: .22 mm (h), .14 mm (v)
Video input: 15 pin D-sub, BNC
USB: Not compatible
Warranty: 3-year parts, labor and CRT
Strengths: Lowest price among the monitors in this test. Vivid color and strong contrast. Distinct whites and deep black level. Color tracking patterns were accurate. Uniform color across screen.
Weaknesses: Minor moiré (minimized satisfactorily). Some color misregistration and screen regulation errors.
Control comment: Menu was easy to navigate and offered extensive controls including color registration and user-adjustable color.
ProductInfo 263
Princeton
Santa Ana, CA, 714-751-8405
www.prgr.com
Model: AGF900 (flat screen)
Street price: $499
Viewable area: 18"
Dimensions: 18.3" x 18.1" x 18.7" Weight: 57.2 lbs.
Max res./refresh: 1600 x 1200 @ 76 Hz
Pitch: .26 mm (h)
Video input: 15 pin mini D-sub
USB: Compatible (sold separately)
Warranty: 3-year parts, labor and CRT
Strengths: Good overall picture brightness and color output.
Weaknesses: Unexplainable vibration at the corners of the screen. Color registration was less than ideal. Image focus and screen regulation errors.
Control comment: Super-easy dial menu control. Intuitive menu options including purity, zoom and user-adjustable color.
ProductInfo 264
Samsung
San Jose, CA, 408-544-4000
Model: Syncmaster 950p
Street price: $386
Viewable area: 18" (short-neck)
Dimensions: 16.3" x 17.2" x 16.9"
Weight: 47.4 lbs.
Max res./refresh: 1600 x 1200 @ 75 Hz
Pitch: .22 mm (h) x .13 mm (v)
Video input: 15 pin, BNC
USB: Compatible (sold separately)
Warranty: 3-year on all parts, labor and CRT
Strengths: Produced the best, rock-steady image in our screen regulation test, which attests to accurate geometry.
Weaknesses: Colors lacked vibrance. Weak black level and undistinct white levels. Color control options helped in some circumstances, but not satisfactorily. The 950p had trouble producing ideal gray scale patterns.
Control comment: Slick design with a neat pop-out control panel. Seven-button controls include a convenient Access function for quick menu navigation.
ProductInfo 265
Sony
San Jose, CA, 408-432-1600
www.sony.com
Model: CPD G-400 (flat screen)
Street price: $699
Viewable area: 18"
Dimensions: 17.7" x 18.2" x 18.2", Weight: 57.3 lbs.
Max res./refresh: 1800 x 1440 @ 70 Hz
Pitch: .25 mm (h)
Video input: Captive 15 pin mini D-sub, 15 pin mini D-sub
USB: Not compatible
Warranty: 3-year on parts, labor and CRT
Strengths: Vibrant, luminous colors and subtle color differentiation. Excellent black level contributes to high contrast and superior overall picture quality. Accurate gray-scale and white-level distinction. Text was focused with clean edges.
Weaknesses: Minor moiré.
Control comment: Easy, intuitive joystick menu control lets you perfect the display. This was the only monitor with instructional help screens.
ProductInfo 266
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Let us know what you think.
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Viewsonic
Walnut, CA, 909-869-7976
www.viewsonic.com
Model: PF7901 (flat screen)
Street price: $539
Viewable area: 18"
Dimensions: 18.5" x 18.5" x 18.78"
Weight: 55 lbs.
Max res./refresh: 1600 x 1280 @ 77 Hz
Pitch: 25 mm (h), .27mm (v)
Video Input: 15 pin mini D-sub
USB: Compatible (sold separately)
Warranty: 3-year on parts and labor
Strengths: Good overall brightness of color output. Produced ideal black-level and gray-scale variations.
Weaknesses: Unexplainable vibration at the corners of the screen, which impacted image quality and text focus. Minor errors in screen uniformity.
Control Comment: Two-button menu navigation is easy to use and lets you perfect the image. Includes advance control options such as horizontal and vertical convergence, linearity and zoom.
ProductInfo 267
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